The Move- Tiny Tots

After 60 days, Five Cities Vineyard is all moved into our new home! This past Sunday we had our first service in our new church building! I couldn't help but be a bit emotional all morning (part of it was the sermon). I kept looking around that all that had been accomplished, all the time people donated, the energy that was spent on fixing the place up and making it ours.  

Lets recap a bit. A few days before Ezra was born (March 19th) our pastors were contacted by the owners of this church property offering to sell it to them. When my baby was a week old we, along with the other pastors and leaders of the church we went to see the property. For the next two months we prayed about this decision. On May 6th we had a trial run service there (after a May 5th work day there!). A business meeting was conducted in early June. Finally, the last week of June our pastor felt that there was an overwhelming number of indications that our church was suppossed to move forward. July 1st escrow began, and August 31st it was ours! September 2nd was our first service!

The two months of escrow and moving seemed to go by really fast (so much to do!) and really long (we've been doing so much for so long!). Most of our work on the property was a blast. We had some great turn outs of volunteers and the cleaning, painting and prepping was fun! Seeing progress being made was so encouraging. It was a blessing to see many people helping out.  I really enjoyed almost the entire process. It was so exciting seeing the rooms come together and look around at all that everyone did! I got to admit the last two weeks started to take their toll on me! Seeing the deadline approaching,  with so many tasks to wrap up nearly led to a mini melt-down. Somehow I survived those last few 12 hour work days while battling a breast infection, fighting a cold, tending to 2 sick kids, and planning a teachers meeting.

So now the fun part! The revealing of the final products, and a look at the progress.

We will start with Tiny Tots (2 and under).

Remember we inherited it looking like this...

And it ended up looking like this

I love this room! It might be my favorite. This room took more time than any other. Little projects ended up having more detail than I could have imagined.  

Along the way there were many hours put into this room. Like painting the changing table.  After deliberating on the color, reading how to paint furniture, conferring with the paint pros...Jose primed it, then painted it with a brush, didn't like the brush strokes, sanded it, then spray painted it. Even Aubri helped out!

One night after working really hard (and feeling like much hadn't been accomplished) I held the fabric (which took 3 stores and as many hours to pick) up next to it the freshly painted table and was giddy with excitement that I was getting the look I was going for!

Here is the table all set up with the curtain Donna made for it! I really wanted a chandelier in this room, but it wasn't in the budget. Debbie, our pastor's wife, donated her POTTERY BARN chandy to the cause! She even let me spray paint the perfectly nice, and perfectly new chandelier. Turns out it doesn't show up much, so we may have to tweak it a bit.

Policies are now displayed in brightly painted frames (instead of the plastic paper protectors pinned on the wall)

Cabinets went  up! 

And the alphabet wall....oh the alphabet wall.....is complete! The ABC wall is one of my favorite things ever, but sure took a lot out of me.  A few nights it cost a lot of sleep even though I kept meticulous notes (did I need a K still, or a J? Was that letter really the right size, especially next to that C...). Of course being on a budget, I was really mindful of creating beauty without costs.  I think the total alphabet cost around $40, and most letters were less than $1.  I spent quite some time picking the spray paint colors (which ended up being used around the room in the chandelier, frames, etc), and then finding scrap paper. I bought the paper when it was on sale for 16cents a sheet! 

A friend from church called one day while at Beverly's craft and she found some paper mache letters for 50 cents a piece! She picked up 6 different letters! I went to my local Beverly's the next week and found the huge ones on extra clearance for 15 cents a piece (F, H and Z)!! A couple were from Restoration Hardware online on clearance for 99cents, and the X was a Restoration Hardware originally $50.00 plaque for $3.99 (my most expensive letter!)

I will take an updated picture, don't mind the missing K! My friend Sarah contributed the letter and it hadn't been hung yet!

A few of my favorites... Love the H (i think it is supposed to be an I which makes me love it even more. I covered it in burlap we found in the supply closet and added some flowers I found for pennies at Michaels. The I (as well as other letters) were leftover from our old church building, and I added some bling that I love. The J!! I found it hidden in the pile of outdated, dirty frames in our church yard sale. It was a horrible wood color, but with some yellow spray paint PERFECT! I looove it! I couldn't believe how perfect the J colors were! The odds of finding a framed letter in our colors from the 70's!

Another view of the room. The bunting banners above the window were sewn by my friend Amanda! They came out perfect!

This Micah 6:8 verse was an idea I found on Pinterest. It was one of the last projects that got done.

I take that back, the gate was the last project! Jose was able to permanently install a baby gate to keep the kids inside. Imagine working with a door frame 1/4 inch to small for perfect installation...

And that is Tiny Tots! I love how cheery it came out!

4 1/2 month stats

Ezra had his 4 month checkup last week. We really wanted to switch doctors and have Ezra see Dr. Bravo, but he wasn't taking new patients. I called back and begged for a one time check-up with Dr. Bravo, and to get a second opinion on a small bump on the back of Ezra's head. We didn't feel comfortable moving forward with an x-ray like our doctor had recommended.  I named dropped a few of our friends who see Dr. Bravo , and a bit later Dr. Bravo called me himself!

