Busy Busy Busy!

So here we are a month after my last post, and I figured it was about time I put up another! Whew, this blogging thing is hard work! And speaking of hard work, that's pretty much all that's been going on this summer at the Rhea house. Here's an update on all that's happened; I'll do my best to be brief. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Go ahead and get comfortable. Hey, stay put and read on and I'll reward you with pictures when it's over!

Anywho, first off we have Ace and Sophie's first PROFESSIONAL photo session to talk about. It was awesome! We went to Newsom's Photography in Detroit, who's amazing by the way, and Melanie spent about an hour snapping pictures of the kids wearing two different outfits in various poses. They're so cute, you guys. Wait 'til you see them. And they look great hanging in the house, too. These are pictures I'll keep and treasure forever.

Moving on to our home improvement projects. First up is Sophie's room. Joe painted her a beautiful mural complete with rolling hills, heart-shaped sunset, and a field of flowers. It's so pretty. And then I chose a lavendar color for her other three walls. And I just haven't been happy with the wall color. To me a nursery should be a place where you walk in and instantly release a sigh of contentment, full of love and dreaminess. And I just wasn't feelin' the love there. The purple walls felt dark, and sort of sad to me. And this bothered me. I was so in love with Aidan's nursery, and so much at peace when I was in there with him, that to feel anything less in Sophia's room was truly traumatic for me. So I redid it. I kept her mural, but repainted the walls a sunny yellow color on the bottom, and a pink balloon color on top with a wallpaper border in between to break it up. And the border's perfect. It's got flowers, butterflies, ladybugs, bumblebees...in case you didn't know we did a springy garden theme for her. And I love it now. I smile every time I walk in, even if it's to change a poopy diaper!

As for the rest of the house, we've taken on two very large projects all at once, a mistake we won't make again. It's turned out alright, though. We've been painting the exterior of the house on the days it doesn't rain, and on the days it does we lay our new laminate flooring! And we're almost done with both now. The outside needs one more coat on the trim, and then we'll paint the door and shutters a dark blue color. I think it'll be pretty. And Larr's about 3/4 the way done with the floor, too. I'm not even gonna pretend that I have anything to do with that. Beyond handing him the wood and any tool he may need, I'm pretty useless. Too much measureing and cutting. But it's beautiful. We're putting it in the living room, kitchen, and hallway, and it makes the house look so clean, big, and bright. I love it. The kids are diggin' it, too. Ace's trucks can go super fast on the new floor, and Sophie can now access pretty much any room in the house via her walker on the nice smooth surface.

Well, I guess that's about all for now. I'll try to post more frequently so as not to burden you all with a novella just so you can get to what we all know you REALLY want...the pictures!! So here they are. Enjoy!