The time is near....

for Christmas!

We had a nice Thanksgiving here in SC this year. The first in our new house. Mom and Grandma Kirsch came to visit for the holiday.

We started decorating outside for Chirstmas on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, so we took advantage of it! We had to learn how to decorate this house this year too! I was the most excited to decorate this year because we didn't get to decorate last year due to being in the process of selling the old house. So, this year we are going all out!!! We ended up having to go out and buy more extension cords and lights just to finish up the look we thought worked. Now it is finished and so the inside decorating needs to begin. Unfortunately, Derek had to go out of town, so we got the tree assembled, put on the lights....fought with many strings to get them to work...gave up and went and bought o=some new ones...and finished lighting the tree. The ornaments will go on Thursday hoepfully. We do it as a family, and if Derek isn't here, then we can't do it. I need to get off my duff and bring in the rest of the boxes of decorations from the garage but I haven't gotten there yet. I want to straighten the hosue first...and haven't found the motivation to do that yet either.....ugh.

Looking forward to a good holiday though. The kids have off the whole week of Christmas. I think Derek is going to take it off too! YAY!! We will have Christmas Morning here in SC, then head out on Saturady morning to NC to visit Matt and Melissa and Grandma Hoover. Then head on our way to VA either Satruday evening of Sunday morning. While in Va we are going to visit Derek's Parents and My mom. NOt sure where we are staying at yet. Probably my mom's cause she has the most room, but we'll see. We also need to help her clean up some of Dad's stuff so that things can get taken care of. Might even help her buy a different vehicle to replace the van and PT cruiser. The Van has been acting up lately and the PT just isn't what Mom wants. It was Dad's car.

Hope you have a good holiday season!

Changes...

WOW...talk about changes.

Things are a changing around here for us.

Soccer is over for the season. Madison's team won 2nd place in their division. Dehlia team won 1st place in their division. Aric's team did keep score, but they all had a great time this season!!!

We have had a complete shocker come to us in the last 2 weeks though. My dad passed away on November 12th. I had travelled up to VA to see him in the hospital at the beginning of November after he collapsed at home during the week before. They diagnosed him as needing valve replacement surgery and more bypass surgery, but the doctors could never get him well enough to do the surgery. We (Derek and I) were at least able to have 2 weeks to come to terms with the possibility of something happening, but tell the kids was probably one of the hardest things that we have ever had to do. My mom seems to be dong well with it. We will see how thing go in the future. We have a lot of work ahead of us in cleaning out the house of all of the things that he felt he needed. We are all getting a good laugh at some of the things that we have found and are sure to get plenty more as we have just scratched the surface.

This weekend we will be adding to our family. We have decided to add another dog to the pack. He is about a year old. He is a husky. He is a rescue out of NC. He is red and white and has one blue and one amber colored eyes. I will add pictures after we get him on Saturday! His name will be Dakota.

We will also be bringing Derek's Land Cruiser back to SC with us this weekend. We are trying to clean out Grandma Hoover's house so that it can be sold in the near future, so that it one big piece of the puzzle that needs to be gotten out.

Until the next time...

busyness...

Well, we've been busy lately. Soccer game scheduling took over this past weekend. We had 2 girls over Saturday afternoon (after having 2 soccer practices - 1 for Madison and 1 for Aric) so that their parenst could work on the game schedule. They finally called us after 3 hours working on it and said "HELP"! We went over there about 4 and I didn't come home til 10 and Derek by 11. And it still wasn't done!! Spent some time on it Sunday trying to work out some conflicts with fields and coaches, and got it figured out. Now today the schedule has been all moved around. I sure hope we/they get it worked out soon.

Derek is in Wisconsin this week. he comes back on Friday. Then we have soccer practice for Aric then decide if we are going to leave for Raleigh then or on Saturday morning. We are going up there to help build Matt a bigger deck than the one on the back of his house.

busyness, busyness, busyness....

updating again....

