32 Rocks

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 32. Although I almost forgot it was my birthday it turned out pretty good. Marc called me from work and asked "What do you want to do for your birthday?"
"Well, remember that little town we drove through last Saturday?" Me
"Yes." Marc
"I want to go back and go through that house!" Me
"Seriously?" Marc
"Seriously." Me
"That is what you want to do for your birthday? You want to break into a house?" Marc
"Uh huh." Me
"Okay- it's your day!" Marc

Now we weren't really breaking in. I called our Realtor. It's just an inside joke. Kind of. So, after Marc got off of work we loaded the kids in the car and took a drive. When we arrived my heart starting racing so fast I thought it was going to come out of my chest. She was even more remarkable than she was the first time we saw her.


This 1875 Victorian sits proudly up on a small hill overlooking the town center. Just to give you an idea just how massive this Grand 'Ol Gal is- in the picture below in the far right you will see our van. This house is crazy big! All three stories of her.

Okay, let's go back around to the front again. Isn't she stunning?!?!

Unfortunately, as you can see, the windows have been replaced. Good for efficiency- bad for character. I'm wondering if any of the original windows has stain glass? Hmmmm

Well, let's go up on the porch, shall we?

The warm sun is low in the sky. The rays are shining through the trees and casting a thousand tiny crystals across the face of the house. There is a scent of Jasmine in the air and you can hear the birds chirping in the trees.

Let's ring the doorbell...........

Hmmm...no answer. Well, we'll just go on in anyway..........

And I thought my heart was racing fast before! I walked in and saw this foyer and my chest literally hurt, tears filled my eyes...........I was in disbelief. I have wanted an old home since I was probably 12 years old. Whenever I saw it in my dreams, this is the foyer I saw.

You can go straight through a wide hallway to the kitchen. Turn right into the living room...

Or turn left into a small living room/parlor............

We'll go left first.......

A fireplace. The wall clear around the fireplace showed signs of heavy plaster patching. I am wondering if there was some ornate mantle there at one time.

The window on the front of the house is new, but the one on the side is original.....

The house has fantastic natural light in every. single. room.

Now, let's go back into the foyer and check out the living room now. Are you ready for this?....

Rounded baseboards equals..............

ROUNDED ROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!! This picture does not do it justice. The sun was so bright and I was having such a hard time with my camera. The ceilings in this house are 10 feet high- 1st and 2nd floor. The windows are massive and there are lots of them. Makes taking pictures difficult.

And what is this I see???

Oh Yes! My friends.................we have pocket doors!!! 4 on the first floor and they all work perfectly.................other than being IN-CRED-IBLY heavy.

And yet another fireplace with a weird little mantle. Very pretty just the same.

It has these cute little grates in it...............

And all the accessories..............

Next up is the dining room............

Now you know I HAD to find a loose corner and yank up the carpet to see what was underneath! The floors appear to be in good shape!

Get a load of those baseboards! Kyle looks teeny in this picture.

To put this into perspective I put my foot up in front of the baseboards. Yes, I sat on the floor of a foreclosed home. In all of it's 1970's brown sculptured carpeting glory. Gross, I know. I took one for the team........I sacraficed for my blog. It had to be done. I wear a size 8 to 8 1/2. When I got home I measured..............10 inch baseboards!

But that isn't the best part.............

OH! The window seat surrounded by built-in china cabinets on either side! They fit flush with the wall because of the bump-out on the side of the house. Can I tell you how many times my heart stopped and how many times I squealed while going through this house!?!?!?

Now, behind the kitchen is this very strange half bath. An old stairway perhaps??

And then we have the very modest but still extremely adorable kitchen......

With bead board on the walls.............

Cabinets that were built-in and painted a cute blue and white.........

Original window above the sink allows a lot of light! Off the kitchen is another pass through room that takes you to the bathroom, dining room.............

And this very large room in the rear of the house.............

It has several huge picture windows, double french doors, and this fun window leading into the mud room..............

The kids entertained themselves here for quite awhile playing McDonald's Drive-thru!!

The mud room/laundry room isn't anything spectacular but it is spectacular to have a first floor laundry room in a house this age...............

It could be a fun little space to decorate. Black and white checkerboard floor, pale yellow walls...

Headed back into the kitchen from the mud room- a dutch door! How AHHH-DORABLE is that??

Next we go upstairs.............

But you will have to wait until next time. Sorry. This house is just too big to tour it all in one post! Tomorrow we will go upstairs. And Friday I think we should take a drive through this historic little town. I will even tell you about the famous people who have lived here and a little more history on the Village. Does that sound good? Go charge your cameras..............there's lots to see! As for me, I have to try again to reach the Historical Society............I want to know who built this Gorgeous Gal!

Until Tomorrow!

~Heather:)

A Picture Perfect Weekend

Yes, I know it is now Thursday and I am way behind. But.......better late than never, right?
We had a fantastic weekend. The first weekend that belonged (almost completely) to us in over three months. I snapped over 1,500 pictures in two days. Yup! You read right. Over 1,500. I have been so bummed about my camera being broken (it only works on one setting but the kids have to hold perfectly still or it blurs) but I figured out that if I am taking pictures outside- it's great! Too bad we can't stay outside for always!

So, what did we do with our weekend? We played barefoot in the grass..................



We admired the new blooms...

We ate cookies and shared them with our friends, the ants....

We had sword fights and said "abba gadabba" a lot...

We tried to act like we didn't want our pictures taken...

And some of us really didn't...

Kyle and Bella picked flowers for mommy...

And made silly faces.......

We did a lot of driving...

And even took a nap...

We chased the Ice Cream Truck to get popsicles...

And didn't care that more ended up in our laps than in our bellies...

