Cheer Up Little Kitchen

We went yet one more round of the "should we stay, or should we go?" game this past Winter.

Should we move into something a bit bigger in our general area here in Chicagoland? Should we wait it out in what we have just in case a move out of state becomes a possibility, and avoid owning two homes here in Illinois? We will after all,  rent out whatever we leave with the market like it is.

We ended up looking around a bit, and found a home we loved. But...we just couldn't pull the trigger and make an offer. We decided that would leave us with too many factors to deal with in the long run. So although our home may not be fancy, it is kind of sweet, it is ours, and we are staying.

For now.

This led me to a whirlwind of ideas for some sprucing up. We moved into our home six years ago this month! Wow-ee! And I have been in love with my kitchen  ZERO of those years. This is the first home we purchased, and when it comes to getting in over our heads, we just aren't the type. So we went pretty basic. My home, (I am going to amend that- ILLINOIS!) also has poor light. I find the light here very shadowy inside. Can you say S.A.D. capital of America?!! So I made the decision to bite the bullet and get over my fear of painting my cabinets. This has been on my mind for some time. I wanted it brighter to battle the ho-hums outside the majority of the year. Turns out, it is quit controversial. What?!! Paint perfectly good, SOLID wood cabinets? What an abomination! But I did it, and I have NO regrets! It is a very in depth and fear inducing experience when you have never done it before however.

So here we go.

The before.
I do realize that it could be worse. I just didn't love it.

Right smack dab in the middle of the process. I had a stress attack one night at about 11:00 that lasted until about 2:00 in the morning wondering what I had gotten myself into.
I did have the cabinets professionally painted. I started one section on my own, and realized the same day that this was not going to happen if I did it. The paint fumes, mess and time involved, and the four children that demand my life in general, did not mix. So, first there was the emptying of all the cabinets, removal of all doors and hardware, sanding, then the taping and covering of all things to be left unpainted, spraying of primer, (minor) blip in the plan when the paint ran after spraying the first coat (night of before mentioned freak out,) fix it job the next day, hand painting of the shells, spraying the primer on the doors out in the garage. Then the flipping and spraying of the other side, then the top coat, drying time, and rehanging of doors with all the hardware.
If you do embark on this adventure, make sure your painter is going to agree to either stripping the wood, or sanding the heck out of it, (front and back,) using an oil based primer, caulking the seams or holes in the doors, and I would recommend not paining the inside of the cabinets. I did have the inside of the upper cabinets painted, and it was a tough thing to get right. Turns out that when the Pam spray can gets bumped, and sprays your shelves, it forms a barrier to paint when applied. So it ended up taking up a lot of time. I would do the inside of the doors, just not the shelves. 

All of the things that were in the kitchen ended up in the basement for a couple of weeks. If we needed any inspiration to never move again, I think this was it. On the other hand, the inside of my cabinets have not been so neat in years.

Inside the kitchen cocoon. Hopefully she will emerge a butterfly!

The outside of the cocoon.

I then painted the walls a different color, ( Universal Khaki by Sherwin Williams.) Our wonderful friend Dr. Jared Tyson came down from Wisconsin and helped Del with the backslash.  What can I say? I don't let anyone that is not an Orthopedic Surgeon touch my tile!! :) Those are some good credentials! Jared is a good sport to work so far below his pay grade. I chose beveled edge Lanka Metra Tile in alabaster. The inspiration for much of this came from a designer named Janell Beals of Isabella and Max Rooms. I used the same tile, and wall color after I found her post about painting kitchen cabinets. You should check out her amazing ideas for the home here!

I did the grout work all by myself. Which was a MESS! It wasn't too bad, except for the constant interruptions.

And now.... The after!

Trust me, there is still a list of things that I would love to improve. I have yet to find an option I like for a light above the sink. I want to get rid of the florescent light I never use (hate.) And I would like a new faucet. I also need some kind of window treatment. But it will all come in time. For now I am just happy to have the most important aspects done!

The tile. I really, really like it.

Janell Beals points out how well the beveled edges catch the light, and they really do!

Some fun pops of color add some character.

Another of my favorite new aspects is having the inside of the doors on this cabinet removed and replaced with glass. It opens things up so nicely and gives me a place for some cute dishes and fun display items.

