7 Quick Takes: Birthdays, Remodels, and Meltdowns

I've never linked up with anyone before, but I'm in a blogging rut, and 7 Quick Takes sounds really easy!  Off we go!

1. Ira's 8th Birthday is tomorrow.  We celebrated on Saturday with a party with family.  Ira wanted a Nacho Bar for his meal and a "New Super Mario Brothers" Cake. I found some awesome real food recipes to help the nacho bar not be such a gut bomb: carnitas, nacho cheese, pico de gallo.  The food was a hit and Ira was thrilled with his cake.  It's probably one of the best cakes I've ever decorated.  It took about 4 hours to decorate it, but the look on his face when he saw it was TOTALLY worth it!

2. We got new carpet!  The carpet that we replaced was original to the house from when it was built in 1984.  I don't really want to know what all was living and dead in that carpet, but we are THRILLED to have it gone!  It was low on the priority list of "things to redo" when we bought the house though because the old stuff was okay enough.  Finally, we are checking off the final boxes of totally flipping this house.  Since we bought 5 years ago we have: Replaced: all the flooring, every light fixture, and every faucet; Added ceiling fans to the bedrooms, Remodeled the kitchen, adding an eating bar and a dishwasher; Updated the main bathroom; Replaced the toilet in the half bath; Primed and painted every wall; Finished the basement; Added a perennial flower bed and vegetable garden, and are nearly finished with adding a 3rd bedroom.  It's been a lot of work and taken a lot of time, but we wanted to do it on a cash basis, so we are thrilled to be nearly finished!

Before

After

3. Homeschooling is going so wonderfully for us.  I cannot believe how well our first year has gone!  We are just weeks away from being finished with all of our curriculum for the year.  We are all looking forward to summer and I'm actually excited to start planning next year.  We will be basing our curriculum around Mater Amablis' recommendations once again - doing Level 1A, year 2.  I have been so pleased with their recommendations and have discovered some real GEMS of books that I'm sure I wouldn't have found otherwise.

4. We switched Ira to Saxon 54 after using ALEKS since the beginning of the school year.  ALEKS worked well for us in that we needed to accelerate through some things for Ira to find his learning level (he'd already finished 2nd grade Math in 1st grade at our Catholic School last year).  He finished with 3rd grade math in ALEKS in January, and after doing some Olympic-math in February, I assigned him to 4th grade math in ALEKS.  Then we started noticed he wasn't retaining some really important topics (like long division and fractions and all that good stuff)  To me, it's a twofold problem with ALEKS: first of all, there is no instructional dimension.  The child is set straightaway to working on problems, and have to click "Explain" if they don't understand it.  Well, that takes maturity first off, but I also felt like the explanations lacked depth.  So I supplemented with my own knowledge, which is fine in the younger math grades, but not so once we start getting further.  Secondly, the topical nature of ALEKS wasn't working for us.  Doing a topic and then being done with it without really any opportunity for review (other than when you log in the next day) just doesn't work for the math basics like multiplication and long division and rounding and fractions and decimals.  Or at least it didn't for us.  Having learned from Saxon for a number of years myself, and having taught it when I taught 4th grade, I was very familiar with their spiraling concept and felt like it was exactly what we needed.  We've been very pleased so far and will just continue with it next year.

5. Ruby had a total meltdown at Ira's birthday party because she offered him a plate when he started going through the nacho bar and he (rudely) told her he didn't need it because he already had one.  I took her to our room where we chilled out for probably half an hour.  We had a good talk about femininity and emotions.  She is such a beautiful girl with a big open heart and I am sure this will not be the last time we have that talk.  I am so blessed to have the opportunity to parent both a boy and a girl.  So different, both of them, and so wonderful!

6. Ruby and I got to hang out together while Andy and Ira worked at our parish's quilt bingo today.  Of course, the first thing she asked to do was paint.  It's her fravorite thing to do, so I obliged.  She painted a Christmas tree.  I painted my favorite bush, a forsythia.  It looked really bad until it dried, then I was shocked by how well it turned out.  While it was drying we read books and listened to music.  Then we played the longest game of Chutes and Ladders like ever.  That game can really get on my nerves...

7. I cannot get Jennifer Trapuzanno out of my mind/heart.  I don't even know her personally, but on Tuesday morning she posted in our NFP group on Facebook asking for prayers for her husband who had been mugged.  He ended up dying, leaving her behind, eight months pregnant with their first child, a daughter.  I cannot imagine the loss and heart-wrenching grief she is feeling right now.  Please keep her and her daughter in your thoughts and prayers in the days and weeks and months ahead.  If you feel moved to donate to their family, you can do so here.

