Old kitchen

I thought I would include some pictures of the kitchen before it was redone so you could see just how much better it looks.

Kitchen finale

Will, the ever ready helper, is assisting Nana with the backerboard.

Will loved to sit in the floor of the pantry and eat his snack.  Here he is enjoying one of the many apples that we picked last weekend.  He will everything but the seeds and stem.

Caroline took this picture of Nana diligently laying tile.  We stayed up until 2am Thursday night finishing so that we could get the grout in and let everything have time to dry before the surprise party.

Ta Da!!  Here is is, the new cabinets, counter tops, floor and wall color!  Juliet is a nice addition too.  My kitchen looks great and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.  I can't wait to have all of you come visit and see it in person!

Birthday surprises are so much fun

Are they related or what? Look at the mouth and hands they are exactly alike.  This was Justin's birthday cake on his actual birthday.

Then this was the spread for Justin's surprise birthday party on Saturday night.  He was completely caught by surprise and had a blast with his friends.

Caroline, Kaylee, and Ashley are all the same age and are with in 9 months of each other.  They had so much fun playing all night.  Here they are at the end of the night watching a little Sesame Street to wind down.

I am glad this couch is a This End Up so it could handle 5 kids jumping on it!  The Sesame Street wind down trick didn't work quite as planned.  Oh well, they had lots of fun.

Apple butter and Apple sauce

Last weekend Susan, my mom, and I made lots of apple butter adn apple sauce.  Here is a picture of will using the apple peeler/corer.  That thing is so much fun to use!  It was worth its wait in gold when you have about 60lbs of apples to peel and core.  You can see the tub of apples in the back ground.

Tired, sore, and exhausted

I am exhausted!  My mom and I are busy busy laying a new floor in my kitchen.  She is only here this week so on top of all the other kid requirements during the day we are trying to lay ceramic tile.  It is very ambitious of us but we are up to the challenge!  Pictures will follow soon since we are getting close to being finished.

But while you wait I give you a quick Caroline story.  We were driving to take her to preschool Tuesday morning and some of the leaves are changing color already around here.  She of course has noticed and was talking about how the leaves are turning colors and getting old like grandmas.  So funny and what an analogy.  She also told me yesterday that she loves nana more than me!

Helping mommy and pretending to be Mommy

Both kids love to help in the kitchen by sitting on the counter.  I was making cupcakes for Will's birthday picnic and the kids were of course helping.  Will didn't fall off the counter this day but a few days after he did and bit his tongue again but on the opposite side as the wreck bite. 

Here they are pretending to be mommy and daddy.  Funny thing is they have the correct sides of the "bed".  Caroline is on the side I usually sleep on and Will on Justin's.  Amazing how perceptive they can be.

And for all of you who have This End Up furniture this is a table that my parents had when I was a little girl.  I can't keep anything on this table or it gets pushed to the floor.  It is used for dancing and jumping off of about everyday.  Still very sturdy and practical.  

We're all OK

Well this morning heading to teach my water fitness class I was in a wreck.  It was totally my fault so I was the one that got the ticket and the messed up car.  Justin said that is why we have insurance but I still feel horrib;e about wrecking our van.  It was all paid for too!  I still don't know if it is totalled but it looks pretty bad.  The kids and I were fine, no injuries.  Will bit his tongue (he was snacking at the time) and both kids have a mark acroos the neck/chest where the seat belts got them.  The airbag deployed and hit me in the chest and my neck is stiff but otherwise we are fine.  It scared the crap out of the kids and they were crying out of fear mostly.  I didn't swear or anything but seeing smoke coming out of the car is a little scary.  The lady I hit was very nice and was concerned about the kids and crazy as it sounds she drove us home.  There are nice people in the north!  

