{The Counter top goes in}

We put my parents right to work bright and early Tuesday morning. We were so lucky, for many reasons, to have them come and help. My dad had all the tools and my mom helped me clean and keep the kids contained! Since all the demolition was done the guys started right in putting the new laminate onto the counter top. After some scraping and measuring and cutting they were ready to apply the contact cement.
We figured the boys would like to be serenaded while they worked, it makes the work go by faster. So Lauryn took it upon herself to do the task. Accompanied by Grandma Kristie, she sang all her favorite primary songs. I think she may have a career in music!!

Wyatt had to help with the manly stuff. He helped carry out the old materials from the dining room staging area so we could lay new sub floor. He loved getting to be in the mix with the guys.
The first piece is down and doesn't it look nice?!!

Now came the router- making all those edges nice and smooth.
Meysa got to help Papa with this job. She was suppose to hold the piece of laminate that Papa was cutting off. She didn't like the kick back of the saw dust though!!

Filing off the edges and cleaning up their mess!!!
Putting the sink back together.
Now comes the tile back splash. We cheated and used liquid nail to adhere the tiles to the wall and then we will grout over the top. Ryan was able to get the border put up around the entire back splash on Tuesday. Then he has under the cabinets to tile. It looks ten times better already don't you think!!?

And last but not least we have the sub floor put down so that we can lay tile on Wednesday!! I guess that is the next stage of our adventure...stay tuned!!

{Demolition Derby}

The demolition on our kitchen began bright and early Monday morning. Ryan took a week off of work between his Seattle rotation and his last stint of night float. I don't think his idea of a good vacation is working his tail off doing home improvement projects, poor guy!! We had to tear out the counter top, the floor (in the dining room and kitchen) and demo a wall upstairs. Thankfully this house is not too old so we didn't run into any surprising things as we took everything apart.
You may be asking why if the house is not too old are we doing all these home improvements. Well, the wonderful people who lived in this home before us where not, shall we say, kind to this house. There were tears in the flooring in the kitchen, 1/2 bath and laundry room, stains on the carpet, chips out of the counter top and they built, but didn't finish a wall upstairs to add yet another bedroom to this house. It has five already, for some reason they thought it needed six. To top it off, their choice in colors and materials were terrible. That right there is reason enough don't you think? We knew when we bought the place "as is" on a foreclosed house that we would have to do some work. Hopefully our sweat equity will pay off in the end with a house being sold come this time next year. We have no illusions of making any money off of it, hopefully just getting it sold!!
The dining room had carpet in it! I know what you are thinking, whose the brain that decided that? Well were tore that out to make way for vinyl tile through out the kitchen and dining room. Now maybe we can eat in the dining room on a regular basis. Wouldn't that be nice?
Meysa was a big help and loved getting to manhandle the linoleum floor. Isn't that pattern and color just fabulous?!!
This is the ugly wall upstairs. It is suppose to be a family room, they tried making it into another bedroom, but never finished it. The wall was only taped and mudded on the inside. It ended up being easier to take down than we thought it would be.

The kids loved it when Ryan went Jakie Chan on the Sheetrock!! But oh what a mess it made. I guess that comes with demolition right?!!

It makes such a difference upstairs with that wall gone. It isn't dark and we feel like we gained a few extra square feet out of the deal.

Our demolition was complete with the wall coming down. My parents arrived Monday evening and we prepared ourselves for the coming days of hard work. Wyatt was soo tuckered out from a long day of demo that he literally crashed on the floor. We were having family home evening and Wyatt was sitting next to Ryan and pretty soon he rolled over and we started hearing really heavy breathing. He had passed out. If this was any indication of how tired we would all be during the week, I think we may have stopped right here!! Up next, the counter top install!!

{Really??}

This last week has been a doosy!! You know how refreshing it is to read a blog and the writer is honest about the good, the bad and the ugly. It is refreshing because it makes you feel like you aren't the only one that has crazy, hairy days that make you want to strip off all your clothes and run down the middle of the street screaming. Am I the only one that wants to do that?!! Ok, maybe that was a little TMI (too much info)!! Well get ready for a real refreshing, cool breeze. I had a couple crazy, hairy days in a row!!

