Before and After

Every decorating book I have thumbed through in the recent months has stated that PAINT in the single cheapest BEST improvement you can put on a house - how true.  Its a rental so lets not go over board, but check this out.  I bet you guys are thankful those fake flower survived the HOT texas attic

Before

After (really only 1.5 hours of labor, not bad right?)

The guest room downstairs - and your room if you want to visit... we removed the vertical blinds...  yuck right?  Painted the room Elephant Grey.  Barbara offered up some old material and her labor for some beautiful curtains and a room transformation.

The curtains are currently in the hemming process.

Here is a fun before and after story - before - kids running around the empty house crazy...  10 minutes later of the GMC Denali motor running and you have - AFTER.... 

I gave them an extra 10 minutes as I chatted with Elle about her trip stateside.  I cannot believe we traveled France shortly after new years and now we are planning a weekend in VA for March.  How lucky I am to have friends that travel!

So 10 minutes later and we are in the Restaration Harware outlet.  They have an 'outlet rack' rack of curtains.  I have several lined out - colors, Rod pocket, Grommet, 84, 96, 108...  colors, locations...  I need help!!  I phone a life line and THANKFULLY Chelcy answers.  Seriously, what do I do with these options.  Chelcy finishes her business call and immediately pulls up Restoration Hardware on her computer - so we are talking the same language.  Within minutes she has me focused on what I need to purchase.  Than she stops and says, what is the price you are looking at for these curatins?  I answer with $25-$40.  Her response - buy them all!!  o.k. maybe the wrong life line....  but here are the after photos of our family room. and boys rooms and yes, I may go back for more!

And now the purge

Last Tuesday a portion of our stuff was delivered to our TH - a small portion.  For the past 3 years its been stored up in our attic in Texas.  So if we haven't needed it in 3 years we surely don't 'need it'.... WRONG - a little.  Its the stuff that TOO hard to get rid of.  Which is why 5 year ago my mom purged it from her house to mine..... 

Its the old army uniforms, the newspapers from the rose bowl win, the handwritten letters from ROTC camp, Ranger school, Kosovo, Iraq.  The wedding cards.  The baby photos (OF ME!) What the heck do you do with this stuff!! 

Chris is addicted to the show 'hoarders' so I went into the purge with the mindset of - THROW IT ALL AWAY.  But as I read through the thoughtful written wedding congratulations I think, o.k.  I will keep this one... and this one.... and this one...  what the heck, lets put them all in a folder.  I will purge something else.

So I move to the box that has stored memories from my years at Michigan. Ticket stubs from concerts i had totally forgotten I attended. newspaper articles from the storied football season. Notes and birthday cards and friends, family and the most humorous - boyfriends. Just reading through everything (and yes, I read through it all) brought me back almost 100% to the days in college. NOTHING else can do this as I swear my memory gets worse every day. So now I am drudging through clipping here, pasting there and trying to put the one book together worth storing in some trunk that I will inevitably have to go through again (or my kids will with hopefully some form of nostalgia)

My folks keep just about everything.  I will prove it to you next month as they travel out here with a hanging lamp that my mom thought of while I was telling her there isn't any overhead lighting in the bedrooms.  Her exact comment was - I don't think I have seen it since Italy, but I'm sure we still have it....  of course they did! So does the new use for the light fixture justify its nearly 40 years of storage.  I guess maybe the picture will tell - stay tuned.

some of my favorite treasures so far -
rose bowl 1997-8 game AND parade ticket
Letter from Ryan Ehrler (never a boyfriend - just all around awesome guy) from Ranger School
Card from Diana after an interesting altercation (this card 'grounds me')
Letters from my sister while I was at camp - to include her graduation announcement as I missed it.
Deans list notice for college (yes, this is me bragging)
Copies of airline tickets to ROTC advanced camp - these hit the trash - pronto -
A letter from Rib saying the party they had Friday only required 1 keg and the person sleeping next to him was Vito
newspaper articles my folks saved from Kosovo as well as cards I had written

As my husband watched Rambo 2 (i cannot believe they made more of these horrible movies) I put them all in a scrap book and all the while I wondered the conversation my 3 boys would have when they stumble on this stuff.  Newspapers?  who prints this stuff?  Why would you write a letter?  Guess some things are worth keeping.

Time without stuff is time to enjoy right?

When does our stuff get here, who knows...  until than. lets enjoy these days.  We don't have a lot of 'stuff' and without stuff, there really isn't a lot of responsibility.  So we really just enjoy each other and what we have - foam blocks, a few race cars, books, walks to local parks, swim time and the gym (my savior). 

Chris's folks are a HUGE reason why this move is rather enjoyable.  From letting us tour around in their vehicle, fabulous meals and housing us quite wonderfully in their home - we are forever grateful in their relaxed hospitality.

But let me share a few photos of literally our final days in Germany - we (Rhett McDonough - THANK YOU) won a photo shoot with the creative services division of MC Dean.  She offered to meet us where ever so we choose our favorite playground in germany - the kliene gartner.  It was an overcast day and Shane won't smile...  but great memories just the same.

The fields behind us were covered, but i will rememeber them filed with asparagus, strawberries, wheat etc...