THis is what I did for stress relief after we got back home.  We went over to Ellie's and then went for a nature walk on the trail behind our houses.  The kids ended up playing in the creek bed in a large puddle and had a blast!  Sorry the pictures are so bad they were taken with my phone.  Of course Will was the first one to walk into the creek, the only boy in the group!  Ellie fell down the enbackment getting to the kids and then I fell going back up so all 6 of us were a sight to be seen.  We were either muddy or wet and muddy!  At least it was something fun.

it worked!!!

Well, I am hoping that it is going to work this time.  It down loaded the video and now is processing it, whatever that means.

Yesterday Will and Justin were watching the Vikings play football.  Justin starts yelling, "Throw it, throw it!" Will is sitting right beside him playing with a toy helicopter and all of a sudden it is flying across the room.  Turns out it is one of the few times that Will decides to listen the first time!!  Justin and I had a great laugh at that one.

The rest of Will's bday

After naps it was pouring rain and my neighbor Ellie had invited all of us over for a play date.  The kids had a blast and if I can get a video to upload then you could hear how loud 6 kids ages 19 months to 4 years can be singing and playing instruments!

ustin decided to give me a break with cooking last night and took us out to eat at Red Robin.  Here is the birthday boy and his daddy enjoying a milkshake.  I love this picture it is just so cute!!

Will's 2nd birthday

Well this was his 1st birthday and he was so excited to have his cupcake as you can see.

He isn't quite as excited in this picture but it is at breakfast time and I think he had only been awake for about 15 minutes when the picture was taken.  I will get some happy faces eating cupcakes tonight after dinner.

It is amazing how they grow so fast and change so quick.  I will have to go to the other computer to find a newborn picture of Will.

One of my neighbors gave Will a box of Thomas the rain band-aids for his birthday.  Which is the best gift gift the boy could have gotten.  Will was at Ellie's house yesterday while I was at the dentist and he fell off her front porch (only 2 concrete steps!) and had a scrape and bruise on the left side of his face. So, the neighbor that gave the band-aids made the comment that she doesn't notice the little scrapes on Will because he seems to always have at least one.  And that is so true.  He fell and scraped his chin and popped his lip this morning at the gym.  I mean really!  I am glad they make band-aids and helmets!!

No video

Sorry everybody.  I have tried 3 times to download the video of Will playing with the tools and it just won't work.  I am not the best with downloading pictures and video to the blog so maybe I will get it figured out soon.

Playing with tools

This afternoon after his nap Will wanted to watch Elmo.  I try not to let them watch TV except on the weekends so I found this tickle me Elmo and replaced the batteries.  Will loved watching Elmo fall on the floor laughing and would pick Elmo up and say, "Elmo OK?"  Will had watched me change the batteries and he loves playing with tools so he spent about 10 minutes trying to "fix" Elmo using 2 screwdrivers.

On the video I wasn't understand what he was telling me in one part.  He was saying sharp instead of stuck.  See mom, my translating skills aren't perfect!  The reason it was so quiet and there is no screaming it is because Caroline was still napping!

On a completely different note Caroline and Will have started to play together so well.  I think Will is starting to understand more of her pretend play, can communicate better, and is turning 2 on Friday.  All of which helps them be able to play with out fighting all the time.  I am so thankful for it what ever it is!! 

Will's first day

Well this week has already gotten away from me.  I can't believe it is already Wednesday night! Will had a great first day of preschool, no crying!  He was most excited about having his own bucket.  The school uses buckets instead of a book bag.  It works so much better and doesn't crush the cute art work.  On Tuesday when it was Caroline's turn to go to school Will had to take his bucket in the car with us.

Tired momma

The to answer the question about Caroline's pulled up socks is really quite simple.  She is trying to be like her daddy.  He wears knee high socks to work every day and Caroline is always trying to pull her socks up as far as she can get them.  Well when I was out shopping one day I found thses cute knee highs.  Caroline loves them and would wear them every day if I had enough for the whole week.

