Labor Day weekend Project

This is a link on craigslist about our rental that we get to revamp and rent out this month. We plan to make a home video like the show "Flip this House" but ours will be called "Dump this He-- Hole". Notice no pictures posted of the inside?! We will keep you all posted with the befores and afters... AND, we already got three calls today! :)

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/apa/818367513.html

UPDATE:
It is Sunday night and Tyler and I just returned from the dreaded house. It was my first time really getting to examine the place now that we have the keys. Oh my. Let's just say I couldn't find anyplace to set my purse down, and I can still smell smoke in my hair right now. Literally THE most disgusting home I have been in in my life.

Right now we are committed to getting the place in better condition. We have an Oxidizer in the home working to reduce the smell of smoke, we have a painter coming Tuesday to cover every single surface with a pre-treatment of "KILZ" paint to seal in the smell and put a nice beige semi-gloss throughout. Thursday the vents will be cleaned the cleaning ladies will be there scouring the place, the windows will get done, and Friday the new carpet arrives. We pray it all works out well.

I would never believe that this home had any hope of recovering except that my cousin recently bought a fixer-upper and it was shocking what new paint, flooring and some serious elbow grease can do. As unfortunate as it is that we are in the situation now, we are excited to learn how to do all this and to see what the finished product comes out like.

I plan to post before pictures tomorrow night after spending part of the day there. Cobwebs, filth lining the edges of the carpets, broken blinds... etc. etc.

At any rate, I'd better get some sleep.

"Bow Chica Wow-Wow!"

One room down, a few to go. I dropped Ashley off at kindergarten at noon, had Jake napping at ten after and hit the bathroom for the next three hours. Not on the john, but painting! Sadly, I didn't remember to take a before picture but it was just the beige color you see on all my other walls.

For four and a half years now I have been happy with my beige everywhere but now I am ready for a change and I am going for it. Painting the bathroom was tedious, Ali had mentioned that bathrooms are the worst and I wish she would have mentioned it more like, "bathrooms are the WORST!" But Zach and Katie's Wedding CD and Josh Groban serenaded me through it and we managed just in time to pick up the kids. I worked it.

The irony of the situation is that I chose this color in part because I think it looks cute with my shower curtain. I got it to match, and then dribbled wet paint over it as I swung my loaded roller over the floor. Dumb. So I did hang it back up with the paint splotches on it, but that won't do anymore. Time to go shopping for new towels and accessories to match the fresh, clean paint. Next week maybe, I need to pace myself.



Here are the before pictures of all the other projects I am anticipating. I will update you all as I complete them throughout the next month. And to see them all in person, you'll just have to COME VISIT!

We've been Robbed.

So, we got our credit card bill last night only to find that it was much larger than it should have been. I immediately thought "Crud, what have I bought this time?!" And upon further investigation found that some lucky, dishonest soul had a shopping spree at The Children's Place and spent $800 with our card in the Bronx, NY!! How?!

Tyler talked to the card company last night and we will be getting a reimbursement but I am still ill at ease about how that managed to happen. The way the purchase went through was as an 'in person' purchase, not an online or something else and I know for sure it wasn't one of us, plus I still have my card in hand. So, what I think happened is that a store employee got my number from a purchase I made and passed it around to someone else or something. It just too convenient that it happened at the store that I often shop at... not some other weird place.

So, friends beware. Had I used a debit card instead I wouldn't have gotten the reimbursement as easily. It's a case for using credit cards first, I guess.

Stop me now...

I am on a painting rampage. Yesterday I got a bunch of samples from my cousin's house of her wonderful paint colors and I have splashed a little color on several walls in my house today! The kids' bath, the guest bath and a nitch in the living room are going sagey green, a wall in our bedroom is going light blue and Jakey's room is turning into a big boy 'Thomas the Tank Engine' room with red and blue walls... you can close your mouth now mom.

I will post pictures in a few days of the finished work. That is, if I am still alive after Ty walks through the door tonight! Just kidding, he'll love it!
(I hope)

Tyler's Trip to Germany

Tyler had to go to Germany for work this week. In hindsight, we wish I would have gone with him, but we thought about it only a couple days before he left. Next time he travels Internationally, I will join him for sure! I have missed him SO much and thank goodness Jana came to keep us happy and entertained... because it made the time go quickly by.

Anyway, he gets back tonight after being away a whole week. We are all happy about that!
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Yay! It is so nice to be together again. These are some of the pictures he brought home. They are of the Berlin Wall, the silent Tomb (the last picture, I think). Some shots of the office there and the PWC building - funny he can't seem to get away from them! He had a good time with the people there and loved the scenery and fresh weather. Brought home wrapped gifts for all of us.. perfume for me, books for the kids and the biggest Toblerone Bar I have ever seen! :)

While the men are away, we will PLAY!

One of my best friends, Jana, came to visit this week. Upon discovering that our husbands were going to be away on business at the same time, we conjured up a plan to get together and she came here from Washington with her two cute babies!!

