Our New Kitchen

Yes, our countertops were installed Wednesday, and except for the floor repair which will happen Tuesday and Wednesday next week, our kitchen is done! We are so happy with everything and I am loving having countertop space and a garbage disposal once again. 

In case the whiteness of our previous kitchen hadn't imprinted on your brain, here are the before and after shots:

BEFORE:

 

AFTER!

BEFORE:

 AFTER!

 

We love it and more importantly it is done before baby arrived!  A pendant light identical to the two over the peninsula will go over the kitchen sink, but the third light came damaged and a replacement won't arrive until next week.  I have been busy unpacking everything until the cabinets and pantry, but that is going to be a long process. 

Our Family Vacation - Erie, PA

Okay, it was only a 2 day/one night trip, but we still managed to squeak in a family vacation back to Erie, PA.  The two hour car ride was about all this 32 week pregnant mom could comfortably tolerate. 

 

 

 We arrived on Sunday (Father's Day)about noon to cloudy skies (we drove through some rain)  and harsh winds.  We unloaded the kids and trudged to Beach 7 on Presque Isle State Park with all of the toys and blankets.  The wind was so strong, it was blowing sand everywhere, including our faces.  We packed everything back up five minutes later and had our picnic lunch in the minivan.  We couldn't even crack the windows because we timed our trip with the hatching of thousands of these strange flying bugs (Tom thinks they are may flies?) that swarmed our car.

By the time the kids had finished eating, more sun had appeared and the winds seemed calmer, so we shifted gears and headed to the bay to try some fishing.  After an unsuccessful hour, we headed to our hotel, got an early check-in, and hit the hotel pool for 45 minutes before dinner at Smugglers.

Tommy was perfectly content playing with the pliers while Tom and Patrick actually did the fishing.  When he did get the chance to hold Tom's pool, he tangled up the line in about 15 seconds and Tom had to start from scratch.

This year we stayed in the Sheraton Bay Front, which was beautiful and fairly new.  The downside was it had no suites, so we all shared two queen beds in one room.  I got Tommy, and it was not a good night.  The kid kept steamrolling me.  The next morning, as I was wrapping up our room service breakfast, Tommy took the opportunity to somehow open the heavy door and exited the room all by himself .  I heard the click as the door shut behind him and got to him just as he was about to hit the elevator's down button.  He is literally draining all the life from me lately, but more on that later. 



One exhausted two-year-old after a day on the go.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear is far and away his favorite book right now.

The next morning, Monday, we woke up to sunshine and 73 degree temps.  We spent three hours at Beach 7 again, playing in the sand and flying our new kite.  When we arrived about 8:30, we had the entire beach to ourselves.  About 30 minutes later,  a women came with her two granddaughters and (despite there being an ENTIRE empty beach) put her blanket down just fifteen feet from ours.  Tom and just stared at each other in disbelief. 

I was 32 weeks at the time of the trip and feeling pretty good.  It really has been an easy pregnancy and I am hoping the next 5 weeks are just as smooth.

My fearless, crazy one was actually scared to even put a toe in the water.  It was fairly cold, and he was just as happy to dig and have daddy fetch bucket after bucket of water.

Our playground for the first hour until other families started to arrive.

It is hard to imagine that I am going to get even bigger.  Last week I weighed in at around 182 at my check-up which is right about where I was with Tommy at the same time frame.  My C-section has officially been scheduled for the end of July- yippee!

Could it be?  A picture of both boys looking and mostly smiling?  A Father's Day vacation miracle for sure.  We headed back to Pittsburgh around 2:00, but not before the boys tried their hand at fishing one more time.  Sadly, no fish this trip, but two happy boys who slept the whole way home had a blast. 

Congratulations, Uncle M!

Two Fridays ago Tom and I proudly watched as Tommy and P's beloved Uncle M graduated from high school (did I mention that on top of being super smart, he was class president?). What will we do without him around?  We certainly can't move again- Tom had him help move all of our large, over sized items each move.  He tuned up our riding tractor this spring.  He has every tool under the moon.  He is possibly the most helpful uncle in the world, and we are going to miss him (especially two, adorable little peanuts). 

Congratulations M!

Still Here (and bigger than ever)

Since  have not been blogging, you can only guess what I have been up to.

