happy birthday emmy! (and more kitchen pictures)

Emmy turned two today!  She started the day opening her one present (because what on earth could a two year old with 5 older siblings possibly want or need that they don't already have?)

She was pretty excited about her Minnie Mouse and has taken her along everywhere we've gone today.  I love how easy it is to please a two year old :)

She wasn't so sure about blowing out the candles on the cake, but she sure did like eating it.

Happy Birthday, Emmy!  You truly are a light and a joy to our family and everyone who knows you!

And here is what the kitchen looks like tonight - wall down, beam installed and electrical and drywall work begun :)

So far we are loving the open space and how much brighter the house is!  They are scheduled to template for the counters on Monday so the lower cabinets should be in before the weekend is over!

And if you are wondering what the kids do while all this work is going on... they've taken over my bedroom where the computer and TV are temporarily residing.  Actually, we've been out every morning this week, so it's just been afternoons spent like this:

demolition day

The demo crew showed up this morning a little before 9am.  We were here for the first hour, but then had to run out.  By the time we got home the guys were out to lunch and this is what the kitchen looked like.  From this angle things still looked pretty normal...

except for that small hole in the middle of the drywall.

But when we came around the corner...

my kitchen was gone!

I miss my sink and my water filter already!

And by the time they left this afternoon, this is what it looked like!

This is the view from the kitchen into the great-room!

Tomorrow they will move the electrical wires and start building temporary support walls in order to remove the framing and install a new beam where the load bearing wall is.

williamsburg

We spent 3 days in Williamsburg with the hubby's family last week.  Besides a morning at Jamestown Settlement we spent most of the time just hanging out at the resort pool (and of course I have no pictures of that).  The kids loved all the time with their cousins and spent every night in a different apartment sleeping on couches, beds, and floors just so they could be together as much as possible.  I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few from Jamestown and a family friendly game of putt putt :)

we have too much stuff

Except for a short vacation with the hubby's family, the past two weeks have been filled with packing up every shelf and cabinet in our kitchen and great room.  I am forever grateful to my mom, who came down with my dad two weeks ago and spent 3 full days packing boxes and moving furniture!  I don't know how I could have gotten all this stuff packed without her!  Thanks Mom (and Dad too for replacing faucets and pulling up baseboards)!

Demo is scheduled to start tomorrow, so here is one last look at the (messy) kitchen as it is now.  The first thing they will be doing (after tearing out the current cabinets) will be taking down that wall on the left if this picture.  That will open the kitchen up to the great room.

The range is switching places with the sink and dishwasher and where the wall is being removed I will then have a 9.5' x 4' peninsula.

Since we are gaining room to sit at the peninsula we are downsizing our kitchen table and will be putting a small counter height table in front of the windows.

The wall where the dresser is now will be getting 6 feet of cabinets that are designed to look like a hutch.  I am not sure yet whether or not I will be able to keep my board and batten... I hope so!  Oh, and that patch of blue/green on the wall beside the window is my new wall color, Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue.

Here are just some of the boxes filled with my sewing/crafting supplies... then there are all the kitchen boxes and the nick-nacks and books and...  too much stuff!

Remember how my mom came a few month ago and helped me put those new craft shelves together and organize all my stuff?  Well, lucky her, she got to pack all that stuff up and this is what it looks like now.

That's my temporary kitchen there on the right.

And that is my new floor piled behind the futon, 1000 square feet of carbonized bamboo :)

More pictures soon!

baby gift

Our friends just had baby number 9 last week and I figured the little guy needed a few new things that were just for him. 

I used this tutorial to make the hooded towel (Addie was happy to model it for me).

I have made plenty of hooded towels before, but always just with a plain hood.  This was so fun to make, I will definitely make more like this :)

The girls and I had fun picking out lots of cute boy stuff to fill this bucket for baby A! 

tides game

Friday night we went to a Tides double header with our church. It was lots of fun. 

As you can see, the stadium was not very crowded, so the kids could run around as much as they liked.

Pretty sure these two didn't watch 30 seconds of the game!

They were trying to catch peanuts, not foul balls :)

 About half way through the first game our group went up to the picnic area for a cookout.  There was a nice big green space for the kids to run and play and plenty of food for everyone.  It was a great place to enjoy the rest of game one, which lasted 4 hours!  The last inning was a nail bitter and of course I heard the screams of the crowed from the bathroom (which is a place I visited far too often with my soda drinking 4 year old!) when the Tides scored the winning run!  Oh, well, at least they won :)  We didn't stick around for the second game, which lasted another 4 hours and didn't end until 1:23am!

I know I've been really delinquent on blog posting.  I have not been taking too many pictures, since I only have a zoom lens for my camera right now, so not so much to post.  We are getting ready to start work on the kitchen remodel in the next couple weeks, so I will be sure to post pictures of the progress.