Christmas 2018 and Charlie

Christmas came and went and was everything we could imagine it could be. The kids had their Christmas Choir Concert with JOY Co-op and we all wore pink (except for the boys) . . . 

We decorated the house in creams, gold, and silver . . .

 

We attended our Church's Christmas Eve service (and again wore pink . . . because we looked so cute the first time around) 

And then on Christmas morning we surprised the kids with a puppy!!

We gave him to Capri, because Capri loves animals more than any of us and was so good with Charity. To follow our family theme of "C R R" names, Capri named him Charlie Rawrf Ridley. 

We had to take him back on Christmas morning because he was only 5 or 6 weeks old, but we got to bring him home on January 19th - the first blizzard of the year!

Capri bonded to him right away and they are still best friends. 

He is growing so fast! He is now bigger than Capri, which is no surprise, since Capri is still very petite. 

New Years Eve Chris and I were invited by my sister to attend a Great Gatsby themed party in downtown Grand Rapids. We dressed up with our siblings and enjoyed a glamorous night away from the kids!

And here we are in 2019 excited to tackle more of our house remodel and spend more time enjoying our pond and yard this year! Charlie is fitting right in with the family and has added to our home decor with his pretty cream fluffiness!

The projects we finished are the dining room table that Chris made for me for Christmas (note the new chairs from Target and jute rug from rugsusa.com):

And of course, I had to get a new centerpiece . . .

The kids got their own little craft table, too!

The other project we finished is we finally got the fireplace insert in and have been keeping warm using the fireplace and saving on propane! Yay! No picture yet because the fireplace is in a constant state of looking messy because of how much we're using it.

We also finished the herringbone brick floor and step in the mudroom, as well as the floor trim. I'll post pictures of that as soon as we get the door trim, bench, and shelves finished!

Still waiting to trim out the laundry room and add shelves (although we got that tiled), add a cement countertop to the bathroom vanity upstairs, and add the backsplash/shelves/walnut-covered-hood-vent/pot-filler to the kitchen. After that we need to start working on the outside of the house and also refinish some of our furniture to keep it looking fresh.

And that's the update! :-)