Random Life and Kitchen Remodel Pictures

This picture shows the new wall by our front door that creates and entry.  Matt and my dad did a great job - it looks like the wall has always been there!

After everything crucial is done, we are going to 'trim out' our windows to make them stand out more, and one day, I hope to put wainscoating around the dining nook ....

Next to our stove are boxes of porcelain tile that Matt bought at Seconds and Surplus.  We paid only $1 a square foot for porcelain tile!  I'll have to thank my friend Julie for that tip!

The new entry 

Evie wasn't happy about Simon using the vacuum cleaner ...

She was craving quiet time ....

The musical bear toy was mine when I was a baby ....

Simon and Evie enjoyed dancing around Gigi's kitchen with the 'fiddles' Pops made.

Their favorite song was "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."

There's a cute video of them dancing to the song on Matt's seldom updated blog.

There's a link to "Matt's Random Videos" on the left of my blog.

Getting ready for Tania's bridal shower.

Evie likes to pose.

Scott and Tania are getting married this FRIDAY!

The tile 1/2 way done.

JD helped Matt in the dining area, and Alex helped him in the kitchen area, and Joel helped him grout the whole floor .... Very thankful for all that help!

Evie happy to be home - for one night at least.  I came up to Carrollton with Evie and helped Matt one night ... Evie was happy to be home for a few hours!

Evie was happy as long as she could see her daddy ....

The kids were at my parents house from July 8 to August 2nd!

I was there with them from July 22 - Aug. 2nd!

You can tell from the following pictures why it was a good idea for us to stay out of the way ...

Yep, that's the microwave.

And the refrigerator ...

Playing with Tinkertoys ...

Simon enjoying the toy that was in Sally's kid's meal ...

self portrait number one

Simon enjoying Matt's childhood Garfield books.

He just chuckles and chuckles and I'm not sure why ....

Scott hanging out in the morning.

Getting materials out to make cards -

that I still haven't mailed ....

self portrait number two

Miss Priss

Simon has the camera!  He took quite a few pictures!  And they weren't that exciting!

Proof that Matt was using MY hammer!  Ha!  Love the pink!

Simon helping pull out the tile spacers.

Simon helping put together an 18 inch wall cabinet.

The wall cabinets were up!

Looks like I had a mini-remodel mini-breakdown here....

Here's our gorgeous butcher block countertops!

They go well with the floor!

Our friend Casey helped out Matt so much with texturing the walls and painting.  

He had some tools that really made the work fast and professional!

Installing the dishwasher....

Dangerously close to JD's work-lamp ....

That thing puts out some heat!

I bought Evie her first 'nightgown' in Germany.  I thought the princess theme was appropriate, with all of the castles and all.  This picture reminds me of a lady walking around a castle holding a lantern ....  

This is space that we are not sure what to do with - 

before we had a built in hutch that we liked - it held our breadmaker, some food in canisters, cookbooks, etc.  We're doubling our cabinets and getting 9 feet of extra counter space, so I might not need the space to 'store' kitchen stuff anymore ....

We're open to suggestions!

Here's a better shot of that space and how it fits into the kitchen.

The counter here will actually be about 14 inches deeper, more of an island cut - you'll see it in some later pictures.

TODAY is Simon's FIFTH birthday!

We had a bonding time around 6 a.m. this morning when he woke up from a nightmare.

He came to my room and asked, "Mom, can I cuddle with you just a little bit?"  In his dream, a man setting up a terrarium with a snake asked Simon to hold a jar with a striped snake and Simon accidentally dropped the jar and the snake bit him and Evie.  Evie died from the snakebite and Simon was so sad he couldn't sleep.

My bonding time with Simon followed an intermittent 2:30-5:30 bonding time with Evie whom I hope is teething or something that explains these incredible bouts of screaming and crying at night~

This is me turning on the dishwasher for the first time last night!

We haven't had a working dishwasher since December!

What we take for granted ...

This shows the island cut on the counter ....

Throw me some ideas for that space back there.

Matt thought about a booth with a removable table in the middle, imagining that the kids could do their homework there ... and there would be bookshelves above each boothseat on the inside walls ....  I'm not sure how that would look to have a seating area, a table for seating, and we're having some backless barstools under the island ....