Renovations gone wild

If you live in an older house like I do (by older I mean it is about 13 years old and deemed "outdated" by every DIY show I watch - and that my friend is solid truth), you know that you need to keep the house 'updated' or you just can't watch Renovation Re@lities without seeing yourself on the show... (have you seen that show??? Great entertainment!!)


My husband bought this house new and was able to just couldn't afford to put the top of the line quality appliances and all the extra upgrades. It has been a blessing that this was all he did...because it kept the doors open (so to speak) to make upgrades and personalize it now.


In the past 9 years we have upgraded our dishwasher so that it doesn't sound like it may take off a section of the house while cleaning the dishes. We have upgraded our refrigerator, washer, dryer...not our oven - yet. We have painted...some rooms twice. We put laminate wood flooring in 2 rooms (Agent P's and twins room). We have done MANY things outside (pool, garden, play area, 21 tons of decorative rock...). 


A few years ago, I updated the kids bathroom (remember? I can't find the post right now...I'll keep looking). However, I didn't do anything with the floor or the vanity. We removed the mirror that was attached with roofing tar (not really, but it's what it seemed like), painted and updated shower curtain, faucet and towels. 


I couldn't replace vanity or floor.


You see - it's like this...


If I wanted to replace the vanity, I had to replace the flooring in bathroom. If I wanted to replace flooring in bathroom, I needed to replace it...IN THE WHOLE HOUSE. No one wants to just do 1 room, when the whole house needs it.


So, about 3 months ago, the carpet cleaning guy indicated the carpet in the living room was on it's last leg.  I coerced him in to putting in writing and signing in blood that I need to rip it out. Not really. Or really. You decide. But really, he did say it was pretty bad. 


That was all I needed.


I relayed that information to my sweet husband with or without some exaggeration. But we already knew we needed to deal with it. We were stepping on exposed carpet tacks between living room and kitchen. We knew it needed to be done...but it would be a big job.


How big?


Oh, ya know - pretty much all but 2 rooms in the house. Moving out for a week. Living out of bags for 2-3 weeks and sharing a bathroom for 3 weeks. No biggie...Right?


As soon as my sweet husband said "maybe we should look into tiling the house"...I said "OK" and within 10 days was ready to go :). I'm efficient like that. 


SO. We had to remove all furniture from living room, ADog's room, dining room and school area. Some went into garage, some went in to Agent P's room deeming it unlivable until we moved it all back out. (the 3 little kids shared a room for a week, I slept on the couch and my sweet husband slept on an air mattress -  that was awesome...or something.)


We had to have tile, carpet and linoleum removed from all rooms, closets, halls. It was like moving, without a moving truck.


But, here you go - in somewhat random order because I wasn't sure how to order them. Plus, at one point, I lost the camera so there is a gap in the order of work. Remember, we are still moving back in and there are kids that live here. Ignore all randomly placed clothing, shoes, toys and other odd objects.

Before - carpet and old tile

removal of tile (kitchen, dining and entry)

opposite direction after carpet removed (living room and dining area)

Kitchen, dining and part of living room 

Before (carpet gone, just concrete floor)

new tile in ADog's room

looking down to twins room

new tile - looking into dining area (back to twins room)

Kids bathroom with new vanity and backsplash

kitchen

New tile

So, the project was far more than I might have realized, but definitely worth it!!  I ended up painting our room and bathroom (in another post, not today, LOL) because "all the furniture is out...now is the time to do it". So, after 25 hours of painting - they are almost done.  Final touches on bathroom are waiting for me - and the new vanity arrives today between 10am and 2pm.


Anyone that knows me has to know this - I have remained relatively calm during this very, very chaotic upheaval of our lives. I moved the 4 kids and I out for 5 days - came home for the weekend only to have to be out of the house for 2 full days until tile was completed. I had to go to IKEA one day because I ran out of things to do ;).


To my dear sweet husband - thank you so very much for (after almost 9 years-heehee) sacrificing SO MUCH to make this MY house too!!!  I LOVE how it has turned out and am so glad that we jumped in 100% to make it happen. I am grateful beyond words! I know it was a HUGE job and I know sometimes difficult! Thanks for all the work you have done above and beyond to help clean it back up!!! I love you!

Top 10

May was entirely too chaotic - story of my life - but really - it was ;) And June has been no better. 


