From Start to Finish!

Ken worked for three straight weeks to complete our bathroom, before our little "Pumpkin's" arrival. He did everything himself and can add "Bath Remodeler" to his long resume.

The plumbing complete and bath installed.

Tile surround complete.

While Maria picked out all the color combinations and fixtures, Ken did an excellent job installing everything and finishing the bath in record time. He worked to the wee hours of the morning, getting the bath done. He even put a new vanity light in and went the extra mile to make sure everything was just perfect.

A Kids Tub!

A new vanity light and cheery paint!

Ella is so happy to have her bathroom back and is so excited to have a bath tub. "Thank you Daddy, I love my new bathroom!"

A Bath in Progress!

While I prepare for "Pumpkin's" arrival and have been nesting (doing laundry, packing our hospital bag, cleaning house). Ken has taken the kids Jack and Jill bath and chosen this time to remodel. We knew when we purchased the house that we would want to change out the '70's yellow shower stall for a nice white tub for the kids. We've been using just one bathroom in the house (the upstairs master), but with "Pumpkin" on the way we definitely wanted the kids to have their own bath. Taking the now or never approach, Ken demolished the bathroom with Keegan's (Pearl's Dad, a Co-Worker of Ken's) help. Here's some before and after shots:

The guys did a great job demolishing, now comes the constructing. Stay tuned, as I post our progress through the month. Ken's project plan takes us, through September. However, he promises me and is working hard to have it done before our little "Pumpkin" arrives.

D-Day Approaches!

We officially took the house off the market, the beginning of the month. We had not had a showing in months and were no longer comfortable having it listed so close to Maria’s due date. We’ve hunkered down for Maria’s last trimester and are looking forward to the birth of our little “Pumpkin.” His room is ready and waiting:

We are trying to take advantage of any quiet/free time we have, spending some extra quality time with Ella. We celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary with Ella, as Ken surprised us with a weekend downtown at the Francis Marion Hotel. We enjoyed a fun filled and much needed weekend away. We took in the sights, sounds, and tastes of downtown and found a couple new restaurants to be sure to share with our future visitors.

We had a heart wrenching decision this month, as we decided to place one of our Cavaliers. We have always been seeking the right home for Chance, but had yet to find what we were looking for. Just a few weeks ago, we were approached by a wonderful women and historically prominent family in the Cavalier breed, who has proved to be an excellent home for Chance. Chance now lives the retired life in New York, where he can receive one-one attention he has always craved and desired. We hope to see Chance in the coming months, as his new owners have a home on Folly Beach, not to far from us. Here’s Chance on his last day, with one of his new owners:

A Season for Change!

Amazing news to share, as we are so excited to report we are expecting our second child in October 2008. We are so thrilled at this new little miracle growing and look forward to meeting him or her. Ella is also just thrilled and very excited to be a big sister!

You can see and learn more about our "Pumpkin" baby at

http://swiftpumpkin.blogspot.com/

In addition, to our new addition.....Our house is For Sale.

Ken's commute and travel schedule, plus all of Ella and Maria's activities & friends outside of Summerville, keep us in the car for countless hours during the week. Unfortanatly, there is not a lot of activities and opportunities for Maria and Ella closer to the house. So, we will be moving. Ken will definitely be continuing his job with Blackbaud, so we will be weighing our options on where our next move will take us. We have some time though, as the housing market has slowed a bit. We just hope to be settled by the time our little "Pumpkin" arrives.

We continue to rent our houses we own in Colorado. We have some wonderful tenants in both our Colorado Springs and Parker homes. They are both on 2 year lease options, so we have high hopes to sell the houses once the market turns in a couple years.

Spring Creek (Colorado Springs)

Pinery (Parker)

In the mean time, we are enjoying all our time in South Carolina. We thoroughly enjoy our weekends at the beach, the downtown farmers market & shops, the many year round activities Charleston has to offer, or just sitting by our swimming pool, working in the yard/garden, and playing on the porches.

The Garden & Stairs

When we moved in there was no stair rail (remember our house was an old milking barn). This was a huge safety concern for Ella, so we immediately sought after a handyman to install a custom stair rail for us. Five weeks later and we finally have our stair rail in and Ella can now safely walk up and down the stairs (with our watchful eyes and arms ready to catch her). We still have to paint it, but at least the rail is up. I’ll post pictures of the painted railing, next blog.

