Summer Fun and Broken Things

It trickled down the grapevine to me a few days ago that some of my awesome family/friends back home have noticed that I haven't been blogging as much. This makes me SO sad!  I want to get back into it more. *Fingers crossed* that I will be able to do that once Harper goes to school this Fall.  Don't give up on me yet!

I want to take a quick moment to document what my little fam has been up to this almost-Summer.

Harper left me for three nights and jetted off to Bald Head Island with my in-laws. I had a graduation party to attend, so I couldn't go. I asked him when he got back if he missed me. He said, "Well it was only for three days, MOM!"

Hollin has been signed up for a Mommy and Me ballet class starting in a few weeks. I'm SO excited!!  

Mom and I have been taking the kids out to lunch quite a bit the last few weeks. It has been all in the name of just exposing them to it so that hopefully it will not be such a struggle for too much longer. I know, I'm laughing at myself too. 

Hollin has been battling a stomach bug for two days. She only gets sick in the mornings, so she has missed two days of Vacation Bible School with bubby :)   

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I think I'm going to declare 2014 as the "Year of Broke-ness."  This applies to our home and our pockets.  Ya'll know I love a project, but heavens to Betsy.  Recently we started replacing our trim. Pretty easy and straightforward. I was inspired to repaint all of the white on our front porch and it looks so crisp and clean. But it didn't end there.

You know how most people who have ever owned a pool will tell you that it's really expensive to maintain??  BELIEVE them.  Our pool filter went kaput.  Anyone want to come over for a swim? 

Jimmy decided that he wanted to drain it and start with new water.

{Yes that's me with a washcloth. I had so much fun scrubbing her down!}

We still have to purchase a whole new cartridge filter system and install it. Water is going back into the cleaned pool slowly but this old liner has pulled away at the top and it's WAY too expensive to replace all these issues at one time.  I'm praying to the pool Gods that we can fix it. #joysofhomeownership. #ihatethatphrase.

We also have been dealing with blazing hot temperatures and an upstairs that will not cool off. This has been an issue since we moved in. We called a few companies in for quotes and it turns out that we need to replace our HVAC and have all new ductwork put in. Here is our first quote.

Yeah, so there's that.  We have had a few more quotes but the bottom line is that it has to be replaced.   Oh how it hurts.

We are just swimming (see what I did there) in projects and repairs. On the positive side, this house looks stunningly different than it did when we moved in. But it's the moments like these when I doubt myself for buying a fixer.  I'm not going to lie. We are tired and need a vacation.

By the end of the summer we will have a nice clean pool and a nice new air conditioning system, so that's good. Right???? :) In the meantime, I will dream of a getaway....