Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Basement Pics

Here are a few pictures from our finished basement. I wish I had before pictures, but we did not take any (I can't believe it!) The first picture is taken looking down the wall separating the main room and our storage room. The storage room looks like what the basement looked like after we did demolition. There was wood paneling painted white on the walls and old ceiling tiles that came down. We took down the fluorescent hanging light and light fixtures and put in recessed lights, among other things! The main room pictures are taken from opposite ends of the room. The boys toys are kept in the basement now. It's fantastic!






I did find a picture of the stairs while Nate was fixing the treads. You can see the basement floor was cement and where we had to peel off the old tiles. We had already painted the stairwell and added the toekick lights (you can see them on the wall next to where Nate is standing.)




It's nice to have it ALMOST completed! Just a few trim pieces left and lights to install in the storage room. We love it, especially the boys! Plenty of room to run around!

Let The Fun Begin

We are thinking about starting stage 2 of the kitchen remodel. The first stage happened the first week after we moved in. We changed the U-shaped counters to an open floor plan. (I'll try to find some before and after pictures to post.) We moved the fridge, added a shelf for the microwave and replaced the counter tops. We recently replaced the lights, which included removing the ceiling fan. That was a bigger project than we anticipated, but we got it done! Stage 2 will be painting the cabinets white, putting on new hardware and ripping out the old flooring for new flooring. Today, I started by sanded an extra door we acquired from removing the U-shaped counters. It's our test run to see what they'll look like. I'm anticipating a lot of work, but now that I'm done with all of my sewing projects, I need to be doing something. I can't just sit still! I'll be adding pictures of the ongoing project, so stay tuned! :)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Project #2

Here is it! I laughed out loud after finishing the bloomers. They are super cute and quite large! They should fit for a while! :)

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Baby Dress #1

I love to quilt and sew! I have made a quilt for Jman and one for BG. I had plans to make a cute romper for Jman and never got around to it. Then, I had plans to make one for BG when I was pregnant with him and failed to start. So this time around, I decided that I really needed to use the pattern that I had bought 4 years ago. I had strategically bought this particular pattern because it had rompers and hats for boys and dresses, tops, bloomers and hats for girls. The strawberry dress has turned out great! I did change the pattern a little by turning the dress into a jumper. I didn't want to buy a zipper since I already have a lot of buttons. I have already started my second project and am following the pattern by making it a top with a zipper. I'm also making little bloomers for it. I'll post some pictures when I'm done with that one!

Innovative Thinking!

Jman is quite the thinker at our house. He is always coming up with ways to do things himself. This can lead to anxious on-lookers. The other day, I overheard this conversation between he and Ashley:



A: What are you doing?


J: Getting my balloon.


A: Does your mom know you're doing this?


J: Um....


A: You better be careful. Let me help you.




That is when I saw the chairs stacked upon each other. The one with the blue pillow was the step to the white one on top of the brown one (which spins and is on wheels!) Ashley had walked in on him climbing them to try and get the balloon down from the ceiling! I told him, "Next time ask for help. It was good you came up with an idea to get it down yourself. That was really smart thinking, but we just need to make sure we're being careful." I'm over the initial shock phase of seeing him or BG climbing or jumping. I know that they will do it no matter what!
(Notice that Ashley is standing on our piano bench...there was no way Jman would have gotten it down on the chairs he constructed. I'm sure he would have tried jumping off of them to attempt reaching the balloon!)

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Birthday In the Cities!











Jman had his parties in Fargo with family, but only one of his friends made it to that one. We thought that he might like to have one with his friends from the cities, so we had party #3 this past Saturday. Our friends from Bethel joined us: Corey and Kelly, Mike, Jenny and Jimmy, and Jane and Ian. Jman had SO much fun! He was excited that everyone could come. The 4 boys had a blast playing with the nerf guns, fishing games, cars and each other. We are so blessed to have such great friends!




