Upstairs Tour

So, this isn't exactly upstairs...but, you may want to take note of the tool-free fireplace hearth (as of today...I'm sooo lazy.) We have also moved the bedroom loveseat in front of the fireplace to make a little sitting room area. The slipcover is only about 1/3 of the way fitted to the sofa, and is inside out, but still an improvement! Up next, I plan to bring in our one lonesome patio chair from the back, and sew pillows for it and for the loveseat, make some large, kid-friendly floor pillows, get a bookcase endtable from Ikea, and paint the dark, dark wall a cheery apple green. Paint will probably happen first.

Next stop, the master bath...no, I didn't actually plan it that way, but I think I mentioned earlier that these don't always show up in the order I post them...here is my bathtub, tucked in a little corner, window above it...shower is to the right...makes it easy at bathtime. Usually the kids play in the tub while Alan showers.







More master bath...Here is the vanity and cabinets! The only real (and by real, I mean made of wood) cabinets in the house! If not for this space, I would have NO linen closet/medicine storage whatsoever, so I LOVES my vanity! Also, note the luxurious gold-plated fixtures and mirror. Why yes, that IS the Ensign on the countertop. I was reviewing my VT message as I curled my hair...so efficient!





Ahhh, winter witch. Yes, we actually have a wall large enough to hang her on! The painting is 8 feet wide by 4 feet tall. The ceilings in the bedroom are vaulted, so this is a really big wall. And that's my yoga mat on the floor beneath the painting. My thinking was that if it was rolled out permanently, I would guilt myself into practicing several times a week. It sort of works...I feel really guilty for not using it. The little hallway to the right leads to a walk-in closet on the right and the bathroom on the left. The door you see is another smaller closet.

Here is a real view of the master bedroom taken as you enter the room. We have double doors coming into the room, which is lovely, barring the fact that there are no locks on the doors. There are locks on the kid's rooms however...and we are considering reversing the knobs, so they can't lock us out. Then we could lock them in...this idea is sounding better and better! Actually, they haven't even realized there are locks, so at the moment, it's a non-issue.



View from our bedroom into the hallway/playroom. Yes, the hallway is that wide. I don't really understand it myself, but it's a great place for the kids to play, the toys stay organized, and most importantly, the kid's rooms and closets stay relatively clean. The bathroom is to the right and the two rooms at the end of the hall are Alexander's and Hadley's, respectively. The little cabinet at the end of the hallway contains paper, crayons, coloring books and take-to-church toys.











Here's a better view of the play area in action...um, that doesn't really make sense. I guess "in use" is the way of phrasing it. By the way, this photo is totally staged. :) But, we did find Hadley sitting in that very spot, reading, just as she is here one night when we thought she was asleep in our bed. I think I have an actual photo of that, which I will post next week...See mom? Do you get the idea now? It works so great!



Here are the kids playing on the landing between the stairs. I think I mentioned before that these are literally the STEEPEST STAIRS EVER. The kids go down them by sliding down on their bellies, feet first. It is ridiculously fast! They are like little otters or something. Someone in my ward told me about a way to post little videos online taken with my digital camera, so I will find out specifics and try to get some otter footage!

That's all folks! Actually, no, there is more in the next post...keep scrolling and remember you can click on colored links for more information and click on the photos for a bigger version.

ONE LAST THING: your COMMENTS are appreciated more than you will know and are the only real way I have of knowing that you are reading this at all! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE COMMENT! EVEN IF IT'S SILLY OR JUST A LINE OR TWO. I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU! xoxox

Upstairs Tour Part 2

Here is Alexander showing off the cool envelope he decorated to put game pieces for tonight's FHE game in. It's a fun game using stairs to illustrate how right choices move us in one direction, while wrong choices move us in another. Hope it goes over well. Anyone interested can get the lesson online.














Before we moved, Alan had too much time on his hands and painted custom switchplates for both kid's rooms. Cute, huh?



















Alexander's room, featuting his little reading corner and his cute superhero picture of Jesus that Joey (Alan's friend) painted for him. His closet takes up the entire wall to the left...2 of the 3 sections of it are filled with Christmas decorations, etc. So far has obeyed the off-limits rule. (Knock on wood!)

Here is another view of Alexander's room...a better vview. Look, he has a window and everything! He loves watching the squirrels in the pine trees outside, and the birds too. His space curtains are still the coolest thing I've ever made. :)







Kids bathroom. Pretty exciting, eh? It's actually kind of sage green and the yellow curtain really brightens it up in there. Much brighter than in the photo anyway. But the lightswitch is wired to the loudest fan ever. So annoying. Notice Hadley's potty chart there on the mirror. She's currently in a state of potty rebellion. I think I need to take a hardcore approach and stay at home with her in underwear or naked for a week. White carpet and hardcore potty training don't mix, though.












Here is Hadley proudly showing off her room. The big pink flower on the wall is a lamp. So cute! Today, over by her door, I hung her coatrack low and put her dress-ups on the pegs, hung a low mirror, and included a basket to hold her purse, high heels, necklaces, etc. She's really getting into this dress-up thing...I will post pictures of her in full princess garb soon.














Hadley's custom painted lightswitch. Since Alan had to paint her room before we arrived, she got the full treatment with outlet covers too. Her entire room was once the color of the butterflies on this switchplate. Seriously.