I put some apples in the bowl on the counter, and my apple fanatic children ate most of them before I was able to take pictures. Now there are just four sad little guys in there.

The glass has a nice pattern to it. Don't mind Oprah in the background. Walker got lonely over there while I took pictures.

I am in love with the moldings above the doors and windows my dad put in for me even more now! Wow, I am realizing I really do need a new light above that sink! Oh, and a new light plate by the sink. I couldn't find the old one once everything was put back together.

Yes, stainless steel appliances would be nice, but these still work, and it just isn't our style to throw them out when they are perfectly fine. Even I can't do it, and I am usually all about the "design." We do agree a new fridge might be in order however. Ours is very old school. I am talking about us still using ice trays people! Maybe if we are still here, even when we don't expect to be, we can replace them all. The same goes for the counter tops.

I also ordered a new light fixture for the space above the table. I am happy with the clean look of it.

 

I added another panel to the curtain rod over the door to make it feel less "sliding glass doorish."  
And finally, two new chairs for the heads of the table. I like the texture that they add to the room.

And that is about it! It has been fun. Crazy, but fun. It is amazing the amount of work even just a simple face lift is in a kitchen! I am sure Del just shakes his head when I start my scheming. Thanks for the support to do the project babe! Both mentally and monetarily! I love the kitchen, and you! Now on to the next!!

The 4th

We had a "nowhere else to go" party at our house for the 4th for all those who...well...had nowhere else to go! It was fun to have friends over to play and eat in the backyard. Our kids love it when we have guests for dinner. They will ask all day long, "When are the friends going to get here?"

I love the 4th of July because I love my country. It am ever so grateful we cant celebrate our freedom by having an "All American" BBQ in our "All American" backyard! God Bless America!

Lacey, Me, Jessica, and Kathy

The Wally boy

Soccer fun.

Del The Dad

Del got a new Weber grill for Father's Day. He also got to spend Saturday mowing the lawn, watching the kids while I went grocery shopping, running to the store with all three older kids to buy gas for the mower, and cleaning out both the two car, and third car garages! Okay, I helped.
Oh, and then he grilled some chicken for dinner while listening to a riveting reenactment of one adventure or another by Wally. He woke up early for church meetings on Sunday too. But Del just has a knack for working hard. And somehow, he also has a way of just making whatever is around him turn into a success.  I think it is just because he is so darn likable.

We are sure glad to have you Del. I love you SO much!

I am also blessed with a great Dad of my own. Thanks for showing me what love, hard work, and dedication are, Dad! And for being a good guide post for a house full of girls. We are a group of lucky ladies.

Oh, and let's go back to Disneyland and ride the train. It looks fun.

I

Teeing Up For Summer

 Fore!!!... For five year olds. Look out, they come out swinging!

Let the madness begin! The start of this week means the start of the long list of summer activities our kids are involved in.  The kids live for swimming lessons all year, and that was the first stop of the day yesterday.  Below is a  moment of pure excitement.

Will

Wally

Then we were off to golf lessons for Will. This kid was in heaven out there on the golf course! I actually really enjoyed myself too! It is so green, and quiet and pretty, and peaceful, (except for the fact that I had Walker and Georgia in tow.) Will kept looking back at me and winking as he hit the balls.
He listened to the instructor so intently and every so often he would repeat what he had been told to himself. He would say, "Stand with your feet apart." or "It's okay if you miss it." and "You don't have to go get the ball after you hit it." When we got home he told Del he played REAL golf, with his own BIG pile of balls. I could have watched him all evening. He was so cute, intent, and concentrating so hard. He loved it!!

And then the next morning Miss Georgia had her first dance class ever. I needed Del to help out this morning because I can't be in three places at once. So before he took the boys to swimming, he made us breakfast and we ate in the backyard.  Then it was off for Georgia to shake her booty.

She was a little hesitant at first. She wanted me to sit on the floor and hold her on my lap. So I eventually had to get up and leave the room. She was mad at first, but then she joined in and ended up loving it.

Georgia wanted to wear her dance outfit for the rest of the day at home. I got to chat with the mom of this little girl. It is always nice at these activities to meet people, because they don't look at me like I am as crazy for having lots of little kids as most people here do. Where I come from, people would laugh at all the attention I get for it. Everyone in Utah has this kind of family.

