How I Spent My Summer Vacation: Bathroom Renovation

I mentioned earlier that we had a big fat water damage mess to deal with in our upper bathroom and it prompted us to do the huge renovation it's needed since we bought our house 5 years ago. We've had problems again and again with the plumbing leaking in that bathroom and ruining the kitchen ceiling below. Plus it just wasn't well-suited for us, it only had a tub in it so Doug and I had to shower in the small downstairs bathroom every day. The deco was lacking, to say the least.

Before photos:



We had a large construction dumpster delivered to the house right before 4th of July weekend. We had one week to rip out the old flooring, fixtures, and remove the lath & plaster from the walls. Demo is one of the boys' favorite part about our home renovations.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The pretty, classic, antique claw foot tub that came out of the bathroom only sat on our front porch for a week before I found a buyer via Craigslist that wanted it for his home in Joplin, MO.

We hired a plumber to come in and install lines to where we wanted our new shower/tub to go. Once he dug into that project he found major complications with all of the existing plumbing in there that would only cause us to keep having leaks. He also saw that the floor joists for the room had been cut away so deep in some areas that it was only an inch thick! Eeeks! So we had to have a building inspector come and advise how to get it up to code, then made the repairs needed and then the plumber installed entirely new plumbing to the whole room.

Finally we got to the point where Doug could build the new wall, sheetrock the room and install the subfloor.


We had professional tilers finish the floors and tile around the shower.


Walls were finished and painted, new baseboards cut and fitted. The plumber returned for a day of hooking up the sink, showerhead and toilet.After two long months of work, it was finally operational! We still need to cut & install the crown molding around the ceiling and a little bit of baseboard, then paint those. However, it is usable now and great to be in!

After photos:

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: September

September is a always busy month in our family. Four family birthdays, the full swing of school, state fair and the last minute crunch to finish up summer projects. Kansas has notorious weather that tends to turn from 100 degree heat to 40 degree "fall" in the blink of an eye. It seems like we are constantly rush, rush, rushing to get things done before October hits.

Sean's 6th birthday started out the month. Normally, we have a nice organized gathering of as much of the family as we can and then try to include a few friends. This year, his birthday fell on Labor Day weekend and everyone had plans to be elsewhere. We had a small pre-party with Doug's parents, then on his birthday we just had a family day that included a trip to the YMCA to swim and out to Dairy Queen for ice cream cones (his favorite treat.) Sometimes keeping it simple is just as much fun as the big events.


Next up was the annual Kansas State Fair. We love going to see the exhibits and enjoy the rides. This year was even more fun as the kids were old enough to get excited about more aspects. Three of us had our art exhibited, so it was neat to track them down and see them displayed.

Aidan with his Pointillism-inspired collage (middle row, second from top)

Sean and Ella in front of his self-portrait.

I entered the dress I knit for Ella in the hand-knitted garment competition, but didn't place. I also didn't get a photo of it there because I had kids running in different directions in the Domestic Arts building.

On the evening we went to go on rides, Aidan ran into a classmate at the fair with his mom. She offered to take them around to do big kid rides while we took Sean and Ella to do little kid rides. Ella got a kick out of most of the things we tried.


We had an unfortunately incident involving the giant yellow slide this year. Doug and Aidan planned on riding it, but when we got there Sean and Ella also insisted they wanted to ride it. I tried talking Sean out of it, as he really didn't like it in the past, but he was determined to go. Um, yeah, not a good idea. Poor thing barely weighs 38 pounds and since Doug had to hold Ella on his lap, Sean had to ride solo next to them. He almost got air on the the first drop, so he freaked out and tried to turn over to his tummy to hold on to the burlap sack. His face smacked down on the slide rail and left a doozy of a bruise for days. He was in tears by the time he got to the bottom and says he will not do that again! Eeks. He didn't even want to walk near it the rest of the time we were there.