Nick is clearly a pro at this and the only one looking at the camera

At this point we are asking Shane if he intends to smile

His answer is no

O.k., maybe

I want to remember how simply Nick always smiled.  I also want to remember these boots.  He wore them EVERY DAY for months.  They were Tates and Niklaus taught him to criss-cross the velcro

My smiler

This tree house is literally built around a tree.  a place of many family memories - honestly, looking at this family photo, I cannot believe that it isn't a 10 minute walk anymore.  Gosh will we get back there?

Sweet baby Drew

Our efforts to make Shane smile caught on camera!

Drew was a bit easier

Shane is taking his big brother role VERY SERIOUSLY - this was my favorite photo by far.  He is almost cracking a smile - but I swear I see the big brother look in his face for the first time.

Now lets get them all in the picture -

And a few family photos  - wrap a ribbon around it and call it done - 3 years in Europe.  I cannot believe we packed up 3 years ago with just Nick - now we head home with Shane and Drew as well as some of the most amazing friends a family could ever ask for.  One of the things I remember thinking as we packed our bags for Germany was... the folks we would meet there would be open and friendly - I couldn't have been more right. 

Thank you to all those friends who welcomed us into your lives - we will never go away....  promise!

Here's hoping a few of us are in-laws someday - I mean, look at the cute dudes!  I must admit I have the cutest one =)

thanks to farrah

As an extension of our stay in California I have enjoyed waking up everyday and reliving it through Farrah's blog.  She took the time every day since we left to chronicle it all in detail.  I love it all and she remembers everything and records it so clearly.  I want to thank her for putting it all on paper (or what we call paper these days.... digits I guess) so please check it out.  What a labor of love and I thank you Farrah for doing recording our history

It starts here.

http://www.brianandfarrahmccullough.blogspot.com/2012/02/wednesday-january-25-they-arrive.html

More fun stuff

I was flipping through my photos and found a few great photos and events that I wanted to share.  First - Drew is rolling over - only bellie to back and its really a matter of swinging his rather large head - but he does it once and immediately wants to do it again.  He was a trooper through the travels and always a smiley baby.  I snuck in 2 fabulous naps with him while traveling.  Nothing beats waking up with a sweet baby dreaming away next to you.

This was open gym morning at the local gym.  It was a treat for Macy and Nick.  What a blast - I remember LOVING that as a kid and I think the kids enjoyed running, swinging, jumping.

Catch the dudes in action.  I love how nick runs without really moving his head.  So serious about moving fast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gkibi2XFKQ

Macy and I managed to sneak in a little girl time.  I mentioned painting nails to Macy and her eyes just lit up.  I had to do it as she kept asking.  A 2 year old really doesn't understand later!  I got to enjoy time with just her on MWF as Farrah took the boys to school.  She has such a sensitive serious personality.  She speaks deliberately (where Shane tends to just speak) and it takes effort to get a hug from her - I am proud to say I got a few.  Nick got more, but I got a few.

Thank you to Farrah for being 1 of 3 moms that volunteer at Tate's kindergarden.  Her dedication lead to Nick being able to attend for a few days.  It was half days so Nick was thrilled to be part of the crew and it was great to expose him to the American School system.  We over heard him asking Tate if they spoke German or English.  English, how easy!

Here they are celebrating 100 days of school - 1 for Nick, but 100 for everyone else...  ok, 99 for Tate (he missed friday and maybe a few others....)

Dont you just love these 2?

Packing up and heading home

It's been wonderful living in fantasy land for over 2 weeks. There were many times we were able to forget about
- the horrendous move (Although i did spend some time speaking with the NY attorney general)
- the outrageous landlord in Germany (Chris is still making calls to work with floor repair men & power spraying options to appease the random demands of our landlady)
- and the upcoming unpacking in Virginia.

Staying with Chelcy I learned that everything has a place. Staying with Farrah I learned that that place can be anywhere (the crockpot found it's place in the downstairs bathroom). Moving can be viewed as a time when you learn new functions for your old stuff (or your decide your old stuff is crap). I enjoyed seeing things in farrahs home that I remember in different locations in Germany. Makes me wonder how our stuff with end up.

Thank you to Chelcy and Farrah for opening your homes to your homeless friends. From indulging us on local cuisine to snuggling up on the couch together I am thankful that your homes can feel like our homes.



We are lucky to spend the remaining time 'in-between' with chris's folks. They are wonderfully accommodating for our family and I think they enjoy a bit of the commotion for now.

Tonight is a special bonus as Chris's brother's family will join us for 2 nights. Wyland is just returning from an almost 10 month deployment (almost unheard of for the marines) and we will enjoy time with their family. The Leadbetter house will be busting at the seams, but the time together is truly precious!


Macy, say 'what'. Miss you already!

A tradition continues

Our first family sleep over was January 2010 at the McCulloughs in Germany. The super bowl started at midnight and it took hefty toothpicks to keep ourbeyes open though halftime. In 2011 the McCulloughs slept at our house. Does anyone remember the embarrassing photo that Brian posted on FB of Farrah and I couch snoozing before half time? Well it's 2012 and time for a new time zone. The 3pm kick off was too easy. We saw the entire game, loved halftme (all with the kids) and managed to get hooked on The voice, the show after the game. We have come a long way!!


One of the many reasons why we love the McCulloughs, their shared love for Peyton manning;)