FIXER UPPER

Sooo...The Sunshine Ranch is a bit of a fixer upper...don't get me wrong, the place is awesome and the house is livable for sure, it just needs a little lot of updating! Our plan was to start by updating some of the light fixtures, then move on to painting our bedroom followed by the rest of the walls that need paint and then, and then, and then...plenty of projects to keep us busy, but........we've been here for two weeks and we've changed three fixtures (now I can see to put on my face in the morning) and Marty and Ryder tore the closets out of our bedroom so we can paint, but that's as far as we've gotten.  Actually, as we really settle in, I can see how people just stop seeing the projects and just start living.  It's easy to do once the boxes have become unpacked and you make the space "home."  Eventually you just start seeing it as "home" instead of a place with weird stipey paint on major walls, with light fixtures decorated in dainty flowers hanging by heavy chain.  You get so accostomed to the  missing kitchen cupboard doors that you begin to forget it's not normal and you stop noticing the squealing bathroom fans and missing closets until someone points them out to you.  This will NOT happen to us....well Plan A, is that this will not happen to us, but we might have been ambitious thinking we'd do all kinds of renovating after the kids were in bed! I got Payton down at 7:30 with plans of meeting Marty in our bedroom for an evening of prepping walls for paint, however he went in to read Ryder stories over an hour ago and now they are both sound asleep in Ryder's car bed.  This seems to happen a lot. Poor Marty is exhausted and Ryder's bed is sooo comfy and after a bedtime story or two how can he resist but to close his eyes for just "6 minutes" as Ryder requests......

Obviously I could just start without Marty, but I know he'd like to be in charge of the painting and prepping process.  I could do other things, like vacume or unpack a few of the boxes in the basement, but instead I'll sit and write for a while.....

Ryder LOVES helping Marty with projects like tearing out closets!

 This is the closet after the ugly old built ins were torn out. The wall looks grey here, but trust me it's purple and it's got to go!

This is still our bedroom, the wall is still purple and the white marks are where ugly shelving has been torn off in prep for painting.

 This is the crazy tiny ensuite that needed light fixtures ASAP. We are still trying to solve the storage and space issues we have with this teeny bathroom but we will. :)

 It's hard to tell from the pic, but this shower is also crazy tiny.  It was showers this size that were "deal breakers" for Marty when we looked at homes in the city, that's how I know he wanted this place really badly, he hasn't once mentioned how small the shower is. I, on the other hand have to accomplish crazy flexible, athletic feats just to shave my legs.....I'll get used to it and I'll get more and more flexible. I'll have to or I'll have to look into getting my legs waxed! LOL

 This is the view standing at my bedroom door looking down the hallway. It's a long hallway with green stripy paint (thank god it's not Wallpaper) all along it.  It is also getting a make over STAT!

 

Another angle.

 WE LOVE this sunny sunny dining room, but that chandelier has got to go!

These are the French Doors that open to our "formal" living room. It is still full of boxes.  I can see that this might end up being one of those rooms we think we'll use for entertaining our adult friends.  You know the room. The one with the fancy furniture, no TV, great views, cool art work, but is actually too far from the kitchen, the TV and the bar to be the place we'll actually choose to be in...LOL

 This on the other hand is the actual living room/play room. The room that we say we can't stand cause it's filled with toys and it's messy, but it's actually the one we spend all of our time in cause "toys and mess" it turns out, really means, comfy, homey and exactly where we want to be!

 It is also purple and will be needing a facelift.

 Looks like this is the only one I have that kind of shows the kitchen....more pics to come.

 

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and if Daddy falls asleep in the car bed, leave him there! It's soo stinkin' cute!

SUNSHINE RANCH

They say dreams come true every day...well Valentine's Day was the day a big dream for the Wright Family came true...we moved..to the country!  Ever since Marty and I moved to the big city we've been looking at acreages, yet nothing really said, "home" until we found what Ryder has named, "The Sunshine Ranch." 
Ofcourse, it's not really a "ranch" but it is 4 acres and to an almost four year old who has only known the city, it is a ranch! We do have a barn-ish building and a shop-ish building and we'll get kitties and bring Uncle Dirt over eventually, so it is actually pretty ranch-ish to us! :)

The house is old (35 years) so it requires a little updating, but now that the boxes are unpacked, our furniture is placed and our family is all there, it feels like home!  Our view is of the mountains and the sunshine beats through our dining and living room windows every afternoon! We LOVE it!!! We have a tonne of space and welcome visitors...if you don't mind grabbing a paint brush while your here! LOL
Moving Day was Valentine's Day.  Grampa and GG had come out to help with the move and we are greatful that they were able to spend the entire moving day entertaining the kids so that Marty and I could focus on the giant task of moving!! It wasn't exactly everyone's idea of a romantic moving day, but since this was us, making a dream reality, I'd say it was a PERFECT Valentine's Day!!!

First Selfie at our new house!

 Thanks to Grampa and GG for all their help..with everything!

