Firefighter Eve

I just love Bloomington and all the great opportunities and activities for families. Already this week we enjoyed Strawberry Shortcake Festival on the Square, had playtime at the Banneker Center and then tonight went to family night at the SRSC (IU student sports center). They host a family night once a month and this month had a safety theme. The kids got to see a fire truck and police car up close.

Firefighter Holly showed us all about fire safety. It was pretty basic, but good for the kids to see up-close a dressed fire fighter. At the end of the talk, they had the kids crawl out the back of the "house" and out the window to the firefighter. Deacon was adorable during the talk, he was able to answer all the questions about what to do if there was a fire. He even knew to "stop, drop, and roll"! Rebekah told the firefighter that she looked like a pig when she put on the gas mask :)

I just thought these were adorable pictures of Eve! She loved the hat!

basement is ready for guests! come and visit!

Alright all you family and friends out there: if you don't already live in Bloomington, we want to have you come and visit us! We miss you all and would love to have you over. Bloomington is a beautiful place and right now we have our lovely tulips in full bloom.

If these blooming flowers have got you excited about visiting, then you will be very impressed with the new bathroom/sleeping area for our guests. Randy has worked hard the last 3+ years (with a little help from me and lots of help from some great friends and family) at finishing the basement. It now has a full bathroom.

A barn (with some butterflies and flowers coming soon to the walls)

Lots of room for toys!

Comfy area for watching TV and a bed in the Cardinal's corner!

And we can't forget about the great IU corner. (yes, there are multiple themes in the one large room)

I do have to say that Randy is pretty amazing! And we really would like to have some more guests over to see us!

bye-bye tv

Last Saturday our neighborhood had a porch sale and we decided to put out our tv and tv stand up for sale. For some time we have been thinking and talking about becoming a one tv family with the tv in the basement and getting rid of the one in the main floor living room. And we did it! A nice older man purchased the tv for $20 and a young lady took the stand for a big $6! In all, we made $165 at the sale, not too bad! The next question then is how do we rearrange the furniture in the living room? I actually had no idea what to do, but felt it was just very messy looking. This really is not my area of expertise, so I am really impressed with how it turned out.
Up top is a picture of the room looking towards the front door. The tv was in the left side corner and the benches are in the room because I had used them to display stuff at the garage sale.

Here is the other side of the room. The first thing that you usually notice about the room is the large bin of toys and stacks of books.

Here are some after pictures! I originally thought that I would need to go out and buy some more furniture. Randy then reminded me (nicely of course) that we are trying to save money to some day add on to the back of the house. So, I am happy to say, all I spent was $35 on the 4 ottomans. The two larger ottomans also serve as shoe hiders for the girls!

The room looks so much bigger and welcoming. I love the fact that there is a place for books instead of the floor and that the toys have there own corner on the other side of the couch. Also notice my great location for hiding the diapers and wipes! The only thing I think we could still use is a chair next to the bookshelf. I am going to keep my eyes open for any deals or garage sales.

Maggie seems to like the new room layout too!