After we had our fill of the Fair, we made a quick trip up to visit my family for a weekend. We wrapped up the month by finally putting together the yard sale I had wanted to do all summer. I talked about it for months and slowly sorted what I wanted to purge out of the house. Aidan wanted to set up a lemonade stand for the sale and Doug was happy to fulfill that wish by building a magnificent lemonade stand out of leftover lumber from the bathroom renovation. He put a lot of work into it and Aidan really loves it. He had it open for business the day of the sale and then asked to set it up the next day too. We were so touched by the generosity of people who stopped to buy a drink and treat from him. He's hoping to get a couple more days of business before it gets too cold. I guess we will store it in the garage after that so he can use it again in the spring.




In addition to the fun stuff we did this month, I finally faced up to some dental problems I'd been neglecting. I had to get a root canal done at the end of the month and will need to go in for a crown and some fillings soon. Pregnancy was really hard on my teeth each time, but this time it was the worst. Actually, it's probably because I had areas that really needed a crown in the past but didn't get it. Instead those areas got worse and now it is no longer optional. I'll be so glad when it's all done, but just dread the time getting it fixed. Eye on the prize, right?

Well, that catches up most of our summer! I have a blog's worth of knitting projects to share and one with the bathroom renovations.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: August

Phew, August was a super crazy month!

We kicked it off with lots of fun celebrating Eleanor's 2nd birthday. It was so fun to see her really enjoy everything about birthdays. We went out to lunch that day and got ice cream cones, then had Doug's parents over in the evening for dinner, cupcakes and gifts.


A few days later, we went to spend the weekend with my family where we celebrated her birthday again with them, as well as my nephew's birthday. We went to a great new water park near them and had a fun time together.





We had several weeks of mad-rush-before-school-starts activities. Our bathroom reno was in full force, so we had workmen at the house most days. My mom came out for a week while I caught up on appointments for myself.

Right before school started, we took Sean to see the pediatric cardiologist for a check up on his heart defect. It was a mostly good news appointment. While we didn't hear what we hoped for (that his heart is completely healed), we did hear that there has been a little improvement. He has an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) that used to have an Atrial Septal Aneurysm on it. That's right, I said used to have... it's GONE! So yay for that news! The ASD has not changed in size or in how it is affecting his heart performance. We don't have to bring him in for another heart check up for FIVE years! Woot!

What makes this all especially good news is that it combined with the fact that this time Sean was very very very unhappy to go through the testing. I had to hold him down to get the leads attached to him and the only way we could get him to lay still for the echocardiogram was to have him lay on top on me, while I held him and comforted him. I don't know why he was so against it this time, he was always compliant in the past. I seriously hope he outgrows it before the next check up because by age 11 he will be way too strong for me to hold. He put up such a fight getting the leads on that I didn't have the heart to fight him to get them off right away. He kept the "buttons" on until the next day when Doug and I held him down long enough to rub off the adhesive with some baby oil before giving him a bath. Poor little man!

There wasn't a whole lot of time left to enjoy lazy days at home. The boys had to make the most of their time together, with each other and with their little sister.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Before we knew it, it was time for the first day of school. Oh my goodness, my throat was tight watching my two boys walk into school that day! I want to pull them close and stop time, yet at the same instant wanted to applaud them as they bravely walked in with their heads held high. All my worries about Sean eased when the principal greeted him at the school door with, "Hi there! How are you today?" and my Seanie replied, "Happy!"



It doesn't get better than that.

Something Snuggy for Your Buddy!

Each year I've participated in the 31 for 21 Challenge, I've sent a gift to a reader at the end of the month. This year, it's something very special and very fun that combines two loves in my life: Down syndrome Awareness and knitting!

I searched through hand-dyed yarns and found a perfect yarn for my giveaway, this gorgeous fiber dyed by Laines Magnifiques in their French Provencal colorway. It's a blend of superwash merino wool and cashmere, so it's so super super soft and heavenly. A beautiful, subtle color combination that coordinates with the traditional Buddy Walk logo.

Photo credit: Laines Magnifiques

Once I ordered it, I started looking into what I could make it into that would fit a variety of sizes and appeal to many. A pattern came to mind that I haven't knit yet, but wanted to, The Hudson Hat. A generous knitter friend offered to purchase the pattern for me and donate it to my cause. I think that makes it meant to be!