So, I've opted for the "Top 10" approach to catch back up to current life! However, I'm not sure what proper order is 1 to 10 or counting backwards from 10 to 1...or I could get creative and randomly order them....


1.  Birthday cake creativity.


Agent P wanted a cake shaped like a car for his birthday cake. In my head, I thought, how hard can that be? Well, as it turns out baking a cake in the shape of a cake isn't hard...but it is expensive. The mold for the cake was $16.99. I love the kid, but wow. Plus, I'd have to decorate it and I knew good and well that it was NOT going to look like the photo in the mold. I'm psychic like that.


So, we did this instead:

Some diligently decorate...some snack on decorations...

2.  A-Dog finished up 8th grade and is ready for High School.  I know many people balk at the whole 'over promoting'. Believe me, I am a firm believer that 'graduating' from preschool, then kinder, then 5th, then 8th and then 12th is way too much. BUT, I am always up for a party so I opted to celebrate. It's not like there was a chance he wouldn't make it to 9th grade, but starting High School is a big leap in life and should be celebrated.

Dad, ADog and Mom

Grandpa, ADog and Grandma

3. 7 hours after graduation - we had eaten lunch, swam, dropped Hank off, packed up and set out for Colorado.  Oh, and we didn't want to drive 11 hours into the night so we stopped 6 hours into it and stayed over night. We traveled with another family so we were able to swap some kids around for a nice relaxing drive (and meeting 3 other families there - yes, you got it right...5 families with a total of 23 people) !  


We got to Pagosa Springs early afternoon on Saturday - in time to unpack, get settled and eat and get ready for white water rafting on Sunday.  Not me, I stayed with the twins because they were to little to go.

Group of rafters

ADog in the teenage boy raft ;)

Agent P with the biggest boys (and Daddy)

They had a blast rafting, but I heard many of them say next time they are doing the 'faster' rapids because it was too tame for them.  I guess there was only about 4 exciting areas of drenching rapids and the rest of the time was just floating down stream :).


4. We played Frisbee Golf.  I know you are thinking - "really? That made top 10??" I know, but it did. I kid you not, it was hilarious and entertaining..and the best part? Well, us ladies had to leave all the kids with the men because it was D's birthday and we needed to take her to lunch. So we 'threw' 8 holes in no particular order and blazed a trail. 


I have to say, it was way more fun than I thought it would be. It was fine to be horrible at the sport because we just played as a team and didn't keep any score :). Apparently, there is a technique...

Mini P was a natural, because she throws balls around the side of her body..

5. We went out into nature. Mostly it was a long drive with a short hike...to get a nice photo of the kids. Or in my case, make an attempt to get a nice photo of the kids.

Why do 3 have their mouths open? I cannot explain...

But there was this one with Monkey and his "monkey-ness"...seriously people.

6. This pile of rock is now spread in my yard. All 22 tons. I will get some "finally done" photos soon.

7.  We are already on week 3 of summer. ADog is playing on the JV baseball team for his high school. He has worked hard to get his starting spot in outfield, hoping he can hang on to it for the quick 4 week/14 game season! 


8. The other 3 kids are doing soccer clinics randomly in June. They are at night so it's not as hot as it could be...but we have been known to say "coach called and said it was too hot". Which really means 'mom and dad think it's hot and don't want to go'. 

Shirt says "Attitude is everything". She has plenty of it...

9. I'm losing steam here...I'm sure there is something...OH - we are getting tile in the house. All but Agent P's room and the twins room - which have laminate wood...all carpet and tile will be removed and replaced with the same tile in the whole house. Wish me luck during this very chaotic time where we have to empty all but 2 rooms of our house :)


10. The twins got big kid beds finally. They are 4.5. But man, when you have to buy TWO of them, it takes a little planning and budgeting ;)! I will get a photo... but they are in bunks that also come apart to be just twin beds. Mini P on top, Monkey on bottom. They are so very happy and it is going better than expected. They also gave up naps (which means mama might be going a little crazy)...the first time in 7 years I have not had a napping kid.


OK, I think you may be mostly caught up. I'm sure your day is now complete!


Cheers!

Swimming upstream...

I know you are all just jones-ing to know what the heck is going on here...who wouldn't be? Oh. Everyone?


Oh well.


I have been trying very hard for the last year or so to re-find myself (NOT "refine", there is just no way that would ever happen). Somewhere between twins, baseball games, twins, kids, a husband, a house, bills to manage, clothes to wash...I keep losing ME.


