My coats have a new home

I got a new closet last month.  I think Andy was tired of hearing me talk about how much I would love a coat closet re-no and he had time to work on the project.  I am thankful for how handy Andy is and that he knows how to do home projects like this.  I was ready for the coats not to all be hung by the door on the hooks we have there.  All the games we had in the closet had to be relocated to various areas around the house, but I was willing to sacrifice the game closet in order to have a new home for the coats.

Here is my inspiration.  Found this gem on Pinterest.  I loved the idea of hooks in the closet instead of the hangers for coats.  And, there were hooks low enough for the littles to reach.  

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/188588303119617718/

Ponyo-not a fan of the air compressor, we discovered

measuring the space

just some wainscot for the bottom part of the closet

the hard part is done-wainscot is up and a chair rail put up at the heights the hooks will go

a nice coat of white paint

then, the hooks and voila! a closet with plenty of hooks for this family.  I've even tried to convince the boys to keep their backpacks in there.  That's another work in progress.

this past week

So, this happened...

Kinley is done with bottles.  And, we are done with having bottles.  This bottle was the last one and Kinley managed to chew a hole into the nipple so that the milk would just pour out.  So, out with the bottles and in with the sippy cups.  Kinley only threw the cup down a couple of times before she was on board with the idea of drinking out of sippy cup. The end of an ere at our house.

Also, Andy has started tiling the kitchen area of the downstairs.  It's looking good and going down fast.  Maybe because the tiles are so big, 18x18.  I think the color is called Mesa Rust.

Farther along in the project.

And, this is where we are at now.  Andy has tiled and grouted the kitchen part and my stove has been put back in its place.  Next steps are tiling the remaining part of the eating area, the pantry and the closet.  

There will be hot water

I left off at a cliff hanger the other day.  Andy had done all he could to the hot water heater and then had to leave for a weekend of work in Ohio.  Hours into his trip he got a phone call from his hysterical wife.  No hot water yet.  She may have yelled. She may have cried.  She may have hung up the phone on him.  Enter the plumber.  Andy called the plumber to come in.  Good news:  hot water heater was fine.  Every part appeared to be working.  Bad news: probable pipe leak under the house.  Under. The. Slab.  =$$$$.  We're talking locator crew to find the leak and a jackhammer to tear up the floor to replace the pipe.  The plumber theorized that the pipe always had a hole in it.  This pipe was up against a metal steak, for whatever reason, and some corrosion occurred that plugged the hole.  When we turned off the water main, the corrosion broke free and the hole was reopened.  And, during the course of the pipe repair time, the hole got bigger.  *Sigh  But, he did show me how to turn the hot water heater on and off so we would have hot water for showers and to do dishes.  

That worked for the weekend.  Then, Andy came home and did some investigating to find out that the pipe with the leak only fed the kitchen sink and dishwasher.  At first there wasn't a rush to do anything to the pipe.  We were turning on and off the heater for hot water and that was okay.  Then, I noticed that we had no hot water while the dishwasher was running.  That told us that way more water was draining out than we thought.  Immediate action was needed.  Andy went ahead and put a valve in to shut off hot water to the kitchen and dishwasher.  Our future plan is to put an under sink water heater under the kitchen sink just for the sink and dishwasher.  Right now, I am washing dishes by hand, heating water on the stove first.  Gotta do what you gotta do.  Now, though, we have hot water whenever we need it for showers and baths.  

Definitely made me appreciate our luxuries more.  To me, this whole hot water deal was a big deal.  But, it got me thinking that we already have so much.  As I was freaking out about no hot water, I was in air conditioning, cooking a meal with plenty of food, washing clothes, my children were playing with no worries.  So many blessings.  How can I complain.  And, God took care of us.  He provided a way for us to continue to have hot water without a huge $$$ repair.  He also blessed us with our Andy, who was able to use his resources and knowledge to do the repair himself.  

Thankful, just thankful.

Orange fail

We've been looking for a color to paint the stairway and upstairs hallway for a while. According to Andy, I get the urge to paint every time I'm pregnant. Guess its all part of my nesting. We wanted a color that coordinated with the two colors we painted the downstairs-a dark brown called pumpernickel and a green called guacamole. I also have a picture with these colors on it and was kind of looking to that to guide our color choice.

