before and after: our home a year later. (or part of it anyway)

Way back in October Kevin ripped out all the carpet on our main floor (3 rooms) and put in hardwood floors while the boys and I were away visiting family. (renovation post here)  
Now that we've been in the house for a little over a year now, I'm finally getting around to taking and posting "before" and "after" pictures of the front and family rooms.

It's been crazy and happy for me to see all that we've been able to do to make this home our own in this first year. (first home tour here) We always have a million DIY and renovation projects buzzing around in our heads, and now that we are blessed enough to own a home we are finally able to try some of them, it's something we've really learned to love doing together and something we both feel passionate about.
We had our second boy the morning after we moved into our house and it's been a crazy whirlwind ever since.

Anyway....if you're a sucker for renovation "before" and "after" projects like I am, here it *finally* is.

Front room:

BEFORE:

Front Room: 

AFTER:

Renovation, in the middle of it, really isn't pretty, it's messy, always more time consuming than you planned, stressful and crazy. And if you're in a similar life situation to us, timelines get d r a g g e d out. We didn't get our new baseboards in for a good month after the new floors were in.

But, with some planning and lots of deep breathing :) it can be SO worth it, monetarily of course, but it also brings a lot of satisfaction to see something from the planning/envisioning stages through reality adjustments and then to the final product.

Family Room:

BEFORE:

The home had these funky shades separating the front and family rooms that we hated, such a waste of space. So Kevin tore those out (the day I came home from the hospital with our second I think) and put in see-through shelves. Which we LOVE.

Family Room:

AFTER:

glass pieces: antique chemistry pieces Kevin found//vase: Pier 1 Imports

bird: West Elm//vase: Target//candle holder: H&M

We have some other changes in the works and in the planning phase. (most of them unplanned until recently, thank you 20 year old house...) 

I realized I never even did a full house tour when we moved in so I'll work on getting the undocumented spaces up on the blog too, for my record if nothing else. :) I love being able to look back at pictures of where we've been. 

these sweet brother boys.

Finally took some more pictures of these sweet miracle boys of ours around Drew's birthday. They grow so insanely fast at this stage.  They are learning to play together, sometimes. :) In spite of the run-ins they are so crazy about each other. I'm so grateful to have these two boys to be, grow and live together.

we've got another one year old: b-day celebrations for drew boy.

Can't really believe how quickly this first year of Drew's life has gone by.  He has grown up so fast, as everyone says kids tend to do.  :)

We had a very chill birthday celebration, we love being able to celebrate with family. My brother and sister-in-law and their kids came over during Drew's birthday weekend and we had pizza and cupcakes. It was really fun, our kids are getting so spoiled with their cousin time these past few months. We've got to try and get as much in as we can before they move again in a few more months.

Drew's reaction to being handed a whole cupcake was much less timid than Lee's. (who wouldn't even touch it, and finally, on the verge of tears finally took a piece from my mom...) Though he didn't seem to love the sprinkles.

 Lee and the cousins had the most fun opening Drew's gifts, though Drew loves his new things too. :)

Happy birthday to our sweet Drew boy!

low-fat, creamy bean and chicken burritos.

I hope I don't need to put "fast and easy" in the titles of any meal recipes I post any more, because if they aren't I most likely won't be posting them. And I'm okay with that.

This is an adaptation of a meal I grew up having at home that's a bit healthier than the original.
It's delicious, it's a great leftover and it's generally a picky eater pleaser.

Ingredients:
1 can shredded chicken, drained (you can boil or bake your own chicken of course, then shred)
1 can beans, rinsed and drained (you can use pinto, black or red beans)
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (you can do more or less, I just eye-ball it)
1 can (10.5 oz.)low-fat, low-sodium cream of chicken soup
1 can diced green chili peppers, drained
1 cup low-fat (or fat free) sour cream
8 flour tortillas, mine are 7" (use wheat tortillas to be extra healthy)
Toppings:
2 c. shredded romaine lettuce
diced tomatoes, sour cream, hot sauce, salsa, pico or whatever toppings your family likes best.

Directions:
Combine soup, sour cream, and chili peppers.
Add 1 cup of  creamy mixture to shredded chicken and beans and mix.
In a sprayed (I use an olive oil spray) 8x8 or 6x12 dish (I used Pyrex) lay out the tortillas and divide the chicken mix evenly between them, roll them up burrito-style (they stay closed best with the openings on the bottom).
Spread remaining creamy mixture over the top of the burritos.

Top with cheese.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, take the foil off for the last 10 minutes to ensure the cheese fully melts.

Top with shredded romaine lettuce and whatever toppings make your family happy. Serve!
We served it with fresh fruit and a bit of Sangria soda this last time, delicious!