flip flop, part 2

so you'll remember that last week the flip house (sometimes we call it the bungalow in fond remembrance of our first tiny basement apartment together) looked like this:

one week later and a lot of hard work on the hubs' part, it looks like this: (that's him up on the roof, don't worry, he's a pro.)

it may be the gorgeous people standing in front, but i think the place is starting to look TONS better! (also, it may be hard to tell in this picture but they are each holding a toy tool from little c.'s tool box. he brought it to help daddy work.)

just doing his part!

i'll see you at home

this is one determined young man. and yes, that corn dog is roughly the size of his head. this was taken at the state fair on monday.

i was thinking about what to write about our experience at the fair, and what pictures to put along with the post. (the only pictures i got were of the kids eating their corn dogs.) i thought about all the fun little day trips we've taken with the kids this summer, sometimes impromptu and sometimes an outline of a plan in place.  each trip has had its own unexpected turn, its own small adventure, with some good music and snacks thrown in.

but other than that all of them have had something else in common. no matter how much fun we had i was always excited to get home.

when we reached the point in each trip where someone said, "let's go home," or "it's time to head home," i felt a little thrill of happiness.

i have a home.

and it's with these people.

how lucky can one girl be?

dorothy was so right. i'm going to print out that line and cross-stitch it or something. and then frame it. there really is no place like home.

flip flop flim flam

the hubs and his family have purchased a house to flip. boy, is it in need of some t.l.c. but we can  see the potential:

the porch that was closed in will be turned back into a real porch. the fake ugly stone will be gone. hooray.

a whole new kitchen please. thank you.

look at this beauty of a front door! imagine it all sanded down and re-finished! (or if i can persuade everyone, maybe we could paint it some delightful hue.)

please don't gag when you see the only part of the bathroom i could safely show you:

whaddya think? imagine with me restored hard wood floors, repainted moldings and original doors, maybe some nice historically accurate subway tiles in the bathroom? it's going to be nice, right? right?

you and i

today, may 16th, nate and i have been married for seven years. this is our favorite engagement picture--  the one we keep on our wall to remind us that we were once blissfully, can't-keep-hands-off-each-other, enchantedly in love with each other. 

of course seven years, two kids, and tons of problems later, we are different people. and we love each other differently now. neither one of us could've guessed that the shadow of depression was already falling over our lives, or how that would affect the next seven years. it's been a tremendous seven years, full of many hard, hard times, and i'm glad that he stuck with me.

i guess jeff tweedy kind of summed up the way i feel about how we stand now,

you and i, we might be strangers

however close we get sometimes

it's like we never met.

but you and i, i think we can take it

all the good with the bad,

make something that no one else has

but you and i

from song "you and i" on the new wilco album

happy anniversary, honey. however hard it's been, i'm glad you chose me and i chose you on that day. i can't imagine a better father for my kids, or a more patient and hardworking husband. and let's face it, sometimes you just crack me up. let's keep choosing each other, ok?