Yet another thing Kateli amazed us with...

She seems to find something daily to amaze us with; yesterday, though we were astounded at her action. On our way to dinner last night, I handed her a little clementine to carry with her in the car, so that she could have that for dessert. As we got in the car, I noticed that in addition to the clementine she had a plastic cup in her hands. Daddy strapped her in the car seat and off we went to dinner. Along the ride, it was unusually quiet in the back seat--but I didn't think much of it until we were nearing our destination. I turned around thinking maybe Kateli had fallen asleep during our short ride to the restaurant--but I was surprised at what I saw. NOPE she had NOT fallen asleep, instead she had managed to peel the clementine and was on the last little slice of that tiny orange, that was supposed to be dessert. She looked at me, smiled and handed me the plastic cup. What I found inside was the peel of the clementine, in bits and pieces, the exact same way that mommy peels it for her; you would have thought, that I had peeled it and handed it to her! After examining all the pieces of rind in the cup, I figured out that she had initiated the peel by taking a bite off the rind--there was one little piece that looked wet and chewed on. All the subsequent pieces though, she managed to take off with her little fingers, as those were not wet at all. And so it was, Kateli had spoiled her dinner (a little bit, because she still did have some food at the restaurant)--and mommy learned not to underestimate her almost 20month old's talents and abilities!
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Updates on Kitchen Remodel

Well, seems like we are sluggishly moving right along with the kitchen remodel. It seems like the last few days have just slowed down and not too much progress is being made, but I should be more optimistic I guess. I'm just getting really ansy to get this project completed, so that I can have back the kitchen sink. I think that at this point that is one of the commodities that I'm missing the most and will be relieved once it's back in business. For the time being we are washing Kateli's dishes and sippy cups in the bath sink, and we are using styrofoam cups and plates, as well as disposable plastic ware. Since the last update, we've had the electrician out again to redo the canned lighting over the island, which Dan and I figured were not originally installed per the drawing. He was also out to shift the canned lighting along the range wall, three were off by 1.5 in and the one that's supposed to be centered on the fridge was shifted over 3 in!!! This week, we had all of the sheet rock work completed so that mud and tape could come in and do their thing so as to make all the patching look seamless. Tape and mud person didn't show up until about 4pm yesterday--only 6 hours later than we expected him to be here. He's supposed to be here again today, but who knows what time and how much he will get completed. Oh well...I'll stop now...maybe we'll get more progress done so that I can write some more later. Here are pics that I took this morning. It's starting to look a little more complete, I guess. At least we've got dry wall on the island so it's not just studs of wood in the middle of the room. Enjoy....

* First pic is of the wall next to the fireplace. Remember those built in shelves? They are gone. We are not quite sure what we're going to put along this wall, so it may just be bare for a little while.



* The second pic is a view of the new entry into the kitchen from the garage. It used to be on the other side. We will now be able to fix up that 1/2 bath in the back and actually have a guest bath!!

* The third pic and fourth pic is of our new island. Looking more like an island now that it is actually dry walled. The sink will be located here, as well as the dishwasher, a hidden wastebasket and another cabinet for misc stuff.



* and the last picture is kind of hard to tell but it's our new pantry. It's not real big, by any means, but it beats not having a pantry at all!

My mural is coming along...

So, kitchen work is moving right along. Some days are slower than others, and some days are just chaotic. This week, we had NO work done on Monday and very little work on Tuesday. Wednesday, was a really busy morning; thurs was filled with more busyness and Friday was loud noises all day. I have not taken too many pictures lately because you can't really tell much in pictures as to what they have accomplished, so I'll wait until they are more evident to post pictures of the progress. However, the electrician has finished with all of the electrical work--we've got our lighting, switches, and receptacles in place. We were able to get some overhead lighting in the family room, so we have chosen a fan with a light. I think that will make quite a difference. Let's see, what else? The plumbers were here this week finishing up their work. We've got our pocket door frame in for the door to the guest bath in the back. The half wall in the laundry room is framed out, as well as all the other necessary walls. They began sheet rocking on Thurs and Frid, so that next week we could get the tape and mud guys to come in and do their work. I think after tape and mud is painting and then installation of the cabinets. Then the floor tile, and the trimming and installation of the light fixtures, switch covers, receptacle covers and such....so it's coming right along.