Between the two of us we had a five year old, four year old, two year old, one year old and 2 month old, so you can imagine what a fun time we had! Actually, we did! We have always been great at entertaining ourselves by doing silly things. We danced for our kids to some of our favorite old songs. We laughed our heads off trying to get a group photo in the pool - watching Jana set the automatic timer and throw herself into the water to make it in time was hilarious! We watched the Olympics every night, ate lots of treats (our diets start tomorrow...) and just enjoyed being together again.

It is always a treat spending time with her. Of course we missed our loves Tyler and Adam and look forward to getting the four of us together in Seattle soon. I love you Jana, Lauren and Rylan, thanks for coming!

Better late than Never, Birthday Girl!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Shelly Belly, Happy 15th Birthday. I hope you know I love you even though this post is a day behind... I didn't want to be out-done by Ali and Maddie! :) We all love you SO much!! My kids say hello and wish we saw you every single day! You are so much fun and are always happy and chipper.

Sorry about the picture... it's the best I could do. XO XO XO forever.

Two year olds and Poison Control

I just got off the phone with poison control. I was in the shower this morning when Jake came into the bathroom and banged on the shower door with the jar asking me to open my thyroid medicine for him. I said "No. That is yucky medicine!" He walked away and I didn't think another thing about it because the child-proof (yeah right.) cap was on. When I got out I found him happily watching sesame street with my empty pill jar next to him (luckily there were only about 10 left)! I grabbed the phone and made a phone call to poison control, and found out that he will be fine. The effects should hit him in about 5 days, with rapid heart rate, maybe a fever and increased activity. I can't believe he got that thing open!!

This reminded me of the few other times I have had to call poison control. When Luke was almost two I found him licking the top of the powdered Clorox can, he had the stuff all over his face. He was fine. And a couple months after that I saw him swallow a penny. Poison control instructed me to "mark his stool" by feeding him corn and when it came out the next day we had to check to see if the penny had come too. It had.

Thankfully prayers work. I always pray for my children's safety and rely on the Lord for help daily!

Oldies, but Goodies

Tonight I was organizing my office closet and came across a couple of disks with photos stored on them from 2004-2005. I took some time to upload them to the computer and found some 700 pictures that I are so fun to look at. I wanted to post a few.

Putting in the pool... which my mom contracted for us. I think these are so cool!

Our sweet little girl at one year old.

Little Lukey at two.

A trip to Seattle for my great friend Jana's wedding, took us back to our old stomping grounds. A ferry ride and my dad's building in the background...

Some rare finds - new pictures with my dad and the kids. Precious.

And grandma... and her three best bed buddies.

Nana and Ash, both so pretty.

And Popi doing what he likes best...feeding the ones he loves! :)

And oh. How did we ever do this?! 12 months apart. I lived it and I still can't believe it when I see pictures!


What a find these pictures are. Thanks for strolling memory lane with me!

Happy Birthday to Jake!

It's hard to believe that two years have passed since our Jabob was born. When I think back on the time just before we had him I always remember the strong promptings we felt to have him. I, being the planner that I am, was not wanting to have our third child until the following year, but I could not deny the feelings that I had to go ahead and try. From the moment that we knew we were pregnant I was filled with excitement and joy. Since then I have felt on countless occasions that the timing was right, as he has been a perfect addition to our family. He brings life, laughter, action and love to our home. We all adore him!! I browsed through pictures from the week he was born today and wanted to post a few of them. I just love seeing the ones at the hospital when the kids saw him for the first time and we took our first family photo as five. He was such a cutie, wasn't he?!




We really had our hands full! So now he is a big two year old and such a fun kid. We went to dinner last night to celebrate at the Rainforest Cafe because he loves Jungle Animals right now. He had a blast seeing the elephants and monkeys and tigers and believing they were real. He is just precious that way.




Today we invited my cousins over for cake and ice-cream and all the festivities. He was very aware of the excitment surrounding him and loved it. He opened presents and got a Build-a-Bear with a voice message (so cute!) in it from Nana, a jungle animal set from Grandma (perfect!), an automatic bubble machine from the kids, a puppy book and $2 from Grandma Goesch (thank you!) and a Thomas the train scooter from us. He was a happy, happy boy.






As per my journal which this blog has become, I want to write down a few of the great things about Jake at TWO YEARS OLD:
His favorite requests - "The Giraffe One" (video), "That One" (as he taps the bottle of Hershey's Syrup in the door of the fridge wanting me to add it to his milk), "La, La, La" (the story he likes, Moo, Baa and La La La), "Bi Bo" (wants to be a 'big boy' when we get into the car and not have to sit in his carseat...doesn't get that very often, unless we are staying in the neighborhood) and "I do it!" (Self explanitory!).
His favorite foods - Nug-nugs (chicken nuggets), grapes, oreos, strawberries, hotdogs, and pancakes.
His favorites pastimes - swimming, reading books, watching Barney, Teletubbies or Baby Einstein videos, dancing on Luke's bed to 'Spiderman', playing with our marble tower.
Other - He still loves his bottles and his blankie. He usually naps each afternoon for 2-3 hours. He is learning to share and not hit, push or bite his friends... and he has been close to potty-training. He is a smart, coordinated and handsome boy. And I really love him if you can't tell!