We had a great appointment and Dr. Bravo accepted Ezra as patients! We felt like the show Parenthood  getting in to the sought after pediatrician. Already I'm in love with this doctor! He spent so much time with us, answered so many questions, got to know us, and said he knew with 100% certainty that Ezra's little bump is a cyst that has no possible dangers or side effects! THANK YOU JESUS!

Ezra did so good at his appointment! 

Our little man weighed in at 15lbs 0oz (41st percentile) and was 25 1/4 inches (68th percentile). He got a few shots but never showed any signs of being bothered by them later.

We told the doctor Ezra hadn't rolled from his stomach to his back (I was just informing him, not concerned). Apparently Ezra didn't like me saying that because as soon as we got  home he rolled over. Now that he can roll both ways I'm waiting for him to start rolling all over the place!

Half Birthday Party

Nana and Papa heard Aubri was excited for her half birthday and showed up after dinner with a little cake. Aubri was so excited! It was really sweet and she was in heaven!

She said WHAT?!?

As usual, Aubri has said some entertaining stuff lately. I can't remember everything but a couple that stand out:

Holding a lollipop she knows she can't have, "Mom. If I open this lollipop, pick what you want to do. Me go on time out or take it away from me." Wow....she was weighing the consequences deciding if it was worth it. My response? "Both. And I'll throw it away." 'Nuff said, lollipop was back were it belongs.

Words that make me bite my tongue....

"Mom. Do we have glue?" why? "I broke something."

She  started asking questions about her grandpa in jail. I told her I didn't know if I could explain it to her so she could understand. Silly me.

"Try Mom. Just tell me."

Ok... it went something like he did a bad thing, and there are consequences, and he has to stay there a long time. Then of course she wants to know what bad thing...

Later , she says, "I'm not going to do bad things, I'm not going to get a time out in jail."(don't worry we explained she isn't at risk of jail time!) Then we overheard her playing "Help! I'm stuck in jail" Then at bedtime, "We need to pray for my Grandpa Jose. We need to pray that they let him out of jail." And as we are tucking her in, "We need to go see Grandpa! We need to get him out of jail. I have an idea, we can get a horse and open the door and get him out of jail. Yeah! That's a good idea."  

Lately when I try to take her picture, she poses for a split second and walks away saying,

"Aww man! Your too late. Sorry you missed it!" 

And suddenly everything she wants is going on a Christmas list. "Can I have this ______? Ok, maybe for Christmas. Can you buy me and Ella one for Christmas?"

Oh crazy little girl, I love you! 

Making Progress

WHEW!! What a month. It already feels like the new church property is "home"! (Maybe because it feels like I spend as much time there as I do at home).  There have been so many people working hard at the church getting it ready for move-in day. Small groups have each given up a night (or two) of meeting to volunteer. The young adults group has had a large crew show up to work- and many don't even attend FCV! Jr High and high school youth group have been out to work (and goof around ;-), and our men's groups have worked every week! We even had men's group from another local church lend a hand. It is true that many hands make light work.  I would like to challenge those in our church who haven't helped yet, to try to find a time to pitch in.  There is still lots to be done!

It has surprised me that no matter how tired I am going into the work nights , I always get energized and excited seeing it all come together. Most nights have been a lot of fun!

I wanted to share a little bit of the before and after pics. Scratch that. Before and progress pics (because nothing is complete yet).

This is the 2nd-5th grade class as we inherited it. Cute murals, but horrible peach color! Definitely outdated.

Men hard at work cleaning the walls and removing everything Week 1.

This is the pile of trash we removed on our first work night.

Week 2, the murals were primed over and the walls got painted!

And this is a sneak peak of what it looks like at the end of work week 3.

 This is the kindergarten room, and the only room to not get a paint make over. We just de-cluttered it and got rid of everything we aren't using. The plan is to put a chair rail up along the 2 colors.

Most of this is gone now.

The crew hard at work!

 I am so bummed that I didn't get before pictures of the Jr. high or High school rooms. This room was the "meeting room" and was painted mint green. It is now a nice gray, and this is a chalkboard wall. Lots more in the works to make this room hip!

 This is our nursery room as we found it.....

This is the nursery week 1 being being cleaned out. Notice a couple of  paint swatches on the wall. We tried 4 samples before picking the perfect aqua blue!

There is paint on the walls!

This is the Pre-k room pre-renovation. The former church used it as their nursery. 

 I don't have updated pictures yet, but this cabinet is down and the walls are painted tan.

  Here are some more pictures of the dedicated workers! We had crews start on the landscaping this week.

 Bob Kinsella has been hard at work cleaning out the storage closet. He is my hero because I saw this room pre-cleaning and the sight of those cobwebs may have scared me for good.

 The Cafe/Hospitality room is being updated now!

 The office is being spruced up!

 I can't wait to see all that gets transformed in the next  few weeks!