On another note, I'm excited to post the first pictures of my in progress murals in Kateli's big girl room. It's finally coming together and looking like I imagined it would--but it has taken about 2 1/2 weeks of work--a few hours here and there throughout, since I can't spend too much time up there! So, here are the pics...

* the first one is the main one that I'm painting on the wall behind her bed--it's a scene that I found on the internet of the "The Land of Milk and Honey" book series.



* the second one is just of little butterflies, and fireflies, and a little bird (which has not been painted in yet), as well as the rest of the white picket fence that is going along the rest of the wall where her bed will be.

* and the third is her favorite I think. Now, when we go upstairs to change her or for naps or bedtime, she runs into her room saying "doggie" and rubs on him with a big smile. Definitely need to seal the murals, especially this one as it's already showing "rubbing marks" due to her touching him all the time!

It's been a lot of fun doing this in her room. I hope that as she gets older she appreciates all the time that I've put into it--it's not a quick process by any means. It's my first mural that I paint, and not to brag or anything, but I think it's turning out really good!! :)

We got my old furniture back from the painters, and it looks like new--so that is ready to be placed in the room (as soon as I'm done with my artwork). Today, by chance we found a really CUTE twin bed for her room. I had been debating whether we would move her into a toddler bed or a twin size bed--now we know that she's going into a twin. Which I think may be better than having to buy a toddler bed now, and later graduating her into a twin anyway. She may not use the toddler size bed for too long. Anyway, we bought the bed frame and mattress for $10!!! Is that a deal or what?? It's in good shape, except that we'll need to paint it white to match the rest of her furniture but that should not be too hard of a task. I'm so excited to get her room done--we would like to move her in there before baby comes, so that she doesn't feel like we're kicking her out of her nursery because of baby. We'll see how that goes!

Kateli's canvas while mommy was on the phone....

Our beautiful daughter always finds something to keep her busy; she manages to find the "no-no's" though, when mommy is busy doing something. This morning, while I was on the phone ironing out some details with our kitchen designer, she took my notebook and pen and was off to the dining room floor to do a drawing. When she came back I found out that after she ran out of space on her blank notebook sheet of paper, she proceeded to scribble on other surfaces--my favorite, HERSELF!! She found her legs, neck and feet to be the perfect canvas, I guess. I couldn't help but laugh at the mess that she was, and just had to get this mischief on camera! I'm lucky that I was able to erase the markings with baby oil, before taking her to mornings for mom at church so I could get some other stuff done around the house. Gotta love the toddler years!

More progress made today....

Yep, it's moving right along our kitchen remodel. Today the carpenter was here and made progress--we have a new entry way from the garage into the kitchen. The door was moved over to the other side of the wall. You can see the difference in the picture.

We now have an unfinished pantry...

More progress has been made on the kitchen, although I have not posted any new photos. The reason for the lack of photos is because the work that was done yesterday is kind of hard to document in pictures--both the plumber and the electrician were here doing their thing. Today you can see where the new lighting is going to go, since the electrician actually has cut out the canned lighting holes in the ceiling. The carpenter put up the walls for our new pantry--which I'm really looking forward to having. I think it's going to be a 2'x3' pantry, which is NOT huge by any means but it's BIG compared to what we had prior to this remodel--which was NOTHING!!! So, here are some of the pics of today's work.

kateli's new funny face

Kateli has got so many funny faces, but it is really hard to get them on camera! However, we get to enjoy her silliness when she decides to stand in front of the mirror and watch herself as she goes through her repertoire of faces. I was able to capture her latest one on camera!! She does this to either just be funny, or to give funny kisses...

