Easter 2010

Easter came and went and here I am only blogging about it now. Whuuuut? Steve and I are still perfecting the art of family traditions. We decided to have the Easter Bunny come on Saturday so that we could focus on the real reason for Easter on Sunday. This was the first year for that and I have to say it worked really well. The kids can burn off all the glorious sugar and be a little more "focused" on Sunday. The Easter Bunny brings a family basket, not individual baskets, at our house. There are all kinds of goodies in there; candy (of course, and there is stuff that everyone likes to make sure everyone is happy), movie (this year it was "Horton Hears a Who"), books...whatever. We also have the tradition that the kids can eat anything they want on Saturday. This makes me happy because I'm not fighting off the candy binge - bring it on - and it gets rid of the candy quick! Thank you Easter Bunny! ;) On Sunday we got together with my family for our Easter Dinner and egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was Sadie's first hunt that she participated in so we had fun teaching her the ins and outs of the egg hunt. Each family brought eggs and the kids each ended up with 6 eggs, plenty if you ask me.

My mom holding Ezra (3 mos.), sitting next to Sadie (18 mos.).

Ellie (4), Zane (2), Ethan (5) and Luke (4) Sadie hunting eggs with Dad. What is all the commotion? Luke and Ethan are seasoned hunters.

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone,

but in every leaf in spring-time. ~Martin Luther

Tomato Tornados coming through!

So… Luke tonight in his prayer before dinner said, “and please bless that there won’t be any tomato tornado’s”.  Guess he’s got a little too much ‘Cloudy with a chance of meatballs’ on his mind.

Master Bath Remodel: Step 1 - Change Plumbing

Ideally, I'd love to show you the before pictures of the closet that was our master bathroom, it was teensy tiny. Then the hallway right outside. But we lost those pictures in the great computer crash of 2008....(sigh). So you'll just have to take my word for it. Our old master bathroom had a single sink with one cabinet underneath it. To the right of the vanity was the toilet, which was infront of the door leading into the bedroom. And then two feet infront of the toilet was the shower. No tub, just a shower. It was a shower that would fit one person, at best. When we remodeled our kitchen we closed off the hallway between the master bedroom and kitchen, intending to expand the bathroom into this space. The work has begun. We are moving the toilet into its own little room. We'll be putting in a shower thats at least double the size of the original.

Steve and his dad tackled the plumbing of this job. We had gotten quotes from plumbers to do the job but they all wanted $3-$6,000. So Steve talked to a contractor friend of ours and decided he wanted to try to do it. They had to cut into pipes that are over 40 years old. It was pretty stinky...literally. Unfortunately, I can't really describe the work that has taken place. These are the progression of photos for now. The last one is the bathroom in its current state.

New pipes

This is where the new toilet will go.

You can see the sliding door that will close off the potty room. The shower will be at the opposite end with the vanity in between.

Thank you, Daddy Dan, for all your help!! We wouldn't be as far as we are without you.

kitchen backsplash

These are the befores. No backsplash...

Over the oven

Behind the sink

Midway through the project

Its done!

These are the little accent squares we chose.

One cabinet with lighting.

Behind the sink looks so nice now.

Steve chose the deco for wall between the micro and stove. It turned out really well.

One project done. Now I need to decide if I'm going to paint around the window and ceiling a color or just do the beige that matches the dining room? Opinions?

On Hold

The blog is in major neglect right now. I have one word to explain why: construction. My house is under construction right now therefore my life is out of whack. We (I don't know why I include myself, merely for the fact that I live in this house too but don't be fooled - I am not doing any of the work...right now) are trying to finish our master bathroom. Thats the biggest project. And I mean big. Big like cutting into the foundation of our house big. Big as in cutting up pipes that were laid over 40 years ago big. Steve, his dad and his brother Allen also changed out five of our doors, including our front door. We also hired a friend to install our backsplash. I have pictures but I'm not going to upload them yet. I'm supposed to be on my treadmill doing my 3 miler for the day so I've got to make this quick. When the kids and I get back from Arizona I will do a more thorough post. Until then, I'm putting you all on hold. Enjoy the elevator music! ;)