Our February

It has been too long, but I have several good excuses.
January was a quiet month, I finally started to feel like I was getting back into a good routine. I had adjusted to having a new little baby. My house started to get cleaner, I was getting the laundry done!!!
Hannah got into Junior Kindergarten the beginning of February. She goes to school Monday-Friday, from 8:15am-2:32pm. We leave the house at 7:45 so we have plenty of time to get to school and she can play for ten minutes before the bell rings. She brings her lunch to school and has a backpack and everything.
Hannah had "Crazy Day" at school. She wore a crazy outfit. When I dropped her off I didn't see any kids in crazy outfits, I started to panic. I dropped her off and ran into the office to ask. I didn't want to scar her for life by making her dress this way for no reason. Thank goodness it was "Crazy Day." When I walked out I started to notice other kids, but none of them had Hannah's school spirit!I enrolled Gavin back into Tiny Tots through the Parks and Rec program. He loves it. He goes Tuesday and Thursday 8:30-2:00. Tuesday and Thursday mornings are quite busy at our house. They love school and I love both of them in school. It's crazy to think I have 2 kids in school. I get so giddy sometimes on Tuesday and Thursday. Just one baby, it's soooo easy! I like to do my running around during this time and I have even gone out to lunch a few times with old friends.

Palm Springs:
My parents took us all to Palm Springs the first weekend in February for my birthday. It was a fun trip! We took the Palm Springs Aerial Tram up to the snow. It was amazing! In ten minutes we went from the desert to the tops of the snowy mountains. The ride was beautiful and pretty exciting. Every time you switch to a new line the tram sways and you are suspended in air for a moment.
It was a 10 minute walk from the lodge to a suitable place to play in the snow. Hannah and my Dad had a blast. The first thing Hannah did was throw her bundled little body on the snow and made a snow angel. Poor Gavin was freezing and miserable. He didn't last long. Luke was bundled in his infant carrier. Luke fell asleep in the car on the way to the tram and slept the whole way up the tram, down the path, playing in the snow, walking up the path, down the tram in the car and didn't wake up until we were in the restaurant eating lunch!

We had fun swimming in the 85 degree pool and I won the Scrabble Tournament that night! Kevin taught Gavin how to play ping-pong. He was able to hit the ball a few times. It was so nice to spend some time with my family and so nice to spend some time with my husband alone! My mom watched Luke a few times so we could go for a walk or sit in the hot tub.

I can't wait to go back this summer and try out the Lazy River (hint hint.... mom)

Valentine's Day:
Kevin and I like to celebrate Valentine's Day a few days earlier. Since my mom was visiting (more on that later) Kevin and I went out to dinner to a fancy restaurant. I left Luke with my mom! When we returned home, our toilet was leaking water. It turned out we had a clogged line. Our first problem with our house. The next morning the plumber came and $125 later we can use our plumbing again. It turned out to be baby wipes. I love my children!

Bikes:
I have always wanted to do a triathlon, but I never had a bike. Kevin bought me a bike for my birthday! I enjoy riding it, but I am very uncomfortable riding it on the street with cars. The bike path along the riverbed is just fine for me. We signed up for our first tri! We are doing a short one in June in Redondo Beach and a longer one in September in Malibu. I'm excited!

Monday

Kevin takes great pride in his lawn, he brought it back from the dead when we bought our house. Gavin is following in his Daddy's footsteps, quite literally. I had to grab my camera when I saw this.*Kevin has thrown away his crocs several times and I keep pulling thiem out of the trash...
They are perfectly good for yard work! Sorry Kevn

The forecast predicted rain today so we spent the day preparing for our first rainstorm in our house. We have a lot of wood scraps from various projects and I asked Kevin if we could have a fire. I'm not sure if that was such a good idea. As I was loading the dishwasher I saw huge flames in the reflection of the window in front of me. I turned around and saw him feeding fuel into our first fire. It's been such a warm and cozy day with a fire, I've loved it.
Gavin is pretty good at building guns and airplanes with his legos... here he is showing off a "gund" he made. Poor little guy busted his eye open today in our front yard. I cuddled him, gave him an icepack and told him it was like Daddy's hockey boo boo and he was ok.

Busy Weekend

Hannah's preschool class participated in "Celebrate La Mirada" Day. Her class sang all the songs they have been learning. These are the Months of the Year, the color songs; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and Magic Words. Hannah was right in front of the microphone so I could make out her vibrato. She has such a sweet voice. She has always been a good little singer. Unfortunately, there were two disruptive boys who shouted most of the time. It was a cute little performance. She is getting so big!I decided to paint the house this weekend too. I dragged Kevin away from all the football games on the TV. I told him we would only work for an hour. It turned out to be more like 6. The kids were excited to help paint. For the most part, they were pretty helpful and productive. They got paint on the wall and Kevin went over it to even it all out.
Before...
Different Stages...
After...
Should I paint my door red or black? HELP! I can't decide.

