Making Progress

Tonight we continued to work in the bathroom. We never found the water shut off valve thingy in our yard, so he had to turn off the water by the city's valve.

So tonight we removed the toilet, finished getting the old tile off the floor, John replaced the valves on the toilet and the hot and cold water, painted the linen closet walls, and got an idea of how we wanted to lay the tile.

I found a better picture of the bathroom before.

John assessing the situation...

John plugging the pipes with bread. :)

Me getting old tile glue off the concrete.

New fake hardwoods. :) It was super cheap!!!!!!!

Goal for tomorrow:

* put up sheet rock

* put up bead board

* prep concrete with latex paint for better adhesion

* lay flooring

* place 2X4 in the wall for pedestal sink
* put up pedestal sink

We should be able to accomplish all of that in one night....right????

Also over the weekend I started working in the laundry room.
I found this picture of a laundry room that I really liked. It was bright and cheery and won't make me run from doing laundry! Anyways, here is my inspirational picture...

I love the turquoise with white & black & chrome accents!

Before picture of the laundry room

Paint up and trim from behind the washer and dryer are out! Almost ready for bead board! When we were reading the directions, we learned that that wood has to stay flat for 72 hours before getting put up. So for now, the laundry is still not finished.

Me taking off the rest of that trim.

I let the girls draw on the walls were it would be covered by the wainscot. Presley was calling it her secret drawings that were going to be hidden.

Juliet helped her daddy out cutting the new trim that goes around the doors.

Old trim...I'll post a pic of the new trim when it is in place.

Bye Bye old trim!

So far, that's what we have done in the laundry room. I cannot wait for it to be done!

And on Saturday, Carl came over to help John finish up the girls bedroom. It isn't complete yet, but they did spend the day taping and bedding and putting up all of the sheet rock!

Carl....Master of taping and bedding!

Girls drawing in the walls again! They loved this part! Their art will always be apart of this house now!

John working on the outlets. I am so glad he is soooo handy!!!!

The room is looking more and more like a room!!!!

Here's the Monster stuff from Target that I liked.

So it's either going to be that or Yo Gabba Gabba!!!!!

Then we could all sing..."There's a party in Potty...."

Okey doke...it's late and I am sleepy.

Sweet dreams all!

It was suppose to be just a paint job...

This past Sunday, Meagan came over and offered to help out and paint a few walls. She also brought along a little playmate for Maggie Belle. She is fostering a little 6 month dog named Twig, she's thinking of keeping him. He really is a sweet pup and Maggie LOVED him! Those two played all day long, non stop!

This is the guest bathroom. Our original idea with this room is that just to give it a quick cheap make over to make it bearable until we get a chance to gut it and make it what we want. So we were just gonna throw up some paint (turquoise) and put up some wainscot (white) and decorate it with little bright colored monster things I saw at Target. If I didn't do my monster theme, Meagan had an idea to do Yo Gabba Gabba stuff in there. I like that idea....love Yo Gabba Gabba!

Presley and Meagan painting....Presley blends in with the wall almost.

We are going to spray paint the lights white. It's look nice when it's done.

When I looked at that blue with that brown cabinets, well it looked really gross. So the girls and I started painting the cabinets white.

Girls painting job....isn't it lovely.

When I was painting the cabinet, I freaked out! I came across a nasty piece of chewed gum stuck under the sink. Who does that? That was so gross! I had to chisel it off!

So after getting down on the floor and looking at the walls, I kept noticing water damage under the cabinet and the trim wasn't in great shape. So John took a look at it and decided to take up the trim to see what was behind it. It was nasty and molded behind the toilet! That led to more than I wanted to bite off for this week with that bathroom! It was suppose to be a quick wall paint job.

John also tried patching a hole in the old tile so we could lay a cheap vinyl wood tile down on top. BUT he said when he started to patch it, he realized that it would just come up just as easy. So that's what he did...started ripping up the flooring!!!!

We quickly started realizing that just a coat of paint wasn't going to do it. And we also ended up tearing out that newly white painted sink cabinet. It was full of mold and water damage!

As we worked like dogs...the real dogs in the house just chilled. They are so cute!!!

Bye Bye Cabinet! Nasty flooring! See the bottom of that wall. John ended up tearing that entire bottom half out. There was sheet rock inside the walls that have been molding for years! No telling how long either!

Bye Bye wall. Look at all the rodent poop in the walls. John is hoping it's gecko poop.

Nice!

John pondered and pondered how to get all that stuff up....I just pulled out the heavy duty vacuum! All clean!

So yesterday, I met John for lunch and we bought the wainscot, pedestal sink, white paint, and flooring. Tonight we take out the toilet, prep the concrete for the new floor, prep the wall for the new pedestal sink, find the water shut off valve, and replace old plumbing with new plumbing!

Like I said it was just suppose to be a quick paint job!

Sorry Kiddo...

Well yesterday, we watched Nate for a few hours. The girls LOVE it when he comes over. They were in the other room yesterday sitting on the couch watching the Ant Bully and I could over hear them. It was so funny!

