Kitchen project

Here are a few pictures of our latest project...our kitchen. John thinks I have so much free time on my hands so he decided he wanted us to tile the backsplash with tumblestone. We found a big tile store and picked things out quickly. I am so glad it ended up looking as good as it does. John and I worked together for 2 nights to get all the stone cut and up on the wall. And I grouted and did the little jobs during the day...you know...in my spare time. I think it came out great. I even learned to use the wet saw. And, just so you know...they call it a wet saw because you get totally wet while cutting tile. Next we are going to tile our master bathroom. Oh joy.

The boys rooms

Here are the boys rooms. The first 2 are of Austin's room. After a big "discussion" about color and style I finally convinced him to do a map theme. He wanted me to paint his walls black with white skulls and crossbones on them. After weeks of round -a- bouts we agreed on this. Now, every time we go somewhere he is going to get a post card and we will start adding them to the walls. I figure it will keep him involved and that made him happy.

Justin and Christian share the camo room. They LOVE being together. The comforters glow in the dark too. It is nice to have them in one room...Justin sleeps better and Christian usually ends up in Justin's bed. It is very cute. Every night Justin reads a book to Christian. They are best buds...most of the time.

Random Pics

Here are a few random pictures of Jilliann. She and John slept in the chair Friday night while I sewed my heart out to make this stupid fort for the boys in our plant loft. I will post pictures soon of that.

Then, Jilliann was fussy at dinner so I loaded a bunch of refried beans on her high chair. She actually ate quite a few then got fussy again so I gave her an oreo. The combo is disgusting but she was happy for a while. Oh the things we do to keep them quiet.

Pool update

Here is the latest on the pool. Things seem to have slowed down quite a bit recently and I am not sure why. I am just wanting to get it all done. They have poured most of our decking and put down flagstone on one side. We added some rocks here and there and a small waterfall in the back. They are here right now working on a little section of concrete they didn't pour a few weeks ago due to a design flaw. That has all been worked out now I think! Hard to know when none of the workers speak English. AHHH...Arizona.

There are several steps left in finishing this up. We are still waiting on the barrier fence, the acrylic coating on the concrete, the mosaic turtles on the steps, the cleaning system installation, putting my brick wall and gate back up and then the pebble interior and water. They said 3 more weeks but I imagine it will be double at the rate they are working. Still, it will be awesome when it is done.

Andrew's R&R

Andrew came home for his 2 weeks of R&R. He didn't want to go anywhere so we hung out here and ate out A LOT!! Doesn't say much for my cooking that he came home and wanted to eat at all the major restaurants but oh well...I didn't have to cook!

We had a birthday party for him at the park. He turned 20!! All the family was there and even Alys and Robert the Great drove out to join in the fun. His last night here we went to Benihana's and enjoyed the most expensive meal ever. We celebrated his birthday again.

Saying goodbye was tough. He seems so grown up yet so young still to be seeing the things he is. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. He is supposed to be home in November and I hope he is.

Sleep like a baby

It is amazing the places I find Jilliann asleep. She sleeps horrible at night unless she is attached to my boob but here she has given in to Mr. Sandman in her swing, her bouncy seat and on the dog's bed he got for Christmas. I am thinking of letting Kodiak in the crib and having her sleep on his bed! Ok...not really but I would love a full night of sleep. I guess when she is 18 I will finally have that!!

Play Room

This is my ode to Alaska. I wallpapered with "log cabin" looking wall paper and painted a few walls. I also created these cubes of organization that are supposed to help with cleaning up but I have yet to see the kids utilize this. They do enjoy their space upstairs though. It is a great place for them.

From the front door

This is our office space which should be the "formal" dining area but we didnt feel the need for 2 tables. The "formal" living room is in here also though really in our house there is no such thing as formal. It is a nice sitting area though when the kids are loud and I want a little peace and quiet. There is no TV in there so it holds little interest for them.

Family Living

Our Family room is big so the boys have lots of space to wrestle and create all kinds of chaos. They are good at that. I painted the walls a medium camel color though they look yellow in the pictures they arent. I also painted the archway burgundy to add some extra color in there.

Colorful Potty

I painted to boys bathroom upstairs red with sponge painting (John hates it!) and I wallpapered a few walls with blue star wallpaper. It is my red, white and blue bathroom.