Saturday, March 12, 2011

Our New Pets











We have been entertaining ourselves with our new pets, butterflies! I bought a Butterfly Garden and got a certificate for 5 free caterpillars. After redeeming it, we got 5 caterpillars in the mail in early February. They were tiny and Jman thought the mailman was the coolest! The caterpillars had to grow in the cup for about 10 days (first picture). They tripled in size and devoured the food that came with them in their plastic cup. Then, they became cocoons/chrysalises. They climbed to the top of the cup and attached to a paper disc inside the cover. After they all became chrysalises, I had to carefully open the cup, remove the paper and attach it to the inside of our butterfly garden. The garden is a big cylinder made out of mesh with a clear plastic zipper top. It was tricky to get the disc pinned in. I ended up having one of the chrysalises popping off of the paper and had to set it on a paper towel on the floor, as recommended by the instructions (second picture). They were chrysalises for about a week and a half and then the butterflies emerged! We didn't notice the butterfly at first, because we kept them in the boys bedroom and the first butterfly emerged while we were sleeping. The second one came out during breakfast a couple of hours after the first. Jman was super excited! We did end up getting all 5 butterflies to emerge. The last picture shows one of the butterflies with it's wings open, sitting on the carnation. They are painted lady butterflies; orange, black and white in color. The one that fell off of the disc, however did not get to expand it's wings so it sat in the bottom of the garden for a few days before we took him out. We keep fresh carnations in the bottom and feed them sugar water everyday. The boys love watching them fly around and they keep them on their toes with occasional tip overs and some curious poking! It has been fun!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Get Those Bunny Rabbits!

Jman got a 2 pack of nerf guns for his birthday. After opening them, I don't know who had more fun off the bat - Nate, Jman or BG!
As you may have heard before, we have rabbits that live in our back yard, under the shed. Last summer, they did a number on our garden. Nate and I did some "pointing" to make a couple disappear. If you ask Jman what needs to be done to rabbits, he'll answer with "You point!"


Jman and BG, since bringing home the nerf guns, now tiptoe into the sunroom and whisper "We need to get those bunny rabbits! Shh! Don't scare them away." Then the darts start flying! They are definitely ready to keep the rabbits out of our garden this year!




Sleep over...


BG, our 20 month old, has been sleeping in a toddler bed for about a month now. I use the term "sleep" loosely. He refuses to actually fall asleep in it. He prefers to fall asleep on the floor. We have tried multiple tricks to try and get him to sleep in his bed, but to no avail. I think it will just have to come with time. The good part is that even though he walks around a little, he does settle down fast and doesn't keep Jman up (they share a bedroom). I always go in to their room before I go to bed and put BG in his toddler bed and tuck him in tight so he doesn't roll out. He usually doesn't wake up until the morning.


Last night, I went into their room to put BG in his bed and he wasn't sleeping in his normal spot. So I waited a couple of seconds until my eyes adjusted to the dark and he wasn't anywhere on the ground! I was about to look under the beds until I noticed Jman sleeping at the end of his bed, not a normal sleeping position. As I looked closer, I noticed BG had placed himself in Jman's bed, right where Jman usually sleeps. I'm 99% positive that BG bugged Jman in his sleep, forcing him to move to the end of the bed, leaving BG with free range in the middle of the bed! What a little stinker! (Think they have enough blankets?? They insist on having at least 4 covering them no matter how hot it is!)

Monday, March 7, 2011

Birthday Parties in Fargo!





















Here are some pictures from the parties at Grandpa R's and Grandma K's house and at Grandpa B's and Grandma M's house. Jman had a blast at both of them!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Birthday Boy!

This Saturday is Jman's birthday. I can't believe he will be 4! We are getting ready to go back to Fargo this weekend to celebrate. He is really excited, mostly about eating cake. :) Can't say that I disagree! We've been counting down the days on our calendar during school time for the past 3 weeks. Today, we got to say "1 day until we leave to stay at Grandpa Roger's house and 3 days until your birthday!" He packed his backpack with toys and said he was ready to go! It will be a fun weekend. I'll update with pictures after we have our parties!