KITCHEN kitchen KITCHEN!!!!!

I was going to wait until the kitchen was completely done, but Nick has to work 5 days in a row and alot of you have been asking for pictures. We still need to put crown molding on the top of the cabinets, finish the shelves above the sink, and put trim everywhere else. It's so nice to have a functioning kitchen again, and the extra cupboard space and bigger counter tops has been soooooo nice. I just walk into the kitchen and smile now!

The new bar
Dining room The cubby...this has been so nice. No more backpacks and coats laying all over!

The laundry room sink and backsplash.(Pretty bold color choice, I know!)

Weston's Slobbery Love

This little man is so good at sharing! I'm sure his great great grandma loved the drooled on, probably dropped a few times, germ filled, yummy, juicy watermelon bite that he shared with her! She was such a good sport, and it was a really adorable moment. Grandma Wachter is Nick's great grandma and she is 92 years old!

Another Mystery is History

Did you know Ace has a day every year when they plant your pots for you? Did you know that I went there and spent $58 dollars on beautiful flowers that I could enjoy all summer? Did you know that someone or something came into my backyard and ruined my summer flower viewing plans? Four beautiful terra cotta pots....EMPTY. Two were dumped out and the flowers were shredded, and the other two were smashed into pieces. Who would do such a thing?

One of the sad looking pots
Coleson, did you see anyone come into our backyard and do this? Do you have any idea how these pots got demolished? Since I know that you would never do such a thing, I guess the search continues. Maybe we'll never know. By the way, how did you get all of that dirt on your face? Hmmmmmm.

New Pictures

Check out some pictures of our little "Pink Princess" on my photography blog. www.ashleyseigmanphotography.blogspot.com. These were an assignment for a photography class that I'm taking. She is the perfect model, so of course I chose her for the first week! I started with the easy one, but I have 5 more weeks of assignments and 3 unwilling boys. :( Maybe I could borrow some of your children?? :) I think I will do Carter's 5 year pictures for my assignment next week, so stay tuned!

I love this day!

Happy Mother's Day! I'm not quite sure why this is underlined, but I'm just going with it. Anyways, my kids and hubby spoiled me today, and it was wonderful! Nick made a delicious breakfast, and then out came all of the gifts. Carter made me a beautiful bouquet out of colorful tissue paper. Ava made me an apple bird feeder and gave me a marigold in a cute pot that she decorated. Nick, Weston and Coleson got me a Grandiflora gift card and some goodies! The gifts were all so sweet, but the best gift of all is the love and joy that each of them bring to my life every day! I have such an amazing family and I'm so glad that God gave us to each other!

What we've been up to

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks. I'm not sure that Nick's "vacation" has been all that relaxing for him! We got the rock up on the front of the house, hung some siding, got the walls textured and painted, installed 450 sq. ft. of wood floor, set up our table and cubby, set up the laundry room and even hung some pictures! It's coming along very nicely, but we still have a ways to go. The cabinets are still gone, and they will be back anytime. Then on to the countertops, backsplash, hardware, lighting, etc... Right now I'm working on the deep cleaning to get the rest of our house into shape. I can't believe how much dust there is! I will post pictures when it's DONE...for now I'm going to keep everyone in suspense. :)

Details that I may have left out...

I was just talking to someone the other day who was saying that blogs are so fake, because people just show the good stuff and leave out what they want to. I've been thinking about this, and wondering if I fall into the "fake blogger" category. I know that I spare you the details on many occasions, but I hope that I never come across as fake. If I have done this in the past, I'm turning over a new leaf. Here are some things about our family that you just might not know, or maybe never needed to! :)

*Coleson poops in the bathtub at least once a week.
*I get super grumpy when I have to tell the kids something more than 3 times. (3's my limit!)
*My bathrooms are so dirty right now.
*I had to borrow a "crib tent" from a friend because Coleson climbs out of his crib constantly.
*I have been easily irritated by one of our kids lately. I don't want to mention any names, but *SHE* :) has been crying and whining waaaaaay too much for me. (I'm going to blame the irritation mostly on our remodel though.)
*I am really bad at remembering to cut my kid's fingernails. It's such a small thing, but hard for me to do for some reason. This drives my mother in law nuts!
*I haven't dusted in over a month...why bother when they cut wood and sand dry wall inside.
*I've had ice cream 3 nights in a row. :)
*Nick hasn't had a haircut in over 3 months, and it looks BAD!
*I rarely clean my oven. The self cleaning smells so bad, and I hate scrubbing ashes.
*Nick and I eat our kid's Easter candy after they go to bed.
*My husband and I could NEVER work together. When things go wrong, he takes it out on me. It drives me crazy!
*I worry way too much. I already worry about when my kids start driving or are late for their curfew.

So there you have it. That's what goes on behind the scenes...pretty glamorous, huh!

Progress and a Project

The kitchen looks so sad right now, but we're getting closer! The cupboards leave mid-week next week to get painted and glazed. The new pieces (pantry, bar and cubby) are here and look beautiful! The final counter top measurement will be taken Monday and then the granite guy will get all of that going. We are in the mud/tape/texture process right now in the dining room. The plan is to get the walls painted and wood floor in before the cupboards come back, and then hopefully everything else will fall into place!

*I took off all of the cupboard doors, drawer faces, hinges and the backsplash today. (Don't look too close at our cluttered cupboards! We had to shove everything together because one of the cupboards had to be taken down already.)

The view of our new dining room- the old dining room ended where the linoleum stops

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AVAS DIORAMA PROJECT

Here is Ava's Shoe Box that we made together. She chose the book "Little House in the Big Woods" to do her project on. We had fun with the hot glue gun and random kitchen ingredients! (Oatmeal, coffee, etc...)

Four years old and already balding

When I checked on Carter this afternoon, he was in his bathroom trying to cut his fingernails. I told him not to because he might cut himself. I asked him to put it away, and then went back by the babies. When he didn't follow, I went back to the bathroom. This is the way I found him...he apparently had the urge to cut something...I should have let him stick with the fingernail clippers! There are actually 4 decent sized chunks that were cut, but you can only see the worst 2 in the picture. I guess it was bound to happen sometimes, at least it isn't that bad. I cut the rest of his hair, but it really didn't make much of a difference. Oh well, it's all part of growing up. Live and learn, right??!! Plus, I just told him that being bald is cool...now he just matches daddy!

Mr. Buckle and the Book Worm

Coleson is fascinated with buckles...his highchair, the wagon, his car seat, the stroller, etc... He is constantly standing like this, trying to get them buckled.. It's funny how his little mind is already so mechanical. He is always trying to figure out how things work. I had to snap a picture because he just cracks me up! He takes after his daddy SOOOO much!

He got the first one, now time for the second one!
This is what I caught miss Ava Jean doing while she was supposed to be brushing her teeth this morning. This is what she has been doing for the past 3 days! She got this book from her aunt Kenzie, (also a book worm) and thought she would try reading "chapter books" all by herself. She is already on page 21, and she has been telling me all about the story. This just proves how fast she's growing up!

So proud of herself!