This week we were lucky enough to have Ken’s parents visit, as we took on some fun outdoor projects. We’ve decided to take advantage of our extra acreage by creating a garden area. We’re starting out small, as Ken and his Dad put together two 4x8 garden beds. We’re hoping the garden will do well and we’ll look at expanding later, as we become more experienced gardeners.We're really hoping to be able to eventually grow all our own vegetables to sustain us through most of the year. Here are a couple photos of our raised garden beds taking shape….

Check back in a few months as we report how our garden grows.

Ken’s Mom was also wonderful, helping Maria pull all the weeds and overgrowth in the front planting beds and walkway. They spent two solid days working on the beds, laying landscape fabric, planting some perennials and annuals, and putting down come nice natural mulch. The beds look wonderful and Maria looks forward to watching the flowers bloom and planting even more in her newly defined planting beds. The new flowers really make the outside of our house feel like home.

Thank you so much to Mom and Dad, we know it wasn’t easy working in the sweltering heat, at a heat index of 100+ degrees and temperatures of 95+ and it didn’t let up. They were great sports and really helped us get a handle on our garden and yard work.

Well, we closed on the house in Summerville on Friday, May 25th and it’s been non stop since. We took the weekend after closing to finish packing, move Ella’s toys to the new house, and clean up the disaster that was left behind from the Seller. The new house was filthy and although I called a cleaning crew out to attempt a good scrub of the home, apparently their idea of clean and mine were very different. At least, we finally have a home again to call our own:

Home

We were extremely lucky to have my Mom volunteer her time to come out and help with the move and Ella. My Mom was paramount in making this move so easy and manageable with a toddler. She kept Ella entertained when I was too busy unpacking boxes, mowing the yard, or cleaning and Ken was working. My Mom was even able to put her great designing skills to use and helped me make our house feel like home, putting some nice finishing touches in the house. We are so thankful for all her time and energy!

Family Room

Dining Room

Our greatest pleasure within the home is definitely the kitchen. We finally have a wonderful pantry, where I can see all our canned and boxed goods. No more searching around when making the grocery list. Ken laughed and said I made our pantry look like something out of a model home, personally I think it’s very functional.

Pantry

The kitchen island and overall kitchen design is extremely functional. The only changes we would like to see in the future is maybe stainless appliances and a gas stove, but that’s on the bottom of our list for now. I enjoy being able to look out at the pool when doing the dishes and talking to Ken when he’s at the desk, or even watching Ella while in the large Great Room. I couldn’t have asked for a better design for our family.

Kitchen


Desk

We knew we would have a few projects to complete immediately, when we purchased the home. The first of course was a pool fence for Ella and the fur kids. We had a 5ft mesh, “Guardian” removable fence installed just this past weekend. The fence is extremely secure and it doesn’t distort the view of the pool. If anything, I think it made the swimming pool look even larger.

Pool and Fence

We also have a wonderful covered screen porch off of the dining area, which needed some attention. The carpet was stained, dirty and was just an extremely dull dark grey. So, this became our first major home project. We went to Lowes and managed to fit the 12 x 26 ft roll of carpet in the Minivan and Ken spent Saturday evening tearing off the old gray stuff….


Sunday I helped him lay down the adhesive and lay the carpet. A bit of trimming

and we were done. A good weekend project for both of us, which helped break us into our homeownership role again. Here’s the new carpet all done, just has to dry for 24 hours……


We’ll be purchasing a nice all weather wicker set and putting some of Ella’s outdoor play gear out there for all of us to enjoy our screened in porch.

Stay tuned as we take on our next home project……

Let's Do It Again!!!!

Wouldn't you know it....as soon as we start to get all settled into our new home, we may be moving again. Ken and I decided to start house hunting and just fell in love with house in nearby Summerville (35 minutes from Ken's work). The house started out as a milking barn at what was once a large dairy farm owned by the daugther of an old plantation family and her husband. In 1975 it was purchased and turned into a family home. After 5 owners and many poor renovations, it was purchased by an interior designer. Here are the before and after photos of the exterior rennovation:

She completly gutted the interior and removed both the front porch and the back shed porch. She replaced all the doors and windows - doubling the windows on the first floor and adding an eight foot french door wall to the new back porch. Retaining the old, cottage flavor there are wood floors throughout the main level. There are old beams still in place and stand out beautifully between the washed beadboard. It has a very large and open floor plan plus and oversized granite island for serving and teaching Ella how to cook. Oh, did we forget to mention that the house is located on 1.6 acres and has a pool, screened porch and deck. We couldn't pass up the opportunity, as the price was just right in this outrageous market. We just put in an offer, so wish us luck!

Here are a couple photos of the interior:

Great Room

Kitchen

Pool

Hopefully, we'll be seeing you all in our new home soon!