The Rest of February

I took Sam and Jack to the dentist in February.  It wasn't the first time for either of them, but Jack looked so darned cute with the sunglasses on, holding so still, that I just had to take a couple of pictures.  He was so big and so cute.  Sam did great as well, but I didn't even think to take a picture of him as at the time I was trying to corral a curious Jack who, when he wasn't trying to climb in the seat with Sammy, was really upset that I wouldn't let him climb up on any of the other exam chairs.  So I missed the photo op with Sam.  But Sam was so very good, that, when it was his turn, Jack knew there was nothing to be worried about.  The good news is no one had a cavity!

Paul and I went out with a bunch of friends in February to celebrate my friend, Karen's, 40th birthday.  I somehow didn't get any pictures with the birthday girl, (or with Paul), but here is a cute one of Sara and I--being photo-bombed by her husband, Eric...

Jack has really been into dressing up lately.  Doesn't he make an adorable green ninja?

And a super cute Mario next to his darling older brother, Luigi...

I was just getting out of the shower when the boys came into the bathroom to hang out or ask me a question or something.  They started to get silly, and the next thing I knew, Max was face down in my clothes hamper.  It was tough to get him out--he's so big--but the whole thing was very funny...

Leonardo was part of the carpool pickup on this particular day...

We have had a most brutal winter this year, the snow and cold temperatures have been relentless.  As I am writing this in mid-March the snow has finally melted for the most part, but guess what?  Another snow storm is coming tonight and tomorrow; we could get 1-4 inches!  Before this last week, however, there has been a ton of snow on the ground.  The kids have missed so many school days because of it and all of the storms that they have taken away their spring break and Memorial Day. It has been so cold that it was hard to even get motivated to go outside.  We tried our best, though...

Look at this snow drift on our deck...

We made this snowman, and the boys decided that since we didn't really have anything cool to adorn him with aside from a hat and carrot, we should paint him.  What the heck--it is washable paint!

We also tried to make a snow fortress.  Jack found the idea of knocking the blocks down so irresistible, however, that we didn't get very far.  It was still fun to make!

Window Treatment project

I talked Paul into helping me make valances for our windows in the family room and kitchen.  He wasn't super excited about the idea, but he is awesome and did it for me anyway.  He built the framework out of MDF and hung them for me.  He also assisted with the stapling.  What a great hubby I have!

Stairs Remodel

It seems like we have been doing a lot of little (and big) projects around the house lately, and this place is slowly starting to look like it belongs in this century.  We are quite pleased with our most recent renovation of installing hardwood flooring upstairs.  The stairs were already hardwood, but were covered with a carpet runner (that we actually had replaced with new carpet before we moved in), but we hated the carpet and loved the wood floor so much, that we had it ripped out and had the wood refinished.  The project itself seemed to drag on for months (note to self:  never ever hire Aspen Flooring to do any project ever again ever), but the end result was entirely worth it.

This "before" pic was taken when we first moved in--the carpet was new and the overall look wasn't that bad...

Fast forward almost 5 years, the carpet was looking pretty worn after being trampled on daily by a family of five.  So,  it had to go...

Then, we had the risers and trim painted, and WOW!!!  We love it...

Here is another "before" picture I found while rummaging thru, trying to find the first carpeted picture for this entry.  Look how tiny Max is!  And look at how dated the paint and the trim and the stairs look.  I think this was an amazing improvement!!

We also replaced all of the doors.  We had the hollow, brown (fake wood) doors with brass hardware.  I didn't find a before picture, but they were very 1980s.  Paul did this particular project himself.  He had to sand and cut the doors and the inserts for all of the hardware, and he painted and hung them himself. The glass door is the entrance to our mudroom, we opted for the glass here since the natural light from the mudroom brightens this hallway significantly.  Now, we just need to do something about the awful tile floor...

I love the three panels...

I found a bunch of cute pictures when I was trying to find the "before" pictures of the stairs.  I couldn't resist posting some of them on here, especially since, in addition to how big my boys have gotten, they really depict the transformation our house has gone thru with new paint and trim and doors...

Here is little Max, trying on his new backpack the day before his first day of preschool.  He was 2.5 and we thought he was huge!  In this picture you can also see the ugly brown trim around the windows and doorways, and the kitchen and foyer desperately needed painting...

