Anna turns 5!

About the only time I seem to log onto this site is to post about birthdays, so here I am again, ringing in another year of Anna's life! Annalee is five!! Five years of living under the same roof as this spunky, happy, intelligent, beautiful little person who has the biggest heart that I have ever known. I am exhausted, because she does not really like to sleep through the night, but hey, we can handle that! Annalee, you hate wearing shoes, love wearing dresses, really dislike when Jack is picking on you and you would jump in to help even your worst enemy (of which you have none, because, let's face it, you're five).

We pulled out all the stops for this birthday, picking Anna up from school early to go get a pedi/mani with mom and then to build a bear for a new stuffed friend. The biggest surprise, however, turned out to be something that Dad said we would never get....a kitten! Ryan surprised everyone by going out and adopting a black kitten and bringing him home to catch mice. Annalee waivered between naming him Junior and Bobcat, but Bob won in the end and our Bob Cat is finding a nice home in Bloomington. He isn't so sure about poor old Tippi, but I am convinced that as soon as he figures out that she is a warm body during the cold winter months, they will be best of friends.

Within an hour, the kitten became old news, so we headed back to MOA (ugh) and went to dinner at the Rainforest Café so that Anna could have the birthday volcano. Then...rides for the girl. Jack and I headed to the lego store to play while Dad and Anna bonded over high flying fun.

So, there you have it! Annalee is five and the next birthday is only days away, when Ryan will turn 40! 40 is so old!!! Kidding, Ryan....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mud room take 2

Do it yourself projects always take so long! What we started back in October 2016 is nearing completion, though, and well, we think it looks great (always humble)!

We purchased the lockers and shoe rack from Home Depot online. We went to Ikea for the desks and storage cabinet. One Ikea trip with a design fully laid out turned in to four Ikea trips and a mish-mash of ideas that nearly ended with the return of a days work of assembled furniture. Turns out, Ryan knows how to design a room and I have ideas that tend to work better in my head than in completion. By then end of my assembly line job (all day on Sunday) my hands were sore and I was so crabby that I ended up saying "to hell with everything" and went to bed.

Luckily, with plenty of sleep and a new outlook on life, we did a little rearranging and came up with the layout you see below. We have two fully built pieces of furniture that will need to be returned, but we are confident that once we find a counter top for the shelf on the left, we will be quite happy with how the north wall in this room turned out. We will be adding shelves above the desk area another day to finish up the space. One desk area will be for my sewing machine, yarn and other crafts, the other side will be for homework, a computer, etc. I anticipate that the space will evolve as the kids get older, but this way, a desk with a computer is somewhere else besides their father's office and they will have access to it for games and homework whenever they so choose. And I will have an easier time keeping them in check with what they are using it for!

On the other side of this photo, there is a bathroom that is currently torn up. That is the next big project in the house and I will get the photos up once we begin on that big job! We purchased the same tile as is in the mud room, so there is a cohesive look on this entire floor. As the house is a four-level split, this area as soon as you come in from the garage is quite compact. It will be a great floor, though, once everything is done! The bathroom will be a bit tricky, as the venting is low in the area where the shower is currently set to be located. We will just have to make sure our guests are relatively short, I guess! 

Our adorable, strong-willed daughter and the story of the scissors

Still adorable, even without bangs. They will grow back and her escapade with scissors only broke her mother's heart slightly. She said she wanted to look like Sophie (a beautiful, older friend who has no bangs, only long hair).

 If she does it again, though, I may be tempted to cut it all off. I do believe that is what my mom would have done!

Jack is almost 6!

I brought Jack in to the doctor the other day, as his coughing and runny nose were just not going away. I asked, as it is so close to his birthday, if we could kill two birds with one stone and just get his well child visit out of the way while we were there. At age 6, they don't have much in the way of vaccinations, so we went ahead and booked him in for both things. The kid came home with drugs for allergies and the knowledge that he is the same size as most seven year olds! Jack measures at 42" high and weighs 55.6 lbs, which are both in the 91st percentile for age 6. Along with his 20x20 vision, Jack is riding the same line he has been since birth. That is to say, big for his age, but just right for his size.

Jack's personality is growing with him and is just as big as ever. He loves to help and his teachers told us that, while at school, the kid does not have a mean bone in his body (this is a bit different than at home, but we will take it!). He is reading at a pretty high level and is super smart. He likes to play with all the kids in the class and they said he does well wherever he is seated. That is not to say we haven't gotten emails home about his behavior. Turns out Jack likes to talk a lot in class and can be a bit disruptive. I attribute that currently to his age. Here's hoping I am right!

Mudroom remodel

The first project of this new house has begun. It all started on Ryan's birthday, when I gave the kids hammers and let them go to town on a closet that had been annoying me! They did fine work of the initial job and Ryan quickly took over gutting the room and the bathroom (not pictured, never pictured.) when he came home and saw what we were up to!

I will try to bring us up to date here on what has happened with this project thus far in the reno. The room that you see was filled with all the junk that we couldn't find a spot for when we moved in. Doors are great when spaces are big and empty! Once the closet was down, Ryan made quick work of moving all my junk and hiding it all over the house. I am still looking for a few boxes!

The floor was brought down to the concrete and then I spent an afternoon peeling wallpaper. Adam and Emily may make fun of me for bragging, but I kick wallpaper's butt every time! I am believed to be one of the best wallpaper removers in the country. Don't believe me? The walls have never been so smooth!

Anyhow! The wallpaper came down nicely and has been re-purposed into frames to hang at my unassuming siblings houses and we were ready for the next steps. Ryan spent an afternoon taking down shelves and paneling and pulling all the random nails out of boards. Some of the ceiling tiles in the shelved areas were glued, so that will be an interesting thing to work around when the time comes.

We had a pal of mine come in to look at the duct work, as it is an add-on from a different project. Unfortunately, he told us that with the width of the duct that is needed for the addition above the garage, there was no way to hide it in the joists. So, Ryan and Rob have built around it and put up drywall in the hopes that, although it is low, by painting it the same color as the ceiling and giving the whole thing a consistent look, it won't end up being too much of a bother.

Ryan spent another evening taping up the room with plastic to take down the popcorn ceiling. It is smooth as a baby's bottom now! Nice work, Ry!

After the popcorn, we had to tackle was the wiring! Boy, oh boy, was that a doosey! That one little switch that is hanging from the middle of the ceiling controls the light on the opposite side of the ducts. In order to get to it, Ryan ended up having to cut into the ceiling and pull new co-ax. After an eight hour battle with one switch, we ended up hiring out the electrical and the professionals installed five can lights and straightened out one of the issues we ran in to. We are still trying to figure out the other one!!

That leads us to this past weekend. Three months after the initial ripping out of the closet, Ryan took to tiling and got nearly the entire mudroom laid. Fantastic!!

Please note that in all of the above sentences, I loosely used the term "we". All that means is that I am going to have a fantastic mudroom put together by one fantastic guy!

More will come after the guy comes out to mud and tape. Everyone has told us that muding/taping is a job to hire out and we are not people who shy away from taking good advice. Especially when it means we don't have to try to do something we have no idea on how to do.

Stay tuned!