Renovation Realities Part 1 - Demolition

Well, demolition happened a few weeks ago, but I am still recovering from the shock of having my functioning bathroom to a room with studs and sub floor exposed!

Since the demo has happened, Byron has rerouted the drains for the sink and the tub, moved the copper pipes for the sinks and tubs, and built a new bench for the shower.

We are making progress....the tile is supposed to be installed on Monday, and we should have our bath tub here on the 31st!  We painted yesterday, and are going to try to install the crown molding this weekend!

Vanity used to be here!

Used to be the shower!

Better view of the destruction happening!

I used to have a tub there!  Now I have a hole in the floor!

Christmas Program

Haylee had her Christmas Program at school last week.  The kids work so hard in learning all of their Bible versus and songs for the parents and it is so adorable to go in and see them perform what they have learned.  This year, Haylee is one of 4 girls in her class of 14.  She looked so cute standing next to all of the boys in her class.

Enjoy some video of the program!

After the singing is over, we all get to go back to the classroom so Haylee can show us the classroom and what she has been up to....oh and to decorate cookies!  Last year, we attempted to help Haylee decorate the cookies, this year, we stood back and let her at it!

Here are some pictures of her decorating and then eating the cookie!

  

There was a little boy sitting across from Haylee when decorating the cookies.  I didn't notice it, but B and my dad did....the little boy was dipping the knife into the frosting, put the frosting on his already decorated with sprinkles and sugar cookie, and then stuck the knife into his mouth to lick off the sprinkles and sugar...and then he repeated it!  One of the teachers noticed it too and saw us commenting on it, walked over to us and told us that's why they don't reuse the frosting.....

Yummy...that's all I have to say!

The Christmas Story

Hilarious story as told by a couple of elementary school aged kids!

http://video.aol.com/video/kids-get-christmas-story-all-wrong/2347578138

Merry Christmas to all!

Rhythm Rocker....

I work all day, so I don't get to the joys of daytime TV.  I came across this link from the show, The View.   Few things that I must comment about:

1) This is so NOT how I dance, nor would I encourage anyone to learn how to dance using this!
2) There are thousands of products out there that can help get you into shape (thigh master anyone?!)  I have never bought into them, and will not start after seeing this clip!


http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/12/17/sherri-gets-down-with-the-rhythm-rocker-on-the-view-video/
(highlight and right click the clip, then click on go to site)


Dear God I am scared and VERY thankful that I have a job and am not subjected to this during my day!  Give me running on the treadmill any day!  Who hates going to the gym now?!?!

Renovation Realities

When Byron and I bought our house 5 years ago, we knew that there were certain areas of the house that HAD to be remodeled above and beyond just the paint and accessories.  Unfortunately, there were some other things that needed to be done to the house (new furnace, new windows, new stucco, and the backyard just to name a few!) before we could embark on the fun of really remodeling the interior of the house. The time has come; we are now ready to remodel our master bathroom!!!   Woo Hoo, I am sooooooo excited!  We are gutting the entire bathroom.  Nothing that is in there now will be coming back into the new bathroom.  We have our new vanity already sitting in our dining room, and our claw foot air bath should be delivered around the 22nd of December.  We have been talking about what we want to do in the bathroom for a few years now, so now that we are finally at the point where we are purchasing the new tub, the tile, the vanity, it makes me soooo happy and excited!

Byron claims that the project will be finished in 8 - call it 14 to 20 weeks, since he will be doing most of the work himself.  I doubt it will take that long - let me rephrase that - I KNOW it won't take that long. I can handle upwards to 10 weeks, but too many more than that, and well....it won't be more than that!  :)

Here are some pictures of our bathroom before the demolition began...please don't pass judgement on how nasty it was before - was it our choice to have carpet in there - HELL NO, but we were young(er) and did everything we could to get into this house, even taking carpet in the bathroom!

I am going to try to keep updates on the progress of the bathroom reno.  Wish us luck - we're going to need it!

Choo Choo

The Toy Train Show was at the Merchandise Mart the weekend after Thanksgiving.  My parents suggested that we take the kids to the show.  The main room was bursting at the seams with vendors set up selling model trains.  My mom and I, with the kids walked past the rows upon rows of train cars not really knowing what we were looking at while Byron and my dad were stopped at table #2 talking about the different size scale models, train cars, etc.  When I was younger we had a train set up in the basement and Byron's dad is HUGE into model trains, so it was nice that they could talk about all the trains.

