Two More Weeks

As you may recall, we started this kitchen adventure on or around 2/22. Actually, I packed up the entire kitchen and put it in the dining room on Valentine's Day, but no work started until the week of 2/22. When I asked repeatedly how long we could expect to be totally non-functional, the answer was 4 weeks. Of course, I knew that probably really meant 6. So today marks the end of week 5, and the kitchen is still completely empty except for the refrigerator which luckily we've been able to keep plugged in all this time. We've had to reschedule the appliance delivery twice, but our contractor now says "end of next week". So lots should be happening in the next 10 days or so...will try to post some pics! Paint and crown molding expected when I get home from work...keep your fingers crossed! :-)

Kitchen Remodel, #1

We have been under construction (or should I say, demolition, as no real construction has taken place yet) for three weeks now. I forgot to take any pics before demolition started, but in the first couple you can still get an idea of how unattractive it was (the first two were after the top cabinets were taken out, and the last two were once everything was pretty much gone). We cannot WAIT until the beautiful kitchen of our dreams is here...the kitchen was the biggest eyesore and biggest detractor when I decided to purchase this house, and it's going to be so wonderful when it's all nice and new and just the way we want it. We should be halfway through the hard part...our contractor says we'll have appliances and be mostly functional by the end of the month. I'm not holding my breath, but that sure would be nice! I am actually looking forward to cooking again, which is something few people would expect to come out of my mouth. :-)

Cute Tyler Story

For quite some time now, Tyler has wanted to be a race car driver when he grows up (fed by his obsession with the movie "Cars", not because we watch NASCAR!). However, he has recently gotten quite good at doing the ski jump on the Wii Fit, and he was excited to see real people doing it at the Olympics. I told him maybe he could be a ski jumper when he grows up, and he said "No Mom, I'm going to be a race car driver!" So I said, "Well, maybe you could be a race car driver during the day and a ski jumper at night." He seemed satisfied with this answer and decided he could do both.

Fast forward a couple of weeks...Tyler had a cold with a cough this week (thank you Ashley, for sharing your cold with both me and Tyler on top of the stomach flu!). As I was tucking him in the other night, I saw the rocking chair in the corner of his room...we haven't rocked before bed in over a year and I was about to give it away, but it just hasn't made it out of his room yet. I thought sitting up and rocking might help with the coughing, so we went over and rocked. I was telling him that I rocked Ashley when she was a baby in this chair, and I rocked him when he was a baby in this chair. Tyler says "And some day when I have a kid, I'll rock my baby in this chair!" I didn't want to tell him I was about to give the chair away, so I said "Oh, you'll probably want to get a new rocking chair for your baby." So he thought for a minute, and said "Well, when I go to the store to get my racing outfit, and my racing helmet, and my Olympics outfit, and my Olympics helmet, I'll get a rocking chair for my baby!" Apparently, he thinks he'll just wake up one day and he'll be a grown-up, at which time he can go to the "grown-up" store and buy everything he needs to get started with his adult life! I love that kid...

Little Rock Weekend

My college roommate, Amy, lives in Little Rock, which is just a two hour drive from Memphis. I used to drive over at least once or twice a year, but after Tyler's birth, the thought of a long drive and an overnight stay with a baby just didn't sound like much fun (for anyone!). But now that Tyler is so much more pleasant to travel with (potty trained AND easily entertained by the DVD player), we miraculously found a weekend when we were both free and the kids and I journeyed over to LR. We got to see her daughter Emily play soccer and went downtown to the Museum of Discovery...Tyler even missed his nap and was still pretty agreeable!

It was a great afternoon, until Tyler started complaining that his stomach hurt. He NEVER says this, so I knew something was up. My mommy intuition told me to have a trash can nearby, but did I listen? You all know what's coming next...he threw up what seemed like a two-liter's worth, all over himself, me, Amy's rug, etc. The poor little guy spent the rest of the night asleep in the middle of the living room floor, waking up every half hour or so to barf some more (surrounded by towels and a bucket!). Thankfully he felt better in the morning, but we sure did put some miles on Amy's washer and dryer! Let's all keep our fingers crossed that he didn't pass it along to anyone in their family, or we may never be invited back again! :-)

Don't hate me...

OK, I think I failed to actually take any photos during Ashley's slumber party! I did take a couple of videos, but they're a little long to post on the blog and not super-exciting. The party itself was a big success with Ashley and her two BFFs, but that will be the last time we try a slumber party at the Embassy Suites...I guess I should've known that when they actually offer a "slumber party" package on their website, it's a popular place for that! We did it on a Saturday night, and the place was packed with a wide variety of people from all walks of life...I will be politically correct and leave my comment for you to interpret as you will. Let's just say the crowd there on a Saturday night is not the crowd you would expect to find at an Embassy Suites in East Memphis. Ashley's friends were asleep by midnight, which was perfect, but unfortunately Ashley and I could not sleep due to the 10-12 kids in the next room (including at least one toddler!) who were partying down in the room next to us. That, and the teenagers in town for some sort of sporting event who were making a ton of noise in the 5-story atrium area that all the rooms adjoin with. Gosh, I'm getting old, aren't I? Anyway, the girls had a great time, which is all that matters!

The kids and I are going to Little Rock for the weekend to see my college roommate and her family, which should be lots of fun...I'll TRY to take some pictures :-)