A Redo and A Recipe

Now that most of the yardwork is done and we are going to have some significant rain for the remainder of this week, we (more like I) decided that it was a great time to redo the kitchen. We have lived in this house for about 2 1/2 years and have done quiet a bit (from taking down wallpaper, painting every room in the house, to completely finishing the basement) I have searched and searched for what to do in the kitchen (colors, organizing, to creating more storage) I knew I wanted a red kitchen and so we painted that as soon as we moved in. But that is all we have done in the kitchen. Then I came across the black table and chair set that I now have in the eating area. With that my ideas started kicking :) That is when I came across this plate...

And with this plate came the inspiration for my redo. I really like the luxurious look of damask. Plus it goes so well with my red walls (and I am not about to paint those things again)

So here are some pictures of how my kitchen looks right now...

Currently this is just a plain ol red wall. My plan is to do a sort of "grid" effect with pictures. I have a ton a pictures of the kids so I am going to try to choose my faves and frame them in black frames.


Again this is just a plain area. My plan is to put window treatments up. I am tossing around ideas here. I really do not know what to do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I also plan to change the light fixture. I have a fixture that I think will work here, but I am going to wait until I choose the hardware for the cabinets before I make a purchase.



The cabinets...the color of them is not my favorite at all. We have lovingly termed these cabinets "the builder's special" because I think that every house in our neighborhood has them. They are great cabinets, but I just don't care for the color. So we are sanding them down, priming them, and painting them white.


The florescent light...It. Must. Go. and it will...once I decide on the light in the eat in area I will get something complimentary to replace this light.


More cabinets...I did not realize how cluttered my kitchen was until I looked at this picture...ick...I will be changing that (I don't think the fridge could hold one more thing on it) haha! I am also trying to decide how to decorate the top of the cabinets. I have lots a silver peices that I could use here, or I could go with an entirely different style. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated here.

So there are my redo plans...let me know what you think!

With all this yardwork and house work I am so glad that I made the freezer meals! Boy those things have really come in handy. The other night I made the Chicken Tetrazini and it was a hit! Madeline really liked it (but of course that kid will eat anything!) I served it with salad and bread. Next time I think I will add some english peas just to have more green. Here is the recipe (ENJOY!)

Chicken Tetrazini
12 oz medium egg noodles, cooked and drained
4 chicken breasts, boiled, deboned, chopped
8 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
2 cans cream of chicken soup*
1 pint of sour cream*
parmesan cheese

*I use fat free and reduced fat products and that worked great in this recipe
Mix all ingredients, except cheese, together. Pour into 2 casserole dishes. Cover tightly and freeze.
To cook: thaw completely, sprinkle parmesan cheese on top, and bake on 350 for 45 minutes or until bubbly.
This dish was so yummy and I still have a whole other one in the freezer.

Enjoy the recipe and leave me some ideas for the redo :)

Jessica

Working in the Yard

So what do you do when you have been away from home for 13 months???? Why yard work of course :) Jason loves to be outside and loves working in the yard even more...unfortunately I do not share that passion, but I try :) For the past 2 days we (yes all 4 of us) have put on our gloves and pulled out our gardening tools. I revamped the planters on the deck and the planter around the mailbox. I am trying out a new flower (maybe I won't kill it) haha. Jason trimmed the bushes and trees. We pulled up some randomly placed shrubs and replaced them with hydrangeas. This was the kids favorite part. Jack loved pulling up the shrubs. After the shrubs were out both kids went digging for earthworms...all I could think was YUCK! but they loved it :)


Madeline "helping" with the yard work.


Jack digging holes for the flowers.


Madeline's earthworm


Jack's earthworm


Jack helping Jason pull up the random shrubbery.


Taking a ride after a long work day.


Gotta love that muddy face...I caught Madeline eating her mud pie...yep eating it :)

So you may be wondering how things are going...well we are all still trying to adjust. The kids will not let Jason out of their sight at all. We are having to constantly reassure them that daddy is here to stay. This has been particularly hard on me. It hurts me that my babies even have to think like that. Just the other night, Jason was changing into his pj's and Jack asked him what he was doing. Jason said "daddy is changing clothes" Jack said "are you staying here daddy?" to which Jason replied yes and gave him reassurance that daddy was not going anywhere. Jack cried and said "oh yay my daddy is not going anywhere." I had to walk out of the room. Part of me wanted to be angry that a 4 year old even has these thoughts while the other part of me wanted to cry. This is just one example of the struggles and adjustments that we are experiencing. We are just trusting our gut about how to handle these new struggles and praying about it a lot. This is all new to us.

Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures. I need to get back to the yard work...or at least make sure Madeline is not eating more mud (you know I don't want her to spoil her dinner

Jessica

Our Homecoming

As promised here are the pictures from our homecoming. We were truely blown away by all the wonderful friends, family, church family, and terrific neighbors who took part in making it so special. The entire neighborhood was lined with posters welcoming Jason and thanking him for serving. It was also lined with balloons and flags. Then as we topped the hill to our house we were even more suprised. The yard and cul de sac was full of wonderful friends and family all waving flags. The yard, house, and trees were covered with yellow bows, signs, banners, and flags. Everyone did such a great job decorating :)


What more is there to say except Welcome Home!


The walk to the front door was lined with posters and flags.





Banner hanging over the garage.


Our house all decorated.


Jackson with my mom.


Everyone waiting on us to arrive.


My little Jack...can't you just see the excitement in his face :)


We are so thankful for all the people waiting to welcome Jason home!


Jack and Madeline waiting on daddy to get home.


Jack took off running to the car as soon as he spotted us! He was so excited to see his daddy!


Madeline giving her daddy some sweet kisses. It took her a minute to realize what was going on, but as soon as we moved inside the house she held on tight to her daddy and has not let go yet :)


Jackson has not stopped smiling since we got home. He also has not quit talking. :)


Jason giving his dad and brother a hug.


Jason giving his mom a hug.


Talking with our great neighbors. Thank you guys for getting our mail and watching the house while we were gone! Thank you also Jill for decorating the neighborhood and house! Don't know what I would do without great neighbors!


Allison and me


Jennifer, Madeline and me


Baby Jack, Jess Kadle, me, Jami, and Chase...Kadle and Jami, thank you just does not seem adequate, but THANK YOU for all your attention to detail! The house and yard looked great and our supper was terrific!


My family!


Jason with his mom and Jack.


Jason with his dad and Jack.


Our family! Thank you guys for helping me so much throughout this year and for taking such wonderful care of the kids so that Jason and I could have some time together. I love you all!


Ok this picture may seem strange, but I had to share it. When I walked into my kitchen and I saw the table set for 4 people, I cried. It has been 13 months since there was 4 table settings. I could not hold back the tears...it is the little moments (like having 4 plates at the table) that make me appreciate so much.


How sweet is this picture?!?


Sweet moments of Jason with the kids.





The kids gave Jason lots of suprises :) They made him a cake (from scratch) and gave him a book that said To our hero!

Hope you enjoy all the pictures. There are a lot of pictures from our homecoming so it was hard to narrow it down :)
We are all trying to adjust to having Jason at home. After Jason's first deployment, it seems like we were able to get back into the groove a lot easier and quicker than we have been this time. I wonder if it is because we have kids this time, or because it is our 2nd time, or if I am still trying to recover from the exhaustion of this past week (and all the emotions that entails) I am sure it is a combination of all those things. We are just trying to take things slowly right now. Jason has sometime before he has to return to work and I am so thankful for that because it is going to take a while for all of us to adjust. We did make it to church this morning and that was great. I shed a few tears. It has been so long since I have had my whole family in church. Again it is the little moments that make me appreciate so much (like when Jason put his arm around me during church) I hope that I never again take those moments for granted.

Well, I must go for now...the family is waiting on me to go to the store...time to do some yard work :)

Jessica

Our Time at the Ft.

Hey everyone! Sorry there has not been much time for a big update...I did want to let everyone know that we made it in last night (Thursday) around 6:30. We were absolutely blown away by our welcoming! I am going to blog about that (of course) with all the pictures, but before I do that blog, I wanted to share a few pictures of our time at Ft. Stewart


I just love having my hubby home!





One of our nights, us wives decided that we wanted to cook a steak dinner complete with all the fixings and a cake for our hubby's. The men loved this SO much. I think Jason enjoyed grilling as much as he did eating the steak. He said it was so relaxing to grill and made him feel normal :)


We tried to decorate the hotel patio area as best we could. We found some cute things at a local dollar store and made use out of the fruit from breakfast buffet.


Our last night at Ft. Stewart, our hubby's treated us to a night out in Savannah, complete with dinner at The Lady & Sons. You know that this was right up my alley :) It was so much fun finally getting to eat there...the only thing missing was Aimee (but I did share with anyone who would listen about us being on the show!) haha





Our group (The Harmon's, The McConnell's, The Wade's, The D'Agostin's and us) It was a lot of fun to go with a big group!








Goofing off with Cooley on our last day...this girl was a hoot!


Group shot


Angela, me, and Kim waiting...waiting...and waiting some more...we were so ready to get out of there and go home.


My hubby and me.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of our time over the past week. Check back in the next day or two for the homecoming pictures.

Jessica