Kitchen Remodeling -- Week 3

We started the weekend with a cozy library that doubles as an entry. Truly, it's an ex-laundry room/butler's pantry that has challenged my homemaker's brain. In addition to the odd shelves, it has exposed pipes and the fuse box. But it's cozy and it's off the courtyard and it's easier to access from the driveway and so by default, it is the entry.
Not for long! We are converting the back half of the room into a huge (4.5'x12') walk-in pantry while the front of the room (5'x12') takes on the look of a more formal and proper entry. Mark always looks so happy in these before shots, doesn't he?
Sam got in on the demo. He keeps talking about how we're 'destroying our house'.
From the same spot as the first picture...the doorway to the new pantry is framed in.
Then the dividing wall went up. Now we need to wait a couple weeks for a drywall team to finish up.
Now, use your imagination. This is the new entry.
This is the new pantry. Of course, shelves are to come.
Remodeling is such a roller coaster. At the end of the weekend, we feel happy and pleased with our progress. We see the hard work paying off but during the interim (Thursday-Saturday) we often are tense with each other and I generally end up totally frustrated and asking myself why we're doing this at all. Ugghh! Only seven more weeks...hopefully.

Brotherhood

When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life.
--Antisthenes

Cursive Literacy

One of the rites of passage of being a third grader is learning cursive handwriting. I know that it is a much debated topic in these electronic times. One side of the debate claims typing is all you need. I agree. Madelyn practices typing daily for 30 minutes. The other side argues that cursive makes a child's handwriting clear, legible and fast. I agree with them too. Writing letters and jotting down notes is something lifelong learners do. A computer is not always handy when genius strikes or when your grandmother needs to be thanked for the handmade quilt.

While Madelyn's school values cursive handwriting, it does not take the time to teach it. So, a teachable moment presented itself for me. Not only do I get to teach Madelyn something new, but I got to peruse the teacher store in order to prepare for said instruction. I could spend days looking at teacher stuff. It inspires me; it motivates me; it gives me warm fuzzies.

I chose a workbook for my pupil and proudly presented it to her. She looked at the alphabet inside the cover and decided that Mandarin symbols meant more to her than what she saw there. Reading cursive, it seems, is akin to learning to read a foreign language. Now, Madelyn and I sit shoulder-to-shoulder daily marveling at the beauty of cursive handwriting and the challenges of reading it.

Sick Sunday

I am generally very thankful for the good health of my family. We seem to be a fairly resistant bunch. We generally don't have fevers and we've only made one trip to the urgent care in our eight years of parenting and it ended up being an aborted mission as the problem resolved itself. We've made a handful of sick visits to the pediatrician's office for tummy bugs, ear infections, pink eye and a strange rash. Really mild stuff, right?

This weekend, however, everyone but Madelyn caught a cold. We were full of sniffles and sneezes and sore throats. We were tired, a little cranky, and definitely more whiney. We decided to hole up for the weekend. We went out for tissues, medicine, and donuts on Saturday morning and didn't leave the house again until it was time to leave for school this morning.

It was wonderful! This weekend I was thankful for the common cold and the time it gave us to relax at home.

Which is better?

Is it better for the environment to use plastic grocery bags and reuse them for trash can liners or is it better to use reusable canvas bags and buy plastic bags for trash can liners?

Kitchen Remodeling -- Week 2

We put pen to paper this week on our kitchen plans. We signed the cabinet contract yesterday, all 19 pages of it. Today I signed off on our granite choice and gave the fabricator a deposit. I am totally lovin' our granite selection. The photo is not the best but you get the idea.
Next week, more decisions and hopefully a firm schedule!

As a final note, I have to brag about my boys. They have been so patient this week as we've visited a 'kitchen place' everyday while sisters are in school. Of course, the boys have memorized which stores bribe little boys with cookies and which bribe them with candy and which bribe them with toys. If they're really lucky, they get a combination of the above. So shopping with mom has become more like a treat than a chore.

It's my birthday and I'll mop if I want to

My birthday was last weekend. To celebrate my 35th birthday, I wanted a steam mop. I know, Mark is a lucky guy to have found a wife with such practical wants. But really, my wants always are secondary to the kids and they tend to be practical because I'm always trying to whittle some 'free' time into my days.

Really, I think a steam mop is rather indulgent. I wanted a composting bin for Mother's Day. I got a Kindle instead. Maybe next year.

The steam mop is great and fun and may even be a workout.
The girls decorated for my birthday.
I was spoiled with beautiful artwork and lots and lots of homemade cards.

Group hug for mom!
I am a lucky lady to celebrate my birthdays with such thoughtful and eager children and a special husband who knows how to balance my practical wants with some splendid indulgences as well.

Square Dancing the Night Away

We took a break from deconstructing our house to attend the Square Dance at the girls' school last Thursday night. The girls had two lessons over the last couple weeks. They were super excited to see all their friends and to try out their new moves.