Maybe with this new school year, I can keep this blog thing going better.

Yeah right....


Well, the girls have started school for the year. They started last Wednesday. Dehlia is in 2nd grade and Madison is in 5th grade!!! OMG!!! They are getting too big! I think I am going to have to think about utilizing those cinderblocks that are sitting around outside of the house to hold these children down from growing!

Aric starts preschool after Labor Day. His last year of preschool before Kindergarten. I am sure that there will be many tears shed when graduation time comes around in May.

Soccer season is upon us also. Derek is coaching 2 1/2 teams this season. Head coaching Aric's U6 team, Assistant Coach for Dehlia's U8 team and Head Coach for Madison's U10 team. The calendar is filling up fast as practices are being arranged and games will be put on there soon!!

I am looking forward to having a little bit of downtime while Aric and the girls are all in school after Labor Day. Maybe I can get a little bit more done on my quilt top that I have been working on since before we moved. I have the blocks all assembled, but have to put on the border still. Hope to get to that in the VERY near future.

Derek is getting ready to travel some. Ofcourse he couldn't travel during the summer when the kids were out of school....has to be while they are in. Oh well. Thought about asking mom and dad to come visit for a couple days, but I don't know if it would work. We'll see.

Well, I hope to be back sooner rather than later. Only time will tell.....

Happy Father's Day!!!!!!

Wanted to wish all the father's out there a Happy Father's Day!!!!!!

I am very thankful to have a wonderful husband who is a Outstanding Daddy to my 3 Goofy kids. I don't know how I could make it one day without you here to help me with these kids.

THANK YOU!!! and I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

I am also thankful for a wonderful Dad. He has always been my biggest supporter. From sports to band, to parenting. It is great to have a Dad like you.

I LOVE YOU TOO!!!!

Love,
Mary Anne

Show us Where you Live Friday....Children's Room Edition

Here it is Kelly's Korner friends.....my 3 kids' rooms!!! It's gonna be a long post, so hang in there....

I guess I'll start with the oldest and work my way down the list. Their rooms aren't decorated to the nines like Harper's is, but my kids seem to be happy with them. Each child got to pick what color to paint their room when we moved into this house in February. They wanted to paint their rooms at our old house, but we knew that a move was eminent, so we promised them that they could paint their new rooms. We followed thru by letting them pick out the color (with mom and dad's guidance) and we apinted all the rooms before any of the furniture got there (says a lot since the furniture showed up the day after we closed huh).

Well, my 9 year old daughter, Madison's room is first. She picked out pink for her room. That is her favorite color. Here is the view as you enter her room.
Then as you come in, you can see the rest of her room.
Books are a staple in my kids' rooms, so each child has a book shelf. This is Madison's. She has all of her trophies from Soccer and Softball on top for decoration.

Her dresser used to be my dresser when I grew up. She has a few medals from soccer hanging on the mirror. Along with pictures and name plaques on the dresser itself.

My mom cross stitched each of the children's names for Christmas last year, so we put them in their rooms. Here's Madison's.

Here's the bed. It has a quilt made by my mother-in-law. It is giraffes. Madison loves giraffes, and therefore when my mother-in-law found it she knew it was perfect for Madison.

Here's is Madison's closet. We put a lower bar in her closet so that she could reach some of her clothes. It just hangs from the upper bar.

Each of the kids' room have fans in there too. Here is Madison's Pink fan....


My 6 year old daughter, Dehlia's room will be next. She picked out Yellow for her room. This is her favorite color. Anything that is not girly, she says. This is the view as you come into her room.

This is as you come all the way into the room.

Her bookshelf is loaded to the brim with books. We actually just took 3 piles of books off the floor in her room and put them onto new bookshelves in the hallway to give her a little bit more room.

Her dresser is one that she'd had since she was born. We used it as a changing table and took off the changing pad when she outgrew it.