But... that does not mean that I don't feel crazy sometimes. And after a couple of days full of these activities, plus therapy, tutoring, baby sitters, and regular errands, I am glad that at least my drive home looks like this.
It is hard to beat the beauty of a Summer in McHenry County. That will put your soul at peace.

He's Got The Look

 Wally and his snake Cobra. He made it all by himself with paper and colored pencils. It took a good amount of time to make all those different scales. He asked me if I would mind taking a picture of him with Cobra. Will is running by with his Lightning McQueen below.

Every time we pull up in front of the Learning Center,  I have to pull a Mommy Moment on Wally and give him a list of what I expect fom him this session (pay attention, do your best work, follow instruction, watch for cars when you jump out,) and give him a pat down to make sure I eliminate all objects of distraction. This always results in  a small pile of treasures like sticks, wadded up pieces of paper,  a Bakugan, some change, rocks and business cards, (always rocks and business cards because Wally collects them.  They are special, doncha know?) being set aside until he is done.

Yesterday he had a pair of adult sized 3-d movie glasses perched on top of his head. I told him to hand em' over.  He said,
"Aww,  Maaaa-ooom! But they are part of my "Look."

Who am I to mess with a fashion statement?

And we have to keep a close eye on this boy because he picks things up that I would never in a million years guess that he could tune in to.

A few weeks before school ended Wally took a pre-test for his spelling words at school. He struggled with it, and didn't get any of the words right. This REALLY bothers Wally. He wants 100% on his spelling test, every time. He was talking about it with Del and told him,

"I got 0%...A.P.R."

I asked him where he heard about A.P.Rs? And he told me on a car commercial. I told Del that it apparently never too early to teach Wally that we are not fans of debt at our house. 0% A.P.R. or not!
Even if it makes no sense to Wally, he will repeat it. I got a call from his teacher that same day telling me that Wally had said #$%#, (a really bad word) at school that day.

I asked Wally, "Did you say a bad word at school today?"
Wally, "Is #$%# a bad word?"
Me, "Yes! So stop saying it!"

Oh, my goodness.
When I told Del the story, I used the word, and then felt like Ralphie's mom on "A Christmas Story," and contemplated putting a bar of soap in my mouth.

A Tale of Two Teeth

The short of it all is that one fell out, and one came in. I swear Will must have some kind of record when it comes to teeth. He officially lost his first tooth, in preschool! That seems crazy early to me.
However, we are talking about the boy who was born with a tooth.

Yup, that is right, after Will had spent a couple of weeks in the NICU, we brought him home to discover that hidden at the top of his gum, under his upper lip, was a tiny white tooth peeking through.   I was completely paranoid, and having visions of a three month old baby with a full set of chompers, ready to pound a New York strip!
His pediatrician assured me that it would desolve back into the gum. And sure enough, it did.  You never know! Del's brother  had a baby born with a tooth, and had to get it taken out so that the baby would not choke if it where to come out on its own.

So, Will might as well be an early bird when it comes to his teeth. Now I just have to hope that he doesn't age out of the new set so fast that we have a sixteen year old with dentures.

And our little Walker got his first sweet little bottom tooth this week. and he let us all know that it was trying to break through the gum! He was a grump! Now the one next to it is working its way through.  I love his pointy little tongue sticking out in the picture. He is really getting the hang of sitting up.

So there you have it. You know you are a mom when you are this enthralled with the life cycle of teeth. Just call me fascinated!

The First Camping Trip of 2010

We joined the Tyson family and some of their friends from Milwaukee for a camping trip at Mauthe Lake last weekend. We were blessed with nice weather, and kids that slept well at night. It was just during the waking hours that they kept us running to keep up.

I didn't get a ton of pictures. I was too busy chasing Wally around, telling Wally not to do something, putting Wally in time-out for doing it anyway, and supervising Wally to make sure he stayed in time-out once put there. That kid is going to take years off my life, I swear! Or keep me young, I haven't decided which way to look at it yet. 

Grab a sandwich and a baby! Holding a baby while doing anything was pretty much the theme of the trip for all of the families. As you can see, we all have young kids. 

The kids were thrilled by the strip of beach on the lake. If it had been any cooler, it would not have been nearly as fun. It was just right.

