OH MY GOSH!!! 28 DAYS LEFT! I need some serious energy and a plan.

Today was the last day of school. We are in for some serious -- this is what will happen when you aren't in school -- lessons. Monday we will hit the ground running with a few chores and I think a little school so their brains don't turn to mush. It is Zach's birthday so we will have to have some fun. Nine years old. Where does the time go?

The Good News

So the good news is the carpet is almost dry. The bad news is I had to sleep in the guest room last night. We had a small flood last night in our new bedroom. Yes, water was spurting out of the nail holes in the paneling and the window well was a miniature aquarium. We -- myself, Brian and Zach -- sucked water up for almost 2 hours and then put the fans on it. This morning I rented two huge carpet fans and put them on. It really is amazing that some parts are almost dry. I just hope that as the week goes on, the new paint doesn't start peeling from the walls. What are the chances? I'm hoping 0%! I am really wanting to sleep in my bed tonight!


So, you want to know where the water came from? I will leave names out to protect the innocent. A certain individual wanted to run through the sprinkler yesterday afternoon. Another individual unhooked one section of the hose - from the secondary system- and hooked it up to the culinary so the kids could get wet. Another individual was asked to water the lawn and turned on the sprinklers -- hooked to the secondary-- but didn't realize that one of the hoses was left without a sprinkler out back next to the window well. We are just lucky that it was noticed fairly quickly and really, it could have been so much worse. I guess we have a lot of lessons to learn and we just keep standing in the "Lessons Needed" line.

The Final Project

So the final project has begun! Amy came over on Tuesday and helped me move all of my sewing stuff upstairs and clean the new guest room. I was really surprised how much dust there was -- looks like spring cleaning should take place once a year. Thanks Amy for your help! Yesterday, my friends Cheryl and Whitney came over and helped clean out the computer room, vacuum and wash walls. By ten o'clock last night the computer desk was set up in the family room, the computer hooked up and the baby's room was primed. It feels good to get everything done -- yay! Tomorrow and Friday we can paint her room and do baseboards and then move baby stuff in.

Tonight we actually spent the night in our new master bedroom. I love it. It's so cool and makes sleeping so nice. I actually closed the window because I, the pregnant one, was cold. I feel like we have so much space. Brian finished his closet last night and moved down all of his clothes. That is my project today -- sort, move and put away. Thanks to Brad & Amy for a yummy dinner last night. I can't believe how wiped out I am at the end of the day - it was really nice not to cook. Hopefully today, the guest room can get cleaned & set up and my sewing stuff can get moved upstairs. Yay! Isn't life great! Only 31 more day! Seems like so long but really isn't enough to get my list done.

Zac's Wolf Badge

Zac received is Wolf badge tonight. As you can see, he was soooooo excited. I don't know what his deal is with scouts. I hope his enthusiasm grows a little.

Hayden's Last Day of Preschool

Hayden is done with preschool for the year. He loved going to school and he had the best teachers. Miss Heidi and Miss Kylee ROCK! They did such fun things and he learned so much. Everyday when we left, we had to walk by this map of Pleasant Grove and find our house. Everyday, Hayden had to push the button to open the doors. He is so fun. Lately, he comes up to me and says, "I love you!" It is out of the blue and in the sweetest voice. I love it!

It's DONE!! Check out what we are so excited about!

This is what I learned from my brothers. Nathan, this doesn't look too bad, does it? It made a huge difference.

The vanity has a great story. The space is 47 inches. Do you know how hard it is to find a 47" vanity? My friend Cherly called one morning and told me to go measure this piece that has been sitting downstairs since it was given to us by our friends. In fact, I had already asked Melanie if she wanted it for her daughter's room. I went down and measured -- 46.5". It would fit perfectly into the space. The guy who did the counter upstairs drilled a hole in the top and suggested a vessel sink which I love! We've got to hang the mirror that matched, add 2 lights on the side, remove the top light and fix the drawer in the center. I also added new drawer pulls.
Marc, thanks for the suggestion on the coping saw. I really don't mind doing baseboards or trim at all. Thanks to Victor for showing me how to actually use it.
This is the king of toilets. Well, actually the prince. The king is upstairs -- it has the elongated bowl. We couldn't open the shower door unless we got the round bowl.
The shelf in this picture was Brian's idea. I really like it. We have room for towels and our bathroom stuff. Yeah.


So this is the room that we are most excited about. We have never had a master bathroom. With the boys getting older the competition for the bathroom upstairs has increased -- A LOT! Downstairs, we have the room formerly known as "the guest room". It is larger that our bedroom and has a bathroom. UM.... This is where the original plan began. This room was covered in brown paneling, an ugly ceiling, an even uglier vanity that was built in to the space you see and a toilet that worked when it felt like it. The room with the toilet had ugly brown cabinets attached to the wall and a really 70s floor happening. The only good thing was the shower. I had never used that shower until the tub upstairs was filled with tools and such from the ongoing project. The shower is awesome. The pressure is sooooo amazing. Anyway, one thing led to another. We were just going to paint the paneling, recase the window, paint the bathroom and put a counter on the existing vanity. Simple, less expensive and done quickly. The painting went so fast - thanks Cheryl and Whitney! The bedroom was painted and just needed baseboards. I moved onto the bathroom. In the bathroom, Brian removed the brown cupboards and I thought I would fix the holes, texture and paint. Nope! Someone had painted over wall paper. UG. I hate wallpaper. I peeled some off. Not looking good, we came up with another solution. Remove what I could, texture, paint and put up wainscoting to cover the rest. After removing the baseboards, mold was discovered which led to new sheet rock (I hate sheet rock!), taping, mud, sanding, the works. Then the toilet needed a new valve - this was popular. Our entire house now has new valves, including the main valve coming into the house - Thanks Plumb Crazy -- our favorite plumber. Anyway, after hours of putting a new ceiling in the bathroom, texture, painting, putting up wainscoting, painting baseboards, installing base boards, cutting trim for everthing, sanding, caulking, painting and so many more little things, we are almost done. Monday, we are moving downstairs. Waaaa Hoooo!!!

