part 4 of our ongoing series "the evolution of a house"

We're too tired to dance a jig, but we're doing it on the inside. At last, the dining room is finished! I'll do the before and after pictures below. You might have noticed that there's not a single picture to be found on our walls yet, and you'd be right. We're just not sure where everything should go, so we're taking our time to figure it out. Also, we've worked so hard patching up these walls that we don't want to put any more holes in them than absolutely necessary.

Anyway, the dining room. To say it's a big change might be understating the case. Here's what it looked like the day we decided to buy the house. Note the lime green paint job, the white wainscoting, and the weird plaid valances. No actual curtains, which is very strange to me because that window is right at the road.



And now, here's the dining room today. A lovely rose color on the walls -- my grandpa tells me it's the same shade my great-grandmother had in her dining room. I guess I must have remembered that somehow. I never thought of it, but as soon as he made the comment, it clicked in my head. We've restored the wainscoting to its natural wood glory, and put patterned sheer curtains in the windows. We (or more likely, my mom) may end up hemming those so they stay in the window frame to show off more of the wood, but we'll see. Also, check out the great cabinet we picked up at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago.

progress

The trim is up!

fevah!

Liam got sent home from school yesterday with a fever, and he's been home with us today as well. The day has gone by like some kind of crazed fever-coaster. He starts out all right, then as his temperature goes up, his whiny demands (I want to go to the park! I want to go to the hardware store! I want more water! It's not cold enough! I need ice!) increase in direct proportion. Then I give him his medicine, which he takes happily. Then he spends the next 30 minutes demanding more medicine. And then, miraculously, he's sunshiny and happily running around, playing, building block towers. Until his temperature inexorably rises again....

sneak peak

My hardworking husband is reassembling the pieces of the dining room wainscoting and trim as we speak. It's been a big job, people! We've stripped, sanded, cleaned, stained, and sealed 300 boards over the past three months (and no, that's not an exaggeration). And 94 of the buggers didn't look right after the first four steps, so we had to start all over again with the sanding this week to get them right. Yes, I counted. Last night, at 10:30, when I was finally finishing the last of the staining. And now Mike is preparing for the final step that will bring the bottom half of the dining room back to its full glory. What a handsome devil! Mike too, har har.

happy birthday!

We couldn't ask for a better mom, mother-in-law, yami. We love you!

and me without my camera!

It just figures. I'm usually so good about having the camera with us all the time, and the one day I forget it, a bunch of great photo opportunities present themselves. We went to my parents' house for a chop suey dinner tonight, which the boys gobbled down. About halfway through dinner, my sisters and niece came over with the new horse, Thunder. The boys got to pet their first horse, and I wasn't there with camera in hand to capture the moment! Liam actually led Thunder around by a rope for a little bit. Oh well, there's always next time -- I'm sure they'll see Thunder again soon.

But the real can't-miss moment was after dinner. My mom gave the boys each a sucker, and once we showed them how to lick instead of bite, they were in candy heaven. Then Max lost his sucker. He started crying and turning around in circles looking for it -- and it was stuck to the back of his shirt! It was really a classic moment, and I literally banged my hand on the table in frustration at not having my camera, or at the very least, the camera on my cell phone (left that at home too).

By the time we got home, the boys were happy and exhausted. Like his mother, Liam likes to do a little reading before bed. Here's how he fell asleep:


Maybe next week I'll have my act together enough to get some new pictures. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

busy, busy, busy

I know I haven't posted much lately, but we've been swamped. I've been working day and night at the computer, while Mike has been spending whole days out in the garage working on our wainscoting project. We're hoping to have that finished sometime next week. I stained the first boards this morning, and they are GORGEOUS. The dining room is going to be really lovely when it's done.

Meanwhile, the boys have been busy with potty training and a language explosion, respectively. When he's home, unless it's naptime or bedtime, Liam has been wearing underwear and having very few accidents. He's even managed to poop on the potty a couple of times this week, which is a big triumph. And Max's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. He's speaking in sentences, and repeating everything we say. Watch out!

This morning, the boys decided to play in their great-grandmother's rocking chair (It was Mike's grandmother's chair, then Mike's mom's, and now we're lucky to have such a nice family heirloom). They've been playing nicely together for longer stretches lately, which has been wonderful for us. Here they are, lest you forget what they look like in the long stretches between posts:

cookie party!

The boys had so much fun last time we made cookies that we thought we'd do it again. This time, we doubled both our fun and our mess by inviting over our cousins Kelsey, Emma, Jimmy, and Gracie to help out. Everyone took turns measuring, and they all stirred ingredients together. While the cookies baked, the five friends ran around the house and yard, playing with puzzles, drawing on our new garage-sale chalkboard/dry erase board, coloring, and generally enjoying each other. At the end of the day, the boys were messy, exhausted, and happy, and every day Liam wants to know when his friends can come to play again. Success!


Of course, Gracie didn't help much with the cookies. But she's got a good excuse. Instead, she sat (mostly) happily in Liam and Max's old bouncy seat and watched the goings-on with interest.

the boys will work for food

Liam and Max love to help make dinner. Whenever possible, we put them to work washing, peeling, whatever they can do. Summer is great because then we can get them to help shuck the corn on the cob. Liam gets very intense about it, and gets frustrated when he can't get four or five of the leaves to come off at the same time. Max mostly carries his ear around the house, saying "Hi, corn!" over and over. Both approaches are very cute, as you can see.

all work and no play...

