Remodel

Last fall we decided to remodel our front room fireplace.  Lucky for me, Brandon is very handy and does very good work!  While at times progress can be a little slow due to his perfectionism, I try to remind myself that the end product is always worth it!  He does a very professional job, which few people get out of do-it-themselves remodel projects.  Here are some pictures of our process:

Here is a "before shot" with the kids sitting on the floating hearth.  It's dated and ugly!  The original brick was a creamy color with a pink tile hearth before we painted it.  Seriously . . . did that EVER look good at any point in time?

Brandon chiseled out the brick to a mantel level and build bookshelves for either side.  I actually helped him build the bookshelves!  It's about the only thing I helped with, well that and keeping the kids out of the way!  And with Jonah's obsession with the nail gun, that was a full-time job!

Brett came and helped Brandon lay the limestone tile on the fireplace.  Brandon loves working with his brother, Brett.  Brandon boxed in the floating hearth.  Then he used a grinder to polish the unfinished limestone edges all along the fireplace (a messy and very noisy job).  Brandon also replaced all the molding, casing, and window sills in the kitchen and front room.  Then we repainted, got some new front room furniture and . . .

Whala!  Here's the finished product!  Brandon stacked several different moldings to create the mantel and added cabinet doors on the bottom of the shelves.  I LOVE it!  Thanks, Sweetheart, for all of your hard work!

Brian Regan

For Christmas I gave Brandon tickets to see Brian Regan, a comedian that Brandon LOVES!  So a couple of weeks ago we went with Justin and Amy to the show.  We ate dinner at a fun little family-dining Italian restaurant that Amy suggested.  It was yummy and quick, which was good because we were running REALLY late.  And Brian Regan was, as always, hilarious!  We laughed until our stomachs and cheeks hurt.  I think it's a truly talented comedian that can keep his content clean and still humorous.  Too many comedians these days focus on the crude and immoral.  Personally I think those are the easy punch lines to go for.  Brian Regan finds humor in the day-to-day mundane things.  Reliving Regan's routines as we experience those mundane routines makes life a little more fun for us.  Now it's hard not to laugh in his face when the ophthalmologist is invading our personal space during an eye exam, or bust up laughing as we walk down the terminal at the airport.

Thanks for a fun evening, Honey!  And Merry Christmas!

We have a BIG problem!!!

I know he has the face of an angel.  But don't let him fool you.  Anyone who has tended him or watched me wrestle him in church knows the mischief this little guy can create!  A lot of it comes with the territory of being a "Terrible Two-Year Old."  But we have a MUCH bigger problem on our hands that we can't seem to solve.  His pediatrician is stumped, the books and internet have little to offer me, and I'm about at my wits' end!

Jonah won't sleep!!!

He takes good naps, and goes to sleep at night pretty well.  But once that middle-of-the-night time approaches he's awake for 2 to 4 hours at a time!  He NEVER cries (for which I'm VERY grateful).  But he's so loud!  Jumping around, banging on the walls, laughing, giggling, talking, singing, you name it and he does it.  I just can't figure it out!  It's pitch black in his room, he's in a crib with no drinks or toys except his beloved doggie.  What could possibly be SO amusing in there?  I've checked a million times to make sure his diaper is clean, which it always is.  So why won't he stay asleep?  I don't go in a entertain him.  There's no way I'm going to reinforce THAT behavior. 

So now I'm begging all my mom-friends for help!  Have you ever had a 2-year old with insomnia?  Any ideas of what I can do?  I've done everything I can think of to adjust and play with his schedule and nothing helps!  This has been going on for 9 months!  And we have a baby on the way, so I need him to share a room AND be in a big boy bed.  But there's no way right now he can do either!  Can you imagine him out of bed and on the loose or keeping a sibling awake that long too?  One grouchy child everyday is plenty to deal with!

So please, send me your ideas, suggestions, and expertise!  I'm desperate!

Boys' Night

This last week Brandon took Jacob to his first Jazz basketball game.  It was really fun for Jacob because he just finished his own basketball season!  Jacob had a great time on his "date" with Daddy!  According to Jacob, they got the BIGGEST tub of popcorn he's ever seen!  He came home so happy, bursting with details about absolutely everything, and feeling completely loved by his dad to spend such quality time together!  I'm so glad Brandon takes these opportunities to be with the kids one-on-one.  I know they create memories they'll cherish forever!

Sarah's 1st Lost Tooth

This week Sarah lost her first tooth!  She was so excited to have something so big girlish happen to her!  She is a little young to be losing teeth already, but my kids are early teethers, and Sarah was the earliest and fastest of all our kids.  She had 12 teeth at 9 months old!  (I seriously deserve an award for nursing that child until she was 12 months old.  Talk about scary . . .)  Jacob counseled her to leave the Toothfairy a note as he had done requesting to keep the lost tooth.  But Sarah was only in it for the money.  She told Jacob the Toothfairy could keep the tooth, she just wanted the dollar.  She wasn't being very sentimental about the whole thing and she knows money is worth more than her little tooth.  Smart girl.  She takes after her mother! :)

2010 Olympics

I don't know if anyone else has been watching the Olympics, but I'm always inspired by the stories of these amazing athletes!  And, of course, the women's figure skating is always a favorite.  I stayed up late last night watching it with Brandon.  We've actually had too many late nights lately watching the Olympics together, which has been so much fun!  I have to admit that I rooted for Kim Yu-Na from South Korea.  She broke the world record with her high score, skated so beautifully, and after all the pressure her country puts on her I'm glad she could return home with her head held high.  And I desperately wanted Joannie Rochette from Canada to get a medal after her courageous performances following her mother's sudden death only 2 short days before her first performance!  I know this broke an American streak of a woman from the USA being on the medal's stand for something like 40 years straight, but the girls from the USA this year are so young and have many Olympics ahead of them.  All of the women skated better than I ever remember seeing anyone skate in the Olympics before.  These athletes train so hard for these brief moments that determine so much.  I'm grateful for their examples, determination, and how they overcome so much of their own adversity in their lives.

Already Beautiful

I took Sarah to get her hair trimmed on Saturday afternoon. She knew this outing was completely about her, and she took full advantage of it chattering nonstop to the hair stylist for the entire 15-20 minutes we were there. You just have to love kids with their reveal-all natures and brutal honesty. After informing her stylist that our neighbor who normally cuts her hair is taking a break from cutting hair (she has carpal tunnel, and Sarah has only been to her once - but it's her "normal" hair cutter), Sarah jabbered on about her brothers, and a bunch of other stuff that made very little sense to the stylist. And then she added, "What's that shiny gold thing in your nose?!" and "Why is that lady over there getting her hair PAINTED?!" We and the lady getting her hair painted, I mean dyed, were the only one's in the shop, so everyone heard every little exclamation Sarah made. Luckily, the stylist was very cute with her, explained her nose ring very appropriately, and didn't seem offended at all. After which, Sarah declared that she would never do any of THOSE things and loves her hair just the color it is! I'm glad that she's happy with who she is and knows that she's beautiful, and I'll enjoy that for now because who knows how long it will last.