If mama not happy, no one happy.


So true.


I had been running and working out, but frankly, I don't like running. I really don't. I try to. I would like to. I just don't. I need to start up again, with a more serious attitude. If I liked it, I'd be more inclined to. Mostly I bootcamp. Muscle building with some cardio...trying unsuccessfully to get rid of something the twins left me...in my mid section.


But I did do a run recently. Looking for myself. I did it with some of my besties. They really are the best!  We did a race called "Kiss Me Dirty", we were the "Dirty Mama's", matching shirts and all. The name is appropriate.

The Posse

It was a 5k mud run with obstacles. I know the picture above just doesn't look like we were in the mud really...but it is all dried on our legs and arms. Yes we are drinking beer. No, I will never do another run where I am not rewarded with a beer at the end. I'm classy like that. Don't judge, I'm too old for it to be just about fitness :)!


(as a side note...I want to say we did NOT run in flip flops/bare feet. We already took off our knee high pink socks (and put them in the garbage) and put our very muddy running shoes in a bag to later deal with. I can see how by looking at this photo, you would not believe we did any running, just walked around in flops and drank beer. That is not how it went down, keep reading!)


We decided to go back to the terrain obstacle (which is what they called the "mud holes" they created), which was a very large pit of mud - about 1-3 feet deep by 5 feet wide and probably 15 feet long. We may or may not have stalked and attacked other racers that we did or did not know. I can't say for sure without incriminating myself or my besties. But I might be inclined to say that few went home clean, and one or two might have ran screaming from us...

3 of the Posse

But, we got significantly more dirty. Significantly. We tried to wash off...with a hose with near no pressure...

We seriously laughed so hard our stomachs hurt. It was like a mini ab workout.


But we found ourselves.


We found ourselves hot, muddy, happy, laughing, screwing around, and seriously dirty.

SO, there you go - a very rare picture of muah. A goofy one, but that is who I found when I spent some time with myself and my besties :)

Agent P turns 7

My sweet 7 year old!

7 years have FLOWN by. What happened to this little baby???

about 1 month old

Now at 7 years old, his personality is more than his little body can handle! He is full of life from beginning to end. He loves science and all things related to science. He would choose a National Geographic show over any other show. His sweet daddy is so happy he has someone to watch documentaries with!


He is smart and thinks about things beyond what we are used to (since we are used to A-Dog, king of doing the minimum to get by). He asks questions that I usually have to answer "let's ask Daddy when he gets home" because I just have no idea sometimes. 


He loves to read. He loves long books, science books, books about animals and spiders and bugs and facts. He loves facts. 


He is a typical little/big brother who plays with his siblings and drives them totally insane! He is bossy and in charge. He knows how to annoy them in 3.2 seconds. But, he does love them...

even his sister.


He loves sports. He plays baseball, soccer, rides his scooter and his bike. A couple weeks ago he woke up and decided he would ride his bike without training wheels. He did. And that day went on a 3 mile bike ride with no falls. 

He makes every day count and needs love and hugs to get through each one :). 


Agent P - I love you like there is no tomorrow!!!  Have a great birthday! (Although, you have been celebrating for about 4 days now with "birthday cookies" and "birthday cinnamon rolls" :)  )

Photos and editing

I used to put a lot of time into editing photos (4.5 years ago-pre twins.)....making them look cute, changing color, playing with the tones and all those other technical terms that I have no idea what they mean!  


The art of photography has come a long way and thanks to digital cameras and editing, you can make a photo look really cool - even if the photo you took was sub par.


Not that I take sub par photos.


Not at all.


I'm sure they are fine.


Par.


Or maybe close to Par. I'm not a golfer, so I can't use Bogey or Birdie correctly in a sentence. 


But I did discover a very simple online editing tool (pic---monkey...without the dashes, but didn't want anyone googling it, to find my site :) ) that has simple features that you can complicate if you really feel the need.


I don't.


But 3 computers ago I had great photo editing software...and now I don't.


But this one I found will be my new favorite!

Before

After

Now, you may not like the change, but I just like the difference. 


Look at this one:

Before

After

Not drastic, just different. I love how easy it was to put color on just one area. My old software I had to draw around the object to show which to color/b&w. So tedious.  Hours of work for one photo.


This took me 7.5 minutes. 


Or 13.


But it was quick none the less. 


Cheers!


OH, and I promise better quality photos posted to this site from now on! :)

A Raise...

