Monday, January 28, 2008

Big Girl!

We moved Frances from her crib as a toddler bed into a twin bed this weekend! She seems to like it just fine. She has already discovered that she can crawl under it to get away from us! Mitch didn't find the humor in it last night but I had to hide my smirk in the other room! Rather than take it down I just raised her princess tent up higher and it cascades over the head of her bed. That is fun too! Here we are on the first night reading books!

Weekend #3

Well, we worked on the bathroom one day this weekend (plus a little earlier in the week). We took Sunday off to visit the Indy Home Show and get some inspiration:) Here is the progress:

We took the mirror down and got the vanity out.

This is the shower! We have all the cement board up (which is apparently required when you are hanging tile). Notcie the two shower heads! Can you guess which one is for me? (haha). It is actually shorter because it will be a wand on a bar that can be adjusted up and down. Mitch needs to build the bench and then the shower is ready for tile. Now...to pick it out:) We will hopefully have our vanity and top picked out by midweek and that will determine which tile we get. It is going faster than I thought!

Monday, January 21, 2008

FED UP

I thought I would be the nice mommy today and take my daughter for ice cream. It was her idea and I didn't really have plans for lunch so...we went to Dairy Queen. She was very excited when we pulled and called it the "ice cream place." I ordered a chicken strip kids meal. It came with a slush which she loved. She ate many pickles and a couple fries. I taunted her by saying that if she didn't eat any chicken I would eat her ice cream. She refused. I had her tell me what kind of ice cream she wanted and again told her she needed to eat her chicken. After way too much patience I ate the chicken and ordered the ice cream that she wanted. Then I proceeded to eat the whole thing in front of her! Think she will learn her lesson? I would ask for advice but I think it is just wise for me to not go out for lunch with her for awhile as it doesn't seem to matter that much to her! The ice cream was good:)

Weekend #2 of Demolition

Well, Mitch was able to work on the bathroom again this weekend. His main goals were to rip up the floor that was molding. Then to plumb in the pipes for our new shower. And lastly to patch the floor back up and make it whole (not hole). :) Since the new shower will have two shower heads he had to do some plumbing from the crawlspace and some he can do later from up above. He also had to move the drain for the shower. Mitch decided that he might enjoy being a plumber as he thinks he is getting pretty good at it! It took a little longer than he had hoped but there are not any leaks (anymore or yet:). Frances has fun helping him when she can but mostly just wants to talk his ear off! It is hard to have Daddy home and give him some space!
This is the moldy floor that started it all!
Mitch had to move the toilet in order to get all the moldy flooring out!
Frances thought it was pretty neat to go in the crawl space with Mitch. She shined the flashlight for him and was a good helper.
Frances really likes to climb. She had some tools and informed us she was working! She knew she couldn't come in the bathroom with out shoes. Like what she picked?
Daddy was teaching Frances how to hammer. She did pretty good but had to use two hands.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Let the demolition begin!

We have talked about remodeling our master bath since we moved in four and a half years ago! This weekend it has finally begun! This is both in part to our desire for something different as well as a need to replace the floor due to a leak in the original shower.

Here are the before pictures.

Looking in from the master bedroom.

Still looking from the master bedroom.

The shower. Very small!

From inside the shower.


The closet is to the left of the shower behind the door. Mitch already had the closet doors off when I came to take my "before" pictures.

Our plans are to swap the closet and the shower. The shower will be extened out farther than the closet was, probably pretty close to the door jamb. We are planning to tile the shower and build a bench and put in two shower heads. The old shower will be turned into a linen closet. The vanity is going to be replaced with a slightly smaller one and then with the addition of a floor to ceiling cupboard that matches will go next to it and the toilet. The only thing that is not being changed is the toilet. I was hoping for a self-cleaning one but I guess it is not on the market yet:)

Here is the demolition so far!

Mitch in the closet.

Our friend Gary in the shower.

Ignore the funny looking lady in the mirror with the flashy face! Here are the guys working side by side!

The closet.

The shower.
I will do my best to keep you posted. Keep in mind that this will be a "winter project" meaning it will hopefully end by the time winter is over:) We have not selected anything to replace the old yet so we do still have some work to do! Nothing like tearing out the old to get you motivated to pick out tile and supplies!

Friday, January 11, 2008

That's My Girl!

While doing some flashcards with Frances yesterday this is what I experienced...

Here is the flashcard I showed her...


Her response was this...


GO COLTS!


This is the actual answer (which she should have known as it corresponds with a video she has).



Gotta love the loyalty:) Wishing the Colts a great weekend!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Stroller

I have been wanting a new stroller for some time now and after much research I decided on one I liked. I found a used one on craigslist for a great price and it is in brand new condition! We had a nice day last Friday so I took Frances for a walk and she fell asleep! This is my girl that has given up napping! I would say the stroller was well worth the full price if that is the result! I just pushed her inside the house and let her sleep while I got some stuff done! I didn't want to risk waking her by taking her boots, mittens, sunglasses or anything off so here she is!


News Flash!

I forgot to mention what my mother received for Christmas from us! She got a picture frame with her four grandchildren's pictures in it! Sam is 51/2, Ben is 4, Frances is 3, and....arriving by the fourth of July is our new baby! Frances is pretty excited about being a big sister even though she doesn't completely understand yet. Here is a picture we were able to get for my mom's picture frame! I am fifteen weeks along and feeling pretty good. I am sure I will have pictures to share as I get "fat", I mean as the baby grows:)



Christmas Joys!

Well, Christmas has come and gone so fast! We had a great time traveling and seeing all of our family, even if for only a short while! First, we went to Iowa. We stayed in a hotel and Frances LOVED swimming! She is such a fish. She also had a blast playing with her cousin Trevor! They are only 5 months apart and got along so well we hardly knew they were there! I enjoyed playing cards (hand and foot) pretty much the entire time I wasn't eating. I am getting good at being the loser and still enjoying the game! Frances really loves her new puppy named "Molly"!




These two pictures were actually taken on the Fisher Price Digital Camera that Frances got for her birthday!

Next stop for us was South Dakota. We got to see many more family members and eat lots more good food! Frances got a doll that she named "Brianna" and it has plastic clothes that snap on and off. She has been really enjoying that toy the most so far! We also got to swim when grandpa Dave visited and stayed at a hotel with a really cool swim area. There was a kids pool and a HUGE waterslide! It was a toss up who enjoyed the slide more, Frances or mommy?




Then it was off to another town in SD to see my younger sister for New Years Eve. Frances instantly fell in love with her lifesize dollhouse. She couldn't even be persuaded to come downstairs and open presents! She played so well by herself for almost two hours! We played Pirates of the Carribbean Monopoly while watching Pirates 3. Not an easy task. I like to think that is why Mitch creamed all of us so badly! My sister made us a fleece tie blanket with the Colts on it! It is my favorite! Go Colts! They had a toddler bed in the spare room with the big dollhouse. Frances slept great in there all night long! Then we were headed towards home as it has been almost two weeks away! We stopped and saw my good friend Karman for an hour. Then we spent the night at Mitch's sisters before the final four hour trip home.


Frances also loved my sisters cat "Kiki"!

The holiday were great. We truly enjoyed seeing everyone and I am certain we will do it again next year but for now...it is good to be home:)