Photo credit: The Mad Hatter.

The yarn is in route to me and I will knit it to the size the winner chooses after I draw a name on Nov. 1st. I expect it to take me 2-3 weeks to knit, so it will be done before the Christmas holidays, should the winner wish to give it as a gift. This pattern can be knit in Newborn, Infant, Child, or Adult size, but please note that I will have to add coordinating solid colored yarn to the larger sizes in order to have enough yarn for the pattern.

So how can you win this lovely prize? Simple! Leave comments on my blog posts this month. For each post you comment on, your name gets entered in the drawing. And since the whole point of 31 for 21 is to spread awareness, I'm offering additional drawing entries if you let me know you shared a post on Facebook or on your blog. Just make a note in the comment section that reads, "I linked you today!" If you found an old post you'd like to share, that's fine with me. If you comment on it, I will get the notification and count that entry, too. Please make sure I can email you if you win!

Spread the awareness, share the love, enter to win something very snuggy for your buddy!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: July

If you are wondering how I can possibly remember what and when we did stuff this summer, I'll let you in on a secret. Doug and I unload all of our digital photos into files marked by month & year, so I open up the July 2010 photo file to see what we did that was photo worthy. Granted, we usually do other things that I may forget to bring my camera to, but I try to get pictures at major things as well as take a few for fun here and there. It really helps my aging brain keep track of things, lol.

That said, July was a slim month in the photo file. The month started off with crazy heavy rains continuing from June. In fact, flash flooding covered many blocks of the city on the 4th of July. Fireworks plans kept getting shifted and delayed, which resulted in people dragging out their front yard fun longer than usual. Sean is absolutely terrified of fireworks, so we have spent the last several years just staying holed up at home in the evenings around the 4th to try to keep him comfortable. We did go over to our friends' house for a cook out during the day and the children just loved getting soaked in the flood water. (sidenote- eeeew!)




I had a Mommy Meltdown on the 5th when the new neighbors across the street from our house launched a loud and lengthy celebration with explosives directly under the our bedroom windows until 10 PM. Yeah, I turned crazy lady and went out in my jammies to yell at them. *shakeshead* Too many nights of tolerating the disturbance reached it's peak.

We had a nice visit with my mom in July. She came to stay with us to help me get the kids in for their annual physicals. She brought my nephew, Adam, along so that was extra fun for the kids. I can't tell you how much of a blessing it has been for her to be retired. She has helped us out so much with the kids this past year. They just adore her and never get tired of spending time with her. I really need to work harder at taking photos of her with the kids, because it will be so nice to have physical mementos of this time with her too.

At the end of July, we went to a family reunion with extended relatives of Doug's. It was nice to see everyone gathered up together and get to know some of the distant cousins. Unfortunately I didn't assert myself and ask to do a group photo of everyone. The best photos I got were just of the kids playing on the playground outside. I hate when I miss opportunities like that. I guess I just got too distracted with these little goofballs.

The kids had some weird bugs that month, too. Ella had a bad allergic reaction to something, coincidentally on the same day as she had vaccinations even though the doctor says that it wasn't caused by the vaccines. Her face and a bit of her chest broke out in a rash that took several days and Benadryl to ease away. Sean got a yucky sinus, ear, and eye infection that required meds. Aidan had a stomach virus that lasted a day but amazingly didn't spread to anyone else. Summer illnesses are just so unfair, aren't they?

Ella has a persistent interest in viewing photos of herself on the digital camera, so I end up with lots of little portraits of her and sometimes the boys. Two favs:



Gosh they are growing up so darn fast!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: June

Going to do a series of backtracking posts, to bring the blog up-to-date. If you are a Facebook friend, this might be boring. :)

I mentioned in my early summer posts that we kicked off the summer with some big renovations to the house. We tore down our old fence, watched builders put in a new one. We had our old roof replaced, due to water damage. We had water damage occur over Memorial Day weekend that prompted us to do interior renovations to our upper bath (will post that later.) All the house projects really ate up a lot of our time this summer, but we squeezed in as much fun as we could here and there.

