Happy Birthday Boo

Dylan waited very impatiently from 1:30 when we got home from their early school closing, until 3:30 when Mike arrived home (half an hour early). Every 15 minutes he wanted to know when Dad was coming home so he could open his presents. I dragged them to Stop & Shop in town just before Mike came home to give Mike a few minutes to get this out on the lawn.... Dylan had seen it in the garage, but thought Dad was fixing it for a friend. Man, did his eyes near pop out of his head when my truck stopped by the front lawn and realized there were birthday balloons attached.

Here's what he saw when we pulled up.
Here's the birthday boy on his quad. He did really well shifting it (it's not an automatic), I'm totally impressed.


Blowing out his #7 candle on his cake

And... just so I don't forget that they really were once babies. Mr. Dyl bunded up and ready to shovel snow with Mom. I think he was about 6 - 8 weeks old in that picture.

The almost finished bathroom

For my family and friends (thanks to everyone who left a comment, I really do have readers. Yeah !!!) here are some pictures. Still need a few minor details like doors and window and floor moulding, but after what we've been through so far, that's nothing!

view of the bathroom from the hallway.

The shower with the fixtures installed. They are Kohler in an oil-rubbed bronze finish, but it's mostly black with some bronze at the edges.

And the vanity, with the medicine cabinet partially installed. We're getting there.

Shower Niche

I know this is really boring for the maybe 2 people who come to read my blog (okay - if there are more than 2 people reading this, throw me a bone and leave a comment!). I have yet another bathroom picture. I saw these recessed shower niches in a few magazines, and totally fell in love with the concept. I ordered the cheaper of the two pre-formed niches which, of course, was a mistake. Cheaper usually equals - well, cheaper. It wasn't completely square, a SOB to install, and an even bigger SOB to tile. I give my Dad and Mike loads of credit for working with it and doing such a great job! Here is a picture of their really hard work. It's so pretty, I'm not sure I want to load it up with shampoo bottles!!!

Tile Progress!

Sorry if this isn't very interesting... but it has literally consumed every minute of spare time around here! Here are some pix from the progress over the weekend.

The new tub/shower area. The only thing that needs to be completed is the recessed shower niche, which evidently is going to be a PITA to tile. OH - and this hasn't been grouted yet, so the look will change a bit once we get grout in there.
Here is a close-up of the chair rail. Dylan thinks they look like fish ;o) It's actually slate.

Saturday Progress

I can't say how thankful I am that my parents are here to help us tile. The bathroom has been pretty tricky, which pretty much sums up the whole project. It's been one of those projects where nothing has gone smoothly or quickly. Which is why, a month later, we are not finished! We woke up to snow, which Mike quickly grumbled something about being just &^%## perfect. Well, if nothing else, the kids loved it! They donned snow pants and boots and hats and gloves and went out and built little snowmen!

My Mom has played quite a few games of Sequence with the kids.

Mike, cutting tile in the snow. We did finally add boiling water to the tray so his hands didn't freeze.

Dad, tiling.

Dad, waking up to snow on his RV awning.

Life is Good

A few pix from today.

Hurry up and.... wait.

It seems that every spare moment in the last 3 weeks has been devoted to the bathroom project. Nights, weekends, etc. Our neighbor came and sheet-rocked the bathroom on Tuesday night. He does that for a living, and Mike, in turn, has done lots of work on his truck. It's nice to have good neighbors that can help each other out. Anyway, we are at a standstill now. We have to wait for him to finish mudding the walls (spackle) and then the sanding before we can paint and tile. Evidently the walls get 2 layers of mud. Then 2 days to dry completely. Then a rough sand, any touch up mud, and a final sand. It hasn't been too messy, but I remember from the kitchen that the sanding part is... not fun. The white dust gets EVERYWHERE. (Mental note to close bedroom doors!) We had thought about tiling the floor this afternoon, but we weren't quite ready to jump into it after lunch time, and we wanted to be sure it had the proper curing time (I believe 24 hours before you can walk on it). I think we'll be ready to tile the floor on Tuesday or Weds night, then we can install the toilet, vanity and sink. Then it's time to tile around the tub, which I'm glad to have my Dad around for. We are switching patterns half way up the wall (and adding in a really cool chair rail tile to break it up)... add in a recessed shower niche and I think Mike and I would have really had a time of it. Mike's totally awesome in the handy man area, but patience is not a virtue of his. And good tiling with patterns takes... patience. Here's the sheetrock. For those of you who are wondering why it's green, the new bathroom sheet rock that is moisture and mold resistant is a different color from regular sheet rock. And the stuff over the tub area is cement board, since we are tiling. It's been a complicated project, indeed. Oh, and my house still looks like someone threw up in it. It's a total disaster area. And the area which is recessed for the vanity, current holds.... tunes. Most definately necessary for long project nights.

Halloween 2007

We decided to do something different this year and went out with friends of ours in their neighborhood. We had such a great time! We brought pizza over to eat before we went out. We both dragged wagons in case the kids got tired. Our wagon was loaded up with a cooler of beer and drinks, another cooler of water and juice boxes for the kids. It took us about 2 hours to go to everone's house - the kids were exhausted and had GIANT bags of candy when they were done!

From left - Lauren the elephant, Lucas the Vader, Morgan the cowgirl, and Dylan the scary caped skeleton thing. ;o)