View 2 of Hadley's room. She was so excited when we hung up her robot girl painting.

streets of philadelphia

a few pics of philadelphia. i wish i could have taken more, but wrangling kids in urban areas and snapping pics at every opportunity don't mix. for example, i really, really wanted some pictures of the old cobblestone streets, but again...kids. click on any photo to enlarge.


i saved the best for first. does that really make sense? the funny thing about this pic is that i just now (6:15 pmm) added it. earlier when i posted, i couldn't get this photo into photoshop to size it. when i tried i got an error message: this application does not support processing of unauthorized currency images. tee-hee! photoshop read this image as a potential attempt at counterfeiting, alan and all.


close-up of the top of the tomb of the unknown soldier.

paving stone at the beginning of the walkway up to the tomb.

full view of the tomb of the unknown soldier in washington square park. it's a beautiful park, but so sad to think that thousands of unidentified soldiers are buried there along with countless unknown african americans as well.

eternal flame. pretty cool.

this made me laugh in spite of the solemn mood. touching fire will cause injury? really? you sure? OUCH!


alexander in front of a torpedo. WATCH OUT, LITTLE BOY!

around dinner time, hadley suffered a mental/emotional breakdown. long day+no nap=sadley.

alexander chillin in front of the US mint. no cameras were allowed inside. (duh) so we all had to go in shifts. after we all re-grouped, we discussed our favorite part, and strangely, we all had the same favorite! we all loved watching the shiny, shiny penny blanks in the hopper. they shimmered like pirate treasure. it was way cool. :) speaking of shiny, shiny pennies, we received some as change at the local CVS when we bought a map. i think they were freshly minted in philly and sent directly there. they made for perfect squished pennies for alexander's growing collection.
i have no idea what this is, but isn't it cool? the courtyard around it was paved in old cobblestones that looked like smooth river rocks. we definitely need to go back to philadelphia and see ALL the sights.

this is pretty much the view for the entire drive to philly. we google mapped our directions and it took about an hour. on the way home, we decided to wing it and made it home in about 35 minutes! secret ninja way home rocks!

don't forget to read yet another new entry below!!! we miss you. yes, all of you. :)

xoxox

why i'm at home 99% of the time

so, today we got off to a late start...we spent the day in philadelphia with vacationing friends yesterday. someday it will be us on vacation. i keep holding onto that hope...us--on vacation--the whole thing just sounds so foreign, but i digress. anyway, the kids were exhausted this morning and poor little hadley didn't even get up until 11:45! so, we knocked out breakfast and lunch with one fell swoop and i thought, "hey, since we don't have to be back for lunch, we can go run all those errands that have been piling up!" so, i quickly got the kids ready and loaded them into the car with all of our stuff. here is (was) the itnerary:

1. get gas
2. post office to mail mindi's baby gift and parking ticket we got in philly yesterday. (that's a whole 'nother story...and i'll tell you! it was 8 pm, parking meters. NO sign posted anywhere about the meter hours. NO info on the meter itself. and as we drove looking for a space i noticed one thing in common on all the meters. they were ALL expired. so we figure, okay, it's 8 pm, obviously we don't need to pay to park at this hour. guess we were wrong. but it was only 20 bucks and our friends sprung for dinner, so oh well.)
3. car wash (had to print directions off of mapquest, because it was the only car was listed in the phone book that is self-service. all the rest are full-serve luxury car washes.
4. library

so, we set off to get gas which involves driving 5-6 miles NORTH on route 1 to find a good price on gas. (despite the fact that we are ultimately heading south). you see, the farther south we go, the higher prices get. oh, and there are no gas stations near the stores, etc. they are all along route 1. generally, i can go up to the next exit at which there are 3 gas stations, usually all different prices.
i kid you not, once on that corner, the prices varied by more than 10 cents a gallon! but i find upon arrival that stations 1 & 2 are sporting the same high price today and station 3, for some reason, has no prices displayed. so i continue on. another thing about driving route 1 is that you can't see a gas station coming because of all the trees and there are no signs, and you can't make any left turns, so unless you know exactly where one is, you're screwed. you just wave to it as you pass and check out the price. and aside from that one corner, there aren't that many, so you can drive several miles without seeing one. anyway, finally i see one in time to get off route 1 but the price sign is completely behind the trees AND i find that after i have exited, there is a barrier in the road so i can't even turn left into the gas station.
i drive up the road helplessly, gas tank DANGEROUSLY low, and am met with a solid barrier all the way up the road for about a mile or two, so i can't turn around. finally there is a light, but with a prominent NO U TURN sign. i make a left and turn around in someone's driveway. as i'm doing this, alexander coughs violently. "are you okay?" i ask. he shakes his head "no". "are you gonna throw up?" i ask, because if you know alexander at all, you know he is the pukingest kid ever. he shakes his head "no". "you sure?" "yes." so i finish turning around and PUKE! all over himself. nice. and we are 5-6 miles from home with NO GAS. so i tell him repeatedly all the way back to the gas station that he needs to tell me in a LOUD voice if he is going to throw up. if he even thinks he might possibly throw up, to TELL ME ASAP!
when we get to the gas station, it has 12 pumps. 6 of them are blocked off. we wait in line for the next car, which btw, takes FOREVER. so long, i have time to get out and clean xander off as best as i can with baby wipes and still have to wait about 5 minutes. then, i pull in and wait about 5 more minutes for the guy to even come take my card. remember, you can't pump your own gas here. it is so ANNOYING.

revised plan:

1. get gas CHECK
2. go home change alexander's clothes, clean up puke (he tells me he feels fine)
3. post office
4. car wash
5. library

once we get home, and i have him stripped down, he tells me he is NOT fine and thinks he might throw up again. anyone who knows him knows that this should be taken seriously. so right now, he is being forced to lay on a bed of towels in the hallway next to the bathroom door, just in case. maybe we can go to the post office later. maybe i'll take a nice leisurely trip to the car wash by myself later. (the luxury of self-service is that i can go whenever i want to -- new jersey hasn't caught onto that yet.) now, he is crying and telling me he's starving! or as he puts it "mom, i'm hungry to death, i really am." sorry buddy. rule #1 of puking is do not feed the puker until you're sure the puking has stopped.