P A I N T I N G

Don't worry, wearing my pink vapor mask.   But tired, tired, tired. 

Lots of posts that need written. 

Soon, I promise. 

Also, thank you's from P's 4th birthday are in the works. 

P.S.  B-Mama, I actually got a thank you card out to you only to have it returned. Apparently, the post office doesn't just know where you live.  I only wrote your name on the front and put on a stamp.  No address.  Pregnancy brain.

Good night for now.

Kitchen Remodel- Week 5

Week five really consists of only Monday and Tuesday - our contractors will not return until the granite is ready to be set in place (they measured for it Tuesday).  Today, the boys and I returned from a road trip to D.C. (more on that later) to find most of my appliances hooked up and working!

Front and center is the huge hole in the center of the kitchen where we need to fill in the missing hardwood floor.  I had to special order the floor and it is scheduled to arrive the week of June 11th.  Then it has to be installed, sanded to blend in with the other flooring, then stained and sealed. 

This little guy is my new love though; The GE Advantium Speed Cooker Wall Oven.  It can operate as a convection oven, microwave, or roaster in addition to a speed cooker, but I doubt I will use it in those capacities much.  My old neighbor got two of these when they redid their kitchen and she highly recommends them.  They bake just like an oven, but this one does it 8 times more quickly than a traditional oven (hence the speed cooker title).  I rolled in from 5 hours on the road and threw 4 fish sticks and half a bag of tator tots in, picked the "frozen fish stick" setting, and hit start (no preheating).  They were crispy and perfectly done in 7 minutes, 30 seconds.  I then made Tom some Gorton's fish fillets in 6 minutes, 30 seconds.  And for a late night snack, I turned the knob to "appetizers", then "mozzarella cheese sticks" and  had crispy, evenly cooked hot mozzarella sticks in just over 4 minutes.    The oven knows how much time for each item based on a huge selection of food items in it's stored memory so I don't have to figure it out.  So far, I am quite impressed with it after day 1.

I also arrived home to find my new sink in the family room.  Tommy of course deduced that it must be a boat of some sort and climbed in (I should have grabbed my camera). 

I am anxious to have counter tops again, but grateful for the temporary sink and especially a working dishwasher.  Life is getting easier. 

A First

My husband must be gearing up to drop on me that he will be in a month-long golf school beginning the week the baby is due, because in addition to my new kitchen, he brought this lovely girl home for me on Friday-

 She is my very FIRST NEW car ever.  I love her.  The kids love her.

 

 

We switched Tommy to forward facing as of today when Tom installed the car seats, and he seems to be enjoying his new views.  P gets his very own backseat, and Baby Girl will have the other bucket seat.  

We did have to say goodbye to our first "kid" car that we got when Patrick was born to replace my 1997 Saturn (which didn't even have power windows or locks).  Actually, this was more a necessity purchase - we could not fit a third car seat in it since it was a 2003 and the third row (which was more of a temporary back row) was not rated for a car seat.   No complaints here. No I just need to learn how to use everything.

Kitchen Remodel - End of week 4

Four weeks in and it is finally starting to look like a kitchen again.  Our cabinets are mostly in, the appliances get delivered Monday morning, my pendant lights arrive Tuesday, and the granite guys come to measure for the countertops Tuesday (which should be ready for install a week later).  I ordered counter stools Friday.

My sink is sitting in the white box on the far left and I can't wait  to see it in.  While I could not convince Tom to go with a sink where the apron was exposed, he did agree to let me order the white ceramic sink I wanted instead of stainless steel.  The faucet is oiled bronze and has I am probably over-excited about the "bump" technology feature that allows you to turn it on by tapping the faucet anywhere.  I am a messy cook.  Enough said. 

The only glitch remains the floor.  I had to special order unfinished, oak flooring in the impossible-to-find thickness as the existing floors, but because the existing floor has been refinished, the new floor may still need sanded a bit to be level.  More dust. 

Patrick is going to be devastated when the work is done.  Mr. Richard has become P's best buddy and is such a good sport about letting P help out here and there.  P has been bugging him so much lately though I have had to set a lot of rules about how often he can go near the kitchen.  We have the best guys on the job and I couldn't be happier with our pick.