Number 1

Some of you have asked for pictures of the renovations we've been doing. I'm happy to now oblige.

Before you scroll down keep in mind our house was built in 1970--long before palatial, grand-master suites became the norm. Given the age of the home we're lucky to get what we got.

And what we got was a 5.5' X 6.5' teenie, tiny, moldy master bath. Actually, it was more like a cave given the previous owners had painted it a very dark rust color. With one light over the vanity we could barely see ourselves in the mirror...which most mornings wasn't a bad thing.

What was the bad thing--no storage with only a nasty medicine cabinet behind the mirror.

So here it was...

Master Bath Before

Lovely, wasn't it?

Oh, it gets worse.

Take the shower for instance. Small, gross and moldy. The door didn't even open all the way before it would bang into the toilet tank. It did have good water pressure though. Like little hot needles on your back. Just the way I like it. Not Randal. He's a lightweight when it comes to showers.

Knowing we could do nothing about its size, we still planned to remodel it from tip to toe. And then I had a dream. Really. I had a dream. And in that dream I dreamt, with surprising detail, how we could eek some space for a slightly larger bathroom.

Randal says people have dreams where the mysteries of the universe are revealed, and me...I have dreams about square-footage.

So began the long process of stealing the closet space from Adelaide's room for ours, building her a new one and us two (because we're greedy), then bumping out a former small closet which shared the wall with the bathroom.

(Removing the wall and floor. The wood floor you see is in our bedroom)

And once we re-routed the plumbing...

pulled Randal's leg out of the ceiling below...

and sealed up the floor...

Wa-lah! One still 5.5' X 6.5' room...

Picture taken looking in the same direction as before. Key players have just been rearranged.

Plus...

wait for it...

wait for it...

a 42X40" shower!

(Minus a door. Because, of course, we can't have any room around here 100% complete. We wouldn't want to be responsible for completely blowing anyone's mind or anything.)

The finishes are really my favorite part.

Like the niche my dad built with some unused space above the stairwell.

And the antique bronze rather than brass hardware.

And the tile floor Randal cursed me for choosing. But I say he did an amazing job, so what does he have to complain about?

And the vinyl bird. Just for fun.

The moral of this long, messy (and far too often, stressful) journey...

Great things really do come in small packages!

Christmas

We had a very merry Christmas.

Mom and Dad came to visit. Although I've now found I took very few pictures of them. Why do I do that?

Anyway, the kids and Grandma and Grandpa blew ornaments at the glass museum. We thought it would be a good memory of their last Christmas in NY. (In case you have not heard, we are moving to KY in the spring.)

Randal and Grandpa helped with "ginger"bread houses. As a result, the houses turned out to be rather structurally sound this year--a far cry better than the one I quickly glue-gunned together for Ethan to take to Cub Scouts the week prior.

Now as for Christmas, Santa had it pretty easy. All the kids asked for was an Angry Birds game (Ethan), a Teddy Bear (Addie), and Wheat Thins (both of them). But Santa threw in a few extras. Like Laser Tag. And boy were we glad, otherwise you would never have had the pleasure of seeing this next picture!

He also threw in these: Funny, yes. But there must have been a momentary lapse in Santa's judgement because what a pain to clean out.

With Dad and Mom here there were days we had so much fun we found ourselves exhausted on the floor. Like the day Dad dug out our foundation to fix a leak without our knowledge. (Thanks again, Dad. Best Christmas present ever.) Or the day we spent tiling the bathroom floor. Or the day I made Mom frantically cross-stitch her fingers to bloody nubbins making a Christmas sock for Addie. Or the day Randal and Dad rewired the stove to prevent the house from burning down. Or the day even Addie stayed up until midnight to see 2012 and made us all pay the price with her cheerfulness the next morning. We had a busy week.

Oh, we didn't make Mom and Dad work the entire week. We let them take a break long enough to open a package my sister sent containing this adorable gift. Sadly, now that they have gone home, so has it. The people are made out of paint samples. Very clever. And very cute. I want one.