They did have some areas that were more kid friendly, so mom and I headed there while the boys talked.

Carter had a blast, running from each train set up to the next yelling "choo choo"

Santa was there and we attempted to sit on Santa's lap.  Haylee was ok, but Carter was very leery of the situation!

We had such a good time.  Thanks so much to mom and dad for taking us!

Best Inventions EVER

There are so many products on the market that I wish that I had invented, not only for the financial aspect, but for the simple fact that they make my life easier and they save me money.  Here I list a few of my favorites, including my newest favorite that I fell in love with tonight.....

The first: The Magic Eraser.  The Magic Eraser is such a nifty (yea, I said nifty) sponge that cleans everything.  It cleans the funky gunk out of the crevices of my fridge, it gets the permanent marker off of the walls, it cleans it all.  It saves me from having to paint, repaint and paint again, scrubbing with an old toothbrush to get the gunk out and from looking at Byron trying to explain how our 1 year old got a hold of a permanent marker to mark all over the counter tops, table and walls, all without me seeing it.  Thank you Mr. Clean!

The Second:  OxyClean.  Again, thank you Mr. Clean.  How you can put this magical powder; (I'm pretty sure that the magic eraser and the OxyClean are made from the same thing, I just can't figure out how) that looks the same as any other powder detergent, in the washing machine and it actually gets my clothes - and more importantly, the kids clothes; looking so bright and clean amazes me to no end.  It has saved me from having to throw out cute outfits and go buy the kids new clothes when I thought that they were forever ruined!

The Third: Tide-To-Go Stick.  A.maz.ing.  How this little stick works is beyond me.  I know that there are some that doubt me, but I have had nothing but success when getting the accidental pen mark out of my shirt (in a not so good place if you know what I mean!)  I have also had success in getting makeup out of collars (keep your minds out of the gutter people, Jen at work practically dumped her whole bottle of foundation on her collar!) to pen out of shirts, pants, you name it.

The Fourth, and my new favorite: CLR.  Those three little words brought me happiness and contentment this evening.  For those who don't know, CLR is a Calcium, Lime and Rust Remover.  It is most often used on shower heads to get the lime deposits off.  Let me tell you why this is my new favorite.  Our dishwasher heating element was breaking down, so every time we washed the dishes and used the sanitize feature, there would be flakes of that heating element on them, and our clear glasses would come out foggy.  No matter what I would do (which wasn't much because I wanted them to get to the point where I could convince B to buy a new dishwasher) they didn't come clean and looked awful.   So, I finally convinced the hubby to buy a new dishwasher, and I told him that while he was installing the dishwasher, I would CLR all of our clear glass dishes to try and get the fog off.  I knew that it worked on our shower head, but had never used it on our glasses.  I tried it, and even did a side by side comparison of before CLR and after.  By no means are our glasses and bowls brand new, but they look a million times better than they did before, and I got a new dishwasher to boot!

Now for those who are paying attention, yes, all of my favorite inventions revolve around the idea of cleaning, saving money, and cleaning, oh and did I mention cleaning?   I have many other favorite inventions, but I could live without those...the four listed above - I would be one lost mom (with kid coloring on the walls, pen all over my pants and shirt, destroyed kid clothes from Gymboree and foggy dishes.)  Thank you to the women - they have to be women inventors because a man wouldn't care that the fridge has gunk built up in the crevices - for your brains and talent.  Because of you, there are happy women with clean houses, clothes and dishes!

Vocabulary

Carter is 15 months old now...I have heard so often that the second child doesn't walk as soon, doesn't talk as soon, doesn't really do anything as soon as the first child did - especially if the second is a boy.  I think that my son has proven that theory wrong.  I know....I know, it is still early in the game of development, but Carter walked at 10 months - same as his big sister and B and I have noticed that he is doing things at such a young age and wonder if Haylee did them at the same age.  How quickly we forget right?

Carter is quite the little talker. He jabbers on in his baby language, totally understanding what he is saying, all the while giving mom and dad the look of "why don't you understand what I am saying!?"  We happened to catch Carter in a chatty mood, so here are some of the words that both he and mom and dad know - thanks to his sister for helping mom and dad get this out of him!

Four Years Later

Then - Nov 2006

Now - Nov 2010

I am still learning everyday.  I will never stop learning.  Four years after having Haylee, I am still learning her quirks, her moods (yes people, I will admit it - SHE IS MY DAUGHTER and SHE HAS MY PERSONALITY) what makes her tick, and how to raise a daughter, not only for survival, but how to keep her on the right path and to be happy, healthy and productive.  Haylee is an amazing little girl.  I look at her everyday and can't believe that she is mine, I can't believe that she came from me and from my husband.  I can't believe how amazing she is and how lucky I am to watch her grow and explore the world.  She is so smart, and has such a personality.


