WHAT KIDS SAY....

No this is not an update about the house, sorry.... Things are moving, but very slowly and I have to get a new memory card for my camera- *sigh*. BUT as we have been sick at our house this last week, I have had time to listen a little closer to my children, especially since I have been laying on the couch begging for release. Jayson as started saying "sure" anytime you ask him a question that you are looking for a "yes" to. He has also started to follow Justyn around mercilessly, copying his every move and as any older brother does, has started showing some irritation at this. In fact, it asked Jayson why he wasn't born a girl because a girl wouldn't follow him and copy him. I reminded Justyn of the time when we asked him if he wanted a brother or sister and he emphatically stated a brother "because what would I do with a girl?" Jayson looked at me and crinkled his nose and said "I no girl mom, huh." Oh, how I love them!

KISS THE COOK

Ok, so I am slow, but I have a good excuse!! We have a kitchen, yes, you heard right! We need only to put up the crown molding on the cabinets and the handles and backsplash, but it is a functioning, working kitchen. Next, the living room!!

KNOCK ON WOOD

Okay, Okay so I missed posting the ceiling when it was put up and all nice and textured and sealed up so we could use our heater, but I will share our next step....KITCHEN CABINETS!!! We are finally getting them out of the living room and in the kitchen where they belong. Allen is doing such a great job and being SO meticulous. We have had a few hiccups and found out that some things were not done as ordered, but they are beautiful. Allen has always been a HUGE fan of oak, oak this and oak that, everything has had to be oak! When we walked into the showroom of the cabinet place, I was drawn to some cabinets that looked awesome, Allen looked and moved on, but I kept coming back and he would follow. He ACTUALLY said that he liked these cabinets. We asked our contractor about them and he said they were Hickory, well we fell in love with them. So we are now doing Hickory wood in the kitchen, we have ordered the Hickory hard wood flooring for the Living Room. Our fireplace mantle and the railing and posts on the steps will also be Hickory! I am SO glad that they aren't oak! We should have all of them put in this weekend and get the countertops ordered. We are debating between granite, or Corian which is a solid surface top. I am hopeful to have a kitchen by Christmas---KNOCK ON WOOD!

I added some more pictures since our first post that include the top cabinets! ALSO we are soooo lucky, they are going to put our countertops in on Thursday!! I will have a kitchen for Christmas!!!

THE SKY IS FALLING.....THE SKY IS FALLING....

Well we have finally come to one of the major parts of this renovation. Saturday, November 7th, We tore down the ceiling that goes from the entryway through the upstairs family room and kitchen, to the mudroom and garage door. We moved everything either in the living room (with our new cabinets that arrived a week early :)) or downstairs. We are again holed up in the basement with our fridge and microwave in the living room. We are choosing not to use the kitchen area for reasons I am sure you can guess. I am so grateful that the basement has a furnace because we cannot use the furnace upstairs as it would spread all those fiberglass particles even more through the house. We were hoping that the sheetrocker could come this week and do the sheetrock, but he will not be able to come until Monday, the 16th. So alas, we will live like this for another full week. I was telling Allen the other night, 6 months ago, it seems that my life spiraled out of control and so many things were spinning and I couldn't grab onto them. I think that Heavenly Father did this so that when we decided to take on this adventure, I would be numb. Attached are the pictures of the teardown with the insulation, the teardown after we had cleaned up the insulation, and living room. I am so grateful for our friends and family that showed up to help. We were worried as everyone who said they would come, one by one were backing out.

SLOW GOING.......

Ok so I know this isn't a post about the house and I do need to update all on that adventure. We are FINALLY in our bedroom. It is so nice. Allen is right now taking the subfloor out of Jayson's room so we can replace it. It is amazing at the water damage that has taken place on the floor. Our plan is to finsish is room this weekend. Allen then leaves for Canada again on Monday. I am crossing my fingers that no diasters happen as it will be a very busy week for me also. Once he returns we will be tearing down the ceiling in the great room area through the entry way and the mudroom, fixing the electrical int he ceiling redoing the lights and then we have a gentleman coming in to resheet rock that area. Our cabinets are to arrive here in the next week. We have some of the major projects starting to happen now. I am jsut hoping that we will have some peace so we can decorate for Christmas. I am not sure that we are going to make it. Well we did have some fun the other night cleaning up the leaves in the backyard. Here are some of the latest family photos....