New & Improved

I'm happy to say, we're in our new house! We moved about a week ago. It was truly amazing to watch. Pete flew out to help us, and my family was there. And then on top of that we had probably 15 more people from church and friends. We were completely out of one house and into the other within about an hour. Really. Everything. I was shocked. We are so lucky! Thanks to all that helped.

This last week was spent shuffling stuff around the house, and WAITING. Waiting for workers to show up. For various things to be delivered and installed. Noise, dust, men in and out of almost every room in the house all day. Of course, nothing happened when I was told it would. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for my new appliances, new carpet, new blinds..... but the waiting. In fact, that is what I'm doing right now. The contractors are supposed to be here (they're not), and I was supposed to get a new fridge (ours was broken when we got it) an hour ago. Have you ever experienced this? Maddening! But enough complaining. More house.

Here's a list of what we've done (or had done) to the house since closing:

1. All new paint inside.

2. New carpet.

3. Refinished hardwood floors in kitchen/ dining room.

4. New blinds.

5. Installed dome lights in the 2 small bedrooms.

6. All new stainless steel appliances in the kitchen.

7. New front loading washer/dryer. ( I LOVE these!!! What a dream)

8. Finished basement (one big room, large storage closet, laundry room, and full bathroom)

(pictures of this to come)

9. New (bigger) window well (to meet code in the basement).

10. Moved lots of rock around the yard. (this is only the beginning of the outside work)

11. Gutted master bathroom and got a brand new one.

Before:

During:

After:

12. Tile instead of carpet (yuck!!!) in the hall bathroom.



13. Granite tile counter top and new toilet in the hall bathroom .

(Zach is feeling right at home and loves to sit in the sink and brush his teeth)

13. Loads of cleaning. (smokers, dogs= dirty everything) and (renovation= DUST!!!!)

14. New ceiling fans.

15. Removed tacky fit-in mirror over the fireplace, patched, textured, and painted.

Before:

After:

16. New thermostat.

17. Ten million trips to Lowe's and Home Depot.

18. Ten million paint samples.



Still to be done:

1. More unpacking, organizing, cleaning, and decorating.

2. Touch-ups in the basement (contractors).

3. Fire door in the basement for the utility room.

4. Inspection.

5. Paint touch-ups.

6. Paint the outside of the house.

7. Landscaping.

8. Shelving in the laundry room.


9. Shelving in the storage closet.

10. Buy furniture. (thanks Obama for the tax credit!!)



We knew this house was going to be a big project when we bought it, and seriously, it was. Part fun and exciting. Part tedious and exhausting. And stressful. But we love it and are so happy we got it!!

Winter.

A couple weekends ago we headed up to Winter Park with my parents and Gary and Kim. My parents had gotten a condo for a week to ski, but my mom couldn't ski because of her broken shoulder. So instead of skiing, we all decided to go snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park for one of the days. We had debated going because we still have so many house projects.... but the break was wonderful.

February is always kind of a dreary month to me. I'm over the excitement of a new season, and done with the cold and the wind. Anyone else feel that way? It hasn't snowed much here (knock on wood) this year, so it was really nice to get up in the mountains and do something wintery. It was beautiful! Cal packed Zach around and my Dad and I got to have some fun with our cameras. Of course.

After snowshoeing we let Zach have his first try at sledding. This kid LOVED it. He stayed on a lot better than I thought he would (he only fell off once) and was fearless.

Hold on!

He smiled and laughed the whole time.

He even went down on his belly once, thanks to a good push from Dad.

No problem.

(more pictures here)

Happy Valentine's Day

I wanna be a cowboy, baby

Just another day, and another Zachie overload post

Just trying to be like Daddy.

He loves to "hide" behind this curtain in our bathroom. He squeals when I "sneak" up on him and touch my nose to his. Hilarious!

Emptying my drawers for me.

Watching the garbage truck.

Just fun.
(click on this next one to see his cool color-changing eyes)

Anyone who's spent much time with him lately knows he is quite the demanding boss. He grabs your finger and pulls you around and points you to do what he wants. This is his look of desperation. "Come on, Mom!"

He SO wants to be a big boy. It's cute to watch. Putting on socks is tricky, you know.

Oh well.

Then he decided to throw his hands up in the air, scream, and flop back on the bed, for at least 10 minutes.

Phew. That was a lot of work.

Where he loves to sleep. Right in the middle of our bed.

I love when little kids sit on their heels. It reminds me of the little girl on Monsters, Inc.

The boss says he must have bubbles in his bath.

And of course, when your grandpa is a dentist, you have to brush your teeth.

I sure do love this silly little boy.

Sneak Peek

Eventually I will do before and after pictures, but for now here's a little glimpse of our house projects:

Painting, painting, and more painting. We're finally almost done with that. Just some touch ups and edges...... The carpet is gone, thank goodness, the bathroom is gone, and the basement is getting framed. I feel like SO much has happened already, but there is so much left to do!

The front room:

Looking from the living room into the kitchen/dining room:

Cal, yes, painting.

Even Zachie got in on a little of the painting fun. He was dying to help, but generally has to stay at home. Our current home, that is.

The master bath. Gutted.

So there you have it. A work in progress...