He was so little!  Now our door is a slate blue and the trim is white...

Look at these two little cuties!  Now they are huge.

We have replaced the doors with some beautiful sliders, and the trim is white and walls are painted.  We have done a lot in 5 years!

January 2014

Wow--A new year!   These kids of mine are growing up WAYYY too fast.  Max lost his first tooth!  He suddenly started to complain that he couldn't eat certain foods or drink from certain cups because it bothered his "wiggly tooth".  What?  This was the first I had heard of it!  And when I checked I couldn't believe it--the tooth was barely hanging on!  He was very hesitant at first to let me just yank it out, but the promise of the tooth fairy leaving cash under his pillow (that he could later use to buy a toy) seemed to seal the deal.  I pulled it out and that was that.  Oh, except we had to go out for a celebratory dinner at Hibachi (another bribe for letting me pull out his tooth...)

Jack is just chilling in one of the toy boxes.  He looked so cute (and so grown up), I couldn't help but snap a photo...

Sam was "star of the week" in his preschool class the first part of January.  He had to make a poster all about him (and pretty much all on his own).  What a great job he did!  He is such a perfectionist; he had to make sure that none of the pictures overlapped each other and that none of them were hanging over the edge.  He picked out the pics and glued them all on all by himself.  I joked that he did such an amazing job that his teachers were going to think that I did it for him.  The funniest part are the cool pictures he found on the internet of the sushi--it's lego sushi!  His teachers were also quite impressed that the artichoke was on there; not many 4-yr-old like artichokes...

What the heck is Max doing in the closet?  Of course, he is looking for a toy.  That kid climbs up everything.  He is not supposed to stand on those shelves, though, so I told him to get down--but I had to take a picture of it first since it was so funny to see him up there wearing that outfit (or lack of outfit)...

Costume time!

Even mommy has to dress up...

Check out the massive heap of costumes at Sam's feet.  That is only a small portion of our collection.  My kids LOVE to dress up!!!

Bath time continues to be my least favorite parenting duty.  The boys fight over who gets to sit where, who gets out first, who gets what towel, who had what toy first, and they SPLASH everywhere.  I always end up getting quite soaked by the time I have them all clean and rinsed off.  They are getting so big it is hard to have them all bath together, but they LOVE it.  I try to sneak one or two of them upstairs and into the tub and sure enough, the third will have figured it out in no time and come running in, naked and ready to bathe.  Of course I much prefer them to shower, but they don't enjoy it nearly as much,  so I often give in and they all three splash in the tub.  Fortunately, Paul is the official bather of the house so if he is home I usually just hand the dirty kids off to him...

I thought this was a cute picture of Sam and Jack--they look so much alike!  I bought the basket to hold all of our many blankets but it turned into a favorite seat of the boys'...

It is hard to remember the obviously nice weather of the following pictures since I am typing this in March, in the midst of a super cold and snowy spell.  But, as is depicted by the group of photos below, we had a small stretch of no snow with temps above freezing.  As I am writing this,  I can't remember the last time I saw our grass; we have had a TON of snow this winter.  So, I am guessing that these pictures were it.  I feel confident in saying that soon after we finished playing with our awesome homemade cardboard and duct tape swords and shields outside without our coats on this January day, it snowed, and then snowed again, and then again and again and again and again and again...

But, it rained first.  The boys had a blast playing in the mud, but they made a huge mess on the driveway...

My cute and clever Sam lined up all these cars and monster trucks. He was so particular about what car went where and Jack was not allowed to take any of them from the line.  I let him keep it up long enough to show Max when he got home from school, but eventually I had to let Jack grab a truck or two...

Max is such a good helper and awesome brother.  Paul took this picture of him making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Sam for breakfast.  He did it all by himself!

Max tucked his stuffed animals into his bed.  So precious!...

Here is the snow we have been getting way too much of.  Jack and I had fun shoveling it into buckets on this particular day...

Paul and I got to go out on a double date with our favorite sitter ever--Liz!  We have missed her so much since she moved to Philly, so it was nice to be able to have a grown-up dinner with her and catch up.  We dined at a specatular Asian restaurant called Buddakan (the same place we went with my mom when she was out here last).  My mouth is watering just thinking of how yummy the food is...

My three cuties, chillin' on the couch...