The Mural Room

When I was pregnant with Austin, Mike decided he wanted to know if the baby was a boy or girl. He wanted to paint a special room for the baby. We found out that Austin was going to be a boy. It didn't take long for Mike to start sketching out his ideas.

Mike worked really hard on this room. I remember being on complete bed rest in May and as I would be heading towards the bathroom, I would peek in to see how the progress was coming. I was always pleased.

Recently, Adam had started to ask if he could have the room painted. I could not bring myself to paint over the hard work that Mike put into the beautiful walls.






Some of the pictures were resembling different parts of our lives (or a a life of someone in the family)
A pick up truck. My Dad has a pick up truck (but what little boys doesn't love pick ups?)

playground equipment.
A big truck. I think this is suppose to represent the truck that Mike drove at the ice company through his College years.

A fun race car.
The sun :)
Mike's dad had a motorcycle.
Tornado slide
swings
slide
Mike's mom's first car was a VW bug (The door has her initials SJG --maiden)
Who doesn't love a hot air balloon
My Dad was driving a dump truck at the time (the door has his initials GEK)
Sand box
Slide

School bus that says Harrisonburg City Schools (the system that Mike works in)
Fun helicopter
Playground equipment

I loved this room for 10 years. The boys have out grown the mural, but now I have the pictures to remember this wonderful room by. I am glad that my baby boys had this fun room to stay in while they were little.

Adam's Thoughts

The other day we were headed to church. The boys were in the back seat, unusually quiet. All of the sudden Adam pipes up and asks, "Where do ticks go in winter?"

I have to honestly say that I have never, ever thought of this question. But that is exactly how his mind works.

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The other week I had to take Adam to piano lessons. That is usually Mike's "job". During the lesson he started to ask questions about how the piano worked, and what it looked like inside. His piano teacher is a wonderful lady, who promised that if he did his lesson she would open the piano for him. She followed through. He loved seeing the works and when she played, he was fascinated at the works moving.

He loves to see how things work, and I'm glad Diane is willing to work with him in this way.
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One evening this week, I walked down the street to get our mail. Adam was riding his bike with me. He was, of course, a step or two ahead of me. He stopped and was looking at a rock wall in the front of the house across the street. He had found some cocoons hanging on the rocks. One caterpillar was in a J, 2 had hatched, and 2 were in their cocoons. He was so excited about this. He wanted to do an experiment. He took something fluffy, and tried to tickle the one in a J.

This was very much "up his alley." This is just an example of how Adam's mind works.

Good-bye house

Mike and I bought our first home right before we got married 12 years ago. In the past 12 years we have had lots of memories form in this house. It served us well, but it was time to move on...

This was our living room. I remember bringing Austin home from the hospital and asking Mike, "what do we do with a baby?" Then when we brought Adam home at 2 days old, I asked Mike, "What do you do with a 2 day old baby?" I had barely held Austin at that point, I really did not know!


The hallway to the bedrooms and bathroom. What beautiful floors!

Austin's room.

This was the first time he was able to make choices like wall color. Orange would not have been my choice, but he liked it.

This was Adam's room.

This room was the nursery.

Mike drew and painted all the pictures.

Adam had been asking to repaint the room recently. I could not bring myself to do this


I loved this room. I will do a longer post on this room later.

Basement rec room. (Where we had our guest "room")

This was a great room to play in for the boys (Mike included). It was a great place for Mike and I to watch movies after the boys were in bed. Our "in home" date nights.

Our dining room.

Our kitchen. I prepared many meals in this kitchen. Some were GREAT, some were...not so great.

It was a nice kitchen.

Mike installed these cabinets for me when Adam was a few months old. They looked really close to the ones that were installed already. It was great to have the extra space.

We added this sign for the new owners.


We have many great" memories in this home. It was a wonderful home to start our family in. Now it is time to say, "Good-Bye." It is time for this house to be a great home for a new young family.

Catching Up

It has been a while since I posted. There has been quite a bit going on. I thought I would take time today to just say a few things that are in progress at our house.

Three weeks ago, Mike started back for work week. I had applied to several positions in the City school system. I hadn't heard anything. I had interviewed for one position, but did not get that position. I had decided that it was likely that I would work at the preschool again. Maybe, since that is only a part-time job, I could pick up some hours doing something else. I was thinking that I was ready to go back to work full-time.

Wednesday of that week I had breakfast with a lady from church. I had agreed to help with the Christmas program activities. We met in order to go over some details. While at breakfast, I got a phone call. It was from the City school board office. They were calling to offer me a position. (I had still been watching the job board and had not seen this one posted.) They wanted me to work as a preschool assistant. (that is actually what I was hoping for!) Of course, I accepted the position. I asked them when they wanted me to start working. He said he would check and call me back. He called me back at 9:30 and said, "Could you be there at 10?" "Sure!" I called my dad right away and asked, "Do you have any plans today? I just got a job and I need you to keep the boys until 3. Oh, and do you have plans the rest of the week? No? How about hanging out with some boys?"

That Sunday, the day before school started, Adam did not feel well. He was running a fever before church and complained of a stomach ache. He felt so bad that he could not walk upright, in fact he laid on the couch all curled up. I started to worry that it could be very serious. After church I went home to find him feeling better. However, that evening his fever went to 103.3! I was quite concerned. I called the "on call" pediatrician, I told him the symptoms. He said that there was something going around to give him fever reducer, and if the fever did not go down, take him to the ER. I was so glad to see his temp go to 101! He missed the first day of 2nd grade. Then Tuesday, I was having some trouble keeping his temp down. I took him to the Dr. I was thankful that I was able to see the Dr. that I talked to on Sunday evening. He came in the room to find Adam asleep on the table. The Dr. said, "I remember talking to you on Sunday evening. I have read what you told the nurse. I had in my mind what I was going to find when I came in this room. He is much sicker looking than I thought he would be!" He ran several tests (really I don't think he even told me all that he was testing for He m--he didn't want me to worry)Everything came back fine. He just had a REALLY bad virus! Adam missed the next day of school, then things started to turn around. He started school on Thursday.

School is going well for all of us. It has been an adjustment. In addition to all of these changes, we are trying to get things moved from one house to another. We were lucky enough to get early possession of the place, so moving and cleaning are in full gear. It is a busy time.