I have been busy walking walking walking this weekend.  I went for a 6.5 mile walk yesterday morning before all the rain hit and then  2 more miles that night to ice cream.  Then this afternoon I walked 12 miles in about 3.5 hours.  I am tired but feeling very good.  No blisters or soreness so that is good news.  I am still trying to raise money so pass on the word to your Sunday schools and co workers please!  

First day of school pictures

Caught her sneezing!

Will wasn't too interested in getting his picture taken but at least he stood still!  Caroline usually doesn't let me do anything to her hair, even brushing it is a struggle.  But I told her that once school starts that I would do her hair when she goes to school.  So she stuck to her end of the deal and I got to put two braids in her hair.

The rain finally cleared out this afternoon and we went outside and played in the leftover puddles with our friends then after dinner did our weekly walk to Bruster's to get some yummy ice cream.

Here's the crew enjoying their treats.  Caroline has a handful of leaves and called them her pom-poms.  She and Ashley walked the mile to Bruster's and then since it was dark we had them ride in the stroller back home, but usually the girls walk the whole way.

First day of school

This isn't what Caroline wore for her first day of preschool .  This is from vacation and they are enjoying snack in the shade.

Caroline started preschool today.  It isn't the first time she has gone to a preschool.  She will go for 2 days from 9-1 and have lunch there.  The best thing about it is she will be in the same classroom that she has Sunday school in so she is really comfortable.  There are also 3 or 4 kids from her class last year.  She was disappointed that she didn't get to have lunch there today since they shorten the  day for the first couple of days.  I did take some pictures this morning before we left for school but I haven't download them yet.  She wouldn't tell me much about what they did so maybe I am just not asking the right questions, but I know she will tell more to Justin when he gets home.

Will and I had fun picking apples and raspberries and then going to get his hair cut before we went and got Caroline.  

I do have to say that I am just as excited about Will going to school as Caroline so that I get some one-on-one time with Caroline too.  Will starts on Monday and will just go 1 day a week from 915-1130.

Vacation pictures

Will's big birthday smile.  There are 4 redfern birthdays in September: Grandma, Will, Jeff, adn Justin.  So while we were there we had a birthday bash for 3 of the 4.  This is what happened when Will ate his ice cream cake.  I think he enjoyed it!

Caroline and Justin doing what they call the "What's up G" pose.

After a long afternoon of playing a Dan Nicholas park they needed rides on the grandparents to make it back to the car.

Just plain busy

Well, I have been really bad about posting I know.  BUt my excuse for all of my loyal readers is I was on vacation and just didn't have the time.  I could have made a post yesterday but was busy just hanging out with the fam as Justin wasn't a work.  

We had a great time in Salisbury staying with Justin's mom and dad.  We went and did something just about every day even though it rained about 9 inches the first half of the week.  I also realized on the way to the Zoo Monday morning I didn't know where my camera was.  I had it the night before at the restaurant but then couldn't find it anywhere.  I called the restaurant but they didn't have it either.  So after several days of not having a camera Justin and I went on a date and bought a new one that I just love.

I will try to post of of the pictures from the past week because there are lots of great ones.  Of course like any other week this one is just jammed packed.  I am teaching water aerobics twice Wednesday then once on thursday.  Caroline starts preschool Thrusday and then both kids start gmynastics Friday morning.  Will also has his 2 year well baby appointment on Friday.  I will do my best.  I might just have to see if I can get some wireless access up at the playground and do a post while the kids are playing!  

All done (mostly)

Here is is.  The counter top and the sink are in and I love it!  The cabinets in the very front of the picture are new.  I know they are all new but there weren't any cabinets there before so it is a new part.  You can also tell that the floor is 2 different colors.  The brown is the very old laminate and the the lighter is what we had before.  It is all coming up and new ceramic tile is going to go down at the end of the month when my mom comes to help me do it.

Here it is a little closer.  The counter has fleck of some color in it you just can't tell in the pictures.  Hopefully in about a month I will have the completed kitchen to show you, new floor and all!  Maybe even new paint on the walls!!