Consumed

I feel like we've been consumed by our house & activities in the last few weeks.  Barely holding things together.  One step forward, 3 back...you get the picture.  I realized that I haven't even posted Easter on the blog.  I am so far behind.  There's been progression on the house which is good but living in a disorganized mess is bad.  I'm getting very antsy.  But I know I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and will absolutely love the spaces when we're finished.  Gotta keep it in perspective I guess. :)  So...I did leave off at Easter.  I don't have any pictures because I forgot to put the memory card in the camera, BUT I did have it charged this time.  So about 50-60 pictures are on Brian's phone that we'll have to figure out how to upload. :)  Sooo.....

Let's talk about Miss Natalie who turned 3 years old on Monday!  Oh how we love that little one!  She's been waiting and waiting for her bertday-(uhhh May seven-is how she tells people)  It wasn't until she saw birthday presents did she realize that it was in fact May 7 and that it was her day!  We started off her day by getting her a donut at the grocery store and she also picked out princess cupcakes for her bday cake since I have no oven to bake one in.  Then we picked up Levi at the mall and went to Scheels to see Amy, ride the escalator and get a piece of fudge.  After that we played at the inside play area at the mall and then met Heather and Amy at the food court for pizza and schwarma's.  Then I took Levi and Natalie on the carousel.  Those two have energy!! Afterward we went to Party City to get Natalie's bday balloons and a small treat.  Have you ever been in a store full of candy and lots of things to touch with two energetic/non-focused kids?  Of course you have!  As they were enjoying their suckers on the way home, I enjoyed a quiet peaceful moment. :)  Usually we let the kids pick their favorite restaurant to go to but since Natalie and Caitlin's bdays are so close and the fact that we had coupons, we decided to wait until later in the week to go to our favorite pizza place Dino's.  So I let Natalie pick today to go to McDonalds with a few of her buddies.  I'm sure we'll have a blast. ;)  Natalie loves noodles so I managed to make noodles-3 different kinds in the electric skillet (the kids thought I had planned that but really I had 3 half emptied boxes of pasta) and a rotisserie chicken and microwaved steamed green beans.  Sounds good huh? ;)  All in all she really did have a great birthday.  We're so blessed to have her and so glad that Gods plan for us worked and ours (mine) didn't.  We can't imagine our lives without #4.  Natalie is spunky, sassy and sweet in a small little body.  Wants to do whatever her older sisters do, talk like they talk, walk and play like they do.  She makes all of us laugh with her funny expressions and mannerisms.  Love, love, love her!

Kitchen Update

The kitchen is coming along pretty nicely. We finished the drywall and the mudders/tapers were here today and should finish up by the end of the week. Hardwood floors were supposed to be installed this week but the guy we had hired went out of business and now we are in a bit of a crisis to find a replacement that has good referrals and isn't swamped. Keeping our fingers crossed. There's plenty of other things to keep us busy, but the floor is very important because I do not want to go much more without a functioning kitchen! I can't complain though, since we've had beautiful weather and a place to make a temporary kitchen-less a stove. :)
Looking from the dining room toward the back of the house (new entry)
Looking from the back entry toward the dining room-opened up with new archway.

This area is really nice-much more open and functions better without the tiny corner closet that was once here.

Relocated the corner cabinet-it looks like it should have been here to begin with. I like it much better. Makes the wall look balanced.

Oh What a Sunday

We had a busy but yet, fun Sunday. We started out the day at Palm Sunday Mass. It was also the last sunday school for k-1st grade in which I teach. So I was happy to have that wrap up. After mass, the Stewardship committee (which I'm also on) sponsored a palm branch braiding event with coffee and rolls. We love our time after mass for great fellowship and gives us a chance to catch up with friends. After that we went home and got Natalie in for a nap, Brian and Rachel played a little wii, Emily did homework and Caitlin went to 7mile park with her friend Kylie. My mom and dad surprised us in the afternoon, arriving on their Harley. Funny! They treated us to DQ-thanks! It was nice to visit with them. After they left we went to our friend the Lundquists and Gilbertsons to hide eggs without getting caught. We were successful at the Lundquists but Luke totally busted us at the Gilbertsons. It was fun and we thank our friends the Yosts for starting such a fun activity. Then Brian was off to LifeTeen, the girls off to bed and relax time for me and Natalie. Once Natalie went to bed and Brian got home, we finished drywalling. I went to bed at 1:30am and not sure when Brian made it. It was a full day but very very fun!

Oh Sweet Baby

Our friends the Gilbertson's (Jeff & Heather) welcomed to the world, sweet baby Caleb Leo on March 27th at 3:14pm. Caleb weighed 8lbs 4oz and was 21" long. He looks just like his big brothers Luke and Levi and his big sister Ella. We're so happy that all went well after Heather's last 11 LONG weeks of bed rest. He is sweet and oh so cute!!! Congrats guys!

My try at DIY

I've been wanting to do this project for quite some time... Recover my dingy dining room chairs. After 13 years, 4 kids, lots of dried on play-doh, milk stains, juice stains, etc... these chairs deserved a face lift. It took me two days and some help from my friend Amy and I think they turned out pretty good. :) The girls thought they were just awesome and fought over who was going to tell Daddy about them. I wanted to keep it from Brian in case he squashed my idea! He like them too. :)

Now they have about an inch of dust on them...maybe I should have waited until after the remodel...

The Light at the End of the Tunnel????

We are on to another HUGE phase of our remodel project. THE KITCHEN... (dining room too)

Last week Brian took off work to start demolition. He and our nephew John did an amazing job! It was very messy Monday and Tuesday with all the plaster and old insulation coming down. We had beautiful weather and was able to open up doors to air out the place. Who would of thought we would have 80 degree weather in the middle of March. God was definitely blessing us! It was also nice to grill out since I don't have a stove/oven for at least a month. It's going to be hard for me to be creative with the crock-pot! So far it's going better than I expected and the kids think its great! The electrician finished up today and Brian will be putting up sheet rock this week/weekend. Things and people are scheduled so this part of the project should go pretty smoothly. Fingers crossed! I love that the space feels open yet still maintains the feeling of going from one room to the next. My favorite space is the french doors going from our bedroom into the new sunroom. My other favorite space is the landing area from upstairs. We used to have that silly corner closet but it's now gone and the space we have now is great. no more tilting the laundry basket vertically to get through the doorway! We still have a long way to go but I do believe I see the light, very dim, at the end of the tunnel!

The Before...

The After....

School Fun

Thanks to my friend JoAnna, I have pictures of my kids having alot of fun at school. The first photos are from Catholic Schools week in which the kids got to go to Lake Crystal Rec Center for an afternoon of swimming, playing in the gym and climbing the wall. The rock climbing wall looked like lots of fun! I only have pictures of Emily and Rachel because JoAnna's kids are in their classes! I know Caitlin had a good time too!


Rachel's Class (she's the 6th one)
Emily's class (shes the 10th one)

Emily's Class doing morning prayer service.

Rachel in kindergarten having fun with Miss Eichler during the Valentine's party

Emily giving her Ecosystem presentation or she would like to call it "presentating"

The kids are learning how to roller skate and it's something they look forward to every year in Phy Ed. Emily has no fear and she's always had a good sense of balance even when she was a baby.