Growing up

 Hard to believe this little guy is four months already! Bennett is precious, and I've been loving this stage.  He coos and smiles so much, and often seems happy just watching his big brothers and sister. He gets so many hugs and slobbery kisses each day, but doesn't seem to mind all the people in his space. Here he is with his "oatmeal" colored afghan from Great Gram.

The Kitchen

 This was the kitchen when we bought the house.  It had very little counter space and a little half bath that took up the corner space.  We kept the windows, but got new cabinets (Thank you, Mark Jones of Modern Kitchens!), Jeff installed hardwoods and a natural stone backsplash, lights came from Home Depot, granite from Olympia Stone.  The wall between the kitchen and dining room was removed, which allows for easy traffic flow and lots of space for entertaining.

 Below is the dining room before.  The green carpet had to go...

 Here's the dining room after.  I'm inspired by Restoration Hardware.  Grays, creams, khaki.  These are peaceful colors that serve as a backdrop for the real "color" of our family-5 children!

 Here is the island-an original cabinet we salvaged from the kitchen.  We had it spruced up a little by a carpenter, and then I painted it.  Jeff added a butcher block top from Ikea, which he first stained dark and then polyurathaned. Bar stools came from Overstock.com.  This island is where our kids eat breakfast, work on homework, and on and on.  It's the meeting place of our home.

Winter

We got some snow recently, so these boys wanted to go out to play!  Chapman just turned 2, and it was his first chance to sled, so he and Hudson went down the hill in our backyard. They immediately wiped out and I was sure I'd hear crying, but instead lots of laughter and immediately walking back up the hill to do it again.

 Bennett is now two months old.  He's starting to coo and smile more. The other day when he was doing that and wobbling his head around, Hudson remarked matter-of-factly, 

"He sounds like Chap and his head is like a wrecking ball.  I think he likes us."

And we like him too.

Introducing...

 Bennett Lehman Reichanadter was born at home Sat. November 29, 2014 at 8:16 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs and 4 oz. Bennett means "blessed" and we feel especially blessed by this little one.  The name also comes from "benediction," and Jeff has joked that he is our "final Amen!"

 He gets lots of kisses and snuggles from his big brothers and sister. 

 Emma has been so sweet with him.  When asked by her classmate at school, "Were you sad you didn't get a little sister?"  Emma replied, "No way!  I love HIM!"  She says often how cute he is and how she loves him so much. Here she is writing her spelling words three times each for school.  She's already a multi-tasker!

 We know Bennett is God's gift to us, and exactly the one God picked out for our family!

 Bennett, you are a treasure! We thank God for your life.  He has great plans for you, little one.  We pray that you will grow up to be a godly man of integrity and purity, full of passion for Him.

Christmas on Capitol

 What a month December has been!  We baked this gingerbread house (which Jeff designed to resemble our new home) the night before Bennett was born (Nov. 29).  That began our month of Advent. It's been so special to have a newborn baby boy as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel, God is with us! 

 And here is Sweet Baby Bennett.  Love.  We already can't imagine life without him.

We kept our Christmas decorating pretty simple this year. Jeff and I had a few evenings where we sat by the tree with a fire in the fireplace and the tree lit, while we held Baby Bennett. Peace.

 Emma and I loved having many women from our family join us for our annual trip to the Nutcracker Ballet this December.  Bennett was one week old, so thankfully I got to go too.

 

 Another tradition is our "Polar Express," where we get the kids out of bed and take them on a drive downtown in their jammies.  We walk around Monument Circle and end up at The Chocolate Factory for hot cocoa.  With Grandma Jan in town, we took the three oldest out for the fun.

Christmas morning.  We are thankful for these five blessings! Chap's look seems to mimic mine sometimes these days, "Wow! How did we blink and have a full minivan?!"

Merry Christmas!  May the light of Christ shine brightly for you.

Before/Afters

 We moved into this home October 4, after working on it since June. Our project list is getting shorter, (since baby is due any day now!) so here are a few photos of the progress.  This is the entryway the first day we walked through the house. And now...carpet and linoleum removed, wallpaper painted, and all decorated for Christmas.

 The living room... carpet removed, hardwood floors laid and stained, fireplace painted, can lighting installed, and walls and trim painted.

 Here's the view looking the other way in the living room.

 As you go upstairs, this was a photo from the demo process.

 Master Bedroom

 Emma's Room

 The infamous BLUE bathroom

 We kept the original porcelain tub and had it reglazed.

 This was the shower that Clayton cut all the tiles for (previous post photo).

 The attic, Clayton's room, needed can lights, some work on the plaster, paint, and the hardwoods to be refinished.

We thank God for the gift of this home and hope to use it to bless many.

Hard Work

 These last 2 months have been a whirlwind of activity at the new house-many past midnight evenings spent working there.  We had a big deadline since our Broadway Street house had sold and the closing date was coming soon.  Here are some photos of the flurry... Clay learned how to use a wet saw to cut tile and cut most of the travertine for our bathroom!

 After hours of prep work of caulk, sanding, and taping windows, Jeff sprayed the trim a creamy off-white.

 Our friend Cash Stricker came to town (with his wife Annie and baby Penny) and we put him to work right away.  The guys set up the doors in our basement so Jeff could spray them too.  They also worked on installing new hardwood floors on the main level.  Here's our neighbor Andrew helping them.  Thanks, guys!

 After hardwoods were laid, cabinets were installed.

 Our house was a mess of tools, dust, and trash bags!

 The painting process... I actually have really enjoyed this part of it.  It's been fun to get color on the walls.  Here I was painting the little boys' room a pale blue.

 We had so many helpers the last few weeks, which we were so grateful for!  Here's Dad Reichanadter sanding the hardwoods in the attic.  Quite a dusty job, as you can tell... Grandma Rack stayed with the kids so that I could work at the house. 

 Here's Jeff and Clayton when they were almost finished with installing the hardwoods. Big accomplishment!

 We painted whatever doors had already been painted, but left the ones that were wood stained as they are. 

 More painting... Ceilings aren't my favorite.  There's the baby bump. 31 weeks.

 Remember those rusty old hinges that we spent hours scraping the paint off of, and had Hudson asking why we couldn't buy new ones?  Here's Jeff's spray paint area in our garage.  He got them looking shiny and new again!

 Dad Lehman also came to town and installed those hinges on the original doors.  He had quite the puzzle to figure out, but he was the right man for the job! Grandma Jan kept the kids entertained at the other house. :)

The day before we moved in was a buzz of activity.  Appliances being installed, plumber, electrician, trim carpenter, etc. all finishing up work.

 And then came moving day.  Ready or not, Capitol Avenue house, here we come! We were so thankful again to have lots of help from friends and neighbors on this big day. We have seen God's provision over and over on this project.  There would be times that Jeff would pray, "God, please send an angel to help us today," and someone would stop by to help, totally unexpectedly, or someone else would call and say they needed work, and could we hire them for the day? Yes!!!

This was our last photo of the Broadway House. A few nights before we moved, we lit some candles, ate a fun dessert, and shared memories of life on Broadway Street.  We remembered sweet neighbors, births of our children, special parties, and all the work that went into making that house our home for the past almost 5 years. In the end, we prayed and thanked God for the gift of that home.  Three of us were in tears.  :)  It was a meaningful, sacred night.