Summer Sundays

Everyone in the house is "chilling out" right now, so I decided to catchup on Facebook and update the blog. The kids are watching a movie, Mark is in the basement reading the Sunday paper amd watching tennis. We had the kids first t-ball and meshball games yesterday morning and they went really well. Baseball is not as fast paced as soccer so I was afraid the kids would get bored quickly, but they both did wonderful. After their games I let them get wet in the free splash fountain park in Gurnee. We all took naps Saturday afternoon (Mark had run 9 miles that morning) and then we went down to Mark's sister's for our nephew's 4th birthday party. The kids really enjoyed swimming in the pool and didn't need us this year for assistance (although we were in the pool anyway). We slept over at Mark's parents house last night since his mom wanted to take us to the Morton Arboretum on Sunday- they have a great kids area there. The kids had a great time and we were home by one. So I think the plan for the afternoon is to sand and stain the other side of the new doors, do 4 loads of laundry, bathe the kids, have dinner. Hopefully I will also re-organize the hall closet now that I am no longer using it for storage. We leave for Nashville on Wednesday to go see our dearest friends, Caresse and Christian. I am literally counting down the hours, it has been a LONG time since I have been in the company of close friends. My heart has been empty for a while and it is ready for a good time.

Our Wednesday Night

Rub-a-dub-dub cute kids in my tub! Annie and Sam had t-ball practice tonight. Sam practices from 5;30-6:30 and Annie from 6:30 to 7:30. It's a mad dash home from daycare, we all eat dinner and are on the field by 5:20. Tonight was a rather interesting night since it was still 96 degrees at 5:30. They gave the kids a lot of water breaks and didn't have them run at all which was good. I think I lost at least a pound in sweat, which I am now re-consuming in my Toffee Coffee Frosty from Wendy's that Mark picked up on his way home from piano. Thanks honey! Mark also was sweet enough to bring all the kids (and parents) a freeze pop for after the game. So I gave the kids their baths in my tub tonight. I used it myself for the first time last night (while I was texting Megan- aren't you proud I didn't drop it in?)!

While Annie was in the bath Sam was picking out which library book to read for bedtime. I enrolled the kids (and myself) in the libraries summer reading program. I figure we read every day anyway, might as well get a prize for it right?! Sam is now in the pre-K classroom and he is loving it! He has been ready for this change for a couple months. The best part is in the morning Mark drops them both off in the same room now and the kids are loving getting to spend some time together in the same classroom, which has never happened before.
So, I just want to take this time to remind all of you that my 32nd birthday is in 8 days, so get those cards in the mail! :) If I will see you in Nashville next week, you of course don't have to mail it!!! hee hee

Almost Finished!!!!

By popular request (thanks Megan) I have been asked to post some updated pictures of the bathroom! I have many other pictures to add in from the past week (trip to mom and dad's, Vacation Bible School that is going on this week), but these were too much fun not to post!

So here is a picture of my beloved new tub!!! I have always dreamed of owning a clawfoot tub- and voila! Here I am- the new (and very proud) owner of a clawfoot tub. Ahhh. I can almost smell the bubble bath.

Obviously still in need of window treatments (give me a couple months for that) so we're keeping the old gross blinds up until then. Believe it or not I am not offering any "free shows" to the neighbors.

Apart from picking out the tile, Mark also picked out the vanity. I think it's gorgeous! What a good interior decorator I have married! We still need to take off the Styrofoam wrap around the handles and it needs major dusting, but we still need to paint and stain so what's the rush to clean? I said "we" again, but I think we all know it's Mark who will be finishing up all that!
We are still waiting for the shower glass to be installed, but here is the shower with a shower head and faucet. Can you smell the soap?

Last, but not least, is Mark's beloved toilet. He spent three days picking out this baby! Notice the button on top of the tank. Little button for little stuff, bigger button for bigger jobs. I'll let your own imagination take off from here. Let's just stay the kids already used this new toilet 6 times in the 2 hours they were home tonight.

I'll write more later!

It's Tuesday!

I am still getting used to this new blog site. The second picture I download ends up being the first shown on the blog. Obviously from previous posts I have not learned how to edit my errors either, so if anyone has any light on that situation please share!

They came in today and installed most of the flooring. You can also see some wires in the lower right hand picture too. This is for the radiant flooring. I know it seems like such a luxury, and it is, BUT this room is freezing from November to April! It is surrounded by 2 outside walls and the 20 year old windows don't help keep out a winter breeze. SO Mark and I both agreed that the radiant flooring was a must, not an option! I just may sleep on it!