This is Dehlia's name that my mom cross stitched.

On Dehlia's bed you'll find a quilt by my mother-in-law here too. It is Dinosaurs because Dehlia wouldn't want anything girlie. :)

Here's Dehlia's closet. She has the same bar hanging from the upper bar that Madison has in her room.
Here's Dehlia's fan. Yup, there's no globe to cover on her light. When we were picking out fans for the kids, we found one fan that had two different setups. One side of the blades was pink (perfect for Madison's room) and the other side was blue (perfect for Aric's room). We ended up buying 3 of these fans by the end (long story short, someone didn't want to cooperate by using one of the fans from the old house) but one of them was a floor model (which we got at a really great discount) and the globe broke while we were walking around the store. I called the company and they are shipping me a new globe as soon as they come into the warehouse. I've called twice and they are still on backorder. Who knows when we'll get it. In order to match Dehlia's room, Derek took the 3rd fan and painted all of the blades yellow to match her room. And when the globe comes in, we'll install it.


Last but certainly not least is my 3 year of son, Aric's room. He picked Blue.
Here's the view as you enter his room.

And here's as you come around into the room.

And as you round around towards the bed.

Here's the bookshelves in his room. Keep in mind there were 3 boxes of baby books that we didn't pull back out for him when we unpacked from the move. :)

Here's the cross stitch by my mom....
Here's the quilt by my mother-in-law on his bed. I think she said it was a turning twenty pattern. It is full of trucks and
Here is Aric's dresser. We just moved this dresser in here a couple weeks ago. It used to be in the playroom holding all the puzzles. It is from Derek's Parents. they gaver him the dresser and the double bed that Derek and I use in our room (you'll see that when we get to the Master Bedroom part of the home tour).

Here is the lamp that was made by my Aunt when I was a baby that is on top of the dresser that we got from Derek's parents.
Here is the train table in Aric's room. It has been used by all 3 of our kids. the train layout is actually glued down to the plywood that it is on so that when Aric was little, he couldn't pull it apart. We can pick up the plywood and remove it from the table so that Aric can use the table for building his own track or playing something else on there.

Here's Aric's blue fan in his blue room. Don't know if you can tell, but the fan blades in here and in Madison's room are varigated. They are each a different shade of their respective color. Needless to say, Dehlia's didn't get painted but one color. :)


Hope that you all made it to the end of my post! I look forward to seeing all of your kids rooms. Maybe I can get some decorating ideas!!

Til next week!!

Show us Where you live Friday....Dining Room Edition....On Sunday of course....:)

Here it is Sunday and I'm now getting around to posting my Dining Room contribution for Kelly's Korner.

The Dining Room in my home is connected to the Living Room by a open wall and is connected to my kitchen through a tiny hallway that passes by the pantry. There is also an large opening where the entry way goes past (just like the living room has).

Here is the view from the entry way hall....

Here is the view towards the Living Room....

Here is the view towards the Kitchen....

This is the curio cabinet that my Wonderful Husband, Derek, built for me. Both doors open on the front to reveal glass shelves that are holding my Precious Moments figurine collection.

Also, up on top is a picture collage of my 3 kiddos. Aric is 3 and on the left. My middle child, Dehlia, 6, is on the top right and Madison, 9 and the oldest needless to say, is on the bottom right.

This is my hutch. It used to be my parents and they gave it to us after my grandfather passed away since they got his set. It is actually a set that they bought second hand right after they got married from a friend that was getting a new set for themsleves. (This showing everyone my house has made me realize just how much of the furniture that is in my house wasn't exactly picked out by me, but rather inherited, but I love it anyway.) On the hutch has a bunch of knickknacks. The top has my wedding dress picture, a picture of Derek and I right after we had our first daughter and a pitcher that the builder of our currrent house gave us after we moved in. The top shelf inside has a clock from my grandparents house that chimes and has ceramic items that signify when my husband and I were born. The middle shelf has some husky figurines (we have 2 Siberian Huskies), a sunflower dish, picture of my 2 girls when they were little, and a wax mold of my husband and my hand that we had made when we went to Myrtle Beach on a getaway weekend without the kids a few years ago. The bottom shelf has a indian wedding vase, some miscellaneous pictures (Derek and I, the 3 kids right after Aric was born and our whole family on the porch at our last house) and a huge pinecone that I don't know where we got.

