Paul's swimming lesson

Paul is taking a weekly swim class at the Y.  It was fun to have not only Caleb (who always tags along) but Luke there with us today too.  Paul really wanted to swim with his "brudders" more than his teacher but he managed to make it through the lesson until it was time for them to jump in with him.

Kitchen continued.....

Paint & tile......we're starting to get there!  : )

Happy Spring Break 2013!

Day 1:  Sledding

Day 2:  Bought kitchen appliances

Who knows what Days 3 - 5 will bring???!!!

Caleb & Ben at the Franklin Museum

Due September 24......

Kitchen-- day 15 of work, day 33 of no kitchen

Choosing paint (oh, the pressure!)

Sheet rock is up & spackled (hooray!)

Caleb's kindergarten class

Kitchen---as of day 9 of work, day 25 of no kitchen

 This week, they have put down the sub floor....

 moved the AC vent over to the other side of the beam (so it won't be above the pass through)....

 put in all the electrical outlets and light switches....

 put more orange goop stuff (why?  i have no idea!)..

 put in lights!! further secured the beam....

and added a new horizontal beam in the ceiling of the basement (to account for the weight of the breakfast bar)... & also added the new vertical beam to hold up the old beam in the kitchen ceiling.



Tomorrow, we have 2 inspectors coming......assuming they say all is ok (which I should know by now NOT TO ASSUME!), next on the list will be to insulate, sheet rock, & paint......then tile the floor.  After that, cabinets...... 

I hope it all starts picking up the pace.  I am losing steam for this project!

The French Festival

 Our family has been very excited all week for the French festival.  Today was the big day!  It was a grand event!  The 5th graders dressed up as famous French people, the 4th graders were musicians and waiters in the cafes, the 3rd graders were merchants in the market, and the 2nd and 1st graders got to shop.

I grabbed Caleb out of class for 30 minutes so he could enjoy some of the fun.

 Caleb and Matthew posing in front of the Arc de Triomph.

Luke and David playing air violins after finishing up their crepes.

Kitchen, days 4 & 5 (of work)

It feels like the past 2 days have been very productive......
This is the "old pantry"----it has been challenging to get the heating pipes and water pipes cut and re-routed out of the way of where the cabinets will go.  This will be the bend in the cabinets.  They've now finished moving the stuff they have to move.

 Holes in the floor have been repaired and the bricks that support the garage roof (attached just outside that wall) have been plugged to minimize the cold breeze blowing through.
The heaters have been removed (below the window) and toe kick heat will be added next week.  (Also, next week, we'll lose that window.)

The most exciting progress for me is the pass through being cut.  It really opens both the kitchen and dining room up and both rooms are brighter (and bigger-feeling) for it.  Sadly, it meant the casualty of the big bottomed turkey!!  Even the work men teased me that they'd save it from the trash heap if I wanted to keep it--ha!  We were all happy to see the turkey go. Long live the turkey!

Our weekend with Wrinkles

Paul got to bring home Wrinkles from pre-school last weekend.  He had a great time at our house--cuddling with Paul and reading books with big brothers......

.....chatting with Bubba.....












......and attending the Egyptian art show at the elementary school.....

.....While Wrinkles studied the art, I got a quick pick of Paul on this home-made bridge.

Kitchen, Day 3 (of work), Day 16 of no kitchen

Some more demolishing----the rest of the floor has been stripped clean now.  We are down to the very base level now. The vertical wooden post you see next to the shovel is the concession we're having to make in holding up the steel beam over head.  That wooden post was part of the back wall of the old china closet.  It has to stay, and a new vertical steel beam will go to the right of it to ensure the stability of the steel beam overhead.  We will have countertop that will wrap around that little wall necessary for the beam.

The doorway into the dining room was made wider (they'll square out the arch tomorrow----since it will be next to the rectangular shaped pass through)

These last 2 pics are different angles of the same thing......the old pantry.  The first re-constructive thing happened today:  they moved 2 pipes carrying water up to the bathrooms above--you can see the new, shiny copper pipes on the left side of each picture.  Tomorrow, they will turn our heat off to move the 2 black pipes (that carry heat upstairs) against the wall as well.