Lets start with Monday. My computer is acting up again and the dreaded blue screen kept popping up. I called the Geek squad to ask them what is up and they said that the graphics driver update that I installed was probably a bad one and that I needed to restore my computer back to before I installed it. The Geek told me that it wouldn't affect any files or programs so I went ahead and did it. Well Geek guy was wrong, or maybe I misunderstood him about the programs thing but it wiped out my newly installed photo editing software. Yes, I was very happy!! Then it took me two days and hours on the phone waiting on hold to get the programs reinstalled. Well just when I get everything reinstalled and I think things are working fine, it blue screens again and won't even turn on without doing another restore. I about committed myself at this point. So I decide to take it back to the Geek squad and see what they can do. Of course they want to do a destructive restore on my computer, the same one that they did not quite a month ago. Have I mentioned how much I love computers? They didn't charge me since it was within the 30 day window. That was one ray of light. I got the computer back yesterday and so far it has been working, but I am not holding my breath! We'll see if it continues to work, or if it will wait until I am comfortable and I have moved everything back onto it from my external hard drive and then crash again!!! I also painted my kitchen and dining room getting ready for the crazy remodel week ahead.

Wednesday at about 4:00pm the Fed Ex lady was at my door telling me she had three 75lbs. boxes of rope to deliver to my house. Really?!! I didn't order any rope, especially not 2 inch contractors rope. I called Ryan asking him it he had ordered the rope and he said no, of course!! What would and OB need with that kind of rope!!? I refused the rope because I didn't know who in the heck sent me this rope and thought it was odd for someone to steal my credit card, charge something to it and then send it to me. Can you tell my mental state is a bit shaky!!? Well the next day (we are to Thursday now) while dealing with a printer from you know where at my friends house (another bright spot in my week) my sister calls and asks me if I had had a delivery of rope in the last few days. The light bulb goes on. My sis is moving to an Island off Alaska and she needed to have some construction supplies sent to my house so that they wouldn't have to worry about packing it in the moving truck. Then they would get it when they come here and before they load their household stuff on a shipping container in Seattle. She had told me about sign boards and such but I didn't recall the rope. She probably told me but I had lost my mind at this point. So Fed Ex is resending it. I get one of the three boxes and hope to heaven the other two come before Wednesday morning.

That same afternoon my friend and I were trying to print her sons' baptism invites. I had taken her sons' pictures and made the invites on my computer. I was ready to print them at my house until my computer crashed so that left us her computer and printer. Well she just got a trampoline so all the kids were in her back yard playing, her three and my four. Things weren't going well for us with the invitations and she had to take her son to wrestling practice, so we called it a day and I went to fetch my kids from the back yard. All the older kids were there but Wyatt and her youngest, Garrett were not. When we asked the kids where they were Meysa says they are in the front yard. Can I just tell how far my heart sunk in that moment? So Heather and I bolted around to the front yard and you guessed it they weren't there. What 18 mos and 2yr old would stay in the front yard when the world was beckoning them to explore it? I began running up the streets in my flip flops and a nice neighbor who was already in his car stopped and asked if I lost someone. When I frantically told him that yes I had lost someone, in fact TWO little people. He asked the ages and I told him and he got that look in his eye, that determined I am going to help look. He took off in the direction I was running. Heather at this time was also running around going the other direction and checking to see if they little boogers had gone into the house. As I rounded the corner-another block away-the neighbor's car was pulled over to the side of the road and he was waving me down. He came out from someones side yard carrying both Wyatt and Garrett in his arms. They had crossed a street to get to where they were!!! I was so out of breath that I couldn't even really tell him thank you. I think he knew though!! I took Wyatt and Garrett back to Heather's house and we both hugged those little guys to death. Come to find out the older girls had left the back yard and went to the front yard and of course the little guys had followed. When the girls returned to the back yard, the boys did not. I can't even really give a whole lot of thought to the "what ifs", it makes me cringe. I am just glad that there were angels watching over them and that they are snug in their beds at this moment. My other kids sure got a scare too. Especially the girls because I think they knew it was because they had left the back yard and not brought the boys back with them. In fact, at one point there was someone walking on the sidewalk who we stopped to ask if she had seen the boys and she said no but she heard someone crying. We were already a block from Heather's house at this point. It was Meysa's screaming that she was hearing. She kept crying that she had lost her brother!! Oh, it breaks me heart, but I bet she will think twice about making sure her brother is with her at all times.

