Today's Progress

Here is the latest progress...the vanities are in but we are waiting for the water and the faucets to be hooked up. Some tile adjustments need to be made so that's the hold up right now. I need to still buy towel bars, waste cans, soap dispensers etc and I'm dying to get out shopping for other stuff to put in it once I make a few more decisions. I'm still deciding on mirrors, paint color and towel color and of course the art work. Decisions...decisions. I miss my job! Note the ugly wallpaper that was hiding behind the old mirror.

It's not all work here...

Over the weekend we had lots of things to do around the house but we took a little time out to go to Morton Arboretum. We had been wanting to go since we got our membership back in December. The children's garden was closing when we got there so we are planning another trip soon but we did see some other areas of the park. Here are the boys in front of one their favorites...the giant ants. The park was beautiful and I can't believe that we have lived here for 8 years and hadn't ever been. I'm really looking forward to taking advantage of lots of different attractions now that the boys are getting a little older.

Getting Closer...

Here is today's progress. It has been very smooth up until the vanites. The pipes are too low so now we are waiting on a plumber to move the pipes up so the drawers will operate. Another glitch is the junction box for the lighting. I need two but of course we only have one. Another phone call to make tomorrow to schedule an electrician. At least my shower is now available so I can stop showering in the other bathroom. I think we can survive another week.

Managing Chaos....

Today was a very, very long day....It started at 7 am when we had painters come to paint the family room (same color as it was...just a fresh coat) the boys room, the kitchen ceiling and repair a wall in the toy room. Oh did I mention that the master bathroom project is still in progress so that basically left us the office to hang out in. The office is a decent size but a little small for 5 people to spend a whole day trapped in. I dug out some toys that the boys hadn't ever seen so that helped entertain them but of course were "starving" all day, bored, and Landon even decided to throw up the pizza that we brought in for lunch. I had loads of snacks in the room and the forementioned toys. I briefly considered going somewhere (we did go the Dr for Lawson's follow-up) but was needed here to make decisions on some of the work. Here are a few glimpses of our day...

I'm guessing we aren't related to Tiger Woods...

We took the boys miniature golfing last night and I have a feeling we have (need) lots of golf lessons in our future. Or maybe Hockey is our sport if the way the boys were holding the club was any indication. Logan had decent form and so did Lake....Lawson did ok but Landon is left handed and just didn't get the hang of it. He refused all help of course so that didn't really improve his game much either. I did get a hole in one right after Steve decided we should keep score. (He looked a little nervous after that!) He did end up winning but not by much. The boys had a great time and the weather was perfect. We ended the night with dinner at Red Robin where as usual we ate waaaay too much food. A perfect summer Saturday night!

Flipping continues....

The picture from yesterday was the bathroom before picture. Here is the progress (???) as it continues... The top two pictures are the bathroom at the beginning of the day and the last picture is at the end when the floor tile was installed. The floor tile is 18 inch square travertine layed in a brick pattern. I can't wait for Monday when the tub gets tile!

"Flipping" This House!

Ok..so maybe the title is a little exagerated since we are only redoing the master bathroom right now AND we have no plans to move or sell at this time but I do love Flip That House on TLC so I used it OK?! Back in December we had a leak down to the kitchen ceiling...3 plumbers and almost 7 months later we are finally making some progress on the redo. The jacuzzi tub (who had a bad seal...basically a $3 part) is fixed and the bigger money is pouring out! So far the demo is done and the floor tile went in yesterday. The vanities are sitting in the garage and tile for the tub will be installed on Monday. I'm coordinating electricians for the new lighting, plumber for faucets and then carpet cleaners for the room next door when the water seeped thorough. I'll try to post some before and after pictures and you can judge for yourself if 4 years of Interior Design School paid off. With 4 small boys....at least Steve has his own personal interior designer for now. We will see if I feel like taking on new clients when this deal is done!! The boys love it all for now and try to observe anytime they can sneak out of my sight!

