Low key weekend

Yesterday Logan had a birthday party near the Hill Country Galleria.  We decided to all head over there.  Brian took Logan to the party while Izzy and I walked around for a bit.  We found a lamp that Izzy decided she wanted for her birthday.  Sure.  Done and done.  We hit up Chipotle for lunch but just missed the free burrito deal.

Today we saw Zootopia.  The kids liked it and did well.  Logan started to get restless about 2/3 of the way through but held it together to get through it.

We have been researching installing the laminate flooring in Izzy's room and are going to tackle the project next weekend.  Can't wait!

Bathroom Remodel and Santa

*I found this in my drafts and decided to publish!  Not sure why it never went through.  Fun memories!


When Jenn got back I put her to work. We refinished the the master bathroom cabinets. They look SO great! I'm really happy with the results. We also decided to purchase new light fixtures and faucets. We had to order the faucets and they won't be in for another few days, but I'm really excited about everything else! We decided to replace the light bulbs with LEDs. I was a little hesitant because LEDs are about $15-20 EACH, but they look great and will save so much in energy costs.

Today we went over to the Hill Country Galleria to see Santa. We got there a little early and walked around a bit. Santa was a little late, but we were about 4th in line, so it wasn't a long wait at all. Santa was very patient and friendly and I felt like he really liked kids and was happy to be Santa! It was a use your own camera thing, which as great. We got a couple of really cute pictures. No tears at all despite it being past lunch time!

After Santa we headed over to Maudie's and had lunch. Jenn declared that she could eat Tex-Mex every single day, so we're doing our best to see if this declaration is true.

The Zilker tree lighting is tonight, so we'll see if we make it over to that. I'm so excited that the Trail of Lights is back. It's been missed and was one of the last memories we have with Vivian, so it's very special to us. Isabel had been once, but they stopped doing it due to budget reasons. :-( We are so excited that it's back! Can't wait to spin under the tree and get dizzy drunk!

Around Here

Lots has been going on lately. We made an unexpected trip to Houston last week and were there on Grandma's actual birthday! While we loved helping her celebrate and see Grandma and Grandpa, we didn't like the reason for the trip. Everything will be ok though.

We got back to Austin Saturday evening and took baths and went to bed. Sunday we went out for lunch at Trudy's. Logan had an accident on the way there in the car so I took Isabel and Brian took Logan to get some new clothes. Isabel got a Shirley Temple and was pretty excited about that. She requested them for her birthday party.

Since it was St Patrick's Day I made corned beef and cabbage. I also put some food coloring in the toilets and told the kids that some leprechauns visited us. Isabel was seriously amazed. It was so funny. She then got a little frightened and we had to do a leprechaun search to make sure there weren't anymore in the house.

I found my unused gift card stash and called on to see the balance on my Bed Bath and Beyond gift card. It was just enough to cover a bread maker! I've been looking at them for a while and am so excited to have bread with just 5 ingredients and no preservatives! I've already made 3 loaves!

First loaf!

Enjoying some bread with honey.  It was so good.

Yesterday I spent all day ( while the kids were at school and then napping) painting Isabel's hutch that was delivered on Sunday. It took about 6 hours and 3 coats of paint. It was an off white, creamy yellow color. It's being discontinued and it was that or navy blue. The color was not my style at all and didn't match anything else in the room. I painted it white, but the silly off white was bleeding through as a bit blue(?). It was frustrating, but it looks great now! I just need to put the protective coat on and then we can get it in Isabel's room.

We're also still trying to close on our refi.  It's getting ridiculous.  Brian is about ready to walk away from Bank of America.  It took them 3 months to begin processing the loan.  Since it took so long we had to send updated statements, etc.  They mailed us a GFE last week and it was completely different from the one we got 3 months ago.  After Brian getting angry (he rarely gets angry) at our contact (who really just wants the loan to close so that he can get his commission) they added back some credits they had removed, but they didn't allow us to waive escrow.  WTF?  After the contact said he would 'see what he could do' Brian said we need a definitive answer today and a closing date or we're walking away.   We went with BoA because our current mortgage is with them and we thought it would be more streamlined.  WRONG.  In hindsight we should have gone with the other quote we got, but what can you do.  I just can't believe that after having a mortgage with a bank for over 5 years and never once having a late mortgage or property tax payment that we're being treated this way.  It has now been FOUR MONTHS since we first started the process.  It's like they absolutely don't care.  So if anyone reading is considering a new mortgage or refi, I would strongly encourage you to NOT go with Bank of America.

The perfect roast chicken.  SO good!

He was so happy about something.

Watching the car wash.

I was watching dishes and she was out by herself.  You can't see it from the picture, but she just had the biggest grin.  So excited to be swinging and enjoying life!

Pantry and Bathroom Mirror

Last week I cleaned out and reorganized the pantry. So far the labeled bin system is working out well and looks so much better than before. We are in the process of weaning off of artificial dyes, HFCS and preservatives. It's a work in progress. At the suggestion of Logan's OT I'm reading a book about childhood disease and nutrition. I'll post a picture. I just started it, so don't have any comments about it yet.

Sunday night around 8pm I decided that we needed to finally frame out the bathroom mirror. Brian went to get supplies and, although it took longer than I promised him it would, it was done Monday night. I like it. Easy and cheap DIY project that really adds a lot.

 

 

We are still waiting to close on our refi. I think we're almost to day 100. They finally confirmed Brian's appointment at work on Friday and pinged our credit reports AGAIN. I know they are busy, but this is sort of ridiculous.

We (izzy, logan and I) played barbies today. Izzy and I play often, but Logan asked to join in and he actually got the concept and played with us! He was Merida, I was Belle and Izzy was (shockingly) Cinderella.