I found a beautiful orange-y color called mango mania (yes, I realize there is a food theme going on). A nice , bold color that matched the colors we already had up. The sample spots were inconclusive and so we went ahead and bought a gallon of paint. I poured out a tray and got busy putting up a coat. Well, it is a very lovely color, but it does not behave well on our walls. It was a little too orange for our taste. It's back to the drawing board for us. Of course, now Andy tells me that if I take take my picture into lowes that they will match paint colors for me. Hmm. That advice would have been nice before I got this paint.

photos of the boys' room

The boys' room is at a point of completion.  This year, it got a new paint job, new curtains and another set of bunk beds.  I found some neat wall art at Meijer in the form of classic comic book covers. And, after some trial and error, managed to hang up the boys' freshly repainted names. 

You can see the black black-out curtains.  They definitely helped make the room cooler this summer.  But, even though they block the morning sun, the boys still get up early.

Hung up a corkboard so they can hang their little trinkets up on it, if they want.

A view of the bunkbeds.  Marcus and Liam share the one on the left and Cale and Ewan have the one on the right.  Marcus and Cale scored the top bunks.  I think Ewan likes having a cave-like area for his bed.  Liam, I think he just likes being with the "big boys".

upstairs bath, done

Just showing off our upstairs hallway bathroom.  It's been done for a while, but I wanted to put a couple pictures out there for anyone who's interested.

Reapinted, new sink, nice red shower curtain, little square shelves decorated with ceramic projects the kids have done.  I wanted to make it feel like a kid bathroom without making it feel like a kiddie bathroom.  I thought their art projects would be great accessories.

A towel hook thing that hold enough towels for all the kids.  And, artwork done by the boys helps make the room more colorful.  There is room by the sink to add a couple more drawings as the boys make them.

I'm just excited that rooms in our house are at a point of completion.  At some point, we will hopefully reach a point where all the rooms are done.  Right?

October photo day 6: something purple, oh and by the way, my curtains are finally up!

Killing two birds with one stone today with these photos.  Yesterday, Andy hung up the curtains that have been sitting in our bedroom since March.  I finally got around to ordering the curtain rods I needed a couple weeks ago.  Andy was a good sport about it, even though he absolutely hates hanging up curtain rods.  He even hung the curtains on the rods at the same time.  The curtains were so long, we just went ahead and hung them from right at the ceiling.  I think it looks phenomenal and go terrific with the purple walls (called "royal indigo").  This room is slowly coming into focus.  Oh, and did you notice the bed frame?  Got that set up a couple weeks ago, too.  No more sleeping on the mattress on the floor for us! I feel like a grown-up with this new stuff.  :-) (just please excuse the clutter and the laundry that needs folded)

start of a new project

Andy started a new project: some landscaping changes to the front of our house. He dug up the bushes that had been by the front door and moved them to the side of the house, by the garage.  Right away, the front area looks alot more open.  I'm thinking of putting some rose bushes here. 

And, the bushes ended up over here.  Andy was able to basically pull up the bushes to move them. (I knew I married the right man.) They've all been planted now, and we have plans to mulch and put up a border of some kind.  Excited to get another project checked off our list!

our stay-cation beach

We added some new sand to the sandbox recently, much to the dismay of our neighbors (something about their kids coming home covered in sand).  Kella seems to be enjoying it. 

and it tastes great!

things we do here

we like to stand under the table

we got a new tatoo on our hand

we got a lot of tatoos!

the boys' room painting is done! (next for this room is window repair, curtains, wall art...)

Andy put up a screen door to the garage!  This definitely helps with air flow.  I can't say that our dog is very happy to be able to see in and not come inside.  And our cat isn't pleased that she can't push the door open to escape to the outdoors.  But, we love the air current that comes into the house now!

weekend update

Just some photos from the weekend. Nothing exciting, but sometimes, that's the best part.

The boys' room is in the process of being painted.  I picked a darker blue color called "Ship's Harbor".  Andy is doing a great job with it and is halfway done.  Right now, Ewan's bed in is the middle of the room so Andy could paint around it.  Next step, moving the bunkbeds, dresser and bookcase to paint behind them.  Hopefully, this project can be finished this week.  If not, that's okay, the boys don't seem to mind the mess.

