Cool Cornwells

March 23, 2009

Our Remodel Project

We hired some contractors to convert our open bonus room into a new bedroom and small linen closet. It took adding some walls, 2 closets, and some doors, but it came out nicely. To save $650 we decided to do all the priming, painting, and trim work ourselves....and boy, did Paul work hard in all his spare time to get it done. We then cleaned carpets and moved all the kids around this past weekend. Reagan moved into the new room, leaving behind her pretty, lavender, princess-themed room for a hipper, cooler, blue/green room. It turned out lovely, but it was hard for me to see parts of my almost 8 year old growing up. Ryan ended up getting a new loft-style bed, with drawers and a secret hiding place underneath. Then Riley was excited to have the bunk-beds and move into the princess room. All are happy with their "new" digs. And now, we will organize and work on the Winnie the Pooh room for our new baby girl, who will join us on June 17th. Here are some pictures....

The old bonus room----notice the open half wall

Now, the new look, with a linen closet, a wall, and door into Reagan's new room

Reagan's new room --blue and green

Check out her converted cubby-hole, which used to be where the TV/stereo went.....no TVs in our kid's rooms

Ryan's new loft bed

March 18, 2009

Great Wolf Lodge -- February Trip

We took a quick family trip over to Ohio and went to Great Wolf Lodge, a huge indoor water park and hotel. The kids love going there and we always have such a great time. Since we are having a baby in June, we are not making our annual trip to Disney World, nor do we have any other big vacations planned, so this was the kids' "big trip" for the year. i feel like this water park is perfect for our age of children, with plenty for everyone to do. Here are a few pictures to show what fun we all had....

February 21, 2009

OK....my friend Kerri tagged me. The challenge: Go to your fourth folder of photos and post the fourth photo you find there. No editing allowed.

This is a picture of my three kiddoes playing in the 12 inches of snow we got.

February 4, 2009

And Cornwell #4 is a.........????

We made a visit to the doctor today to see how well the baby is doing. We also saw the ultrasound. When the technician stopped the picture, Paul & I knew immediately what sex it was. We were getting good at reading ultrasounds! I will let the following words of my 5 year old son tell you the sex.....

Ryan is sitting in the backseat of the van with his best friend Andrew. He says, "Andrew listen. This is awful. Mommy's baby is going to be a girl. The baby is a girl."

I think he is over it already. That is how boys roll. Now, if it was reversed, Reagan would have been crying and so sad for days. She has been making cards and praying that it was going to be a girl. So, now we will have 3 little girls in our house, which will then turn into 3 teenage girls. May the Lord give us strength and wisdom and lots of patience!!!! Paul and Ryan will just have to escape and do lots of manly things! So now "Baby Rufus" is officially "Baby Rufie" until June 17th when she makes her entrance into this world and we name her........???

5 Months along.....

SNOW FUN!!!!

Indiana finally got a really good snowfall. I was so jealous of all my Seattle friends and my Raleigh, NC friends b/c you were all getting more snow than us! We ended up with almost 13 inches when it was all done. It was bitterly cold so the snow was not good for making snowmen. Finally, about three days later when the temperature reached 43 degrees, the snow pirate and snow princess were made.

Ryan's cool snowfort/Ewok tunnel

One tough girl

Reagan's snow fort to protect her from daddy's snowballs that he threw at her

Look at all that snow....

My three cutie patooties

Ryan's Snow Pirate

Reagan's little princess

A cute little robin that was outside our window....he looked like he was freezing! Brrrrr!

January 1, 2009

Christmas

We hope that everyone had a very blessed Christmas and look forward to this new year. We have had a wonderful Christmas, with lots of family time playing games, playing Wii, going bowling, and going to the movies. We feel very fortunate to have all this time together. And I have been feeling much better since I began my second trimester, even getting more energy! The following pictures show what a blessed Christmas we had. Paul's mother came and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas night with us and his dad spent Christmas day with us too. We had quite a nice dinner. We give each of the kids 3 presents, just as Christ received gold, frankincense, and myrrh and we get a few "family" gifts, plus stockings. They also receive presents from grandparents, great-grandparents, and aunts & uncles. They do not lack anything. I feel very blessed by that, but also feel that we did a much better job keeping things in control this year. Like my dear Seattle friend, Kerri Kincaid, I, too, feel that somehow our culture has gotten out of control on this whole "Christmas present thing". Anyways, I digress. So here are some photos that highlight our Christmas...