Yesterday I was feeling a little underpaid. 


I've spent nearly a week with my sweet husband out of town. It's one thing to be out of town for a planned work trip, it is another for a last minute with no pre-planning and pre-arranging of the schedules kind of trip.


So, left on my own to figure out how to manage a household that needs 2 adults - especially for driving peeps to their practices/games/etc...was something that retail therapy didn't help (yes, I did try :) but shopping with 3 kids....not helpful.). I even tried online shopping...but was lacking in serious funds for what I was looking to make me feel better ;)!


We were doing pretty good until Sunday.  


When it was 100 degrees out.


And we had to be at the ball park from 8am to 1:30pm or so. 


I couldn't even get a sitter, it was Sunday and everyone I knew was at church.


SO, we made all attempts to stay cool, hydrated and have our potty times in between innings.


During game 2 I had tent squatters...that took up shade in trade for escorting people to the bathroom every 6 minutes. Thank goodness because for whatever reason Monkey thought it was hilarious to drain his cup so he could go pee again. *sigh*. Sorry Grandma!


Thankfully, someone loves me enough to bring me a present.


It was heartfelt and sweet...

And dead.

And part gone...likely eaten by the sweet boy who brought it to me...

 Which was nice...to have a gift delivered right to the back door...Thanks Hank!

Would have been better had he not ran away while we were at swim lessons...making me drive around the neighborhood searching for him for 30 minutes....

*sigh*. 

I guess you gotta take your gifts as they come, and leave the rest behind!

However, as nice as the gesture...I tossed the partial bird wing in the trash...almost with my *cookies*, since I really hate cleaning stuff like that up...

Cheers!

Big shout out to ADog

Well, I don't like to get all bragger, bragger cookie bagger...but since this is a record of our life, it would be remiss of me to only point out the ridiculous things my kids do and never let people know of the awesome things they do.


I'm not talking awesome like what certain body parts got drawn on our life sized body drawings that we did this week during science. It was supposed to be lungs, heart and bones. A few people got carried away and added their personal parts. It was awesome, like roll my eyes, awesome. Like we aren't hanging those up for people to see awesome. And let's all say a little prayer of thanks that my 4 year olds don't go to preschool - I'd have some explaining to do...


I'm talking about ADog. He has really turned this year, his final of middle school - into a really amazing and AWESOME year. 


I am sure I have mentioned that he is in National Junior Honor Society as the VP, he serves in a group call WEBS (Where everyone belongs...what the heck is the "S" for??? Not sure).  


Well, this year he also placed 1st in 8th grade for his science fair project AND 1st in the school overall (6th-8th).  My sweet husband and I did not help him all that much with the project. Mostly it was helping with a topic and getting his head wrapped around the project. 

He received an award at Vail Pride Day as well at S.ARSEF (Southern Arizona blah blah blah Science something Fair). Actually at S.ARSEF, he got 2 awards. 1 from a sponsor and 1 from S.ARSEF themselves. He received a bag, certificate, trophy and $75.   Yup, money.  Pretty impressive. There were some kids who won more money than that, mostly high school age. 


He also got awards for 3rd quarter and last years AiMS testing. Exceeded in all 3 areas, with High Honor Roll with a 4.0.

He has straight A's in all his classes including his sophomore geometry class. When he starts  high school this summer, he will already have 2 of his 4 math classes already completed.  We worked on his schedule a month or so ago, and he will be taking honors/pre-ap classes this year. That means, more homework, harder classes and maybe not all A's. :)


Never fear, I'm not claiming he is perfect. I'm certainly not saying he is smarter than anyone else's kid. Believe me, I can give you a laundry list of not as awesome things he does too. 


But, we love him and there is not a big market to sell teenagers right now. We will just have to keep him...but trust me when I say, it is NOT because of all the chores he gets done around here...that is not it :)


or his common sense. That reason would never even be on a list of top 100 reasons to keep ADog around.


Ever.


Or his ability to be quiet as a mouse at 6am while some of us the kids are still sleeping.


That doesn't make the top 100 either. Or 200.


BUT, he is cute (and went along with us and wore a matching 10th Annual Cousins Retreat shirt) and he was super sweet to the only other boy cousin over the age of 7 at our Easter Retreat, letting him hang on the couch and watch sports all day. 

That cutie on the left belongs to my cousin...I could kiss those cheeks all day!!!


Cheers!