The much awaited reveal

so here they are, pics of the new casa...I finally got my camera.

The entryway. Madison is our hostess for this little tour.


So, this is the hallway taking you to the kids side of the house...


This is the playroom/den which will look cool one day. not on the top of the priority list just yet.


Boys room. yes, that's coulson taking a nap.


Girl room. Myla's napping too. happy day. I have really super cute bed skirts that I made for the girl's. They look like huge tutus. I'm afraid to put them on their beds because the thought of a scorpion crawling up there creeeeeps me out!!


I couldn't resist taking a picture of her. I LLOOOVVE babies!!



And...this is how she wakes up! Why can't I wake up like this?

The kids share a bathroom. Its hidden in between their bedrooms so I never go back there, which is a really scary thing when you have boys. Boys are nasty.


This room is the bane of my existence. It is a laundry/office/mudroom. It will continue to be crappy until I get some huge built in's done, which won't be for a while so I best get used to it.

Here is the great room. The kids are enjoying some veggie tales.


And another view of the great room from the kitchen


And now onto the "east wing" as Judd calls it.

My mini library. I am a book freak! Time for more shelves though because I still have boxes of books that won't fit.



I keep telling myself that one day I will have time to enjoy this...

And this is really fun, except there is so much room in there its really cold.


I've got my own closet, which helped me to realize that I was NOT the messy one in our last house. I'll save Judd the embarrassment and wait until he gets his things in order before I take pictures of his closet. If I ever have another baby I will probably just put the crib in my closet. Behind the door their is a ton more room where I sit and put my shoes on and stuff.


And here it is....ta dahhhh. My salon. I think we're calling it ROOTS for sure. Love that name! Shampoo bowl and everything. oh yeah. It has a bathroom and a separate entrance. I'm officially official. See those curtains!!!! I am obsessed with that fabric. It was like 50 bucks a yard so I could only by like 3/4 of a yard of it and there wasn't one piece of scrap. Eventually I want to get a really cool, huge mirror.


So, there you have it. One day I will take outside pictures and put them on here. The garden is goin' crazy!!

Best day ever....

So I'm so excited to post that my salon is officially finished!!!! YAY!! After 7 years of working out of my family room and washing hair in my kitchen sink I have a place to call my own!! I'm so sad that I don't have a working camera to post pictures. But i will be sneaking to costco to get one tomorrow and I will put some up first thing! Shhh, don't tell my husband though. I put camera in the "need" department and I like I always say...."its better to repent than to get consent." Now the hardest part ever...I need to name it! This is almost as hard as naming a kid. But I think I'm really leaning towards calling it Roots. I think its funny and kinda cool. I'm not a trendy cutesy girl. You will NEVER catch me wearing heels while doing hair. I like me my jeans and t shirts and most of the time when I am working my hair is looking pretty frightening. So naming it "Beauty" anything isn't going to work. But...I am taking suggestions. So please!!!! let me know what you think of roots or if you have any names that pop into your head.

Bean Spilling

Confession: I love food. I love it too much. I'm not prejudiced either. I can eat anything. Now on to my point...After baby number 4 I feel like I haven't been able to bounce back as fast. I want to wear my cute clothes without having to stretch them out. I want to go bathing suit shopping without having to come home all depressed. My life has been so busy that I've been off of my workout routine and I am starting to really notice. Something needs to be done. So here's my plan. I started up my workout routine this week. I'm feeling sore, but so good. (BTW any of you who are reading this thinking that I am being really stupid and I don't have a weight problem, you're right. I don't think I'm overweight or even in bad shape at all. I'm not doing this for my weight. More like to get over my food addiction and get some control of my diet. Maybe I will lose weight, maybe not, but I just want to lean up and lose these rolls! I want to not feel like I have to eat things just because they look good. I want to feel good about the things I eat instead of hiding it from everyone. I want to get rid of my sugar cravings!!!!) I am a "challenge" fanatic. I started this challenge called the Whole30. I've been doing it for almost a week. I feel AMAZING!! I will not lie, that it is sooooo hard, but overcoming trials and addictions was never meant to be easy. My goal: To eat raw foods. No packaged food, no preservatives, no sugar, no bread, no dairy for 30 whole days. You are probably thinking, "what the heck am I going to eat" well here it is. eggs, (not considered dairy on this diet) lots of veggies, some fruit, nuts, lean meats. anything that I can grow in my garden. Supposedly once I get into habit of eating these foods, it will cleanse my body and I won't have sugar cravings anymore. I have been having tons of cravings since I've started, but I just tell myself that putting that food in my mouth is a decision. I have a choice. I can eat it and continue sabotaging myself, or fight through this craving and accomplish my goal! So, I figure I will report here once in a while over my remaining 25 days and let you know just how it goes. I am also welcoming anyone who wants to join me on this crazy journey. Here is the website to the WHOLE30!!
If you want to join me, just leave a comment and we can work on this together! Its always fun if its with a group!! So there you have it. My name is Kristina and I am a recovering sugar addict!!

Routine

This is something I will hopefully laugh about in the future...
My kids wake up early. They always have. No matter what time they go to bed you will rarely find a day that they sleep in until 6:30. They have no regard for weekends or how crappy the night before is. They just jump out of bed all happy. I wish I were more like them in that way. It can't last forever though. They will be teenagers and break the barrier from "but I don't wanna go to bed" into sleeping slugs that don't care if they ever see the light of day again.
Here is a typical morning in the Rich household. Coulson gets up and comes into my room around 5:30 and half sleeps with me until Judd's alarm goes off at 6:15. Judd hits snooze button about 3 or 4 times. (By the way, I hate snooze buttons. How on earth is someone going to fall back asleep and wake up 4 minutes later and say, "whew I'm glad I got those extra 4 minutes of sleep." ???) Coulson climbs out of bed, and by this time Maddy and Nolan are already up. Maddy is mom in the morning because I'm more like a zombie until 7. She makes everyone breakfast and she's very good about it. Coulson screams bloody murder the whole time because he wants someone's chair or someone's toy or is just being a really horrible morning person. Judd leaves at 645. I peel myself out of bed about every 3 minutes and do the "you be quiet or I'll...." The baby is still hopefully sleeping through all of the screeching. Did I mention Nolan yet?? He is my saint in the morning! He will come into my room to wake me up at 7. He's already dressed for school has brushed his teeth and is wearing his backpack around the house. We don't have to leave for an hour. I think he's so cute.
I go in and check on the baby. She's awake, but thankfully she is very patient and will hang in her crib and play with her toes until I come and get her. Thank goodness for babies. They are pretty much the only thing that can put a smile on my face right after I wake up. I go to feed her and find Coulson has pooed all over the bathroom. He thinks he did a great job and wants a skittle. Madison is still playing around. She is my procrastinator. About 10 minutes before we are walking out the door she finally gets dressed and brushes her hair. But then she can't find her backpack, or her shoes, or her lunch box or her homework. This drives me crazy. I've resorted to yelling. I really try hard not to. Who wants to be crazy and yelling right before they drop their kids off for a long day at school? But how are you up so stinking early and you still aren't ready right before we have to go?!?! She finally finds her stuff and hopefully her brain and we load the crew up and drive to school. The two older ones get out after lots of "I love you's" even though Madison's is more like a mumbled "bite me" because we've been butting heads for the last 30 minutes. Then they are off and I tell you what..the Angels are singing! Wooohooo. Never judge the way a mom looks in the morning when dropping off her kids. Sure, she may not be wearing a bra or have mascara smeared all over but she has just basically been through war!