 

 

 

We started exploring right away..."kids do not care if boxes are unpacked!" LOL Marty and Ryder are especially pumped about this lil pond on our property. It looks small now but by next Winter, this will be a big hockey rink (at least in their eyes!) Love them!!

 Another thing that cannot wait for boxes to be emptied is bedtime and bedtime is not the same without stories!! We headed right away to the local library.  We discovered there, that we've been spoiled with our big city library. This small town one is...small!! But super family friendly and the kids love the cool children's corner and we managed to check out 45 books we havn't already read! Yippee!

 We have sooo much more space in this new house!! The kids have tonnes of room to play and we can finally create a "play room-ish" space!! They have discovered toys they forgot they had!!! 
Oh, yeah and in the back ground of this pic of Ryder and his "food truck" you can see a wall that is in desperate need of paint (thank God those stripes are NOT wall paper. Someone actually stenciled all those stripes on that wall!!!!) The light covers also need a little updating...we'll get to those eventually too......

 We are blessed with an INCREDIBLE view of the mountains and sunsets are amazing!!!! I can't get over the view of my lil cuties helping with the dishes too!! LOL

 We were lucky enough to have great, Spring like weather for our move weekend, but it did eventually snow and Ryder couldn't even wait to change out of his jammies before shoveling!

 The weather had been so great that we had the bikes out.. a little snow is no deterrant to this girl who wants to do everything Ryder does. "Me too!!"

 We do a lot of baking at our house! You should see Ryder crack an egg and Payton say, "me too!!"

 We've been loving our exploring, when the weather is good we try to get outside everynight after dinner.

 

Scout is LOVING her new home too ofcourse!!!!

 Ryder is obsessed with everything Canada.  He cheers, "Go Canada Go!!" All day long at the top of his lungs even though, to my knowledge there are no national teams playing anything at the moment. He just loves to chant and apparently, he loves Canada!!! I surprised him, by buying this big flag and hanging it at the end of our driveway. Yep, Connie, I got this idea from you guys!!!

We've only been here 8 days, but the day we moved in, Ryder named our new place, "The  Sunshine Ranch." He came up with it on his own! Shortly after we all agreed the name was pretty kick ass, Ryder drew this giant sun for me. (The first time I've ever seen him draw anything real!)

 

 Sooo...grab your paint brushes and sledge hammers and come on over!! We've got wine and beer to drink, walls to knock down and paint and memories to be made!!!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and be ready, cause sometimes dreams do come true!!

SICK

UGH!! January has been one hell of a long month here for the Wrights.  It's been long and tough, but we are in the clear, it's February. I'm going to hope that by the end of the day tomorrow Ryder is no longer sick and that by some stroke of incredible luck, Marty and I manage to escape this nasty flu bug that has scrambled Payton and Ryder's tummies for the last week.
Tuesday night Payton threw up for real, for the first time in her little life. :(  It was nasty!! I couldnt' go near her sheets. Once I pulled my poor little baby out of her crib, I called for Marty to do the real dirty work.  He's a trooper that way and though he gagged the whole time, he pulled the sheets from the bed and rinsed them out while I cleaned up and remarkably unstressed baby. She wasn't crying or upset at all. She just kept saying, "I puked.puked Mommy. Puked."  Ryder was amazing. As soon as he realized what happened he came running to the bathroom with Payton's water. He rubbed her back and got her clean jammies and a lego plane...I guess that made sense to him. :)  He's been very nurturing this whole time, worried about his baby sis.  
Payton got super cuddly, which is not normal for her so I soaked up those snuggles and tried to calm my heart as I watched her wretch her guts out over the next few days.  It's sooo hard to watch your babies puke!! She was so brave and never got upset at all.  Eventually, after 5 days of this, she got grouchy and whiney and needy, but who can blame her?

Having a sick sister is super boring, but the first day Ryder was all over enjoying the benefits of watching lots of TV!!

 I got bored being inside though, so we did pack Payton up one afternoon for some fresh air.

 It was really good to get some fresh air..until Ryder fell in a giant puddle...and that was only a bummer cause we had to head home.

Ryder and I came up with a few projects, including making and destroying this ice treasure tower, but eventually, the flu got a hold of Ryder too.....

 As soon as Payton started feeling better she'd ask for toast..with ketchup. She insisted on the ketchup, which refused to stay in her lil tummy. EWWWWW!

It is now Feb 1st and I think Payton is finally feeling better. She ate about 6 mini muffins and one giant one and they all stayed in her tummy!! She actually got some of her bright smile back and managed to enjoy her bath. She's sleeping soundly and will hopefully be healthy enough for the day home tomorrow.  Ryder just puked up his toast so he'll be home tomorrow.

 Scout? She's bored, but she and I have managed to get out for a walk every day. It's how we both stay sane!!!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and be glad the flu passes! I cannot imagine how hard it would be to have babies who were truly sick...so sick they weren't going to get better. My heart goes out to all families who have to be strong enough to deal with that every day.