Halloween

Owen's first Halloween was somewhat uneventful for him. He slept through most of it leaving me alone with the candy bowl after Randal and the kids left for trick or treating. I would have polished off a lot more of that candy too if it weren't for all those pesky trick-or-treaters coming to the door one after another asking for some of it.

Adelaide reprised her role as princess from two Halloweens ago. The dress is getting a bit short, but at least she was happy and I was not responsible for another costume this year. She is a darling princess!

Ethan decided to be a king's archer. More specifically an archer representing one of his favorite video game characters. Having such specific parameters to work with, this costume really taxed what little clothes sewing ability I have. The lack of sleep wasn't helping either. All in all, it turned out well and he was happy (which you cannot tell by the picture below because he wanted to give a serious pose as all archers do). Ethan and Randal made the bow and arrow out of pvc and wood dowels. It actually works really well so Ethan has been enjoying it.

We had a cold Halloween here in KY. In an effort to concentrate the trick-or-treating, Randal took the kids to a trunk-or-treat at a nearby Christian church. And boy did they hit the mother load! The kids excitedly said they filled their bags, dumped them in the car and went back for more. (Next year maybe we'll send them dressed as Mormon missionaries and see if they are nearly as successful.) I made them stick the majority of it (specifically chocolate) in the freezer so I wouldn't be tempted. So far I've stayed out.

God Be With You

(Marian Madeline, Marian, Janell Marian and Adelaide Marian (we're just missing my cute niece Abigail Marian in this picture))

My grandma, Marian Barker, passed away yesterday. Although my mind is telling me that at near 90 and having recently suffered some crippling strokes she is happy and whole and with my grandpa, my heart keeps reminding me that one of the people I love the very most is no longer on this earth. I am going to miss her terribly. I love you, Grandma.

Welcome Summer

Only a few days into the summer and we're trying to use every minute knowing that very soon we will be vagabonds. Our house is under contract, yet we haven't decided where we will be living in Kentucky. 

And I'm choosing not to worry about it. Anybody who knows me knows that is quite a feat. A bowl of ice cream made from berries picked by my two favorite kids has wiped the need for a place to call home completely from my mind.

My biggest worry should be that the kids might not live to see us homeless at the end of the summer if Randal has anything to do about it. But look at their happy faces. (Now that's what dads are for. We moms fret for their safety, taking pictures all the while.)

Wishing you all a happy, wet and safe summer with a roof over your heads. That's what we're shooting for. I'll even take 2 out of the 3!

Progeny

I'm back. Reeling at all the changes Blogger has made in my absence, however. But enough about me, let me update you a bit on those who matter most.

One

Ethan's recent school assignment was to research the life of someone famous. He chose George Washington. He worked hard on the various assignments that followed, including an oral report given in full costume.

I was in the throws of feeling so sick and had checked myself out of most of the kids' needs thanks to Randal picking up nearly everything without a single word of complaint. But when it came to a costume I could see the panic in Randal's poor, tired eyes. So I mustered. And this is what Ethan and I came up with. 

Ethan was responsible for the shoes, pants and the vision for the head of white hair. I came up with my green jacket (which he did not want to wear because it's owner is a girl), my granny compression socks (again in his estimation meant for girls (until we convinced him GW wore them)), a ruffled collar (refused on the grounds it was only for girls (until we again referred to GW's pic)), and a black ribbon for the wig (again, girly).  

All in all, it turned out pretty good. Ethan was proud of himself. And I was too as crawled back in bed to rest another month or two.

Two

Adelaide is now six. And counting down the days until she is seven.  

This kid is delightful. We love having her around. She has such a funny mind and is quite a loving, little girl. She loves to read and is such an early bird (around 5 am, we're guessing) she finds plenty of time for it. Of course, this means she becomes a little less delightful around 6 pm every evening, but we never have to fight this one to go to bed so we'll keep her!

Adelaide is finishing up a season of T-ball. Due to a mix-up with team rosters, she was last to receive her uniform for the season. The only shirt left for her team of 5 and 6-year-olds was an adult small, a size even larger than the one her brother was issued. It has been rather funny watching her run the bases with the neck hanging off her shoulder and with a generous amount of padding tucked in her pants. 

Two and a Half

At 22 weeks we now know whether it is pink or blue.

And it's blue! 

We do have some pics from his first few photo shoots, but the most recognizable one would make both you and him blush. We'll leave it that this is pretty much what he looks like.

Ethan was thrilled of course. Mainly because it has been his dream for a long time to sleep in bunk beds. He may not be so thrilled when this little guy is finally ready to share his room.

Addie is very happy too. She announced her excitement for her new baby brother in her first Sacrament meeting testimony today. She's grieving her loss on the whole bunk bed thing though.




I am now feeling much better and hope to update y'all again soon.

And I'm using "y'all" in preparation for our move to Kentucky.

Number 2

With the master bath now behind us, we turned our attention to what might, arguably, be the worst room in the house.

Now this room is even more special because we have subjected nearly every one of our visitors to it. (We really know how to roll out the welcome mat.)

Part of the counter was free-floating. ???. And in keeping with the design genius of the master bath, the drawers tucked back in the corner would bang into the giant toilet tank. (T.O.U.S. (Tank of Unusual Size)) not shown because we replaced the toilet in the interim of renovations for a slimmed down version, one that would flush properly.)

My personal favorite touch was the swag valance which just so happened to match the wallpaper perfectly. Brava!

This bathroom was gross with a capital G.

Gross tub.

No, really. Gross tub.
Gross wallpaper.

Gross floor.

Gross light switch. (And aparently sideways. Who writes this blog? That's just careless.)

Well, it is gross no more!

No more valence. No more wallpaper--anywhere in the house actually. No more bonus, hanging counter space. No more mold.

But instead, more insulation. New window. New tile. New granite. New tub.

Actually, new everything.

Plus now a bonus linen cabinet which...

clears the toilet tank by a mile.

We tiled around the tub. Randal and I are a pretty good team now when it comes to tiling. We even tiled for a date night. Sad, I know.

But happy, because it turned out like this which is better in so many ways to dinner and a movie.

This is the old tub.

Out.

In front.

Of our house.

For months now.

That's so white trash.

As I said in the previous post, we like to leave one thing unfinished in every room we do. It's like our signature. Can you see what it is?

I'll send a prize to whoever figures it out. Anyone for a tub in a million pieces?

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.