Christmas Decorations

Even though we are in the midst of renovations, we are decorating. Not nearly as much as normal. But enough that our house feels like Christmas and the kids are felling like is it the holidays. We even have a few things in the front yard, but no lights on the house. And of course we have the countdown tree, where the kids get an ornament out each night to put on a little wooden tree. (And candy.)

Tonight, though, I discovered that the kids have a tradition with it. They each take turns on getting out the candy and ornament. Tonight was Gwyn's night, and she asked me for the royal farts. I told her I had no idea what she was talking about. Then the boys walked in and said they would do it. She walked out of the room, and then walked back in. She was smiling and walking like she was so important, and the boys gave her the Royal Farts. Which means that they made fart sounds. Think of trumpets and fanfare, but with farts noises. Kids are weird sometimes.

We got a new tree this year! You can have color lights, or white lights. Which means Kevin and I switch it each time we walk through the room. (I like white lights, he likes color.) No ornaments are on the tree, though, so we can move it when the floor is installed. (Then the ornaments go up.)

The stairs, now with a tree in the corner at the top.

The fire place. The middle stocking has to be moved when we have the fire going. That is why there are two stockings on the right.

Look what else we have!

The cabinets were delivered on Friday!

Look what we have!

Install should be Monday and Tuesday.

Kitchen Update

So the floors are delayed. Again. Another week. This is 3 weeks late. We were expecting delays, but with everything so close to getting installed, this delay hurt. But it gives us more time to paint. And since we have a week and half until the floors go in (IF they are not delayed again, and honestly I am expecting the floor to be wrong somehow) it gave us time to clean up and organize. I was putting up with it since we were going to take out the rest of the kitchen this weekend. But now we get to do that next weekend, and we can't take another week of the mess.

We have been painting. We painted the bathroom a dark blue, and the kitchen is grey. It is darker than I planned on, but the color is what Kevin wanted. And it is so pretty!

The color looks dark in the back, but the wall close to the picture is most accurate. (We didn't paint where the cabinets and fridge are going to be.)

The bathroom.

Looking from the kitchen into the new mudroom.

From the foyer into the dining room. We both love the new location of the door.

We moved the table out of the living room, and I pulled up the rest of the staples in here this morning.

From the dining room into the kitchen.

The homework box is in the (very small) pantry.

When you ask the kids to help decorate...

...you see this. We are not decorating much, since we still have so much renovation left. But we have the tree (lights only, no ornaments so we can easily move it), stockings, the stairs are wrapped, and a few things outside. Enough to wear it feels like Christmas.

Gwyn helps prime the walls

We have been working on priming and painting this week. The floor are scheduled to be delivered Monday, installed Wednesday, and cabinets are scheduled for the following Monday. Then the counter tops will be templated on Friday. There is a lot scheduled in the next two weeks. (Fingers crossed.)

That means we are working to paint as much as we can before floors are in! And this weekend, Gwyn decided to help out. She did great! She actually painted the lower part of the walls in the laundry room. And she talked the entire time.

She was so committed to painting, she didn't change clothes. And she didn't get paint on them!

The end result. I like seeing her little paint marks. And I secretly like that these walls will be hidden by the washer and dryer. (Is that bad? This way the paint marks will still be there years from now since we are not painting that part!)

The fun part about getting new carpet...

I have been telling the kids they can color the carpet, but it took cousins Emily and Rachel to inspire them. 

Gwyn's outline.

The boys.

Gwyn Words

I will miss the words Gwyn says. I keep hearing her speak and mispronounce several words. It is adorable. If you are around her anytime soon, ask her to say chocolate, yellow, or banana. You will hear shocolate (3 syllables), lellow, and babana.