Brotherly Love

Logan and Lawson play together a lot. They fight like all brothers and act like they don't like each other sometimes but they really do look out for each other. If I have one of them with me and we are getting candy they want to make sure I have enough for everyone. They are always planning on gifts for each others next birthday. Logan is already saving his money for a Ben 10 watch for Lawson's May birthday! I was emptying my camera this morning and ran across these two pictures from last week. Note the new scar on Lawson's forehead...courtesy of Logan as the two watch tv together (fighting over a toy a few weeks ago!) They like the same tv shows, the same toys (see previous scar comment) and sometimes the same food. They are a pretty good fit even though Logan isn't a triplet. On the other hand...the day playing on the waterslide was a day full of "Mommy...Logan squirted me...Mommy...Logan..."etc. Look...here they are shooting each other with water guns. These two can be very high maintenance but they sure look sweet together when they are being nice!!

Pizza anyone?

This weekend we stopped over at the new Whole Foods that opened down the street last week. The boys love to bake so they were entralled by the pizza maker (and the chocolate section and the icecream counter and... Well it just so happened that I had been to the little Italian grocery store near my dentist and picked up the stuff to make our own. The boys were so excited but I still didn't think that they would actually eat it. They are really picky eaters and especially picky about their pizza. I've read that if you let your kids help prepare the food they are more likely to eat but I've never before found that the case with these 4! Here are some highlights...

And in the end...they are every last bite and were actually sneaking spoonfuls of sauce out of the container. I had a bite of the pizza and it was actually very good. I'm thinking this may be a new addition to family movie night!

The Toothfairy came for a visit....

I had totally forgot to mention that our first visit from the tooth fairy was last week. I was trying to get a picture but didn't have a lot of luck for the shot I was hoping for. It was helped a long a little bit by our beloved Dr. Dave at Small Smiles but the end result was the same anyway... Logan really didn't realize that anything had happened until he came out and the assistant mentioned that while they were doing the "measurements" these two front teeth dropped out. He didn't seem phased by it at all so all was good. A trip to the toy aisle at Target and we were good. The fairy came that night and left some gold coins and when we got up in the morning...we could even see fairy dust around the room. She must be very quiet not to wake up for sleeping boys! Here is the only picture I could get....a little goofy but you get the idea! He really looks like a first grader now.

Opposable Thumbs up for Space Chimps

Tonight we went to Space Chimps. The boys have been asking to see it ever since they saw the trailer earlier this year. I was a little concerned about being able to get tickets on opening night and especially on a Friday night. Well....not a problem. The other movie opening today was Dark Knight the new Batman Movie. Security was all over and the lines were long. But anyway....I loved Space Chimps! It was so much more entertaining for Steve and me than Wall-e. I did have to make 3 seperate trips to the bathroom so I did miss some of it but I liked what I saw. The boys seemed to like although Lawson and Lake each asked to go home toward the end. We played outside most of the day though so they probable were just tired out. When I asked Landon if he liked it as we were leaving...he said "Yea...could we go to Dark Knight movie now?!" Ummmmm no! The boys have seen some movies that I was slightly opposed to them seeing but this one crosses the line. I think they need to wait awhile on it. The pictures alone of Heath Ledger creep me out. We ended the night with dinner at Johnny Rockets and the boys all are finally in bed. We will have to see what tomorrow brings tomorrow! Good night!

Happy Meals, Oprah and House Flipping Ben 10

For excitement today (and to keep my house clean on the day the cleaning lady comes) I took the boys to McDonalds for Happy Meals. As I've stated before...we rarely get these since the toys are junk and they mainly don't eat the food. It was Transformer toys though and since they usually don't ask for Happy Meals (at least don't whine for them...) I decided I would surprise them. We stood at the display for a good 5 minutes and then finally got to order our food. The poor lady had to search a big bin to get all of their character selections and finally we sat down at a table to eat. Since they were such a captive audience and were playing transformers with each other the conversation turned to tv....I asked each boy what his favorite tv show is. Landon said his is Spongebob, Lake said Blue's Clues and Teletubbies (which he never watches either so I'm not sure why/where those came from. Logan and Lawson both said Ben 10. What a shocker...hmmm....it is what almost every conversation etc is about at our house right now. Anyway in the midst of all of this Lake says, "Mom...what's your favorite show?" I thought this was very sweet and smart of him to ask and so I thought a minute and answered that I like Flip that House. Actually he loves this show too and usually comes to watch with me sitting on my lap or next to me. He smiled and said "And Oprah too!" I was really impressed that he is observant enough to pull that one out. Of course it probably is because I tivo it every day and it switches from Ben 10 or Johny Test. It was still cute and he really is a charmer! The boys played with their new plastic toys until bedtime and my house stayed clean for another day!

