All in a Day's Work

I had to work again today.  Paul took the kids to the basketball game. He said they didn't play near as well as last week, but Luke did score a basket again.  After the game they went back to the house to load up the van to take to the new house.  I meet them out there when I got off.  Paul was working on switching out all the door hinges and adding shelving to the pantry and closets.  The kids were ready to go by the time I got there so we didn't stick around too long.  Luke and Paul played around with the basketball for a bit.  We are wanting to go ahead and get a goal put up so the kids will have it to play with.  We just added that to the list...

Her Reward

Stuffing her bear

Washing "loving"

Katherine has been talking about doing a Build A Bear since Mom took them over Christmas break. I kept telling her no and then it hit me I could use it as a reward.  We still have issues with Katherine being overly dramatic and whining excessively.  I told her if she would not whine, throw a fit and do what she was asked every day for seven days in a row we would go to Build a Bear.  Well, she did it and it was great motivation!  If she slightly whimpered about something all we would have to say is that we would be back to Day 1 for her Build a Bear trip and she would straighten up.  She has been talking about wanting the wedding bear, so I was very surprised when she picked out a pink bear with a heart dress and sparkly pink shoes! I remembered quickly why we have only been one other time---so expensive!  She was pretty happy with her choice and I was proud of her for being good.

We did a quick return at Carter's and then met Paul for supper at Cracker Barrel.

A Trip to the Tooth Fairy

The kids both had dental check ups this morning.  This was Katherine's first "real" exam and cleaning.  Last Summer she wasn't so sure about it so they didn't force it which worked out in our favor.  For some reason she calls the dentist the "tooth fairy".  I just let her!  She hopped right up in the chair today and didn't flinch.  I was so proud of her!  Her exam was great -- all her teeth look good.  Unfortunately, Luke was not as fortunate.  He has some little, tiny cavities that need to be filled.  I was pretty bummed, but it didn't seem to phase him at all.  We have kind of dropped the ball on his flouride mouthwash lately and we have been trusting him to brush his own teeth.  Well, we will be overseeing those duties a little closer now.  So, we will go back in a couple of weeks to get those filled.  I got the kids to school a little late and then rushed to work.  I won't be making Thursday appointments again.  I made them when I thought was going to part time at work and they didn't have any make up appointments for a couple of months.

Lots to Be Done

Katherine's vanity light

She wanted the "pretty pink fan"

We went to church this morning and taught our Sunday School class. We had a pretty big group today.  It was Luke's turn to pick where we went to lunch.  He picked first picked Cracker Barrel, but there was a 30 minutes wait and we weren't willing to do that. His second choice was Which Which.  We all like it so it was a good choice.  It was apparently a popular lunch spot today as we saw two families from church there.  Home Depot was our next stop.  We bought light switches, outlets, switch plates, some more light fixtures and on and on.  We are replacing every outlet, switch, etc since they are original to the house.

Paul went back to work at the house.  There is so much that needs to be done.  Since we let Luke get a "fun" ceiling fan Katherine wanted one, too.  I figured they aren't that expensive and once they outgrow them in a few years we can easily replace them.  Paul worked and worked trying to get Katherine's as.  It was on a stud so it took a little extra time.

First Goal!

All smiles after his great game!

Snowball fight!

Katherine putting her mark on the new house

Testing out his gift from Santa!

Luke wrote this without any prompting from us

We had a very busy day!  It started with Luke's second basketball game of the season.  He did a great job today -- he scored four goals!  Not only was this his first ever goal, we think it might have been his first point ever scored in any sport he has played.  We know he  never scored a soccer goal or touchdown in flag football.  We do not think he ever scored a run in baseball last year, but he might have scored in t-ball two years ago.  At any rate he was excited and so were we!  After the game the kids were excited to see that there was still some snow left.  We had a dusting this morning when we woke up, but didn't have time to play in it.  Paul and the kids had an impromptu snowball fight.

After the game Luke had a birthday party at new indoor trampoline place.  He had a great time!  It was a lot of boys from his grade.  He has had a loose tooth for a long time now and we have been hoping it would come out before we go to the dentist next week.  Well, we got our wish.  While he was on the dodgeball court he lost it.  He didn't really realize it until he got out to go have birthday cake.  We had them clear everyone off the court so we could look for it.  It was kind of difficult because it was a bouncy dodgeball court. I am sure we were quite the spectacle up there crawling around looking for a tooth, but we found it!  Luke was relieved to find it so the tooth fairy can come.

While we were at the party Paul and Katherine went to Gallatin to do some things at the house.  Mom had been wanting to come up and see the hardwood floors so Luke and I stopped to get her on our way.  It was good to have her up there.  We were able to take some measurements and talk about furniture placement.  Mom also had the idea to write on the old exterior that we are going to cover up with the new cement siding. The kids had fun doing it and Mom and I added our thoughts, too.  We stayed up there for a few hours and "helped" Paul install some lighting.  The kids, Mom and I went home while Paul stayed up there and worked for a while longer.