Logan still asks to watch 'Shark Tale' at least 5 times a day. I've seen the first 15-20 minutes of that movie about 800 times.

Waking up after naps.  No makeup, but at least I finally showered!

DONE!

Cabinets!

I triple heart love them! The island isn't done yet, but it looks great! We decided to glaze them, so that adds an extra step and an additional 8 hour drying time, but I think it's worth it. I can't wait for the kitchen to be totally finished!

Today I went and had lunch with some of the moms from Isabel's preschool class. It was so nice to laugh and chat for two whole hours without worrying about chasing after kids.

Logan decided to not take a nap today. He's been resisting them the past week. Hopefully it's just a phase and he's not done with them.

It's been beautiful weather here. I would still prefer some cold winter weather, but I guess this is what I get for living in Austin. Can't complain.

We're jumping in!

We're refinishing the kitchen island this weekend! The kitchen cabinet redo has begun! We've sort of eyeballed it and split it up into 8 manageable sections. Hopefully seeing how good the finished product looks we'll find the motivation to get the project finished by April. Our goal is to have it done by Isabel's birthday. I'm sure we'll get all excited and do a few sections and then get burnt out for a few weeks, but we'll see. 3 months should be doable, right?

We're all in short sleeves over here. The high today is 79 degrees! You know that feeling when you've been working really really hard at the gym and doing great with your eats and then excitedly putting on a pair of pants to see how they fit because surely they will be loose? Yeah, that didn't happen to me this morning. I was mad at my jeans for not being loose. Come ON. Why is weight loss so hard after 30 and after 3 babies?! It was so much easier 10 years ago!

Here we are waiting for Logan to finish PT. can you see how red her eyes are? Silly cedar pollen.

Master Bath Update

We decided to update our master bath. Jenn and I took care of refinishing the cabinets and Brian installed the new lights, faucets and door handles. Eventually we'll replace the brass on the other size of the bathroom with oil rubbed bronze, but changing out the tub and shower fixtures are much more involved than the sinks. Unfortunately one of the sinks was badly corroded underneath due to the presence of cleaning chemicals, so Brian had to replace the valves as well. We replaced the light bulbs with LEDs. At first it was like a blast of light when the light switch was flicked, but I'm used to it now and love it! If the darn things weren't so expensive I would love to replace all of the light bulbs in the house with LEDs. But, they are $20-30 each, so that's not happening anytime soon!

I'm such a sucker for holiday clothes!

Why do they have to be SO cute!  I see all of these Facebook sales and some of the stuff is adorable.  I'm a sucker for Thanksgiving/Christmas stuff.  Add some smocking and I just about hit the 'buy' button.  To my delight Isabel's favorite clothes are her smocked bishop dresses and anything with a tutu.  She HAD to wear her Hello Kitty Halloween outfit today.  It was adorable.  She even found some (of my) Halloween socks to match.  She tells me every day that Halloween is 'tomorrow.'

But yes, I am a sucker for holiday/smocked stuff.  The smocked pumpkin pant set I saw today was so tempting.  But then I looked over at the counter where at least $300 worth of medication is sitting and come back to reality.  Even before our recent visit to the hospital I put myself on a no internet shopping rule.

Sometimes I wish I was a millionare, but then I look over at Isabel and think of how lucky I am that she's ok and that we have enough money to cover things like emergency care, doctor's visits, medicine and food and don't think twice when a certain medicine is 2x's as expensive, but has fewer cardiac side effects.  Our pediatrician's office takes medicaid patients and also caters to the well off Tarrytown folk, which I think is great.  I've heard from people who use medicaid (mostly foster parents who's foster kids are only covered through medicaid) who have said it is so hard to find quality doctors that will accept medicaid.  I wish all parents could take their kids into the doctor's office or ER and not have to worry about how they're going to buy food or diapers for the next week.

Edited to add:  FYI, we are NOT the well-off Tarrytown folk mentioned in this post.  :)  Just wanted to clarify.

So it looks like we'll be replacing the carpet in Isabel's room sooner rather than later.  We've been planning on doing it for a while, but now it needs to happen.  With cold/flu season coming up we just have to get the carpet out and some solid flooring in.  Anyone want to come help us?!  We'll pay you in food/beer/kid smiles/screams or all of the above.

Cabinet redo

I updated the cabinets in the kids and guest bathrooms. I think they look much better although I got tired of doing it and it shows, especially in the kid's bathroom. I need to do some retouching, but I needed a break. Next up will be the master bath and I'll use what I learned this time around on it.

Izzy has had a random 3 day fever that finally broke yesterday morning. Here's a picture of her at walmart (the 2nd trip this year. I'm slipping) in her jammies.

6 hour hair appointment

How is it the end of the weekend already?! Spending 6 hours (yes HOURS) at the Aveda Institute getting my hair done will sort of suck the weekend away. I was trying to save a few bucks by going to the beauty school, but OMG, 6 hours. Spending time with my family is worth more than saving a few $. I said never again the last time I did it, but I'll say it again. NEVER AGAIN! The color isn't that great either. It was a lose/lose.

At least I got to go to a birthday party for one of Isabel's friends and have her have an accident all over an electronic toy. She hasn't had an accident in like 6 months so I didn't even have a spare set of clothes. The toy still worked and she didn't get too upset, so all was good. We got to borrow some cute shorts from her little friend. He was a gracious host.

Today we got supplies for me to redo the kids and guest room bath vanities. If we like how it looks we'll do the master bath and then maybe the kitchen. I really hope it looks good and is a 1 person job. After Home Depot we went to the lake and had lunch.