We loved having Mom and Dad here. It really made this Christmas a special one. Thank you to my brothers and sisters who gave them up so we could have them for the holidays. Love you all.

Tokyo

We kicked off our Christmas this year with a visit to Disneyland, Tokyo.

Saw Mickey.

And Santa.

Enjoyed hanging out together.

And meeting new people.

Loved the light parade.

The fireworks.

And the magic of Disney.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Kyoto

Here are some pictures of the temple and shrines we visited in Kyoto, Japan. The grounds were beautiful. Everything looked so organic; even the fences, buildings, bridges and statues looked as if they just grew that way. (Well, except for the vending machine behind the kids in one of the pictures. You won't be finding anything natural in that.)

While there we also managed to crash a wedding. Everyone else was taking pictures so I helped myself too.

Osaka

Round two: a ferris wheel, a castle and a camera.

First, look how cute this little girl is! I totally did the tourist thing and asked her mother if I could take her picture. Actually, I just pointed to my camera with a pleading look. Though I did manage to say thank you.

We thought the little Japanese girl was so cute. Well, Adelaide didn't do too bad either. She was given candy on three different occasions. She began to refer to it as her "cute face" candy. She and Ethan were sure, if given more time on the subway, we could collect even more.

Osaka, Japan is home to this:

Once the largest ferris wheel in the world. Now it is second to the London Eye.

The four of us had a great debate as to whether or not we would be riding it at some point during our stay in Osaka. Randal and Addie were all for it. Ethan and I, not so much. Ethan suspects he is afraid of heights. I am certain I am afraid of ferris wheels. You can likely talk me on to any roller coaster for they are over in a few seconds. But a ferris wheel? They are just slow enough to allow ample time to think of every horrific thing that can go wrong, and just how little you can do about it if it does.

Ethan and I lost. And as you can see, he is a traitor. Not afraid in the slightest. Me? Well, I didn't take these pictures, Randal did. I tried to go to my happy place for the fifteen minutes that my entire family hovered far above Japan.

I won't be doing it again.

We visited the Osaka Castle. The grounds are surrounded by a moat, then surrounded by the very modern and metropolitan Osaka.

We learned it is one of the more famous of the castle in Japan, probably thanks to this guy...whoever he is.

And this is what Adelaide did that day:

Again.

Cute.

Worth the candy for sure.

Konnichiha

Randal has spent a lot of time in Japan the past six months. Although we are so proud of him for successfully managing a project there, we have missed him terribly.

However, the necessity for him to be away over Thanksgiving gave way to an opportunity for the kids and I to join him in Japan. And boy did we have a great time, despite seeing this right out of the gate.

It's hard to decide what out of the nearly 300 pictures I took might be of interest. Perhaps I need to do it in increments so as to keep the posts on the shorter side.

We visited a bird house near Randal's plant. I've never seen so many birds flying about. Owls, flamingos, emus, toucans, you name it.

The bird house had a banquet room full of hanging flowers and vines. It was gorgeous. I wish the picture could show how immense the room looked.

Now Adelaide was not so fond of feeding the birds. But she relented to a picture near the swan.

Until this happened.

Birds are just too unpredictable for her.

But marine life tucked safely behind glass?

That's more her pace.

We visited the Osaka aquarium where Ethan saw his favorite animal--the Japanese Spider Crab. Strange choice, but very impressive as large crabs go.

He also managed to pet a shark or two.

Again, no Adelaide.

She avoided to issue and busied herself doing this:

The entire time.

It was so funny. She'd look through her pictures and say she needed to try again to get a "better shot." Where do they pick this stuff up?

More to come. I have 290 more pictures in addition to Adelaide's to sift through. This could go on for weeks!

Deathly Hallow

This was likely the only year the kids will choose to coordinate Halloween costumes. I swear I didn't force them, but I was pretty happy about it. They looked great.

Super-cute Hermoine Granger.

Given Ethan was reprising his wizard role, he decided to shake it up and go as Ron Weasley rather than Harry Potter.

Adelaide's painstaking lists of her haul.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

(I'm headed to the kitchen right now to wipe one of those Butterfingers off the list. Don't tell.)