Presley: "Nate, you need to move out here."
Piper: "Yeah Nate"
Presley: "You'd have a big park to play at and a duck pond."
Piper: "Yeah Nate!!! Park.....pond...."
Presley: "You can walk to school with me and it's a good one."
Piper: "My school....walk with me....."
Presley: "AND...You can see me all the time!"
Piper: "Yeah Nate!"
Nate: "TONYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Presley and Piper are trying to convince me to move out here!"

It was to funny. That was about noon-ish.

At our 1st dinner last night, Presley was expressing her desire to John and I how she wished I'd go to the doctor and have a baby boy put in my belly. HAHAHAHAHA....knee slapper! Anyways, John and I said, 'No darling, but when you get older after you complete your education and go to college and establish career and get all of your dating and partying out of the way, you & your husband can go to the doctor when you are mommy's age and get a baby boy put in your belly." I added, "not before then, because I don't want to raise your babies." She said, "Ewwww NO! I don't want a baby in my belly! " Wheewww....maybe we don't have to worry about that again for a long while to come!

Then, the next conversation was about who'd she'd marry. She said, "When I grow up, Nate is going to be my husband...his eyes are kinda green brown blue in the middle...mine are brown..." SCREEEEEEECH........WHOAH..........Put on the brakes my dear! I almost choked on my food!
John told her, "when you get older, you can find a boy like Nate to marry, but you can't marry your cousin."

MAN OH MIGHTY!!! Does it ever stop?????

HaPpY nEw YeArS!!!!

I had the greatest New Year's Eve with my girls!

We started out our morning with a play date with Ethan, Zenon, and Nael. We baked cookies and decorated them and then shoved them down our throats! Nael and Juliet were the 1st to do so. They were so cute! As soon as I get my pictures loaded on the computer, I'll post them. The kids got all sugared up, ran through the house, yelled and screamed, and had a great time. It was all good.....and made for a nice quiet drive back to my neck of the woods. :)

Then we drove to Addison to meet John at Los Lupes for dinner and a margarita.

Then we went to Lewisville for a movie at the Dollar Cinemark Theater. We saw "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". That was such a cute movie. Piper left saying that she wanted to watch it again and Presley left saying that she wanted to buy it. On our way out, we snuck into watch the last 15 minutes of Astro Boy. It looked like a cute movie as well, so we'll have to go back and watch the rest of it.

After our movie we ran to Blockbuster for more movies and to Sonic for a late night snack. We were all starving again!

When we got home the girls ate, put on pj's, watched the ball drop in every time zone, popped party poppers, the girls did a little dancing in their cute pj's, watched Peter Pan & Space Buddies, and fell asleep on the couch!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh....and Presley got to help her daddy pop the cork on the champagne bottle! That was super exciting for her! And super yummy for John and I. I let Presley have a taste and she said, "Are you sure I can have this?" Then took a taste and said, "Blah, gross....i don't want that!!!!!!!!"

I love spending New Year's Eve with my family! It's perfect!

Happy New Years Everyone!!!!!!!!!!

Tree Trimming and Happy Christmas Smiles

Our Christmas tree is in the storage pod, so the girls didn't have a real tree to trim with beautiful Christmas ornaments this year. So we went out and bought the girls a tiny pre-lit fiber optic tree, but it just wasn't the same. So my mom, Grandma to the rescue, let us come over and help out trimming her and dad's tree. The girls had a wonderful time trimming the tree with Aiden, Ryley and Aunt Kimmy! We listened to Christmas music and the girls rushed grandma to get ornament after ornament. They were so cute! When they were done, they couldn't stop touching the ornaments! Grandma's ornaments are just too much fun for little ones with small hands! She has the best ornaments, always has!!!

Before trimming the tree...

After trimming the tree....


Oh nearly forgot....after tree trimming the kiddos did team work in wrapping a few gifts for grandma!


After trimming the tree & wrapping the presents at Grandma's house, we ran out to Frisco to pick up the kid's annual Christmas pictures. They came out beautifully!!!!!

I am getting into the Christmas spirit now! How can I not with all of these happy beautiful smiles! It just makes my heart happy!

My Lil' Slice Of Heaven!

The girls and I had a great visit today with Liza. She came all the way out to my house of gloom to take a peek at our "new to us" house and to visit with the girls and I. The girls and I walked her up to the park to show her how close it is....it's a perk of living here. I think the girl's internal thermometer is broke....they could have played out there for hours! BUT us big girls were done after about a minute though.

OH...and yesterday was my 1st REAL trip to the grocery store, and boy oh boy, I was like a kid in a candy store! I spent well over $100...I splurged a little on the stuff we haven't had in a while. Like some christmas mugs so I can drink my hot chocolate and hot apple cider out of, cinnamon sticks for my cider, cookies (peppermint oreo's (which by the way are so GROSS!) and some of the good old fashion - never let ya down butter danish cookies) to go with our warm drinks. I got some special edition holiday ginger pop tarts...which were also not that great. But the girls LOVED them! Oh shoot...I'll just take a pic of the goodies I bought....Vitamin waters, cokes, milk, BUTTER, CHEESE, corn dogs, chicken, meat, pork, sausage!!!!!

