coffee beans & cookbooks

{i know, 3 posts in less than an hour!}

here are my cookbooks. ugly on my counter top...

 here are my cookbooks after finding the perfect wire basket to be as their new home!
{i do have more up in the cabinet but i use these most frequently + my black binder full of printed/magazine recipes but hey, it doesnt fit..}

 coffee beans plus a mason jar plus a tealight candle equals a heavenly smell for my nose :)

 and a fun sight for my eyes :)

tupperware drawer

Tupperware is such an annoyance isnt it?! No matter how hard I try to keep the drawer organized it never..ever..stays that way.  With little hands in and out of it getting snack bowls, or Caleb putting away dishes ;)

Yikes!!

BUT Pinterest plus $1.99 equals...

Im not confident it will stay like this long.. but its nice while it lasts :)

pantry makeover

All I need is to make a few labels for my containers and it'll be complete! But who knows when Ill actually get around doing that, so I figured Id go ahead and show you the huge change!
Again... dont judge my before! HAHA...it was pretty scary looking, I KNOW! :)
I wanted to go a different route with it, but once I got to the Container Store I realized there was no way I was going to spend huge bucks for all my container/bins to match.  They had some flour/sugar containers for $18.00 a piece! Nuts.  So I bought a couple cheap ones and scavenged through our tubs we had upstairs (from when we used them for toy storage).  Worked out ok :)

Ive already had to rearrange a few things ;)

coat closet make over

20 mintues and $12 well spent!
Our sad little coat closet gets pretty beat up and not very good attention.  But then I saw some amazing closets on Pinterest and decided ours needed some TLC! I wish we could do a lot more with it but since its under the stairs there's a big slant and not very good usable space {though it is the home of the roller coaster and the trampoline so we can still get those fun things out occasionally!}
Now, before you go and judge my before picture, know that this is seriously at its WORST! ;) But hey, its winter, where we have lots of extra bulky things; hats, coats, gloves, boots, etc! AND its hard keeping up with 3 mobile boys! {no, not talking about Ezra} haha.

coming soon...my pantry make over!! :)

laundry room

I just got new bins for our laundry room shelf...making it feel more complete! So I thought Id show you what it looks like now! Someday I want to paint it a fun color...but lets finish putting the blinds up in the house first ;)

play room ALMOST complete

here is a peek at our play room. a few things need to be done: some picture lables on the bins so the boys are better at putting the right toys in the right home, the desk needs moved over a bit to line up evenly with the shelf (but this pregnant mama wasnt going to try to move a thing!), some blinds, and a little better organizing on the shelf.  

reading corner

train table

blocks/tool bench

games/misc toys

bins

probably the cleanest this will ever be ;)

craft table

toys in their homes

cuties!

we're HOME!

and finally have the internet! (and a ridiculous amount of flies in our house!) We closed on our house Friday, August 5th, drove back to MI Sunday night to have our things packed and loaded Monday and Tuesday and then were back down here for delivery on Wednesday.  Thankfully we didnt have to wait long but I also was secretly wanting a little break.  Owen stayed that whole week in Kansas with Meme and Granddad and had a blast.  This morning he was asking Jonah what he drempt about.  Jonah replied "hum" and Owen translated that as "home" :) Then he said he drempt about being back in Kansas City but the rest was a secret. 
The boys seem to be transistioning well to the new house.  Neither of them seemed phased at all.  Right from the get go Jonah goes to bed for nap and night time so easily (almost easier than in our old house!) They love their new play area (pictures to come soon!) And Owen loves his new "red" room.  So thankful for Meme for painting his, Jonah's and the guest room!
We've met a few of our neighbors and are excited to see what kind of relationships God builds between us.  As soon as we knew we were moving to IN I started praying God would put us in the neighborhood and neighbors he desired :)
I am so anxious to get boxes unpacked and things organized.  We've gotten most of the downstairs done but have lots to do upstairs.  Hopefully before Baby comes because I really dont want to come home seeing unpacked boxes. 
Speaking of Baby, Im 35 weeks but measuring a week early (if that really means anything...)  And I think we've finally agreed on a name but wont officially name him until we see him :) 

God is faithful!!

Im still getting used to the fact that we have actually found a house! And even though we arent officially done with the process its still a HUGE relief off our shoulders to know God picked out the house just for us! 

We went down to Indy Saturday and I was certain we werent going to find anything.  I wasnt excited about the list of houses we were going to see and was not hopeful at all.  The first house on our to see list, I loved in the pictures and in person too (it even had a movie theater room!) BUT like they say, you win some, you loose some!  This house had a pond for a back yard and really no way to fence it or make it work for us so we scratched that one off our list.   (Not to mention while driving through that neighborhood there were SEVERAL other houses for sale/foreclosures...never a good sign!) We were on our way to see a house for the 2nd time but it was 1. out of our price range (and only been on the market a month so just assumed they wouldnt come down to what we'd want it for) and 2. they currently have renters in there so something about the taxes would make them ridiculous and even more out of our price range, so Caleb and I both agreed we'd just skip it and felt ok with that.  We then headed over to a house that was currently still being built but our realtor said we'd probably not like the layout, and she was right.  But while we were getting the key for that house the building company lady (that sounds real official eh?) said there was a 4 bedroom Bradly (the style we did like better) that was still being built if we wanted to go check it out.  So we did.  And we fell in love.  :)  We checked out a 3 bedroom Bradley that was finished to give us a better idea of what the house would look like complete, and we loved it even more!  Caleb and I prayed about it and both just felt at peace with the decision to make an offer.  It was listed out of our price range so we both agreed that if they wouldnt come down to what we wanted, we'd have to walk away and know that this wasnt the house God wanted for us (no matter how much we loved it!)  So we went to eat lunch, thought about it some more, prayed and came back to make the offer.  We made our offer, 99% sure they'd counter but they took it right away! When the 'building company lady' said "you got it!" we couldnt believe it! (neither could they!) Right then I just knew God was at work and that this was our home! I dont really know how else to describe how we knew it was the right choice for us :)  All along, I knew God would bring the right home, right neighborhood to us and He did!
Since then, Ive found out I know 2 people from my high school that live in the same neighborhood.  How crazy is that?! :)
House should be done middle of July so closing should come soon after! We are out of our current house July 31st.  Summer is going to be gone before we know it! (I cant really believe its already June 21st!!)

Thank you all who were praying for us along the way!  Our journey is not yet over as now my search is focused on a doctor, hospital, pediatrician and preschool for Owen :)  But I know that God is faithful and He'll direct us!