Bathroom

I have been looking forward to this post for the past 2 months. It means my bathroom is finished! Well, except for the door (kind of important to have a door in a bathroom).

BEFORE:
(Glad my Sister-in-law told me to do this, or I wouldn't have had any)
Our lovely pedestal sink
How on Earth did I ever part with this beauty?
Just a nasty shower. My camping mentality really helped me out with this one.



DURING:
Hannah stated, "I don't want an ugly bathroom" as Kevin and I destroyed our bathroom. It started last Friday, July 10.
I had my day planned... Get Grandma's b-day present, make the b-day cake, make a good dinner since my brother was coming over, poor guy eats military food all week. So when I got the text from Kevin at 10am that we were "demo-ing today" I was a little confused. What are we demo-ing? No reply... I was a little concerned. He finally replied... "the bathroom." Ok, I knew this was coming, but I didn't know so soon. So that weekend we spent our time ripping our bathroom to the studs. Bathtub, floor, drywall, linen closet... everything GONE!

The beginning. If only I knew what I know now. I seriously thought we could do this in one week. Yea, I feel like an idiot saying that now, but it's true.
Taking advantage of my brother coming over for dinner. He came with us to Lowe's and helped us get all the drywall, hardybacker (drywall for the bathtub area), and the bathtub. We got 10% off with his military discount.
I didn't realize how much trash you acquire while remodeling
We found this newspaper, along with a Toys R Us ad from 1989. Nintendos were on sale for $99 and a Sega was on sale for $199!

Starting to take form! We covered the walls with stuff to prevent the moisture from damaging the house and put the window in. Kevin did it all!
Got our bathtub in!

Walls started to go up!
I really wanted a tiled shower, so I did it myself! I'm crafty, I like to sew, how could tile be any different from making a quilt? Rachel (my sister-in-law) helped me pick out the tile and got me started.
I really LOVE how it turned out.
Since I wanted a tiled floor, I did that myself too. I don't think I would ever tile a floor again while pregnant. That part really sucked, but I love how it turned out.
Kevin did the baseboards and the molding around the door. The last step was the crown molding. Kevin got so frustrated trying to figure out the angles. So, for the first time ever... we paid someone to come over and do something to our house, $50 well worth it.

AFTER:
Now, I have a beautiful bathroom that I absolutely love! It took 6 weeks to get it functional and another 2 weeks to finish it (except the door)

Kevin's Porch

"We are the half tan, half olive green dalmatian poke-a-dot house." That is how I described our house to a friend who was coming over as I gave her directions. I didn't process that until after it came out of my mouth. Yes, I live in the half tan, half olive green dalmatian poke-a-dot house.

This is what our house looked like when we bought it.

(Gavin in his pajamas)One night while I was at the gym, Kevin decided to rip the rock off the house. He also put a huge hole in the wall in the laundry room (another post). And... the birth of the olive green dalmatian poke-a-dot house!(Gavin's bedroom window Kevin put in)
This weekend Kevin built a porch fence. I think it looks awesome, he did a really good job. Once again, I am totally impressed with his handyman skills!

I think I need a nice Nag's Head Hammock for the front porch... or just a white rocking chair from Lowe's.

Our New House

I thought I should do a few before and after pictures of our home. Kevin has been working very hard on our home to bring it up to our standards.
Our bedroom
before...
Kevin fixed the closet, we painted, changed the electrical outlets, carpeted, and put in new light fixtures.
After...

(I love my light, it looks like a big fat candle)(We need to finish putting the hardware on the closet)

Kevin's office... AKA "The Man Cave"
before...

(Gavin was such a good helper)

The "4th Bedroom" had lovely mauve tile and an orange peel texture on the wall that was just as lovely. Kevin busted that nasty tile out in about 15 minutes. I guess he had some aggression built up and took it out on the floor with an 8lb sledge hammer. To take care of the orange peel texture Gavin and I skimmed the walls with over 100 lbs of "mud." After skimming, we sanded, primed, painted, carpeted, and Kevin put the baseboards up.
After...

(Kevin got lucky because I did not want the TV in the bedroom, every man cave needs a TV)

(All Kevin needs is a big leather chair to complete his man cave, unfortunately for him, I am demanding a dishwasher first)

I should have done a better job of the before pictures, but to be honest I didn't want anyone to see it! My sister-in-law, Rachel, came over and told me to just get my camera and take pictures right now. I did and I am really happy I listened to her because now I have all the ugly before pictures to show when we have our after pics!