{Recap} April 2016

April we got our first snow storm. Yes. April. In Upstate NY.

It lasted maybe a day, and was melted and gone. 

Now, just because we didn't get the usual amount of snow this winter, doesn't mean it wasn't cold. 

Because it was.

And what do you do when its cold and you can't leave your less than two month old inside when you wait for the bus?

You wear him, under your jacket of course!

Love my mock moby wrap!

Carter always loved getting off the bus and seeing if I had Everett waiting with me!

Once the snow melted, it was time to get started on the garden.

I had little expectations for the garden, knowing it would be 3 kids and an infant this summer. 

So I tried to plant the easiest things I could, when I could.

One of the first things I planted was potatoes.  

This was an "out with the old and in with the new" situation. 

I've had the raspberry canes (in the bucket on the right) for years. And I have never gotten a berry.

So they were taking up space, and not producing. So out they went.

Putting the potatoes in the barrel was something new for me.

And since I am writing this post months later, I can tell you it was perfect! 

The dirt was rock free, and so easy to find the potatoes when it came time to dig!

In years past I've always done a potato tower of sorts, and haven had the greatest results.

So this year I planted, and didn't worry about them and got my best crop!

I probably should have left them alone, but the bunnies (yes bunnies) trampled them and I was scared they would rot if I left in much longer.

Ah, remodeling. 

Remember I told you we were redoing a half bath into a craft/office space.

Well. I swear I had it done by April, but guess not. Or I didn't take pics! Ha!

But I did take this pic.

Did you know Paint Thinner looks like milk? I swore it was clear, and it made me very nervous that it looked like milk. Good thing I only needed to wash my brush when staining my new desk!

Ah. Sweet. Ellie. 

We haven't used this room, in years. We literally stopped using this bathroom when we built the new bathroom, and Ellie's bedroom when I was pregnant for her in 2012. 

Once we cleaned out the half bath for the office project, the kids wanted in. 

Well. Ellie decided permanent marker on the door was appropriate. 

Ellie, You are lucky you are cute.

That's all for April!  

Nothing too exciting, but we needed that after March!

{Recap} March 2016

You would think March would have been calm for us with a newborn. 

But nope. It wasn't! 

Once the new range was in, we had to decide what to do with the cabinets.

Under the old counter top stove, we had our pot and pan cabinet and I did not want to lose that.

And above and below the old oven were cabinets that I didn't want to lose both. 

So it took some brainstorming.... more on that later!

And when ou have a newborn, and need to cook dinner. 

You put them on the amazing island your hubby built. 

The top is about 4 x 6 feet, so there is plenty of room!

For the past couple years these little birds have visited us in the wreath on the front door!

It's amazing how loud their call is, for being so little. 

And that I can lift the kids up to get a good look!

Ah, wishful thinking.

In March I began to try to figure out the garden. 

Like every year, on paper things look great.

But then I get outside, and decide to change things up.

To be honest, this year I threw plans out the window and just wing it. 

Ah, Easter Egg dying. Quite the feat with three sets of hands!

Poor Wyatt looked like the hulk by the end. So much dye on his fingers!

Ugh. The worst part of the month if not year.

Our beloved Golden Retriever, Cooper passed the day before Easter.

He passed in his sleep, and that's how I found him.

We didn't see it coming either. He went out the night before like any other night.

We got Cooper two months after we got our house, he was 9.

Some were surprised he was only 9, but we weren't.

We were told when we first go him, he had a heart condition and should be returned to the breeder.

We felt if we returned him the breeder most likely would put him down.

So we just said if we get 6 months or 6 years we would give him the best, and we did.

Losing a pet is hard, losing a pet with three kids that sort of understand is harder.

Even to today, they will randomly ask questions and it still breaks my husbands and my hearts.

Wait? What is this? A Craft? You say?

Yes. The morning of Easter I realized the toes of Ellie's "Cinderella" shoes needed some love. 

So, I went ahead and painted the toes with black shoe polish! 

Mom Win! If you ask me! The shoes still fit, and they look almost new again!

*And yes, I did do both! ha!*

{Recap} February 2016

February is here!

That means Carter's Birthday and Baby Boy's Birth...and you'll never believe it! 

Read to the end to see what else happened!

My sister did it again! Blew me away with another amazing cake. We've been telling her for years to go into business! But she won't! And you know what...  I'm okay with that! More time for my kids' awesome cakes!!  This is 144 mini cupcakes! Talk about a labor of love for a nephew!

Whipped up these shirts the day before my pre op appointment.

When we had Ellie both boys wore Big Brother shirts, but I thought this lineup fit us perfect!

Baby Brother, Big Sister, Bigger Brother and Biggest Brother!

When I went to my pre op appoint I found out the kids could not come to the hospital to meet baby!

I was devastated! Anyone else ever have this happen?

NYS put an age limit on visitors because the flu was high in the region.

With all my babies that has never happened!

Here he is! Practically perfect in every way! 

Baby boy was nameless until after he was born!

Mommy and Daddy could not agree! 

Mommy and some of the kids wanted Nolan. While Daddy didn't

Once baby was born Daddy came out with Everett. 

I had mentioned once after we found out he was a boy, and Daddy wasn't in love with it.

But clearly he let it sink in, and that was that. Once he saw him, he said He looks like an Everett.

So Everett it is!

Now onto the "fun" of the month.

This is my kitchen. This is my kitchen just days after having baby Everett.

That hole in my cabinets? Used to hold an ancient oven. It finally died.

We guessed it was from 70's but upon taking it out there was a date of 1954 behind the cabinet.

So your guess is as good as mine.  