Our next event for our already jam packed day was going to the circus!  We met our friends, the Cowans, at Chuy's and went to the circus with them.  Somehow we managed to not take any pictures. The kids loved it!  This is our third year to go and it honestly doesn't really repeat.  We will probably go again!  It made for a very late night and we were all worn out!

Cabinets and Floors

The kitchen looks so different with the floors down

Another view...

Our bathroom -- the paint is a pale blue, gray 

We met the cabinet maker at the house this morning to go over some more details.  After meeting with him again we have decided to change the layout a little from what it previously was.  We are going to put the farmhouse sink under the large window instead of in the island like it was.  This will open up the island so we will have room for the microwave.  We will also put the dishwasher by the larger sink.  The kitchen window has a wonderful view -- it looks out onto the adjoining farm with a beautiful old red barn.  Doing the dishes might not be such a chore after all!

I still love our paint colors. Our bedroom is a smokey light blue and the bathroom is a lighter shade. They are both very calming colors which will be great for a bedroom!  After our meeting Paul went to a job site and I went to Nashville.  We ended up meeting for lunch later and then to pick out tile for our bathroom but weren't able to fully come to a decision.  I hit a few stores after that and knocked a lot of our list -- ceiling fans for bedrooms and playrooms, Katherine bathroom fixtures, closet lighting, hall lighting and lots more.  My van was loaded down!  When I picked the kids up from school we headed straight back to Gallatin so I could unload everything.  There wasn't even room for another person to sit in there so I knew I couldn't drive around like that.

We're Off to See The Wizard!

Enthralled with a demo at Sam's

I had to work today so I missed Luke's first basketball game of the season. Paul said he really hustled but his team didn't score a basket the whole game.  Pretty disappointing. They ran errands after the game.  I worked pretty much a full day and ran home long enough to get my clothes changed and the kids back to Mom's.  She was keeping them so we could go see Lauren in The Wizard of Oz.  The show wasn't until 8 tonight so we thought that would be too late for the kids and we weren't sure how they would do with some of the scarier parts.  We met everyone at Puckett's for supper beforehand and we even had time to hit up a new treat/ candy shop off the square.  

Lauren did an amazing job!  We were so impressed.  She is party of a kids theater group which is very cool.  She was the oldest one in this particular production.  She did a wonderful job as Dorothy!  We were very proud of her!

The Floors!

The floors went in this week but we have not had a chance to go by and see them.  Paul had a job in Gallatin this morning so he was able to go by there.  He sent me some pictures.  They look amazing!  I am so pleased with what we chose.  We ended up going with a 5" red oak "euro character".  That basically means there is character in the wood, which I wanted.  I didn't want them to look perfect so they mix different grades of wood in a lot to achieve the look.  of course they aren't stained yet.  We are planning to go with a medium stain.  The first coat will go on about a week before the cabinets are installed.  Then we will have the appliances delivered and they will come back and do the remaining stain and top coat.  It is amazing what a difference having the floors in make!

Cleaning, cleaning...

Empty dining room

The wood getting "acclimated" to the environment

Foyer

We decided on the hardwood floors and they have been at the house getting acclimated for a couple of weeks before they are installed.  They are supposed to go in this week so we had to get busy getting everything prepped and ready.  We had been using the dining room as kind of our "landing space".  We had everything from an old couch to patio furniture to a blow up mattress in there.  We had to move everything to rooms that were not going to have hardwoods. That pretty much left the mudroom and our bathroom; everything else is going to be wood.  I also had the idea that I needed to vacuum up every little speck that I could.  I went around and got under all the baseboards. Paul said it was completely unnecessary but I wanted to.  Once we were done everything looked great and is ready for the install!

Frozen!

Building a snowman!

The girls getting ready for the treasure hunt

It was a beautiful day here today -- it was chilly but blue skies for days!  Katherine had a birthday party this morning for one of her friends from the daycare.  It was fun to see all the girls and moms again.  They were all so excited to see Katherine!  She misses her friends.  Of course, like every other 4 year old in America the party theme was Frozen.  They did a good job with all the activities -- building a snowman out of marshmallows and pretzels, face painting, temporary tattoos, Frozen themed snacks and even a treasure hunt through "Arendale".  Katherine had a great time!

Luke and Paul were at the new house while we were partying.  We met them and Jon and Bill for lunch.  After that we all went back to the house to work for awhile.  We finally decided to go ahead and replace the kitchen cabinets.  Paul had some guys come in this week and remove all the old ones. It is a huge difference.  The kitchen is large, but it looks even more so now!