so close... yet . . .

not quite done.  This is what my kitchen looks like today. 

I changed my mind about the backsplash.  I love this!!  You can also see the new window installed. 

My new chandelier.  :)  Isn't it pretty?!!

In more exciting news, Cinderelly has decided she wants to be mobile.  She's been rolling around whereever she wants to go for weeks.  This week, she officially started army crawling.  *sigh*  She's so darn cute, but growing up too fast!!

More news...  Sweetie got glasses.  Its not a very strong prescription so she isn't wearing them all the time, but I think she'd like too, just because she thinks they are cute!

Lastly, (sorry no picture yet) Goose started band this week at school.  He decided he wanted to learn the trumpet.  Ei-ya-Ey!  He's been "Plllbbtt"-ing all week.  Wish ME luck with that!  :)

Pictures of the kitchen progress

We've spent the last month enjoying the generosity of my awesome parents by staying at their house while we work on the kitchen.  Everything seems to just be taking a little longer than expected... however, we are making good progress and we're planning on getting back home really soon.  Look how much we've Benson has done!!!

My beautiful granite tile countertop.

Our current thought for the backsplash along side my "new to me" sink.  My sister kept this one in her garage for almost a year because she loved it.  They got a new one that was the same except for being undermount.  I don't know if I mentioned it before, but the beautiful granite tiles were thanks to her too.  They were going to use them in their own kitchen, then decided on something else.  I am SOOO lucky! 

The removal of the soffit.  Note the pipes that had to be moved...

..because you'd never know they were there when he got done with the drywall.

Aren't they gorgeous!!  :) 

All new storage.  This was all wasted space before.  The microwave will go straight ahead and the stove goes underneath.  We got a steal of a deal on a floor model stove, we are really excited about it, because we didn't think it would fit into the budget.

So, that's where we are at.  Yet to come are a new window, the backsplash and all the finishing/trim work.  I'm so thrilled with how it is turning out.  Benson is absolutely amazing!  I am constantly amazed at how capable he is with this stuff.  I am one lucky girl!  :)

slight update

I need to bring my camera back to my house so you can see how things are coming, but until then, you'll have to endure my descriptions. 

The base cabinets are set and the counter is done except for a trim piece.  My BEAUTIFUL sink is installed and the plumbing is all hooked up!  The next huge undertaking is fixing the electrical wiring.  As Benson was testing some of the electrical systems, he found out that we have about 60% of our house sitting on a single circuit.  Since the ceilings are open from taking out the soffits, now is the time to pull the needed wiring to spread them out.  Once that is done, he will patch up the walls... THEN my upper cabinets can go in.  Slowly, but surely, we are getting there!  WOOHOO!

As for our other happenings, the kids started school last week.  Goose is in 5th, Sweetie is in 3rd and Tank started Kindergarten.  Tank was SOOO ready to start school.  She has been happy to go every day.  Although, we had a near meltdown when she got two warnings for talking and had to move her discipline stoplight to yellow.  It was a very sad day, but I think she has recovered.  She was even more thrilled the next day to tell me she stayed on green.  :)  I guess that means the lesson was learned.  I'm enjoying the structure and homework isn't in FULL swing yet, so I'm enjoying that while it lasts.  Ha!   I do find I have to give more individualized attention to Twister as he is used to having buddies to play with all the time.  Cinderelly is growing like a weed!! She is rolling herself all over the place!  She even has this inch-worm-ish move to scoot forward.  I'm SO not ready for her to be moving around!  I guess I can't prevent it though.  :)


So, that's a tidbit of what's going on.  I've been keeping busy just with the kids  and trying to do my own projects in between.  So, I guess that means life is good.  :)

Pictures!!!

I have the most beautiful family!  Love these kids!!!  (and love these pictures of them!)

Thanks to Erin B. Photography!!

More in the kitchen

So, we are moving along in the kitchen.  Benson got the sink and counter out.   We were unpleasantly surprised to find this steel pipe sticking out of the wall.  The previous owner went as far as to build his own cabinets around the pipe!  Why he didn't move it is a mystery.  Anyway, Benson decided to move it. 

 

Thank heaven for handy husbands!  The only downfall is that a small leak in the crawlspace became a big leak while the water was turned off.  Benson had an explanation for why this happened, but it was over my head.  Ha!  So, now we have to have a plumber come in anwyay to fix this leak in our water main.  Once that is done, we can install the cabinets and keep this party moving! 

Since the water has been off for several days, and we removed the sink etc... we moved out of our house and are house sitting for my parents while they are out of town.  We should be back in there in a few days, but it sure has been nice to hang out here with a fully functioning kitchen in the mean time! 

I also took on a craft project to pass some time.  I took a girls size 7 dress and converted it to a Cinderelly sized dress.  I think it turned out pretty good. 

 

Then I was inspired to use the leftover fabric to make some doll clothes.

Kitchen progress

So we FINALLY got our flooring!  It seemed to be lost in transit for a while there, so we were thrilled when it finally arrived.  We didn't waste any time starting to put it in!  But before you see pictures of that, you have to endure the pictures of what we've been doing to pass the time. 

 Removing the old uneven and water damaged subflooring.

 Sanding down the high spot in the subfloor. 

Removing soffits...

And getting REALLY excited to see some progress!! 

We LOVE the new flooring and can't wait to pull out the old cabinets in the rest of the kitchen!  WOOHOO!

And just to keep things interesting... here's a recent picture of Cinderelly and me.  :)

She is getting so big.  Already 4 months old!  How does that happen? 

Reunion 2010!

My family got together last week for a family reunion.  When you consider that I have 7 siblings, all of whom are married, and many of whom have at least a few kids... the numbers multiply quickly.  :)  There were 42 of us in total, and we had a BLAST!  Here's a few pictures of what our week looked like.

A friendly game of Kubb. 

Our giant waterslide.  So much fun, but the water was COLD!

Benson's project, a super ginormously fun tire swing.  I don't think I saw it empty the whole week.  

A few of the girls by the temple sunstone in Nauvoo.

The oxcart.  The oxen were not in any hurry.  lol! 

A few of the boys in the statue garden in Nauvoo.

Silly string fight!!  We had a birthday party for everyone. 

We also had professional pictures taken of the whole group.  It will be a while until I get those, so for now you can only see the preview on the photographers blog.  Go there now.  We had an amazing week.  It was over too quickly. 

Now all I have to look forward to is my new kitchen.  :)  Not to mention all the work that entails.  LOL!  Pictures of that progress coming soon.