Catching Up

There hasn’t been a “week in photos” post in a few weeks because we’ve been busy and I haven’t taken many pics. Three weekends ago we began our very own version of Renovation Realities (a funny DIY network show about people doing their own home renovations). Greg is a very handy DIY-guy, and I’m a pretty good assistant for him. Jessica worked for a contractor a few years back, so she’s an even better assistant. Nick provided some much-needed muscle to get the project started. We found a couple of surprises that needed to be dealt with, and they could have been major, but fortunately were not. They just added a bit of extra work since Greg had to cut holes in the sheetrock and then repair those holes. We also added in a few things we hadn’t originally planned on which made for more sheetrock work and extra days. Then I lost a day to having my first wisdom tooth pulled unexpectedly.

What was the project? Initially it was simple – pull up the carpet in the living and dining rooms and hallway. Plank the dining room walls, then paint the dining room, living room, and hallway. Then lay a wood laminate floor in all of those areas. We figured a weekend and three or four days of the next week.

As these things go, “the project” has taken three weekends and 6½ week days. Oh, and it’s not done. There are little things to finish up. There are always little things to finish up, right? So when those little things are done and the place is put back together, I’ll do a blog post on the process and what all we did. In the meantime, here’s a pic of the “almost after”:

We love it, but I can tell I’m going to be a neurotic mess about that floor. Just warning you.

The boys’ preschool year wrapped up mid-May. Bradley has been gone for summer visitation for three weeks. He returns next weekend. We all miss him terribly, but we know he’s having a good time. Fortunately he was still here for Grampy’s birthday celebration.

The other day Silas told me he was “out of love-yous”, so I told him I’d refill his supply. There was a long stream of “Iloveyou, Iloveyou, IIoveyou…” – you get the idea. He thought that was wonderful and made me do it over and over again. I made him some hot glue letters and numbers to play with, and added some shapes as well. His fave was the heart and he used it to spread around some of those “Iloveyous” I gave him. (Just use a hot glue gun to make shapes/letters on parchment paper, let cool, then peel off.)

Little Layla Loula has been an angel while we’ve been pounding and painting and moving things all around. She didn’t like the loud stuff so much, but has been interested in all the activity. You know what else she’s interested in? Food. Jess started her on cereal, and after a couple of weeks I added in banana, and now she’s in love with avocado as well. She eats like a champ.

In between all this, there has been gardening, tooth pulling, doctoring, thunderstorms, and regular life on the prairie. This week the focus will be on putting the interior of the house back together. Woohoo, back to normal!