Done!

What a crazy week! The counter tops are finally in and I feel like I have a completely different kitchen. The contractors seemed extremely competent and skillful and we felt like we were in good hands ...even if I was a little frustrated about them arriving 2 hours late on Thursday! Miscommunication :-(.

I didn't take an official before shot but here is what the kitchen used to look like (taken when we painted last fall).

Top Counter/Bar has been removed...

Counter tops have been removed...

Backsplash being laid out...

Beautiful Counters!!!!

Another shot of our new kitchen!!!!


Now to put everything back in its place...I wish I could say the house will be clean now for a while... but Ken is ready to start the upstairs door replacement and floor moulding project. Uggh. I keep telling myself how nice it will look... and that we will finally be able to shut Nathaniel's door fully (it's warped and needs a pretty decent tug to open and or close it).

Come on over for a visit and see the new counters!!!

Granite Countertops

Are they truly coming????? I can hardly wait! We have done all the demolition and the contractors have templated the area. I can hardly wait! We decided to knock down the bar/ledge and open up the kitchen area a bit. It looks fabulous alredy! Not without a lot of hard work though. When we were cutting it down we almost cut through a pipe.... which took a lot of work to re-route. But hey, what can my dad NOT do? We also mounted our new microwave... this one has a handle to open the door!!! (2 years ago the other one broke, I figure it's been on the house project list long enough!) So the new counter tops are scheduled to be installed Thurs/Friday this week. I have I said yet, I just can't wait????

A day with Oma and Papa

Helping Papa Jim with the car



Watching Oma's plants grow


Oma and Papa are worn out... Hooray! I did my job!


Snuggle time with Papa Jim

Ball, ball, ball

Nathaniel loves to play ball! We walked through Sports Authority today and he pointed out every ball he could see. In the front aisle way, they have a really big soccer ball that goes half way to the ceiling. Nathaniel was in awe. He starts squealing with delight. Ball, Ball, Ball! It's fun to see his amazement. The neighbor boy has a mini basketball that Nathaniel goes crazy over too. At the club he loves watching the big boys bounce the basketball and every once in a while one of them will come over a roll the ball to him. He loves it. Do I have a little athlete??? Maybe he got his Oma's talent?

More house projects on the way

We spent 4 hours in Home Depot on Saturday.... and we were totally organized and knew what we were getting. Why do we always spend so much time there? Guess it just takes time to get those boards cut, and the doors loaded onto a flat bed and the baseboards gathered up. Yep we are starting yet another house project. The downstairs baseboards and doors turned out so well last October we are going to have the same guy come back and do the upstairs. Which means more painting for us...uggh. But first we are going to have the counter tops redone (from Formica to granite) in the kitchen. We have the sink and the faucet ready and waiting and the contractor is coming tomorrow to measure and template the counter tops. Somewhere between those two projects we hope to install a new microwave and get the office all cleared out and ready for baby "HONDA". Ken and I can't agree on any baby boy names so "Honda" will suffice for now :-) We also have a fence that blew down during a windstorm so that will need some attention too, but it's not on my priority list :-) Oh the joys of owning your own home!

Cleaning the oven

Anybody ever used the self-cleaning feature on your oven before? Yesterday was my first time. I had some overspill on a pot roast I made and frankly was being a bit lazy on the clean up. So initiated the self-cleaning and soon it smelled pretty bad (burning) in the kitchen. The fire alarm went off, two puffs of smoke came out of the oven, and I had to open the back door it was so smokey/stinky. Yikes! We wondered whether to shut it off or let it run its course. Needless to say, we stayed home for the four hour self cleaning cycle. Once the cycle was complete I still needed to go in and wipe it down (which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place!) And now my oven is clean :-)

Lamenting the blueberries

My mom and I found fresh blueberries last week for 75cents a pound. They were delicious! I thought about calling mom right after I got home to see if she would go pick up some more (I only got 2 lbs), but got distracted. Two days later she went back for more and they were completely wiped out :-( Ohhh, how sad! I love fresh berries! Nathaniel loved them too. I think this summer I am going to go pick 100 lbs and freeze them so we can have them all year round.

Fun around the house

I know I already posted how much Nathaniel loves pushing this thing around the house, but I just had to take more pictures :-) He can actually get on it and push himself a little with his feet.... then he wants mom to push.

Little Peruvian Boy

Uncle Stevie and Aunt Bethany brought back this cute little sweatshirt from Peru when they were visiting my older brother Micah and his family last month. I love that little boy! Don't you just want to hug him????

Poor Little Guy

These hives lasted all week long :-( It was terrible. Nathaniel looked so pathetic.
He was still his happy self, just tugging on his ears a bit. We finally figured out the hives were aggravated by the amoxicillin so we stopped giving it to him. Now the hives are pretty much gone. Nice to have our little guy back.

Chicken Pox scare

Today I was called out of my swim class early to get Nathaniel. They said he had a fever and were worried about the rash on his chest thinking it might be chicken pox. Yikes! I had noticed it early this week, but then it seemed to fade and I hadn't thought much of it. They say rashes come and go with kiddos so I've done my best not to march to the Dr. every time I see something. We have had two lousy nights in a row and I was thinking maybe he is teething. Well the rash seemed to have come back and so we took a trip to the Dr today. Poor Nathaniel he's not feeling good, turns out it is Hives. Not sure how he got them or what the reaction is to. He also has an ear infection. How does he pick this stuff up??? He is sleeping now with Daddy. And we are thankful it's not Chicken Pox!!!!

It's a BOY!!!!

I must confess I typed this entry up early thinking I would just be able to hit "Publish Post" when I got home from the appointment. I had convinced myself it was a Girl and titled the post as such.... guess my intution was wrong. Maybe it's the lack of sleep this week?

It's hard to believe we are half-way there already!!!! July 28th will be here before we know it! So much to get done in the next few months. We are so excited the kids will be close in age.... a little nervous, but I think it will be great once they get a little older. Looks like I'll be outnumbered here.... that makes me Queen of the house right? I'll post an ultrasound pic once I figure out how to scan it in :-)

Nathaniel on the phone with Oma

How cute is this?????

12 Month Picture

My baby is One Year Old! Well almost 13 months now. But here is the final picture! I'm not planning on doing formal pictures for a while... just wanted to make sure I captured each month of the first year since he changed so much.