This picture shows a sample of the other color I was looking at.  All the boys, and Andy, swear the colors were exactly the same.  I promise, they were not.  There were some subtle differences between the two.

Kella had her first "up 'do".  Her hair is getting longer and she is starting to try to eat the barettes we put in her hair.  Her hair is long enought that this ponytail had some good height to it.  Ewan thought it was cool.

I had Andy try to get a picture of the kids together.  *hmm*  We may have to try again...

And, Andy found Ewan's DS!  It has been missing for probably a month and I had looked all over the house (so I thought).  I even had Andy's mom check her car and called the school in case Ewan had left it at a basketball practice.  No luck.  Andy was looking something and put his hand down the side of the recliner and there it was!  Of course, it was a little grungy and Ewan promptly took it upon himself to wash it off in the bathroom sink.  That earn the DS a timeout in some rice-no worries, it worked fine.  Ewan was thrilled, of course, and I think his brothers were happy too, since Ewan will no longer be playing their's.

Busy week, this week.  The boys are making a reapperance at karate for the first time since November.  We are still going to gymnastics once a week.  Cub scouts (oh, fun) and Wednesday night church and the preschool chili cook-off are all this week.  And, Grammy Pammy is coming to visit!  (Oh, and I worked Sunday night and have to work tonight and Andy is working, too, of course).  No rest for the wicked, I guess...

we live to play another day

Basketball season is almost over. Marcus's team had their playoff game last night against Duke. They had played this team twice before and had split the series.  Marcus did pretty well.  He tried for a couple shots that didn't go in-but they were the kind that were right on-just hopping out of the basket.  He got a couple fouls-but did not foul out like in his last game.  Overall, his confidence as a player has increased this season and he seems to be understanding more about the game.  They play in the championship on Sunday at 2pm-good luck!

In other news, our new crawler has added "trying to pull up" to her list of new things. 

Cale plays in his final game on Saturday afternoon against a team that was undefeated until Cale's team beat them about a month ago.

Illness is hanging out with us this month.  I think everyone has been sick with either fevers, respiratory stuff or stomach stuff.  The lastest to go down was Ewan on Thursday.  Poor kid's been running a temp and not feeling to awesome.  Of course, he had to go to Marcus's game-not because he wanted to, but because we were meeting Andy there after he got off work.  Thank goodness for ibuprofen.

On a happier, healthier note, I have purchased curtains for our bedroom!  I found them at Hobby Lobby (50% off this week).  They are white sheer with a black damask pattern and will need another curtain to be hung behind them to keep the room dark, which means a double curtian rod (putting that on my shopping list).   I also got some scrapbook paper in that trip with grand plans to finish both Liam's and Kella's first year scrapbooks this spring.

And, I think I have found the color to repaint the boys' room with.  It is called Ship's Harbour and is a darker blue than what they currently have.  According to all the boys, coached by Andy no doubt, the two colors I put up on the wall to test look excactly the same.  Whatever.  Momma is happy and therefore they should be happy, too.

January home improvement projects-done

Every year, I like to make a "to-do" list for the house. Sometimes, we get to the projects, sometimes we don't. For January this year, I wanted Andy to insulate the garage door. This is something that we have talked about doing for 3 winters, now. Liam's room is above the garage, and we really felt that his room would be warmer if we did this project. Last spring, Andy put up insulation in the garage on the exterior walls, and we felt like that helped, too. The project took Andy hardly any time at all.  Now, our garage door looks a little bit like a quilt.  And, the garage is significantly warmer (good for the dog) and Liam's room is warmer, too (good for Liam).

Then, last week, Menards had an ad featuring a thermostat with a remote sensor.  So, you could control the temperature of a certain room of the house is you wanted too.  We thought this would be a great thing for us, because then we could more closely manage the temperature of the 2nd floor.  Purchase made, and Andy installed that last night.  We had some minor technical difficulties that resulted in it having to be taken off and reinstalled.  And, then a furnace issue which, luckily, turned out to be a blown fuse on the furnace (a late night trip to Meijer fixed that).  Everything is working, now, and we can say that we are done with projects for January.  Time to rest up for next month.