We enjoyed being together...

Cali explored and played in the grass for the first time...

We got excited when we saw Henry the squirrel...

Well, not all of us were excited...

We had fun with "Blowers" (as Kyle calls them)...

And had a contest to see who could do the most at one time...

Umm, I don't know but it's cute-the look on her face cracks me up!...

But she did looooove the grass....

We saw a little sibling love and got along.....

We took piggy back rides.....

...And wished that the weekend didn't have to end. What a wonderful, relaxing, spontaneous weekend. I could handle a lot more of those.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

~Heather:)


P.S. So, what do you think Uncle D? Do I have potential? :)

Some Things On My Mind

On Saturday, May 16th, my sister, brother, sister-in-law and her sister participated in the Komen Race for the Cure. They were Heroes For Hope. I am super super proud of them and a little jealous that I couldn't be there.


My sister, of course, took her camera and got some amazing shots. It is overwhelming that they had the opportunity to participate in something so much bigger than themselves. Great job you guys!! You can read more about their adventure here. Melanie is new to blogland so go say hi!


I saw this t-shirt online the other day. I laugh out loud every time I look at it. I think I am going to have to order one.

Perfectly appropriate for how I have been feeling recently.

I have been puppy shopping. My husband says we have to wait until we have a house before we get a dog so it is going to be a long long time. I have been researching online for almost two years for the perfect breed for our family. We want a smaller dog that is good with kids and oh-so snugly.

We have narrowed it down to two:

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

And the Papillon

The Papillon is probably at the top of the list. The Cavalier has genetic health problems that you have to be extra aware of. From what I have read it can lead to much more expensive vet bills and a shortened life span. When I was younger we had a CKC spaniel named Peaches. She came to us as a stray and was absolutely precious. My Grandpa used to have a Papillon and it was the sweetest dog. I love the ears. They look like a hairy elephant. Both of them are in the spaniel line. Hmmm..guess I have found my breed. I can not wait to have a house. Getting a dog is just one more thing to look forward to. he kids want a pet so much. Maybe it's good we can't get one yet. By the time we actually get one the kids will be older and more responsible to help take care of the newest family member.

The other night I was opening mail and read a letter that made my heart sink. It came from Bella's Rheumatologist. It started like this:

"It is with mixed emotions that I must announce my relocation back to Israel in September 2009......"

I had to sit down. I read it over and over. What?!?! NO! That's not fair. He can't do that! We just started getting somewhere because of him! Two years of searching and he was the one that gave us the diagnosis! He laid out a plan. He has to stay and finish what he started. Right? This man knows PFAPA- he mentors with the founder of the Fever Clinic in Washington. He travels the world for study cases. He GETS IT and believes in it when most others don't. Mostly, he knows my daughter. He has studied her and memorized the hundreds of pages of notes that I had documented over our two year search for answers. I trust him. Bella trusts him.

I suddenly felt alone. Frustrated. Feeling like all of the road blocks and mazes that we have maneuvered around for the last two years were now stacking up in front of me like the Great Wall of China. It is still heavy on my mind but I have been praying about it. God certainly hasn't brought us this far just to make us turn around and go back right? We can squeeze one more visit it with the Rheumatologist before he leaves in September. Meet his partner and feel him out. Tell him what our expectations are and see where he stands.

Here is a brief overview of Bella's condition:

Definition:

PFAPA (medical condition): A very rare syndrome characterized mainly by mouth ulcers, periodic fevers, pharyngeal inflammation and infection of neck lymph nodes.

Description:

Fevers. They're as common in young children as scraped knees and runny noses. But some children have fevers that occur routinely each month like a woman's monthly period. A description of the syndrome, known as Periodic Fever, Aphthous stomatitis, Pharyngitis, and cervical Adenitis (PFAPA) is a chronic condition usually seen in children under five, characterized by periodic episodes of high fever occurring roughly every four weeks. The fever rapidly rises to 103-106 degrees and lasts three to six days.

The child is healthy otherwise - no runny nose or respiratory symptoms. The syndrome may be accompanied by mouth sores, a red and inflamed throat, and swollen glands. The fever spontaneously resolves.

Dr. Kathryn M. Edwards, professor of Pediatrics first described PFAPA with Dr. Alexander R. Lawton, professor of Pediatrics and Dr. Gary Marshall Jr. from the University of Louisville.

Fevers may persist for several years but seems to have no detrimental long-term health consequences. Many physicians are unaware of the syndrome.Nothing can cure PFAPA but a small dose of prednisone has shown promise in alleviating the symptoms in some children. However, in some children it has been shown to increase the frequency of the episodes - from 28 days to 14-21 days. It's very difficult to have a child who is sick every month like our children are. When it hits they are run down, lethargic and fatigued.

Description excerpt taken from Yahoo Groups

Bella had another fever early this week. It was the highest we have seen for a few months. I knew it was coming for three days and I still wasn't prepared as I watched the thermometer rise past 106 degrees. We gave her her prednisone and she went to sleep. Her eyes water like she is crying buckets when her temperature gets that high. I cried with Bella. I cried as I watched her sleep, listening to her labored breathing. We are very blessed that the diagnosis was what it was and nothing more. There are many families out there that would gladly trade their child's diagnosis for ours. But it still hurts. It's still hard to watch. Especially when the diagnosis still doesn't answer all of the "whys?" Then again, a diagnosis never does, does it?

Plans for this weekend include.................hmmm...............flyin' by the seat of our pants! Hopefully it will be nice and relaxing.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and remember the reason that we are celebrating.

God Bless those who have fallen and those who are currently fighting for our freedoms- at home and abroad. We thank YOU! Happy Memorial Day everyone! Have a safe and happy holiday.

~Heather:)