Well that wasn't necessarily quick, but I got a lot of stuff dumped out of my head there.  Head on over to Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!

Basement

While Andy was off work, we made the decision to finally use the money we had set aside for finishing our basement.  It wasn't an easy decision, given our financial situation at the time (unemployed.)  But we knew that we had the money and TIME to do it then, and figured we'd regret it when Andy went back to work and we still had the money, but not the time anymore.

So he spent a good 5-6 weeks finishing one half of our basement completely on his own: electrical, drywall, painting stairwell, finish carpentry, EVERYTHING.  Okay, we did have the carpet laid, I forgot; oh and I made up the outlets (under Andy's guidance) (can I get a woot?!)  But still.  On prior home improvement projects, I at least helped on the things that I could (drywall, painting.)  But my contribution to this project was watching the kids.  It was a lot of long LONG days for everyone involved, but we couldn't be MORE happy with how everything turned out! 

So without further ado, (because I actually remembered to do this!) I present to you before, during and after pictures!!!

Here is the stairwell.  Note the linoleum that was replaced by clean white woodwork.  Pardon the painters tape on the "after."  I guess it was taken before we were completely finished.
Here is the stairway.  After pricing balusters (I always called them spindles), Andy came up with a plan to make his own.  The pre-made ones would have cost about 8 dollars each.  The ones he made cost about 10 dollars total.  The best part is, I actually like the ones he made better than anything we could find in store!

I also love how much safer it is for the kids to go down the stairs!  That big gap always scared me to death, not only when the kids were going up/down, but when I myself was carrying things up and down it!  Hooray for a railing!!

Here is the East side of the basement: aka the play room.  It is SO nice to have a space where the kids can spread out all of their toys and be completely "out of the way" of the rest of the house.  We spend most of our time downstairs now (when we're not outside.)  We purposely made the entire basement "baby-proof" so that I can have somewhere to go with Ruby where don't really have to tell her "no."  It has been SO NICE!  Ira's drumset usually goes on that little wall by the stairs, but it's all gone right now and I didn't really feel like dragging it out just to take a "finished" picture.

And here is the West side of the basement.  We moved our TV and computer downstairs to make a "den" and truly love the feel of it.  It just seems so much cozier than upstairs.  Like I said, we really do spend most of our time downstairs now. 

As you might have seen in some of the pictures above, one special place in the basement is the closet under the stairs.  That was one thing that I actually did do in the basement.  It was Ira and my's special project.  He really helped me come out of my completely un-artistic shell.  I was picturing straight clean lines and perfectly measured everything, because that's just who I am.  I am not that creative, nor artistic, so why I thought I would undertake this project in the first place is a little beyond me.  But Ira truly helped me to let go of my "visions/plans" and go with the artistic flow.  We couldn't be more thrilled with how this little closet turned out!

Notice the little handprint flowers and a footprint sunflower.   We made the grass and bushes with our fingers.  The clouds were made using scrunched up walmart sacks.  I painted the sun and the tree on the side wall.  The pink hand on top of Ira's hill is touching the clouds because Ira thought it would be so cool to touch the sky.

So there you have it!  At some point, we hope to finish the other half.  The far door leads to a storage room that will remain unfinished.  The middle door will lead to a fairly decent-sized bedroom.  And the door closest to the stairs will hopefully be a full bathroom someday.

Picture Post

Okay so it's been a long time since I put pictures up on my blog. So I thought I'd keep the commentary to a minimum and just post pictures from the last month or so...

This was what the bar looked like when we moved in.

Ira says "There's no room in this bar even for me!

There were cabinets above the bar which really closed the kitchen/dining room area off.

We took the cabinets down and couldn't decide about the soffit... eventually we decided it had to go too.

This is the new bar with new cabinets, a dishwasher (which the kitchen didn't have before), new counter tops, and new bar stools.
The cabinets and the soffit are both gone now. We'll eventually replace them with 3 pendant lights to light the bar a little better.

This is what the countertop looks like except for the picture above shows a truer color of it. It is reminiscent of peacocks... And no, it's not granite - it's "High Definition Laminate" by Wilsonart.

While Andy was busy working on the kitchen - I busied my self recovering these dastardly chairs. I'm just not a real fan of country blue...
New black vinyl covering. It's MUCH easier to wipe spilt milk off of!
Detail of the piping along the bottom of the chair pad...
Ira discovers bubbles... not really how to blow them... just bubbles so far...
"Ah cose" ("So close") is what Ira would have said about 6 months ago.
YAY! BUBBLES!!!!!!!
At the zoo with cousin Gemma.
Looking for penguins. It's hilarious to watch him! He doesn't realize that they're there until they are smack in front of him - it's humorous to say the least.
My beautiful baby plants. I was afraid that the little tiny peat pellets were too small for the root systems though, so I decided to give them a transitional home in bigger plastic cups.
The seedlings' new homes - tiered to keep the little plants closer to the light
The eventual home of the our baby plants. Also where we spent most of last weekend .

