Summer vacation- part 2

This summer was cra-azy! I felt like all I did was cook, clean up the kitchen, do laundry, and run around like a lunatic. While of course I miss my two big kids while they are at school, I am enjoying the relative quiet calmness in the house right now. 

What we did this summer, part 2

Asher is into ev-ery-thing! And he is fast. I can't blink, he might have my entire dresser emptied and all the contents in a giant pile on the floor that the other kids are diving and swimming in. Yep. Crazy time at my house. 

 Big boy car seat!

 The fair! My favorite day of the summer! Except now that I am a vegan, I was all emotional in the animal exhibits, more so than in past years. Thank goodness for sunglasses. (more on my new vegan status at another time)

 The big kids rode all the rides. At one point a big bolt flew off one of them while they were riding. NO, I am not kidding. It landed by my feet. I hate those rides. Kids love them. I left Big Tall Hubby to supervise, I went to get more fried pickles. Oh yeah, stress eating is awesome at the fair.

 Baseball. My favorite sport of his so far. He especially loved playing first base.

 Rain. I had to take a picture because it was a rare sight.

 Who needs toys? Boxes work just fine.

 Baking. When boys are going crazy and you don't want to go out and play in the above rain, bake, calms them right down.

 A B52 bomber flew over our house on July 4th. It was huge but this picture doesn't show it. I had to promptly come inside and YouTube "Love Shack" for the kids, they think I am the biggest dork. I mean, how could I resist?

 Naps, we all needed them, but few of us took them. *sigh*

 We took Zoe to see "Wicked" she loved it. She wants to be Galinda, and she has mastered the hair flip and singing "Popular." Oh boy, that girl better be on Broadway someday or she is going to be so bummed.

 Bike riding. Tanner still prefers his tricycle but I loved helping him try this bigger bike.

 Dude.

 See, I told you, laundry and tornado baby. My summer was way funner than yours, wasn't it?

 Reading. Zoe read 75 books this summer! Alas, we didn't win the reading award from the library again this year. :(  We tried I guess that is what matters.

If I can get my pictures uploaded, I might be able to have part 3, I know you will be waiting patiently.

Have a super day.

What we did over our summer vacation- part 1

We had lunch at Ikea. We never go there. I swear, some people just love that place. I like it ok but I am not an Ikea-maniac. It is only like 15 minutes from my house, I hear people talking about their out of town friends and family spending entire days there when they come to visit. Ugh, maybe because it is so dark and dreary in ours, I can't imagine. I didn't buy a thing on this trip, other than food. I'm a weirdo.  Give me an outdoor flea market any day, I'd be a happy camper. 

 I do like how family friendly Ikea is. That's cool.

 Ice cream on the way out. A treat for my kids being so good and walking three thousand miles in that giant place.

 Parker is obviously ready to go home.

 At home, was the biggest mess you ever saw. See. My living room.

 My foyer/hallway.

 My kitchen.

 I think they put something in those holes. A time capsule. Sorry future homeowners.

 My biggest nightmare. Really. Asher saw all the goodies in those drawers and he went nuts.

 Junk food on my kitchen table, eww gross, it was for my laborers. Along with parts of our stove, trash, appliances, so awful.

 What the heck were we doing? Well, we got new countertops. Not granite. I told you, I am not a granite girl. We were so sick of everyone who came through our house telling us it was outdated, we decided to do a mini upgrade. We got laminate. Kiss off all you haters who are going to rip on the laminate. Within 2 hours of having the new counters in, grape juice all over them. Easy to clean up? You betcha. Granite, stained for sure. Limestone or butcher block would be my ideal but for now, it's laminate from Menards.

We picked out the color in about three minutes. No kidding. I saw the backsplash tile and  said, "that's it." 30 seconds. Seriously. My Big Tall Hubby kept saying, "are you sure?" He kept bringing home more and more samples from the store. I was like this, "I said I want that one and I am positive!!!!!" Insert naggy tone, sorry Big Tall.

So it took forever for us to measure, we have the biggest, most cornered countertops in the world. We got the template and then finally got the pieces delivered about two months later.  Those boxes were in the way for about a week until we could find a day to install them. Big Tall Hubby asked a Big Tall Friend to help and that's how the kids and I ended up at Ikea for the day.

During the weekend, I saw lots of booties and cracks. It was kind of annoying.

 But this is what it looks like now.  :) Cup not part of the countertop of course.

 I lurve the backsplash. But I have decided I hate cleaning up grout, it is the biggest mess. I am still finding chunks of it.

 Don't my Longabergers look so pretty now?

So we wanted to get new appliances but they are just too much money. Our cooktop is almost $4000 to replace, our ovens, almost $3600, a new fridge and dishwasher and well, you get the idea. I like the white (I know, I am a granny) and it doesn't bother me. I don't like stainless, the only reason I would get it is to appease a home buyer and we spent a ton on this project already. Laminate is cheaper than granite but when your kitchen is as big as mine, nothing is cheap.

Anywhosie, I like the upgrade. We've only had one showing since we put the new counters in and they said they liked it. (They also put in a purposefully lowball offer and then when we countered, they ignored us, jerks!) So if nothing else, we have a nice newish kitchen to enjoy.

More updates later.

Have a great day!

best rule I ever made

This little rule "no tv before 9:00" was the best house rule I ever made. Seriously. It made our summer a teensy bit more peaceful. I swear. The kids used to sneak downstairs while I was in the shower and turn on Disney or PBS and then it was next to impossible to get them away from the screen for breakfast, getting dressed, whatever. But then they learned about the rule and they would actually eat! No more soggy cereal bowls on the counter!

Now there were a couple times when they would be watching the clock to turn on the tv, secretly, me too. Sometimes you just need a break, ya know?  But on the whole it was pure genius on my part. It was heavenly to eat breakfast in somewhat peace (does anyone else get sick of that man talking on Disney channel between shows?) and quiet. Most days the kids would eat and then... go play!  **cue angels singing "ahhhh"**

You'd think with all this peace and quiet, I could have blogged a little more. Man have I been lame or what? The kids have some kind of computer radar. As soon as I sit down, they are all over me wanting me to look something up, find games for them to play or just reading over my shoulder (how annoying!) so I just kind of had to give up. That's ok, I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things.