Kateli's new room is finally in progress...

So, we have been talking about getting Kateli's "big girl" room ready before the baby arrives, but until today it was all talk. I had ideas as to what I wanted to do in there, but just had been too lazy to do anything about it. Finally, yesterday I decided that I would get started today. We are going to be using my old bedroom furniture in her new room, except that we are getting it painted white to go with her decor. I want to get a set of tower shelves and a bench type shelf unit to frame out the window in her room, but I have yet to find a bench shelf that is wide enough for under her window. So those are still being searched for. Kateli will be graduating to a toddler bed when she moves into her new room. I finally found a really cute toddler sleigh bed in white (unfortunately, it is on backorder right now :() As far as decor, I wanted to do something girly and whimsical in her room, but nothing in the princess realm. My desire was to paint some kind of mural in her room but all I could find really were the princess castles and noah's ark and jungle animals...so I was getting discouraged. So after much searching on the internet, I finally found something that I liked and I'm pairing it with butterflies, dragonflies, flowers etc...etc. So, I rented an overhead projector--yes the type that has been outdated and that you would remember only from grade school--and got my pictures on the wall today. I also got started on the painting and so far it is looking good. Not real professional, but hey it's not like I do this for a living! Daddy got to spend a lot of quality time with Kateli today while I worked on the room. We spent some family time in the pool this afternoon and got to go out for dinner--AGAIN!!! We also enjoyed some outdoor music at the riverpark this evening before coming home to relax! More tomorrow!

Misc pics of Kateli

These are just miscellaneous pics that I've taken of Kateli with my phone.

The first picture is of her fast asleep. I couldn't pass up taking a pic of this angelic little face.


The second is one that I took on a shopping outing. We went shopping at Walmart the other day, and when she started to get a little ansy, I handed her a SHREK stuffed toy. To my surprise she LOVED Shrek!! She would hug him and point out his eyes, nose, ears, head, hands and feet! I thought she was going to have a hard time parting with Shrek, but she said "BYE BYE" and we handed him over to the cashier on the way out.



And the third shot is of her in her bath tonight. She loves bath time! I think one of her favorite things (at least when I give her a bath) is that she splashes me and loves to watch me cover myself with her towel!

Kateli getting her groove on...

So, tonight we went to an outdoors concert at the park just down the street from us. Each summer they have what they call the "first friday" concert, and this time it was not rained out. They had disco music. We picked up some dinner and headed over with a blanket, some chairs, food and drinks. Of course, we did not spend too much time sitting down, as Kateli was ready to run around as soon as we got there. She loves to dance, most of you already know that. We ran into some friends at the park who have a little boy that is a month or so younger than Kateli and she found her dance partner. I keep thinking that it's funny to us now, but I really think that we're going to have our hands full when she's of "going out" age....she is WAY too outgoing. There was a song that she liked and started dancing to, so she basically went up to Finn, grabbed his hands and got him to dance with her. Here is some footage that I was able to get with my Razor phone, sorry for the resolution, I know it's not the best--but it's better than nothing. ENJOY!

We have an island...

So today's work entailed building the frame for the island in the kitchen. It doesn't look like very much, but in person you can really tell what it is. The island is going to be at an angle facing the fireplace direction. They also jackhammered the brick off the left side of the fireplace. That was a loud job, not to mention super dusty. Here are some pics....

4th Of July

I know this entry is out of order, so bear with me. For the 4th of July our church has a tradition of doing what they refer to as ONUG (One Nation Under God) the Sunday before the holiday. This year was no exception, and we went for the 3rd year in a row. Last year, Kateli was still to young to enjoy all the kids activities that are available, but this year she went for them with full energy! Usually there are water activities, games, and jupiter jumps...and it's done outside. This year it was a little different. We have had so much rain, and it was expected to rain the evening of the event, that it was decided to move everything indoors. So, the jupiter jumps and the kids games were moved upstairs. When we arrived we went straight for the food, as this pregnant momma was starving. So we enjoyed some yummy burgers! Then we headed for the kids area to let Kateli burn off some energy, and boy did she ever! She LOVED the jupiter jump, and she loved playing with the "balls"...check out the pics of our little angel!