Well, did you get your fill of pictures? I hope so - cuz that's all I've got for now! Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Like everyone else... sick

Well, as much as I thought maybe we were going to avoid the sickies, alas Ira is sick with something. He has this terrible cough and a runny-like-a-faucet nose. He hadn't had a fever until this morning. It all started on Monday, but wasn't really that bad until Tuesday night. Oh what a night! I think the poor child got like 4-5 hours of sleep total that night! For a child that's used to almost exactly 12 hours each night - that's quite a hit! He was soooooooo tired all day yesterday - he mainly just watched videos, which I figured was okay because that's all I want to do when I'm sick too. He slept with us all last night (a first for us.) I was amazed with how much better we all slept! (Although Andy did comment that he felt like a human punching bag!) Unfortunately for us, it seemed that it was most comfortable for Ira to lay his head on one of our stomachs and kick the other one. I woke up at least once to the kicking, but apparently Andy woke up to it more often! Poor guy! Ira woke up at 5:45ish and felt like a baked potato, so I took his temp and sure enough he had a fever. We gave him some Motrin but he didn't fall back asleep. Amazingly enough he's been in a pretty dang good mood all day and is currently napping very well! YAY!!!!

My father-in-law watched Ira this morning (even though he was sick) so I could go to the first of 4 consignment sales in the area. I found a few things for Ira for this summer and a set of 3 "Fisher Price Little People" Videos. (He calls the ones I got for him at the last sale in September "New Guys" so I'll be interested to know what exactly he calls these) For those who haven't been blessed with a child that likes "Guys" - they're little 5 minute claymation episodes featuring the Fisher Price Little People. Aaron Neville sings the intro for each episode. It's quite an interesting musician choice for a kid's show. Andy thinks it's downright annoying, and I must say I'm not far behind him, but I guess I've just become desensitized to it! Oh well, Ira loves the shows and I must say from a mom's perspective, they're good and teach good lessons.

That's about all we know for now. Hopefully Ira's hit the turning point with his sickies and is on his way to being all better soon.

Take care!

P.S. Oh yeah, we got nearly all the countertops replaced in our kitchen and extended the size of our bar by quite a bit! I'm thrilled and it looks awesome! We also got our new dishwasher put in - a Bosch - and we are absolutely thrilled with it! It's nearly silent when it's running. In fact - we could hear the refrigerator running OVER the dishwasher. Crazy stuff!

No mom, it doesn't help me 'nique'

So.... Ira has been quite quotable lately (as usual.) The title for today's blog is a quote from him. Last night at dinner we were talking about the little mole on Ira's face. It's in the same place as Cindy Crawford's, so I guess you could say it's a "beauty mark" Hehehe. Anyway, so he asked "Mom why do I have a mole?" I said, "Well Ira it helps you be unique." And as seriously as could be he says back to me, "No mom, it doesn't help me "nique" I don't know if that sounds funny when you're reading it, but it was hilarious when it happened.

While we were at Andy's folks house for the Super Bowl, Andy grabbed Ira's tricycle. Since it's been colder outside lately, I took the trike to the basement and figured I'd let him have free reign. It was pretty funny. This past fall Ira couldn't really ride very well. He mainly just pushed it with his feet, but I tell you what, he's got it figured out now! He was FLYING around the basement! We built all kinds of tunnels for him to go through. I've included a picture below:


I also got a hair up my hiney to rearrange the living room today. For those who know me well, it's something I do quite often. Don't know why... just do. I guess I enjoy the variety. I could also say that I do it so that the carpet doesn't wear unevenly, but that is like way down on the list of why I rearrange so often. Really though, this time was legit because when we moved in we just kind of put furniture where it seemed like it should go. So here is the new arrangement. I'm pretty thrilled with it because now Ira has his own little reading area between the couch and the bookcase. I caught him sitting in his chair several times today just reading. It does my heart good to know that he likes reading so much.


We also did his favorite puzzle again today (both ways.) It's a 50 piece with animals and shapes in little boxes. I can't believe how much of it he can get by himself! On the reverse it's the same pictures but they're just the outlines and you can color on it with wipe-off crayons. We'd never colored on it before, so that was fun. I was surprised how difficult it was to do without any clues from the colors or animals. Ira got it for Christmas from my sis and bro-in-law (his godparents.)