When You Are Six Months Old

Life can be full of stress. Walker celebrated the half year mark this past week. It has been an eventful six months for him, as I realize it is with all babies.

You are expected to enter this world, that in itself is traumatic, then they want you to eat, learn to use all your bodily functions that have not been processing any of this new food before. You have to roll, over sit up, sleep through the night... and just when you think you have that down, you have to cut teeth, and eat solids!

Walker has had his share of sidetracks with those things because he is battling reflux, and Torticollis. In addition to his poor neck needing therapy, we found out last week that he has an arm rotation issue. So we will add his arms to the list of things that need attention several times daily.

Therapy for the arms basically involves me lifting his arms straight above his head and saying "Toss em' up high!" As joyfully as possible over and over, to try to deter the crying for at least a couple of good reps. We then work on his neck, which he really hates.

We kept joking around that Walker's arms had been screwed on backward at the factory because he hyper-extends them behind his back.   Will had the same thing when he was little and we didn't think much of it. Oops! But he has grown out of it just fine, and I am sure Walker will also. He just needs extra help because those tight muscles aggravate his Torticollis.

 I finally went and bought a Bumbo, and now Walker doesn't want to sit in it for more than a minute because his thighs are so chunky that they get pinched when he sits. Obviously one size does not fit all in the Bumbo department.

He is a sweet little Mama's boy and I love it. Although his first word will technically be DaDa, because that is what he babbles all day long. It is Sooo cute!

We like him!

Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner

But we find him in the corner anyway. Walker has an unusual way of getting around the house. He arches his back, bends his knees, tilts his head as far back as he can, and pushes off with his feet. He manages to scoot himself until he can go no further. Like when his head is being smooshed up against the entertainment center, or into the corner of the room.

I found him in just such a predicament the other night when I put him on the floor and walked away for a minute. He not only managed to move quickly, but he also turned him self and navigated his way between the furniture and a pot. He was mad.
And please don't mind his Christmas pajamas. He is off season from his older brothers in clothing, so a lot of the time, I just put in him what I have handy. And in this case it would be Christmas trees.  Normally no one sees him in jammies most nights.

Oprah!

Every time I tell someone that I live in the Chicago area, the question is asked, "So have you been to Oprah?"

And until now, the answer was "No, I haven't even tried to get tickets."

Well, now I can check that one off my list! My friends Kelly and Amy recently went to a taping, and it motivated me to get online and try for some last minute seats. I saw that one of the upcoming guests was Dolly Parton. I like her!
So I sent in a quick blurb about how much I would love to hear more about her, and a week later I got an email telling me to bring a friend, and come to the taping!

We attended an 11:00 taping, and let me tell ya, that is an ALL day event. We drove, instead of taking the train, so that we could leave our phones and cameras in the car. You can't bring them into the studio, and you have to check them in if you do, and then wait in line to pick them up.

BUT both Kathy and I had no idea that you also can't have pens, pencils, or notebooks either, and we both had a planner in our bag, so we had to check things in anyway.   Then you get herded around like cattle, and wait, wait, wait.

Kathy has been such a good friend ever since I served as a counselor with her for three years while she was Primary President. (That is the Sunday program for children at our church.) I was so glad that she could come on such short notice!

We got to see cute, funny, TINY, little Dolly, and watch her perform "Nine To Five," "I Will Always Love You," and a song with surprise guest, Kenny Rogers. He is a cutie for being 71 years old! It was the last taping of her second to last season. So I guess when it comes to tickets, it is get em' now, or don't get em' at all.

I had been feeling pretty much awful all day, and after being stuck in traffic for two and a half hours with one more to go on the way home, Kathy took the wheel and got me to my house safely. Thanks again Kathy! Chicago traffic, in the evening, on a Friday...UUHHGGG!
So it was fun, I am glad I had the experience. But if you go... go with energy and patience. And maybe a good book to read when you have had enough people watching. Which was some of the best people watching I have ever had access to, by the way. Oprah has a good looking audience! It was cool to see her in person, and you can see our show on Friday, May 21st.

If the camera is ever on me, (which I am praying it never is,) and I am glassy eyed and spacing out, or if I look like a crazed, dorky fan, just realize that I didn't feel well, and people were encouraging us to be louder, stand, clap, and act enthused.

Or you can just say, "Hey, I know that nerd!"