Either way, because of the age of the oven. New wall ovens are not the same size. 

Our opening for the oven was 28" wide. We were able to find one oven that size, on clearance because it was discontinued. I knew it wasn't going to work. But was hopeful since the price was right, so I came home. Picked out my largest pans (turkey roasting pan and biggest cookie sheet) and went back and sure enough neither fit.  

Back to the drawing board.

With that said, we had to take out the cabinet the oven was in, plus the cabinet under the stove because we now had to look for a one unit stove/oven.  

A little irony for you.When we bout the house in 2007 I though "oh no! This setup is so dated." 

And over time fell in love with it. No bending over to pull turkeys, cookies and casseroles out of the oven. So when we had to get a one unit, my husband and I were a little bummed!  

Now, about that one unit...

Ah. A five burner gas unit.

I am in cooking heaven. 

My husband knows I love to cook, and can.

We went back and forth over electric vs gas quite a bit. But in the end gas won.  

A huge factor was my All American Canner. It is very heavy and it is recommended to not use on an electric glass top stove. Most electric stoves are glass topped now. And if they aren' they are super cheap in price and look/feel.

Now that I have been coking on gas for a couple months, I can say I'm not sure I would go back to electric.  If we bought a house with electric, fine. But eventually I would switch it over to gas. It definitely has its perks!  

So there it is... what a month! 

Don't worry, my kitchen does not look like that anymore! 

Even with a newborn we made progress!  

{Recap} January 2016

Happy New Year! *wink. wink*

It is starting to sink in, that we will be a family of six next month! 

Yes! I can' believe it either. 

January was a pretty low key month because of it too!

Santa brought Carter a Spirograph. I'm not sure who likes it more Carter or Mommy!

We literally spent at least an hour a day playing with it! 

If we weren't using the Spirograph, we were coloring.

Santa left me an adult coloring book, but Ellie thought it was for her!

And if we weren't coloring....

We were drawing, and let me tell you. The force if strong in this house!

Wyatt drew this!  He looked at a picture in a Star Wars book and was able to do it by himself!

Proud Art Teacher Mama moment right there!  

Can I remind you Wyatt is 4?!? Not bad!!

Lastly we decided to tackle a project that has been on the to do list, since we had Ellie!

Remove a half bath and convert it to....

This!  

We were able to remove the bathroom fixtures, update the electric, paint and update the flooring this month alone! Can't wait to show you next months progress, even with a newborn coming we made some headway!

We have a Mudroom!

Last week my husband was out of town for work, so I took matters into my own hands on a whim.

He left Sunday afternoon, and Monday I decided to clean/purge out back porch.  

It's not a heated space, so I normally try to do a good cleanup, reorganize, purge before it gets too cold.

The last time I shared this space was 2011!

And even then I hinted to how I wanted it... And I think I finally nailed it! 

Well. One thing led to another.

I went from a quick clean out to a complete overhaul.

With a phonecall and help from my mom...

my backporch went from this...

This is what was hidden behind the curtain! 

Yikes!

to this...

in THREE days! 

Can you believe it? Neither can I!

Want to hear something else?

It only cost $33! 

THIRTY THREE DOLLARS?!?!?

Yup. Between my mom and I, we had everything except the flooring! 

I still can't believe it! And it's been a week of enjoying a project off the to do list! 

So, again let's look at how it looked Monday after I purged things. 

Looking at this is when I was trying to see how I could improve on the space.

A phonecall to my mom to talk me off the ledge, actually threw me over the ledge.

But I am soooo happy she did!

So after a couple calls back and forth, I got to work Tuesday, emptying the space and looking at my back porch reno pinterest board to nail down my plan of attack.

Once I had an idea in my head of what I wanted, my mom and I started to figure out measurements using things we had.

She had given me the doors a while back for this space, and they were just waiting for us.

The frames for the closets was a weird bedframe piece that my mom was given. 

(Think boxspring except flat.) A quick pass with the saw and we had two walls!

Are you seeing why and how this came together so fast? 

Everything was just waiting to be put together!

After my mom helped get the closets up, I cut some paneling that was left in our garage eves by the previous owner (yup. 7 years ago and it was still there!) and I put it on the sides of the closets. Then Tuesday night I painted my little heart out after the kids went to bed!

Wednesday morning came, and I patched and painted the other two walls of the room.

I went with some pretty pale blue paint I had picked up for free using a coupon at Ace hardware!

Wednesday night my mom came over again and we built the bench! 

A couple boards, and the remaining two doors and it was done! 

We even left a small gap behind the bench back so I have a place for tall items like umbrellas!

Thursday was my deadline, well sort of. My husband was due back dinner time Friday but I had to have it done before then, plus I was volunteering at school Friday. 

So Thursday was paint touchup day, and flooring. 

I was the most nervous about the flooring out of the entire project. 

See- this is an unheated space, that needs some love structurally. It's a sloped floor that we have to fix eventually, so I didn't want to do too much. But decided I needed to do something since I did everything else. So sticky tiles it was. I couldn't believe how much they were! But since I didn't spend anything anywhere else I was okay with spending $33 to make the space finished!

Now, I know it's not 100% done, there are some spots to put moulding up, but I'll wait to do that once we redo the levelness of the floor.  When we go to fix the height, the gaps under the floor may be non existent, so I decided to just leave them, rather than extend just to have to take it off down the road!

Now, we have the entraceway our little house deserves!

This is the door most everyone uses when they come in our home, and now it's not an eyesore!

The view when you walk in!

And when you leave!

Pretty amazing if you ask me! It's so bright and cheery out there! 

Not bad for $33!