Yesterday, by the grace of a computer glitch, I got to spend all day out in the garage, elbow-deep in chemical stripper and mineral spirits, working on the wainscoting for the dining room. It was great: sweaty, messy, and totally relaxing. (Yes, I know how weird that is.) But today, all systems are go with work, so I have to do twice as much inside to make up for yesterday. Meanwhile, Mike is outside sanding away, and he doesn't even like it! So unfair.

potty training: not so fun

Liam is working very hard on potty training. They take him regularly at school, then when he gets home we put underwear on him and work on staying dry. So far, he's been really good, except that he (like lots of other kids, from what I understand) doesn't want to poop on the potty. He's had one poop accident in his underwear ("Oh no, Mommy! I pooped on Nemo!" -- his current favorite pair) but has otherwise stayed dry. Hopefully we can get him out of diapers soon!

When he does his business, he takes off his pants and underwear, and puts them back on again afterward. Sometimes he gets it right. Other times, he ends up like this:

screens: fun!

Liam snuck outside while I was working at the computer, came around to the window (right next to me) and made this charming face:

max and his sock monkey: love at first sight

happy birthday, klaudia!

Klaudia turned 10 today, and we celebrated with cake and ice cream. The party was right in the middle of naptime, but the boys were better than expected. Of course, they took very late naps in the car on the way home, so who knows when they'll go to bed? But it was worth it to help Klaudia ring in a new year.

During the party, "someone" (I'm not naming names....mom) gave the boys frosting mustaches. A nice look, don't you think?

when yami's away, the boys will play

I don't think this is quite what my mom had in mind for her Longaberger basket...

at the fair

Thursday night we took the boys back to the fair to watch Klaudia and Loni win (Great job, girls!) in the Consumer Clothing show. Lots of family were on hand, including Laura and the kids. Liam has decided that Kelsey and Emma are his new best friends. They ran and played all night, and when the girls decided that they wanted to go on rides, of course, Liam wanted to go too. Unfortunately, the girls chose a mini (very mini) roller coaster shaped like a dragon for their first ride of the night.

This being Liam's first fair ride ever, he didn't know what to expect. He was perfectly happy to climb right up into his seat and chat with the girls before the ride started...


And he was even fine for the first go-round when the thing was going pretty slowly. But then they picked up speed, and poor Liam screamed and cried through the whole thing.


After that, he didn't trust us when we told him that the next ride that Kelsey and Emma wanted to go on -- the carousel -- wasn't so bad. Can't say that we blame him. So Max and I went on, and Liam really missed out, because Max had a blast on HIS very first fair ride!


But all was not lost. Liam eventually found the courage to go on another "ride." This one was more like a child's obstacle course, where he had to climb under, over, and through things, then get to the top, find his way across, and come down a slide. For some reason the pictures of this thing all turned out really trippy, but I kind of like them.



See you next year, fair! Maybe Liam will defeat the evil baby roller coaster with another year under his belt.

traveling pants

Oh, and did I mention that Klaudia is turning into quite the seamstress too? She made these pants, which were big winners, and are heading to the state fair. Great job, Klaudia!

a fistful of ribbons

My lovely and talented mother entered several quilts and other projects in the county fair, and today was the day the judging was revealed (for her things, anyway). Though she modestly decries any great accomplishment, my dad begs to differ ("She did great! I don't know what she's talking about saying she only did okay!"). Not being an expert ribbon decoder, I asked my dad for help. And here are the classifications I came up with from his sage explanations:

Dark purple with flower: first
Dark purple, no flower: second
Light purple with flower: third
Light purple, no flower: fourth
Sticker with blue ribbon and 1st on it: means you made the first cut for consideration for the above actual ribbons

Of course, I defer to anyone with superior knowledge of 4-H rules who might care to post a comment and enlighten the rest of us (hint, hint, Mom, Loni, James, Bethany, or Klaudia). So here are a selection of Mom's quilts and other projects for your viewing pleasure. If you count up all the ribbons of various colors, I'd say she did pretty frakking well, as they say!

This one's a twofer. On the left, with light
purple ribbon, is the quilt Mom made for
our daybed (Chinese Coin pattern). On the
right, with purple flower ribbon, is the
quilt from Loni's bed.

This fishy quilt graces James's bed.

A mermaid baby quilt for
our newest cousin, Gracie.

This purple quilt looks
perfect in Klaudia's room.

No Halloween would be complete without
this pumpkin-themed centerpiece...

...or this seasonal wall hanging
(Note flowered ribbons on both. Yay, mom!)

Another dark purple ribbon for this miniature
quilted....Hey, wait a minute! Is that Holly Hobbie?
I HATE Holly Hobbie! How did this get in here?!?

And finally, one of the big winners this
year, this festive Christmas quilt.

One last note: It's a good thing they hold the fair in July, or we'd all be shivering in our beds this week! Thanks, Mom, for keeping us all cozy and warm the rest of the year.

liam's room furnished!

Yes, I know there are a lot of exclamation marks in my post headlines today, but there's a lot to be excited about. Today we finshed moving the rest of the furniture (including beds!) into the boys' rooms, so tonight will be their first night in their new rooms. I'm sure it'll be a doozy, but the sooner they get used to it, the better. I'll take some pictures of Max's room later, but here are some from Liam's room:

sprinkler fun!

The boys spent Saturday afternoon playing at Aunt Bethany's house with Aunt Loni and Klaudia. They had a blast playing in the sprinkler. At first they weren't really sure what to think of it...


...but then they got into the act and had a great time.




Sadly, after all the fun, Liam managed to catch a stomach bug that Max had the day before, AND he managed to pass it along to Loni, who is sick as a dog today. I guess no good deed goes unpunished. But thank you, Lon, and we hope you'll still babysit!


P.S. That look on Max's face is just priceless!