Life on Nickelby

Outdoor colors we chose for the new house. This is the brick, stonework, roof and paint colors we will have.

Possible kitchen inspiration

Possible Kitchen inspiration II

The front door we picked out

Time for an update. It seems like things should slow down after the holidays, but it's been a very busy time for us. I'm feverishly working at finishing the 15 graduate credits needed by the end of the school year for a salary increase at work. Rumor has it we are facing a 20 percent pay cut so this is just to try and balance the scales. If we do get such a large pay decrease I won't be actually getting an increase, just less of a decrease. Sad, but I'm thankful for my part time gig. Last weekend I attended class ALL weekend and it finishes up next weekend. I so missed my bubs.

Kevin and I have also been spending a considerable amount of time making color choices for the new home. We met tonight with an interior decorator provided by the builder. My head is spinning. There are so many choices and I like almost all of them. I'm just trying to make this home as timeless as I can. We are there for the long haul and I don't want the house to look dated before its time because I chose something too trendy. We have looked through all the home magazines out there and one recurring theme we see over and over is white/cream kitchen cabinets. I've never lived in a home with white/cream cabinets so this feels like a real risk to me. I love them, but not sure we could pull them off. The interior decorator tells us this is the way we should go for longevity and that is what she has in her home so that helps. I'll need at least another weeks worth of sleepless nights before the final decision can be made.

The boys are doing awesome. When aren't they? They are looking forward to an exciting weekend. We are taking them to Sesame Street Live and on Sunday they are off to a friend's birthday party. I am going next week to take a tour of a preschool program that is on our short list of preschools for next year. The plan is that I will switch my teaching schedule to mornings and they will go to school three days a week while I work. The other two days they will be at home with one of the Grandmas. If they were potty trained I would seriously consider sending them sooner than the fall. They really seem ready and I think they would love it, but potty trained they must be. Speaking of potty training... well that's just not happening around here. No way, no how, take a hike Mom and Dad. These little guys have close to zero interest and if you took the m &m's out of the equation they would have zero interest. We did however have success taking away the binkies. We're letting them keep them at naptime, but they no longer get them at night. This was a huge milestone and victory for us. Next up will be continue with the potty training and big boy bed transition.