Hmm...what is going on?

Just wanted to post some pics of Kateli since this kitchen process started. I think she wonders a lot of times what is going on in her house...Meals are totally different, we are having to eat on our little blankie--check out the pics of her having her morning breakfast!

It has started to disrupt our schedule...

So, work on the kitchen started on Monday this week and thus far it had been working out that Kateli would take her normal nap from noon to about 1 or so--but that changed today! Work on the kitchen is getting louder, so today when I went and put her down for her usual nap, she was awakened by a loud saw against the ceiling in the kitchen! Poor baby was startled awake and scared--she was screaming at the top of her lungs (not that this is type of crying is something new for her, but it sounded like there was a little bit of fear). So, trying to be a nurturing and loving mommy, I went up there to try and rock her to sleep. She had only been asleep for 10 mins before being awakened, so I really needed her to take a longer nap. Of course my rocking was to no avail! I held her and rocked for about 25 to 30 mins, and in the end she was so awake and ready to go. The 10mins gave her a boost of energy to last her through 5:00pm. At 5:00 we went up again and she slept from 5 to 7! We had to wake her up so we could go get some dinner!! We'll see how she does going to bed tonight. She has been really reluctant to following our normal bedtimes lately, so today that her schedule has been all messed up, I'm sure will present no difference over that last 2 to 3 days!

Well, to summarize what was done in the kitchen today--since I did mention sawing in the ceiling. They cut out a 2 x 12" area along the ceiling in the kitchen so that they can place a header up there to provide some of the same support that the wall was providing--remember we got rid of that wall! And they also cut out the new door opening from the kitchen to the laundry room. Here are the pics of today's progress.

more demo work....

So, here are some of the pics that I've taken today thus far!



They tell me that the wall may be coming down today!! Once I get pics of that I'll definitely post more pics....I can't wait!

Yep, that wall came down today and boy does it make a difference already. The electrical is still in place, and some other wiring that is still dangling from the ceiling but that wall is OUTTA HERE!!! Check out the pics....
Here is the wall, stripped of the drywall on the side of the kitchen, ready to be taken down. They didn't just take a sledge hammer, as I anticipated but did it more systematically. First they stripped the dry wall from the kitchen side, and then they hit each stud on a perpendicular to loosen it and remove it, once all the studs were removed, the other side of the wall just came down.


Here it is--or should I say, here is NOT the wall! ALL GONE as Kateli says! No more division between the kitchen area and the family room. They also removed those built in shelves that we had to the side of the fireplace. Does it look different or what?



and these last two shots are again of the missing built in shelves, next to the fireplace. Hubby and Kateli in awe of the shelves being gone and the way that it transforms the rooms. I can't wait til this job is completed!

And we're off to a good start...

So, the kitchen remodel is officially underway! The first crew showed up this morning--when I say crew, I'm just referring to one guy (a second one came later in the day). :) So, the carpet in the family room was rolled back halfway; and we've got a plastic wall in the middle of the room, as well as in the doorway between the dining and the kitchen. These are there to confine the dust to the kitchen area, rather than spreading throughout the house. The refrigerator was moved to the dining room area, temporarily and more of the old cabinets came down. Work hours today were from 10:30 to about 5:00pm. I believe tomorrow they will start a little earlier, more like 8:30am. Kateli did well today, we are all tired after the work that we did this weekend. But considering having strangers in the house, and noise throughout the day she did great. Of course, I know today's noise level is nothing compared to the days ahead of us, especially on the day that the wall comes down. Here are some pics of today's work....