Upon arrival, they jumped right into a line dance and dragged Dad along too.
Then I got to take a turn.
Seth and Sam were not so much into the dancing. For their patience, they were rewarded with some cotton candy.
Harrison was all over the place. Our littlest member just takes off and only looks back to taunt you into following him because he's about to go further away and faster.
A final dance for the girls and a classmate of Madelyn's.
I love these community events and seeing all three girls enjoying all their school has to offer.

Kitchen Remodeling -- And the wall is outta here!

Our world was expanded yesterday! It was the day we have thought about, dreamed of, and planned since April 2005. We took out the wall between the kitchen and dining room. Why didn't we do that sooner? I mean, WOW, what a change! Now we can dine together and not have to drag chairs over from the game table and no one's knees are mashed into a cabinet or wedged under a table support. We even have elbow room and room to grow!

The boys were an attentive audience for wall demo. I just hope they don't try some demo of their own as they like to copycat Daddy.
Ta-dah!
The girls were very surprised by the change.

We're done with demo for a few weeks. Today, we finalized our granite selection and tomorrow we finalize our cabinet order. So, it's hurry up and wait around here. Our next project will be the new pantry in two weeks.

Kitchen Remodeling -- Day 2

Day 1 of kitchen remodeling is under our belt. Demo got started after the 15-yard dumpster was delivered around 9 a.m. First to go, the double oven circa 1975. It's heating element blew out when we first moved in but after a replacement it's served us well enough. Of course, I don't have much to compare it to.
Of course, demolition always comes with some surprises. The first was this miniature sandbox under the first base cabinet complete with nesting materials. I don't think there were any inhabitants, or at least Mark didn't share any. After shoveling two trash bins full of sand and adding Great Stuff to our list, we moved on. One good surprise was learning that our dream pantry idea is very doable. So our kitchen design lives another day.
In the afternoon, we moved over to the north wall. We took out an original cabinet and some shelves added by the last owner. That guy sure liked his hardware. He used 6 inch bolts to secure the shelf to the supports. Such a pain to remove! Underneath the shelves we found another vintage treasure, the original linoleum. Sam calls it the 'fancy tile'. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.
Today the wall between the kitchen and dining room is coming down. This is the biggest reason for this project. We can't all fit around the kitchen island anymore. We need better access to our table for 8.

Kitchen Remodeling -- Day 1

Today is the day. Our kitchen remodeling project begins now!

When we bought this house in 2005, the kitchen was dark and felt a little like a cave. It was big and everything worked so we put it on the to-do list but it came after remodeling the bathrooms and bedrooms.

You can see in the before-before pictures that the cabinets were really dark. This was after the doors were taken off. The refrigerator didn't fit in the kitchen so anytime we wanted anything we had to go to the entry (which is probably even stranger but it worked for us).

We exhausted ourselves and our resources before we got to the kitchen during our first round of remodeling back in 2005 so we opted to paint it to spruce it up a bit.
It worked!
This is the kitchen today. This is the south wall complete with my 2 burner cooktop and 35 year old oven. So retro, yes?This is the west wall. We recently had a Solatube installed, giving us some much needed natural light.This is the north wall. It is very cluttered with food on the left (the existing pantry is not particularly functional) and desk/school/life stuff on the right.
Here we go! This is our first indoor remodeling project since we moved back in 2008. I'm a little nervous but I know it will be amazing in the end. Right?

Happy Birthday Baby Man!

One year ago, we welcomed our sixth child into our family.

Yesterday, he welcomed me to the daily grind. I've been with him everyday of his time on Earth but I still marvel at how we went from our 'little lump' to our 'little lightening' boy.
Harrison is such a joy. He is a busy boy, always exploring and chasing after his siblings. He thinks he's 3 (along with his brothers) and gets so frustrated when his body or his mommy hold him back from an adventure.

And sometimes he sleeps and I swoon. Look at his little cleft chin. We have no idea where that comes from but it is adorable.The shot of the day (taken at the park during Catherine's soccer practice).
Opening presents with older siblings cheering him on.Cake time. Harrison was quite tired by this time.
Harrison didn't blow out his candle nor did he touch the flame, rather he grabbed the candle and it went out in his hand. He didn't even flinch though.Harrison Theodore, you are one-of-a-kind. You keep me on my toes. You make me smile! I feel so blessed to be your mommy.

Balloon Fiesta 2010 -- Part II

We headed out to Balloon Fiesta again this weekend. Mark's sister and her family were here for a visit. We made it to the field around 6:30 a.m. after another hour-long traffic jam. Note to self: leave earlier next year. We went through some rain on the way in. The winds were calm though so we were hopeful that the Special Shapes would go up.

We learned on our way in to breakfast that the 'official' morning event was canceled due to lightening in the area. However, balloon pilots aren't ones to disappoint a crowd. Many of the balloon inflated even if they didn't take to the skies. We had a great time wandering around the field from balloon to balloon, collecting cards and marveling at the process. Here are a few of our favorites:






And this is really what it's all about! Look at those smiles.