These rocking horses were built by my grandfather. They were at his house and whenever we would go over to visit, my girls, Madison and Dehlia, would always pretend that they were riding on them like they were real. We therefore inherited them after he passed.

We went to the North Carolina State Fair every year and would have the children's silouette's done. This was from the year before last. We gave all of the grandparents a frame like this with the silouette's in it for Christmas that year. We didn't get a dchance to go to last year's fair due to having the house on the market and being fearful that someonw would call for a showing. Also, soccer season was in full swing and that left us with a FULL schedule.

This is the plan stand that resides under the above photo. I have had some of these plants since we got married and some from when we had Madison (almost 10 years ago). The blue cups are holding cuttings off of one of the plants so that they can grow roots and be replanted in the pots. I am plannong on doing the replanting soon, since they have a pretty good root system going on in these cups.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed the tour of my Dining Room. I need to get a move on making sure that the kids' rooms are straightened up by Friday. Better get a move on....

Til Friday....

Show us Where you live Friday....Guest Room Edition....

Well, I am going to get this done on Friday like I am supposed to!! Kelly, over at Kelly's Korner has invited us to show our Guest Rooms this week and here's mine.....

It like most rooms is still kind of plain. We have grand plans to paint in the near future, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Soccer season is putting a huge dent in our free time right now, so I am hoping that once soccer ends by the beginning of June that we should be able to take care of things like painting, etc this summer.

This is what you see as you open the door to my guest room. it is actually right off of my family room. You can see the door in last week's post. It is the door in the family room the is near the fireplace and is closed. We keep it closed so that the dogs don't go in there and lay on the bed spreading their hair in even more corners of the house. Also, it keeps the kids from jumping on the bed. :) Yup, more boxes that need to be unpacked. They hold books that either need to be put on this book shelf or belong in the morning/computer room, but haven't gotten there yet.

As you round around coming into the room, you find the bookshelf and bed. The bookshelf contains textbooks from college and the decorations that I plan to try to use in here.
Here's the bed and bedside table. The table is actually one of the end tables that matches the one in the family room. The bed is from my grandparents house. I have the rest of the bedroom suit up in my master bedroom, so you will eventually see that in the house tour.

This cross stitch is on top of the bookshelf. Derke graduated from NC State, so since the mascot is the Wolfpack, the theme of this room will be NC State and Wolves. We plan on painting the room mostly white, with Red at the bottom and a Black Stripe around the top of the red (which would be about chair rail height). I cross stitched the wolf eyes for Derek when we were dating. He had to go on a scavenger hunt through my parents house to finally recieve them. He was fun to set that up. It hung above the steps at our old house, but it won't fit there at this house.

It is a funky picture, but I figure I would share the glass etching that is in the room too. It is of the logo for NC State. The base that it is on has lights that chage the color reflected into the cube.

This is the quilt that is on the bed in here right now. It fits, don't you think?? It is wolves. My Mother-in-Law made it for us.

It is quilted around each wolf in the fabric. The back is John Deere since that is where Derek works.


Hope you have enjoyed the guest room. I am kind of thankful that Kelly didn't pick Kids rooms yet, I am in the middle of trying to switch over the kids clothes from winter to summer, so it isn't very neat in there. :)

Looking forward to next week. Gotta figure out where I am going to put the things that are hanging out on the table in there. They just haven't found homes yet.

Until next week.....

Where you live Friday.....Living Room Edition......on Tuesday!!!!