As in my last post, she is independent and is voicing her opinion more and more. We let her pick the "theme" she wanted for her birthday party, and what else could it be? Of course - princess themed! We got princess invites, princess favors, and to make it all come together, we made her a castle cake. She asked us if she could invite friends from her preschool to her party - not just girls, but BOYS too! Yikes - is she old enough to have boys coming to her birthday party? Turns out, she is, and she had a blast. We played pin the horn on the unicorn, and then as a fun craft/goody bag present, I found canvas bags, and let the kids pick out an iron on picture, and then color that picture once it was ironed on. I think the kids had a good time doing it, and all 7 of the 4 year olds left my house without fabric marker on their clothes!

The whole day was such a success!

The Princess and The Hulk

As Haylee gets older, she can voice her opinion and (usually) gets what she wants.  This year was no exception when it came to picking out her Halloween Costume.  For those who haven't been shopping for a 4 year old Halloween costume lately, you can either be some sort of bug (lady, bumble, etc) or you can be some sort of princess/fairy.  Haylee chose to be Cinderella.  The costume we bought we a little big, but with a little help from Grandma Denning, we got it the perfect length.  

Carter, however, was oblivious to what Halloween is and what it actually means to dress up (aside from how annoying the hat that mom is forcing him to wear is).  

They both looked adorable.  We headed to Mom's house on Saturday so Grammy could see the kids and they could see their cousins.  On Halloween we had my good friend Erin, Matt and their son Landon up to do some trick or treating.  We then headed over to my friend Tiffany's block and did some trick or treating there.  Surprisingly, Carter did great - I think it's because he had big sister Haylee and Brynn to follow! 

Punkin Huntin

I love going to the pumpkin patch to pick out the biggest pumpkin I can find. This year was no exception...we go to the pumpkin patch off of Riverdale - it's great, you find your pumpkin, and then head off to the playground or the petting zoo. They also have two corn mazes, but it has been so windy the past few years, that we have yet to embark on that. Here are some pictures from the pumpkin patch. We let Haylee and Carter pick whatever pumpkin they wanted!

We got home and it is Daddy's job to carve the pumpkins. Mine is to clean them out, and he carves...Carter was fascinated by the pumpkins and loved sticking his hand in the pumpkin to feel the "goo".

Here are the kids sitting by their carved pumpkins!

Gymnastics

Haylee has been asking for a few months to do gymnastics, so we signed her up at the Rec Center. She LOVES going to gymnastics!

Here's a video of Haylee doing the balance beam!

I think we might have a future Olympian in our family!!!

Tiny Town

There is a place in the foothills near our house called Tiny Town. It has a "village" to include houses, shops, school houses, etc from the early 1900's that are all child size. The kids can't go into most of the village, but there are a few houses that they can go in. They also have a train that gives you a tour of the whole village. Byron and I, although we are natives, have never been to Tiny Town. We thought it would be fun to take the kids and "G.G" - my grandmother up for a day trip. We packed up a lunch and headed to the hills. We had such a good time. The local fire department was there and had their truck set up, and had a hose set up to put our the flames in a house. Haylee had such a great time putting the flames out of the house!

GG and the kids driving the fire truck.

We tried to get a picture of GG and the kids sitting on the train, but that was towards the end of the day, and the babies were tired, so we were unsuccessful in that!

Race For The Cure

For the last few years, Mom, Erin and I have done the Race for The Cure. Because we found out a dear family friend was just diagnosed with Breast Cancer, my dad, older brother and his girl friend joined in on the race this year. Here are some pics from the day!

As always, Erin and I ran it and then went back to pick up the walkers. It was pretty cold in the morning, but the kids were good sports and had a good time too!

What I learned in Preschool

Haylee started her second year at Little Lights this Fall. She loves going to school and according to her teachers, is a good kid, likes everyone to be included in what is going on, and will finish a project that they have started when most of the kids are bored and moving on after 10 minutes. Her coloring is fantastic, and I am pretty sure she is artistic like her Daddy.

Here are her 1st day of school pics from this year.

A few weeks ago they were learning the story and song of 5 Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed. Her brother loves it when she sings the song, and I was able to catch some of it on video!

Enjoy my two little monkeys!