I am cooking again!!!!!! YAY!!!!


Did I mention that we already had to have our fridge repaired since it coming out of storage this past Sunday? The fan was jarred so I had to pay $60 to have some man unscrew a few screws and flick the fan to get it going again! THEN, 2 days ago out ac/heater messes up. It iced over! Apparently it was low on freon. That was another $60.

I had forgotten all the joys of year of purchasing a new pre-owned home.

And this afternoon, I had my little slice of heaven! The girls napped and I had me some hot apple cider, danish butter cookies, and some wonderful peace & quiet!!! YUM!!!!! The little things make me so happy!

Stats...

I forgot to post Presley's 5 year check up stats!

Her baby book is all packed away in a box in the storage pod, so I am posting it here so I can refer back to it just in case I loose this little sheet of yellow paper with her stats on it as we get settled in.

Height: 41 3/4 inches (50%)
Weight: 36 pounds (25%)
BMI: 14.3 (20%)

I still can't believe she is 5! Today as I washed dishes, she was standing near me begging for me to let her wash dishes. I told her no because she was too little. She yelled at me with her teenager voice and said, "NO I AM NOT! LOOK AT ME!" And I did just that. I looked at her and lo and behold she's not to little. Granted she was on her little tippy toes, but she could reach the sink and so I let her wash her fork on her own. What a big girl she has become!

Wasn't just yesterday that I brought her home from the hospital??????

This was my little Presley the day we got to bring her home. All pretty in pink!

That was her then, this is her now. whewwww!!!!!!

Absolutely amazing!

Slowly But Surely

We are slowly, very slowly, but surely getting back on track. It's been so long since I've blogged! I have so much catching up to do. I don't even know where to begin! So...I suppose I'll start with December 1st and work my way backwards as we move forwards...if that makes any since at all.

12-01-09
I go to storage and load up the car with anything I can shove in the trunk and the passenger seat. Since Presley's birthday party, all of her toys have taken over the play room and she's not too happy when Juliet starts playing with them. So on this trip to the storage, the 1st thing I grabbed was the big old green collapsible toy box FULL of toys for Juliet to play with. That thing was so heavy! Also with the toy box we were sure to bring home all of the girls dress up clothes and school work.

As you can see....Juliet missed playing dress up and forgot how to wear lip gloss.

She was so funny and proud of herself for doing such a beautiful job of applying her make up.

12-02-09
Today was the day of the dreaded trip to the doctors office for Presley. It was for her 5 year well check up. Those well check ups usually come with shots...BUT none for her this year! She's all up to date! She was so happy for that! But not so happy that she is still 4 pounds away from that big girl booster seat! She's been wanting out of the "baby" car seat for a year now...but she's still too light for it. Maybe next summer she can get her booster seat.

Anyways, the doc said she was in perfect health and all that we need to do is take a couple of trips to the ER parking lot and try some peanut butter crackers before she starts school next year. I agreed, but how do you pick a day to feed your child something that could potentially make her sick. But I know it has to be done....

Oh, I nearly forgot...IT SNOWED! It was fantastic and fun! But Unfortunately it was short lived. It snowed for about 1/2 an hour then it was washed away from the rain. Then it was just COLD and RAINY! That was not so much fun.

So later after the snow and the doctors office, when John got home, we ate dinner at Ci Ci's and went down to Uncle Robert's shop to pick up John's Subaru. While we were, the girls got to meet the bearded dragon. And OH Presley LOVED him! It's Richard's pet that Robert is taking care of for a while. He was a sweetie too. Juliet didn't care much for him outside of the tank...but loved to peak at him when he was in that tank!

After that we headed home to put the girls to bed. By girls, I mean Presley and Juliet. BUT Miss Maggie Belle wanted to sleep with Presley so bad! She's been giving me such a hard time about going to her crate. She makes it really hard to, being all cute and stuff! So I have started letting the girls fall asleep with her and I'll put her in her crate before I go to bed.

12-04-09
And today...my level of patience isn't too high, so I kicked the girls outside for a while to let them run and yell and do all of that necessary kid stuff. It keeps us all sane!

After outside playtime in the cold, we decorated out itty bitty tree with ribbons and candy canes.
We didn't anticipate it taking so long for us to really be able to "live" in this house. So I packed our Christmas stuff in the storage pod. And we probably won't be ready to have the pod dropped off until later in December. So we ran up to Walmart the other day and bought the girls a little 3 foot tree. We could tell them not having their own stuff is getting to them. Poor Piper tells me everyday that she wants to go home. The other day, she packed her suitcase with toys and headed to the door and said, "let's go home." She doesn't get it yet that we LIVE here and we aren't going back to the old house. She probably thinks we are just visiting some one's crappy old house. I am sure though things will get better when their rooms are done.

Here's our little tree.

And after lunch, Presley works on her Thank You cards. She does about one a day. Like most things....slowly but surely she'll get them all written and mailed out.

That pretty much is what we've been up to lately. Just trying out best to make this old house our new cozy home.