Movie Night and Chocolate

Saturday night at our house is usually movie night and this week we had Grandma visiting (Grandpa is visiting too but he went to the Nascar Race with Daddy) so she got to watch our movie with us. We chose Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory from 1971. I loved this movie as a kid and the boys ended up loving it too. They had lots of questions about the chocolate river, what kind of candy the grass is made of etc. We popped popcorn (mixed with M&M's) and all settled in to watch. Lake didn't make it through but the rest of us did. I'm guessing that there will many more questions about candy tomorrow considering how much they love it and now have seen it in fantasy form! I think we will be ok as long as they don't mention it to Dr. Dave next week at our appointment!

Fishing

As I said before in yesterday's post the boys went fishing while they were in Iowa. They love to go and even though the little boys have never caught anything (Logan has...even on his first time out a couple of years ago) they still love to go. I downloaded my camera and noticed some cute pictures that I thought I would share. More than the fishing they love carrying around earthworms in their hands. Minnows are as popular luckily because I really can't stand threading those on a hook...worms I can deal with but minnows...ugh....

A full trip....

We went to Iowa last Wednesday night and stayed until Sunday. The boys had a great time and have been waking up every morning asking if we can go back today. Ugh...they travel well but not so well that I want to make a 4 1/2 hour car trip everyday. Not to mention at gas hitting $4.59 they will have to chose between visiting Iowa or going to college. I'm guessing as busy as they are in Iowa and entertained...they will be picking Iowa.

Logan had a mental list of things that he needed to accomplish while on his "vacation" and luckily he did get to them all. We added one extra on the last morning (mini-golf) that we didn't end up getting to and he complained for awhile but otherwise was happy. We ended up going to the pool, hitting the park (where I don't think they have painted the rocket slide since I was a kid!) fishing, golfing, riding grandpa's ATV and Gator, fireworks and making cookies with Aunt Kim. I think that was all but things have been crazy since we got back so I may have already forgotten something. They camped out on one of the guestroom floors every night and crashed hard. Lake got lots of Grandpa time and even fell asleep on him. Everywhere that Grandpa went Lake went....Landon fell asleep on Grandma as they had their own private movie night while the other two where doing the cookie baking. Of course we also hit Super Walmart and Jaasma bakery daily, and watched Spiderman....always must dos when we go there! Nothing like stimulating the economy...our duty

Here are some photo highlights....

A safe week.....

We have had a busy summer vacation so far this year. We had the week of golf lessons, a week of vacation bible school and last week it was a week at Safety Town in Naperville. Although Logan had his reservations (HE already knew how to be safe!!) they all ended up enjoying it and graduated on Friday. The ceremony didn't end up being such a big deal as it was hyped. I think it was really just a way to get the parents to sit down and listen to the "rules" that they would like us to follow. The week consisted of Seatbelt Safety, 9-1-1 calls, Electric Safety, Animal Safety, Bus Safety, Personal Safety, Railroad Safety, Water Safety, Fire Safety, Paramedics Poisen Awareness and Pedestrian Safety. That seems like a lot of safety which is another reason that it seemed like money well spent to send them. The rode bikes around safety town (lots of small buildings set up like a town) rode on a bus, went through a real smoke house, and got to see a firetruck up close. My favorite part was having lunch with Theresa and Kelly everyday after we dropped all of our kids off. Now this week we are off to Iowa....when is MY vacation....!!??