A fresh coat of paint and a visit from my Dad....

makes for a very good week!

My Dad was here all week while my mom visited my grandmother in Pennsylvania. 

It was so great to have him around.

He also did a lot of painting for us which was incredible!

I haven't written a whole lot about our current house since this post. Basically we bought another house with great bones, as they say, but in need of A LOT of updating. The house was vacant for almost two years before we bought it. The paint on the ways was pretty yucky. As always, we're doing most of the work ourselves and yet with four littles and me pregnant, our pace of renovation has slowed way down. Slowly but surely we'll get this house to the place where we see it's potential. I think I'd like to share more about the renovations we've done and are in the process of doing, here on this blog, mostly so that one day we can look back and remember where it all started.

We can't seem to help but buy fixer uppers. Somehow they grab us and I know there are many other people out there that also can't resist a good ole' fixer upper. Those fixer uppers and the potential they hold just suck you in!

Our parents are always so wonderful about coming to help with renovations. I think the cute little grandson helpers are a huge draw too :-) We have been so grateful for their help and this week was no exception. My Dad offered to come and paint which was a HUGE help because it's been so hard for us to find time to paint.... and yet my nesting instincts are kicking in big time and I so badly want the house in better shape for when baby #5 comes. Plus, this house hasn't been painted for years I'd guess. The walls look pretty cruddy.

So one room is painted and looking lovely (although pictures are not back up on the walls so I'll share photos when we clean up the mess). Only about six rooms and a lot of trim to go and our interior house will be painted. Wahoo!

We're in the process of painting all the dark trim, banister and railings. I think lightening it all up makes such a difference. 

Of course Colin got in on the painting action too. He was so mad that he had to stop his painting work to go to pre-school. 

What our living room looked like much of this week. So worth it to get a fresh coat of paint on the walls!