As for Sam, I think he may have Strep again! His tonsils are so red and swollen that they are touching his uvula! The funny thing is Sam started running a temp yesterday afternoon. But personality-wise he was fine. I should have figured something was up when he fell asleep in front the television Friday afternoon (he has never done that). He did have a couple meltdowns this weekend after a good nap, but I just told myself he must be hungry. Poor Sam. I really don't think the last dosage of antibiotics was strong enough to knock out the last bout of strep from a month ago (which was left over from another bout of strep the month before!). I made it four years without this strep and now I can't seem to get rid of it. So he has an MD appt tomorrow morning. We are still scheduled to leave tomorrow afternoon for my parents. He will be on the meds (if it is in fact strep) by 24 hours Thursday morning, so don't worry mom and dad!

Annie asked me to post this above picture on my blog. She said it was her animal jail. She took this picture herself. Funny how al the animals look happy to be in jail. Like Drew Petersen! HA! A little political humor!
So at 7:45 this morning Mark decides he is going to paint the bathroom today. We just decided Friday that we didn't have time to paint it before they laid down tile this week and install the toilet. Well, talk about change of opinion! So this is pretty much where Mark spent his entire day. I was certainly okay paying someone else to do it later, but thankfully my frugal husband doesn't mind putting in some hard labor.

This is where Mark spent the rest of his day. We (I say we, but really I only stained three baseboards) stained last night until 9:30 but Mark really wanted to get a second coat on tonight. These are the first "real" doors we wil have in our house. I am so excited. I just may have Mark install a TV and a fridge in the bathroom so I never have to leave! Mark is still staining as I write this. He has piano lessons tomorrow night and we leave for my parents Wednesday afternoon. Time is so limited!

Well finally we are adding things into the bathroom rather than taking things out. Thursday afternoon the carpenter actually brought down 3 full garbage bags. Although the bathroom is still very dusty there is no longer debris! When we came home yesterday they had even begun putting our slate up in the shower!!! So exciting. I was very overwhelmed by the choices for flooring/shower walls so I delegated the decision to Mark. He came home with three samples of different slates. I loved them all but we decided on California Gold. I just love that every piece is different and so earthy.
Sam had received this toy called Connex? from his Aunt Dawn and Uncle Jeff for his third birthday. For the past year Sam had like to play with it, but his idea of playing was you put it together while he watched. This morning as I was getting ready for my once-a-month Saturday at work, he wanted to try and do it himself. Of course at first he picked the largest thing to make, but after some gentle coaxing he tried something more simple and was able to do it! He was so proud of himself!

This is Annie's kindergarten teacher from the past year. She 'graduated' from kindergarten last night. I have it in quotes because I really think they made too big of a deal about finishing kindergarten. They actually rented out an auditorium at CLC (College of Lake County), wore caps, sang songs (which was cute) and received diplomas. The two teachers gave out Candy Bar awards which was a great idea. Every kid got a different candy bar for their personality traits. Milky Way to the biggest day dreamer. Spree for the fashion-savvy kids. Teddy Grahams for the most huggable. I am proud to say that Annie received the Life Save award for being the most kind and conscientious to her classmates.

Sam must be needing new shoes since he was fallen multiple times this week. On Wednesday he was running for the slide in school and he tripped and slip across the rubber playground floor. Poor boy!

Congratulations Annie! We are so proud of you and can't wait to see you development into a great young lady these next few years!!!

We are in the middle of remodeling our master bathroom and closet. I don't think I fully understood what remodeling meant. We had refaced our cabinets 6 years ago in the kitchen, finished the basement. But this project seems a little more intense. They tapped the drywall yesterday and applied sheet rock today. Sanding is tomorrow. Already the house is covered with a layer of dust and there are white footprints all over the floors. I am trying not to look at it too much since the messy part is not finished any time soon. But I must admit it drives me crazy. So I have become half obsessed with at least keeping the kitchen and family room tidy so I have two places of sanctuary. Mark and I have been sleeping in the guest room for two weeks since our room is a war zone. It will be very awesome when it is finished and I can't wait to organize the closet and the cabinets.

Mark spent a couple of days in DC this past weekend for work. He was able to run around all the monuments and museums as he prepares for a half marathon in August. He also went out to dinner with two friends from high school (Georgann and Doug) with their spouses and were so late they closed down the restaraunt. I must admit extreme jealousy here! He came home last night and had brought the kids books of the Night at the Museum (Battle of the Smithsonian). I got a bar of soap from the hotel. (Sorry Mark I couldn't not tell that story!)

Welcome to the new Me!

Well, Yahoo 360 is closing it's blogging site and I was not thrilled with their new blogging site (trying to be a little too much like facebook). So here I am, joining my friends on the Blogger. Annie (along with her three neighbors0 learned how to ride their bikes without training wheels this weekend! She was so proud of herself and learned so quickly! I was very surprised that she didn't become more frustrated with herself. She woke up on Sunday morning and got dressed right away so she could ride again before she forgot how. So cute!