Kitchen Deconstruction Wk 3-4

I'm always amazed at what we can accomplish in 48 hours.  It's sort of like what happens when you leave Leah in her room (left to her own devices) for 20 min or more...DISASTER!  Within another 48 hours, it was cleaned & swept up, moved back and better than before!  Not bad for a couple weekend's worth of work.

Surprisingly, *most* things have been put back in place and are slowly feeling normal again.  Swiffers are my new best friends and I think I've now touched just about every surface on our main floor.  We're still waiting on the kitchen.  Hopefully it's only another week or two and we'll be rockin' and rollin' on that!

BEFORE

 DURING

 DURING

AFTER

AFTER 

AFTER 

AFTER 



Now, my free time is filled with shopping for curtains, rugs, new registers, and painting!  As you can see, our living room needs slighly longer curtains than what Target can offer...bummer.  Guess I'm gonna have to make a trip to Pottery Barn - ah man!  Not to mention I get to rethink all our pictures' placement.  It's like moving into our house again!  This is awesome.

Quick Catching up...Christmas 2012!

Seems like so long ago...

We ended up having too many Christmas celebrations to count, but did take a TON of pictures this year in Chicago celebrating with the Templin Uncles and Aunts, and Grandma Vicki.

Leah had a range of emotions during this weekend - just so much to see and do!

One of the best - Emily's expression is priceless!

This was followed by another 3 Christmas's:  Johnson's at our house, Templin's at Joan and Erwin's, our family Christmas on Chrismas morning.  We ate dinner and opened presents at all...I just hope she doesn't expect this EVERY year...(although she might get it).  Happy December!  I mean, Merry Christmas!

Kitchen Deconstruction Wk 2

After a week of demo, our kitchen already feels SO much better!  Here's our progress to date:

Cabinets have their first coat of paint

Center wall is gonzo!

Patiently waiting for these guys to be moved into their new place, new cabinets framed and painted, new counters surrounding the stove!  It's gonna be awesome.

Finally, we're considering a new light fixture to replace our florescents...could probably live with any of these.

Next week...FLOORS!

Here we go again!

Well, here we go again!  We just can't seem to enjoy our house as it is...so we're knocking down walls again!

Check out the before pictures.  This is our kitchen and dining room, ready for demo.

Also, notice Leah's race track in the middle of the dining room.  She got a big kick out of the kitchen table being in the dining room!  Giggles at most meals because she gets to eat in the front room!

Quick catching up...Thanksgiving

The best time of the year, as far as I'm concerned! We drove to Muncie for a long holiday...notto mention a long drive. Never used to seem that long.

Anyway, if it weren't for the cat, the week would've been perfect! Art's horribly allergic to cats and my grandma has a sweet little kitty, who Leah affectionately calls 'meow'.

We got to see all the cousins and had so much fun playing with everyone! Not to mention all the good food! Yummy!

We have now officially kicked off the holiday season in style!

Photos of multi generations! And this is what happens after 10 hours in the car...

Quick catching up...Halloween!

We have been having so much fun with Leah these days and Halloween was no exception. Of course I waited until the last minute to figure other costume, but finally decided to get creative and make her a Dorothy costume from wizard of oz. we were out shopping and Leah found the cutest pair of red glitter slippers and she made us buy them ( by not putting them down in the store...).

She got to wear her Dorothy dress as daycare for their parade and then later that night when we went trick or treating with Grammie and her friend Charlie (and his parents, of course).

Here she is as she waves at her fans before heading out to get some candy! She really got the hang of knocking on doors and saying thank you. *so proud!*

I love you, Room & Board outlet

You will see this new baby make its debut tonight in our living room! So excited!

Isnt this what everybody does in LA?

Had dinner tonight in downtown LA at bottega louie. What a scene! Paparazzi and limos, and of course we couldn't leave without getting some macaroons! My first one trying these amazing things...so good! I think I found my new treat! A must have!

Way to go, Uncle Kevin!

We had so much fun in Omaha this week! We certainly took advantage of the great (hot) weather as much as possible!

Leah cheered everyone on and even learned to say GO!! It was awesome!

Omaha bound!

Omaha, here we come! On our way to swimming Olympic trials to cheer on uncle Kevin!!

He swims first thing tomorrow morning and we'll be there cheering him on!

But, we still have a car trip to conquer with our wonderful toddler...