Happy Kids

They FINALLY get to use their Christmas present for the first time!

Laundry Room Before and After

Our kitchen really was our last project, so I'm going out of order here.  We remodeled our laundry room last spring, I don't think I'll ever come close to getting this blog caught up!

Here is the laundry room before.  

And after...

I found this free printable on Pinterest, and just spray painted a frame to match.

I saw a similar printable on-line, and made my own in the colors I needed.

Before again...

And after... this was the biggest improvement to the room.  Monte put in the new sink, medicine cabinet, and lighting.

Another view of before.

And after.

Kitchen Remodel on the Cheap - Before and After

 Our house was built in 1975.  When we moved in almost 8 years ago, almost everything was still original 1975, inside and out!  Over the last 8 years we've been gradually updating and remodeling the entire thing, as time and finances would allow.  The last room to be updated was the kitchen.  Besides the appliances and floor, everything in the kitchen was original 1975.  The cupboards were in good shape, but the counter tops were getting pretty dinged up.  (I should have taken a close up of the counters, besides being dinged up they were more yellow than the picture shows).  While we have done most of the updates ourselves, we thought the kitchen was more than we could handle on our own.  We had someone come give us an estimate on new counter tops and cabinets.  The labor was WAY more expensive than the materials, and we knew there was no way we could afford that!  (Over $10,000!)  So we decided the only way to go was to do it ourselves.  I refinished the cabinets, and Monte did everything else (installed new counter tops, sink, faucet, etc.).  I am so happy with how it turned out!

Here is the before shot. (Notice the handles in the MIDDLE of the cabinet doors.  Why would they DO that?  Apparently that was very popular in the 70's!)

And the after!  It was a pain to move the handles, but so worth it!  This was by far the biggest project we have ever taken on ourselves!  Refinishing the cabinets was a huge pain.  It took three straight very long days of non stop working on them.  Degloss, then sand, then paint, then sand, then paint, then sand again, then paint!  I was wondering what in the world I got myself into!

Another view of before.

And after!

We extended the counter top a little to add a very mini breakfast bar.  It gets used a lot, and is the perfect place for Isabella to do homework, or read to me, since I'm usually in the kitchen.  That way I can be right there to help her out. 

Because of Jaymes' special diet we had been wanting a fridge out in our garage.  For example, our local grocery store charges $5.88 for a HALF gallon of his milk, where as Wal-Mart (not in our town) charges $3.88.  The date is always far out on it, and in the winter I can't always get to the "city" to get his food because of blizzards, bad roads, etc.  So a fridge in the garage would come in very handy to be able to stock up on some things!  We ended up moving our old fridge out to the garage, and getting a new one for our new kitchen.  And added bonus, the kids are drinking more water, because that water and ice dispenser is just too cool!  :)  So... cost of hiring someone to remodel our kitchen - over $10,000 (not including new fridge).  Total cost of doing everything ourselves (INCLUDING new fridge) -  right around $2,000!

No Words

My first time shooting in manual mode, it's still scary to me, though!  :)  I have no words to describe how much I love this picture!

7 years old!

This past weekend we celebrated Isabella's seventh birthday!  She is really in to American Girl, and all she wanted to do for her birthday was get her doll's ears pierced at the American Girl store.  Although the American Girl store is hours away, we were on board with the idea, and made it a fun little vacation.  (It was also a lot less work than having several girls over for a birthday party!)

 

 

Isabella and her American Girl doll, "Star".  I swore she would never have an American Girl until  they had a super sale on them for a very short time right before Christmas last year.

 

She was amazed!

 

We even had a snack at the American Girl café, where they had a special seat for her doll, and special "food" for her doll as well!

 

We spent quite a bit of time at the indoor amusement park as well!

We even brought Grandma with.

 

When we checked into our hotel room that night, they asked what brought us there for the weekend.  We told them we were celebrating Isabella's birthday, and about an hour later a delivery man came to our door with a birthday cake and coloring books and crayons for the kids!  We couldn't believe it!

 

 It was even a rainbow cake!

 

Our present to her was a horse for her doll, she was pretty excited!







Best Friends

They really do love each other... so much!  Isabella is a little mother to Jaymes, and he wants to do everything she does.

 

First Day of School Today

I'm reading a bunch of facebook posts about people being excited their kids are going back to school today... I've been on the verge of tears all morning.  Can't wait for her to get home!  Once again, I am SO thankful for our four day school week, there was talk of changing it back to a five day week, but they decided against it, thank goodness!  I can't wait to hear about her day, she once again didn't get in the same section as her best friend, but at least they get to eat together and have both of their recesses together.  She was really hoping today would be a "music class" day (takes after her mother!).  Just like last year, I know I'll get used to it, and Jaymes and I will have fun hanging out together, but today, I'm sad.