Well, better late that never....right?? Here's my Living Room that was supposed to be posted on Friday following Kelly, over at Kelly's Korner.

OK, since she gave us notice as to what room was next, I took advantage and cleaned up early. :) Also, Derek's Mom and Grandmother were coming in on Thursday afternoon, so I needed to clean up anyway. So....here begins that tour.....

I actually have a living room and family room, so I will begin with the Living Room...

Here is my BARE living room. It is this way because we don't have any "formal living room" furniture. We haven't had a formal living room in either of our other houses, so no formal furniture. In here you will find a metal futon, and a curio cabinet with my grandmother's "Ladies and Holly Hobbies". Also, you will find Derek and My diplomas from college along with Derek's plaque for his patent. You can uaually always find a dog or 2 in here sleeping on the futon or floor too. There is always plenty of dog hair on the futon cover. Needless to say, I kicked them out to take pictures.

This is the view from the hallway but looking through the dining room towards the living room. On the right is the side of the curio cabinet.

Here is the curio cabinet that houses my Grandmother's "Pretty Ladies" and her Holly Hobbies. It was used as a china cabinet at my grandparents house and became a curio cabinet when I inherited it. Derek had his Darryl Waltrip car collection in here at our ould house, but graciously let me put my ladies in here at the new house.

That is what I called the figurines that she had all over her house when I was growing up. After my grandparents had both passed away, and the house was being broken up, I recieved all of my grandmother's figurines. The ones that I especially liked are the ones up on the top two shelves. They are the Lenox Great Fashions in History. Hs eonly had about 6 when I recieved them ,but thanks to ebay, I have the whole collection now.
This lamp is on top of the curio cabinet too. The shade is stained glass, and it was made by my grandfather.


Now to the Family Room....

Here is the view of our family room from the kitchen. I am standing in the kitchen by the island to take the picture.

This is looking from the entry as you come down the hall from the front door. You can see the tool bench that my son got for Christmas to the left behind the couch.

This is standing in front of the morning/computer room (from last week). Here you can see the beginnings of our putting up pictures to create a picture wall. Also you can see the secretary that came from my grandparents house too. I am realizing that I have a lot of furniture from their house in my house.

Story behind the desk is that my grandfather built the cabinet section that is on the top of the desk. The desk opens up to create a workspace, but you really don't want to see the mess that is inside of there. :) The cabint portion holds my Tigger collection, my Mary Moo Moo's collection that are John Deere related along with John Deerek tractors (my husband works for John Deere), and my turtle collection is in there too. Well, it is expanding to the top too. :) Sorry for the reflection on the door, but the sun pours in from the back of my house ALL day long.

Here's our fish tanks. We have 2 smaller godlfish in the top tank and one goldfish in the bottom tank. This way, all 3 kids have a fish.
This is the view of the fireplace and television end of the room. You can see that we haven't quite figured out what we are going to do above the fireplace yet. We had a mirror at the old house, but it just doesn't look right up there at this house. Also there is a hook up for a flat panel to be mounted above the fireplace, but we don't want to mount ours up there. We also have the Wii Guitar Hero World Tour Drum Set on the hearth along with a cahir and ottoman set for the kids. The DVD collection is beside the fireplace on the wobbly stand (mental note to look for a new one of these). And of course the tv and entertainment center.
Here is our ALVE taht we use as CD storage on the shelves, VHS tape storage on the right and blanket storage on the right. It has been a great fit for our family room.

Last, but certainly not least, is our couch. It was my parents couch, but they wanted somthing different so we took it. It has recliners at both ends and a fold down table in the middle. It is great to let the kids eat there sometimes and also as a table in teh evenings to be able to set the laptop on in the evenings while watching television.


Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Gonna go stalk the other living rooms so that I can look for some ideas for my BARE living room!!!

Now to get to work cleaning up the kids rooms. :)

See you Friday!!!