Are you done reading about my week yet? I am. At this point I was ready to go to bed and not wake up for a few days!! I think Heavenly Father knew I couldn't take much more. The last two days of the week were sunny and quiet. I guess as quiet as they can be with four kids and a busy house. We didn't lose anyone and nothing else broke. We are counting the small things!!My parents are coming tomorrow to help with the kitchen remodeling stuff. I sure hope that this next week goes better. I don't think I can handle another one like I just had.

See, now wasn't that just refreshing to read. I have crazy, down right hairy weeks too!! And you'll be glad to know I didn't strip and run down the middle of the road!! It is against the law ya know!! Getting arrested would have been a perfect ending to the week though!!

{Pinewood Derby}

Ayden participated in his first Pinewood Derby on Saturday. It was a pretty exciting time for him (and his Dad). Ryan and Ayden spent time together shaping and cutting and sanding his car. It was fun to watch them do this together. I did help with the painting and some of the finish work so I guess I was in there in the mix too. Ayden named his car "Red Rocket". He was very proud of it!!

When we got to the church for the weigh-in we found Ayden's car was really light. It was just over 3 oz., and it could be as heavy as 5 oz. We had no way of weighing it before we left our house so we had to add some weight once we were there. The only place to add the weight to was the top front, which I think hurt him in the end. It made his car not so aerodynamic you could say. Ayden got to run his car twice and unfortunately it lost both times. The second race was a close one though. He was bummed he didn't win. That boy has a competitive streak a mile wide running right straight down the middle of him. It is a constant effort to help him see the benefit in participating in something without the guarantee of winning. So I think in a way it was good for him to experience this. This was the first derby for all of us so we were kinda flying blind you could say. It was so much fun though and I think we all learned a lot.
Next year though we are coming back with experience, a killer design and a winning car!! Ryan has already scouted out some designs online, so we are ready for it baby!!

{Brothers}

Last Saturday the kids and I HAD to get out of the house. We just HAD to. I was going crazy, they were going crazy and Ryan was trying to sleep off a night of L&D call. It wasn't raining but it was overcast so we took our chances on going for a walk and playing at the park. We took off down the Western Chehalis trail with the older two kids on their bikes and the younger two in the double stroller. It was so nice to be out in the fresh air. We came across some very friendly people on the trail. I guess when you travel on that little strip of asphalt everyone assumes you are friends. So many people said hello, smiled at the kids. I even got a shout out from some guy running by asking if those kids were all mine, and when I admitted that yes in fact they were all mine, he declared that I was a busy mama!! Give that guy a gold star!! Our end destination, the place that the kids kept peddling their little legs for was the PARK. We finally made it and the kids were delighted to find the place deserted. Not another child for at least a block radius! I think everyone else saw the rain clouds moving in and were smart to stay inside. We just couldn't do that, we might not have made it through the day all alive if we had. So to the park we came and we loved it in spite of the growing wind and small trickles of rain drops. Meysa, out of the blue said "I love you Mom, thanks for bringing us to the park." And Ayden said "I love being together just us Mom, thanks." The girls loved getting to swing and Ayden was Wyatt's little shadow. He helped him swing, go down the slide, twirl on the spinning thing (I have no idea what it is called, if it even has a name). It was nice to have Ayden's help, then I could go around snapping pictures of the kids and not worry that Wyatt was taking a leap off the top of the slide.
I know there is 7 years between these two boys but it is the sweetest thing watching Ayden and Wyatt together. Wyatt loves his big brother and Ayden takes pride in being the older one who can teach his wealth of knowledge to his younger brother. I hope it continues to be like this.
Right now they share a room. Wyatt doesn't like going to sleep without Ayden in there with him and honestly I think Ayden likes having Wyatt there too.
There may come a time when the 7 years between them will seem like such a difference in age.
Like when Ayden is in High School and Wyatt is still in elementary school. There won't be much that they have in common. Ayden may feel like his snotty, younger brother is always trying to hang out with him and his friends, and Wyatt might feel like his older, know it all brother never has time for him.
And I am sure there will be fights and wrestling matches to be reffed. Hopefully there will always be a handshake though, when it is all over.
If nothing else I know when push comes to shove, Ayden will always have his brother's back and vice-versa. That is how it is with brothers. No matter the age difference and no matter what!
It was a good day to be outside, together. Even if it started raining and we had to bolt home. We only had to run for a mile or more. No big deal. Hot chocolate was administered to the wet and weary travelers upon arrival into the warmth of our home. It was worth it though, it really was.