This evening I built a light stand for my seed greenhouse that I'll start for our garden this spring. I've never grown plants from seed (except for sunflowers) so I called the extension office about how for sure to go about doing so. They were incredibly helpful and sent me several brochures on how to start a garden from seed. They had instructions for a light rig, so I figured what the heck... might as well try it. It was very easy! Hopefully the garden will do well. I'm thinking of planting my seeds towards the end of February. Any gardeners out there who know if that's a good time? Here's a pic of my new "grow light rig."


Well, I better go, Andy needs to flip the breaker that the computer is on so that he can "unwire" the electrical box that is in the cabinets above the bar (for the under the counter light.) We're taking the cabinets down tonight!! Yay! We're going to try to put the new countertops on and put the dishwasher in this weekend. I can't wait!

Talk to you all later! God bless!

Naptime Battles: Ira: 3 vs. Me: 2

Before I address the title of this blog, I wanted to give everyone a brief update on our move. Everything went very well! Both houses closed with no problem and we moved last Friday and some of Saturday. Now the long process of remodeling/redecorating begins. That's okay with me though, and Andy too, we both LOVE it. It's become somewhat of a hobby for us I guess you could say. It was almost boring at our old house since we finished everything. So we are excited to start anew with this new home! So far we've replaced the knobs on the cabinets and closets, added blinds to Ira's room, replaced the kitchen faucet (out of necessity - see future paragraph), and ripped a cabinet down in the kitchen in preparation for the over-the-range microwave. Oh, and yesterday Ira and I raked all the spikey seed pods (anyone know what kind of tree they're from? They look like miniature puffer fish) into piles. We haven't done a ton, but it's starting to feel more and more like home. Here's some pictures from moving day:

The wonderful snow was a slight hindrance on moving day.

Getting ready to go into our new house. The guy holding the door is one of the movers, not my husband!

Andy carrying me over the threshold. :-)

Luckily, we've had some beautiful days since then. We've gotten to enjoy our awesomely huge backyard several days since we moved. Here's my view from my kitchen window. The big trees you see line the back of our property and the tree in the coner of the photo is the back corner of our yard. It's hugemongous - the yard that is. Andy thinks we're gonna need a riding mower and I tend to agree with him there!

Anyways, back to the title of my post. We've been struggling with happy nappytime here at our household. Ira didn't take a nap at all on Monday (but then fell asleep 5 minutes into our drive and slept for close to two hours. Tuesday, he also did not really take a nap. I think part of it had to do with the fact that we were at a hotel. But he spent the better part of 2 hours screaming, kicking the walls, and whenever I came in to try to quiet him down, he either hit me in the face, threw his binky (which he then lost), pulled my hair, or said "Go out Mommy!" Needless to say, I was completely exhausted by the time he finally fell asleep. I laid down as well, and just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard Ira wake up. Seriously, 20 minutes does NOT count as a nap!! Wednesday, he slept just fine at naptime, but Thursday again, no happy nappy. Thursday he got his pillow out of it's case and also unzipped it out of the protector, so before he could go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner he had to put his pillow back in the case (yeah right!) So, he had to pay me with some of his toys for me to put it back in. Today, we put up light blocking blinds in his room (which we had intended to do ASAP but just finally got to it today.) I laid down with him for awhile for naptime, but he wasn't going to sleep, so I left his room. That was like 30 min. ago and I haven't heard a peep since! I just peeked in and he's asleep!!!! Hooray! Some had speculated that he was ready to give up his naps, but I just don't think he is quite yet. He was so grumpy those evenings that he didn't nap (except for yesterday because he was at Grandma and Grandpa's and he's NEVER grumpy there - they don't believe that he really ever is because they never see him like that.) Alas, I think Ira's finally adjusting to the move and hopefully naptime will continue improve.

In other news, we had to go without a kitchen faucet all this week. Last Sunday night it blew up and sent water flying all over the kitchen. Andy offered to fix it, but it was pretty stinkin' late, so we just went to bed and said we (being Andy) would fix it Friday (today). This is a picture of the new faucet and sprayer (hooray!!) The garbage disposal and drain pipes are out right now because Andy's cleaning them because they reek of old potatoes. He also found a straw in the drain pipe. Also notice and appreciate the harvest gold linoleum. Although we treasure it, it will soon be gone hopefully!

Here are pics of the old knobs (bathroom, hall closets, bedroom closets)
And here are the new ones

Well, I think I'll sign off. If I haven't bored you to tears, I'm amazed and if I have, why the heck are you still reading?! Take care and God bless!!