The guest bathroom downstairs is done in a Hawaiian theme. I painted it bright orange. It is pretty funky but hey, all you do in there is poop!

Master

We havent painted the master bedroom or bathroom yet but I finally know what I am going to do. I think I will work on it next month though. I am burned out after doing everything else.

We have walls!

Yeah...we have walls. They came today and shot all the concrete in to form the steps and walls and floor of the pool. It is coming along and is starting to look like it will be something. It didnt take them long to shoot all this stuff in and form everything. Pretty amazing. Next is the rocks for the waterfall then the decking.

Rebar and Electric

The rebar is in and the electric is done. Yeah. Today is the city insepction and with approval we will get the shotcrete on Friday. Supposedly that is the half way mark. The kids are excited and keep asking when we will be able to swim. Hopefully by summer!

Plumbing and Soil

We had 5 tons of top soil delivered to the house for the area we are going to sod. Now, the houses here are not far enough apart for a truck to get in the backyard so the soil was dumped in our front street and we had to haul it in wheelbarrels to the back. That was fun!! John and I were joined by a sweet neighbor who helped out. It was a lot of work. Johnny and John spent the next day spreading it out to get it ready. Saturday we are laying the sod. Oh joy!!





1/31...The plumbing is in!! It took 2 days because it actually rained here so everything stops. God forbid they get wet building a pool. But, it went smoothly and didnt cost us any extra money. Next is the rebar on Monday (2/5).

The Dig

Day 1 (1/24)...They discovered "ciliche" after digging down 3 feet. That just means more money for them. Now we have to pay them by the hour ($275) and give them our first born! Wonder how many hours it will take??





Day 2 (1/25)...John and I debate about doing the work at night ourselves since they left the machines and the keys. They spent all day (9 hours) yesterday with the "hard dig" and will need to do more tomorrow. Yeah, it is a lot of rock but geez. When this is over we will need to plant a money tree. For now, we just have a money dirt hole.




Day 3 (1/26)...Well, 12.5 hours and $45 each for 5 load they had to take somewhere special because of the "cliche" later and our pool is dug. You can do the math to figure out how much money out of pocket we had to come up with. John was SO happy. I wrote on the bottom of the check in the memo line "Ciliche Scam". Thought it was the truth. What a racket they came up with. It is all pool companies out here. Just a way to make extra money. Anyway, next is plumbing on Tuesday 1/30.




Here Christian is enjoying the machines they left at night. He had a lot of fun wathcing them dig every day. Most of the time he stood at the window in his underwear. I am sure he scared the snot out of the poor workers.

Construction at the Fueller's

We are having a pool built. I thought it would be fun to document all the things that happen while having that done. It all started yesterday (1/22/07) when some cute guy came out to do lots of measurments. He then spray painted and marked with huge nails the outline of the pool. It will be 15 feet wide (although it is curvy so it changes in different spots) and 29 feet long. There is a baja step at the shallow end that will be 18 inched deep (for Jilliann to play on)and a rock waterfall at the deeper end (5 feet). We are very excited to get this thing going. It is costing us an arm and a leg but in Arizona I think it is close to a necessity.

Tomorrow they are supposed to come dig it. I will post pictures as things change.

For your Information

I always like to share important information I find so here is a new bit I learned today...it takes 2 rolls of paper towels, 2 big bath towels, 4 washcloths and 1 hour to clean up a gallon of syrup spilled on the floor of the pantry. The dog and the baby add another 15 minutes.

Christian was "helping" get the syrup out of the pantry off a shelf too high for him to reach. As he was climbing he reached for the syrup and knocked it off the shelf. Yes it is in plastic but apparently with enough force even that will crack down the whole side. Gotta love CostCo size things...and brand new at that! As I was trying to catch the majority of it from running into EVERYTHING on the floor of the pantry (which was a lost cause) he announced that since the syrup was spilled he would rather have peanut butter and honey on his waffles. He is so sweet!

I am off to take him to preschool. Not sure yet if I am going to pick him up at 3:00pm. Between now and then I think Jilliann and I will go out and have a margarita!

R.I.P.

In October my step-dad's mother passed away. Although it was a blessing really, as she was suffering and old, it was still sad. On New Year's morning George's father passed away. It makes me stop to contemplate the reality of life. Funny how they both lived long and happy lives but saying goodbye is still hard. Please pray for George and his family as they deal with the passing of both parents in such a short amount of time.