The boys went to a summer school program, 4 days a week from 8-11:30, at their elementary school. It was a great opportunity to acclimate Sean to the school, his teachers and a few classmates. They both seemed to enjoy going and doing the activities there. They got to go on field trips to the library once a week and could eat lunch at school, too. It only lasted 6 weeks, but was a nice way to keep them busy and interested in learning.

Aidan played coach-pitched baseball again this year. I can't say that he loves baseball. He does a fair job playing it, but it gets so hot here in the summer that he just wasn't enthusiastic about being out in the heat. We liked cheering him on and watching him play. Here's our boy making a nice hit:


Aidan also worked on getting wealthy via Tooth Fairy Funds this summer. I think in total he lost 3 teeth. I think his college funds might all go to dental care.


Last summer, we tried to have Sean play t-ball and he really didn't care for it, so this year we decided to sign him up for swimming lesson at the YMCA. Talk about finding his niche!!! That boy is a natural swimmer, he just loves being in the water and is excited to try anything the instructors suggested. I was very proud of how he did and we will definitely keep it up.


Eleanor's favorite sport this summer was Act Like a Crazy Monkey and Injure Oneself. She pulled a doozy in June, standing on the toilet lid, leaning over to the bathroom sink, resulting in her slipping off and whacking her chin on the counter. End result, she bit her tongue in half and she got her first ER trip. FYI, there's not much they can do for severed tongues. Stitches dissolve rapidly and the tongue eventually heals itself. Scared the beejesus out of me. Knock on wood, that was the worst wound she came up with, but her legs look like a dot-to-dot puzzle due to all the skinned knees, bruised shins, and mosquito welts.


We celebrated Doug's 40th birthday in June with a camping trip to Tuttle Creek Lake. We went up with family on both sides, lots of tents, an RV, lots of friends, and plenty of yummy local brewery beer to chase away the 100 degree weather. Doug really enjoyed his celebration and the kids all had fun sleeping in a tent for the first time.



Going along with the theme of sleeping in new places, Aidan and Sean successfully have transitioned from co-sleeping with Daddy to co-sleeping together in their own room! We've gently encouraged them to several times in the past to try sleeping in there and it never went well. This summer I got the brilliant idea to put the two twin beds together and try again. Ta-dah! Happy little snuggle bugs! Most nights they make it all night long in there. Occasionally Sean wakes with growing pains and goes to Doug's bed so Daddy can rub his legs. One part of this that really made us proud is that Aidan no longer needs us to lay with him until he falls asleep. Sean still usually falls asleep on the couch while they watch their before bed cartoon with Daddy, so Doug carries him up and tucks both boys in after it's over. Aidan just says goodnight and puts himself to sleep without disturbing Sean.

Doug is very happy to have lots of room to spread out at night. I am still sleeping with Ella in her room as she still wakes through the night and is rather unpredictable in her sleep positions. Last thing I want is her flopping off the bed at night. She's an independent little bug and likes her space at night, so I think she will be ready to sleep alone much younger than the boys were.

Well, there wasn't any photos of me the month of June. Ha ha, guess I was the invisible woman that month. I have finished knitting from then, but I'll just do one summer knit post to share all that. Onwards to July!

Hellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllo, Blogland!

Yeah, baby, look who's back! Wow, that was the longest blog break I've ever had. Trust me, there was a good reason. Summer was swamped with remodeling projects, kids, swimming, baseball, traveling, knitting, and a newly-turned two year old that likes to pry mommy's hands off the keyboard when I try to type.

With the boys in school all day this year, you'd think my blog time opened up, but I've been using my baby free breaks (aka nap time and bedtime) to knit more. I miss keeping up with my blog and my blogging friends, so I am going to give the 31 for 21 Challenge another go this year. I have recapping posts to do so I will try to get some of that done. Some days may be slim, but hey it's all for fun, right?!

So welcome back to Sunflower Stories! Hope you like the new look and new features. If you are a new visitor from the 31 for 21 group, nice to meet you! Leave a comment so I can visit you, too.