Upstairs bathroom

This is an almost finished upstairs bathroom. We need to order a mirror from somewhere. Home Depot doesn't stock the size we need. The vanity also needs the hardware added. It is fun to have it done. Logan is the best. He told Melanie the other day, "You need to stop by and see our new bathroom. You would be impressed!" It's fun to see the boys excited. Logan's Saturday job is cleaning the bathrooms and he had so much fun cleaning the new counter and toilet. I have to say that I have mopped and swept a lot more since we put the new floor in.

Hiking with Dad

One Sunday, the boys wanted to go on a hike. Yes, it was Sunday. Brian took them up above our house and hiked up to the waterfall. They had a great time. They love to do stuff like that. This picture is almost to the falls -- it is the "bear cave". Ya, if they only knew what a bear looked like or smelled like.

Demolition

This is the beginning of our little home remodeling project. Overall, it wasn't bad. If I hadn't of been so pregnant, it would have gone faster. These pictures are of the upstairs bathroom being torn apart and the floor being repaired. I didn't take any before pictures of the downstairs bedroom and bathroom. I wish I had, in my mind there is a huge difference. I am so happy with how everything turned out.

Easter

Easter was so much fun this year. Really low key. Kelly, Mary, Nik, Claire and Jake came and had dinner with us. After dinner we colored eggs, played and talked. It was great. My boys are so fun to dress. A little girl isn't going to look as cute in the matching sweater. I'm sure I can make due! The rolls at the top were made by Zac. I made the dough and he rolled them out and put on the pan. He is a good little cook and helper.

Zac has done a book project each month this school year. I love it! I think he has read a lot more and has really enjoyed devouring books! In April, he had to read a biography, learn about a person, write a 30 second blurb and dress like the person to stand in a "wax museum". This was a little hard. He really wanted to read a book on a pirate so we found some great autobiographies. Small problem -- pirates steal and kill. A little too much for 3rd grade. So, the week the project was due, he decided to read the autobiography on Benjamin Franklin. It was fun to find out all of the facts about Ben Franklin that we never knew. Zac had to condense all of this knowledge to a 30 second speech. He did really well! He is a great little actor and has such a great memory for these kinds of things.

I have some serious catching up to do. Logan got to pick any animal he wanted to do an animal report on and create a diorama. He picked the white rhino -- why -- I have no clue. We couldn't find any plastic or toy rhino so together, we found lots of cool pictures on line. He learned a lot and remembered every bit. He took his diorama to school and shared with the class. His teacher had a special day when the parents were able to attend and we got to see everyone's diorama and ask them questions. It was fun and the kindergarten kids really learned a ton about their animals. Nice work Logan!

Today was awesome. Little tasks that needed done for this first project to be complete went so easily. I seem to be able to have a great day working and then the next one is a slow one. Something again about being 35 weeks pregnant. All that is left are the baseboards around the vanity area, one piece of trim, the top trim and shelf in the bathroom and Brian's closet. Seriously. We do have to clean up the construction mess but we are that close. Brian will set the toilet and put the sink & faucet on the vanity and voile' finished!
Next -- moving.

Oh my gosh! Take a look at the number in the right column -- is it really in the thirties? I am in trouble. I am anxious to meet this baby girl, but really-- can't time slow down just a little. We didn't get moved on Saturday. Something about me being tired, pregnant and oh yeah, tired. Today it is my goal to get all the trim and baseboards done. That means tiling the vanity area in order to put the base boards down. After that it is painting the wainscoting in the bathroom, the trim and the baseboards. Yes. Then done! Well, after Brian sets the toilet, sink and hooks up the faucet. Then done! Well, after we clean up the construction area and move our bedroom down. Wait! I forgot the reason for the move, Brian's closet. That still remains and it yet to be started. It's a little like ground hogs day!

So we are seeing light at the end of our little remodel project. The counter top for the bathroom is coming today -- yeah! That put a deadline on some things so there isn't much left. Baseboards, trim, a little work on the floor under the vanity and cleaning -- tools & paint put away. My list has 10 things on it instead of 100 things! Hopefully (fingers crossed) we can move our bedroom on Saturday. After that we get to put everything back under the stairs (short story - small water leak), move the computer desk to the family room, sewing stuff upstairs to the guest room and clean the computer room. Then we can start painting the baby's room. Hopefully by the end of May we can be done with everything and I can have four weeks to get baby stuff together.
The boys are almost done with school and they are so excited. I signed Logan and Zach up for baseball in June and the first of July. I've got to start looking for a swimming pool because they loved the last one. Time just passed too quickly doesn't it?

I have so many posts to catch up on. I was looking at the pictures on my camera and I am sooooo behind. I had a doctor's appointment today and everything looks good -- 7 weeks to go. No pressure or anything -- only 7 weeks to do everything we have to do. UG. Entering the world of babies again have Brian and I wondering, "What the heck were we thinking?" Seriously, we have forgotten what it was like to carry a diaper bag everywhere. We are excited and can't wait to meet her. The boys are even more excited. I lost Hayden in the store today and found him following a lady with a baby in the cart. He's like a baby stalker. He loves babies. Does he realize what is going to happen to his world in 50 day?