Kitchen Remodel Update

Well the kitchen remodel is SLOWLY coming along. We might just get done before Christmas, but I doubt it...who knows. One of the issues we had with the house is that the patio door was leaking under the floor just a bit. So we decided to replace it. (Eventually we want to replace all the old windows with much more energy efficient ones, so this got at least one upgraded) Here are some photos of the door being replaced. Chris decided the floor and everything else was more than enough work for him, so we did hire someone else to come in and do this. It only took them less than an hour to do the whole thing. Once they took out the old door, we second guessed our decision to not do French doors, but the new door looks great and we did not want to disrupt our view of our backyard with lattice in the windows.


Here is the new door all installed. It is so nice and white and shiny, the old one had turned a kind of Grey white and just looked dirty....notice no muddy dog prints on it....yet!


As for the painting, we almost have the cupboards finished. I still have 15 doors sitting in the basement that need 4 coats of paint on each side, but those can stay off for awhile yet. I havent even thought about the walls yet, those may stay until after we get the floor in.

This week while I was at Charlie Brown rehearsal, Chris put Isaac to work ripping off the old vinyl flooring. I was so happy to come home to find that the awful 80's vinyl was gone!!!

Isaac loves helping do any work around the house and is having a good time helping daddy whenever he can. Yesterday we were talking about what we were thankful for and he kept talking about the new door. :-) What a cutie.

Croup, Reflux and a lot of grossness

If you have been wondering where we have been for awhile, these pictures tell all. Poor Poor Matthew started out Saturday with a bad cough, so we took him to the doctor and they gave us a nebulizer to do breathing treatments with. By Monday he was wheezing horribly all the time and coughing like a seal uncontrollably. Classic Croup symptoms. We were scheduled to go back to the doctor at 4, but at 3 he threw up all over my mom and was just not himself, so we rushed him to the doctor early and they were able to give him a steroid that would make his cough go away. It took until the next day, but he finally started sounding normal.


On top of all of that, whenever he eats, he coughs which makes him throw up all of his bottle. Our carpet, clothes are covered in rotten puked up milk...oh the fun of a sick child.
It is now almost a week later and he seems to be feeling a lot better, but he is still throwing up most of what he eats, mainly due to his acid reflux disease, combined with his cough. While I was taking the picture of the milk coming out of his nose, he decided to give me an even better picture.
(Note to Matthews Birthmom: I did immediately put down the camera and clean him up/ console him :-) hahaha) He really isn't bothered by it and just continues right on playing. So that has been our week, poor little guy. Hopefully he will get over this soon. So far (knock on wood) the rest of us have managed to not catch it.

Our little cuties

Here are a some photos of our favorite little guys.


This is Matthew's 5 month portrait, taken Sept.



Here is Isaac at 2 years (taken in Feb)



Isaac and Matthew get on great. It's so cute watching them together.

Trick or Treat

We had such a good time yesterday! This was the first Halloween that Isaac actually understood what was going on. He learned to say "Trick or Treat" early in the day, and was quick to say it in hopes of some candy!!! We dressed up early in the day so the kids could go to Kids Club at the gym all dressed up. Isaac was Bob the Builder, Matthew was a frog and I was an old maid. (I decided at the last minute to get in on the fun as well.) After that we headed over to my Grandma's retirement home to have lunch with her and my auntie. The people there love to see the kids and were so excited to see them dressed up. Isaac was saying "trick or treat" to all of them, and luckily they had candy to give him! We then headed over to my mom's work (the Dr. office) to "trick or treat" at all the desks of the people that worked there. That was really fun.

That night, my parents and my Grandma came over for dinner and to help hand out candy. We walked around to about 10 houses for Trick or Treating.


Matthew had a great time on his first time out trick or treating. He loves being outside and was happy to be carried around by us! He made such a cute froggy.


By this time, my costume was off, but I was still stuck with the make up...sad to say it was easier than in years past to find where to put the wrinkles on my face. :-)


Isaac was so cute, walking around dressed as Bob, with his candy pail in one hand and his thumb in his mouth.


Grandma was a good sport and wore the wee jimmy hat for awhile! We love her! (She'd kill me if she knew that I put that picture up, but I couldn't resist!)



Both kids fell asleep promptly last night and we were not far behind! Now if I could just stop eating all of the candy....and figure out a way to help Isaac not ask for a piece every ten minutes. I am trying to limit it to one piece a day, but I am so tired already of him asking me for more candy!!! hehehe

More leaf fun

One of the annoying, but fun things for the kids during the fall season is the amount of leaves that we get at our house. Being at the bottom of a cul-de-sac that is surrounded by trees, the wind blows the whole neighborhoods leaves into our yard. It also doesn't help that we have two beautiful, but leafy Maples in our back yard. Finally we have had some nice weather, so we went out to rake up the leaves. Having kids makes a yucky chore a lot of fun. I actually look forward to it (a little)


We never get tired of seeing Isaac run and jump into the leaves. I cringed when I realized we did not change him out of his church clothes!


Even Mommy and Daddy got in on the fun. One of the great joys of being a parent is the freedom to be a kid again (even most of you think we have never really grown up!)


Matthew got to join in on the fun as well. He kept trying to eat the leaves (yucky!) But had a good time watching his brother.


(Notice the abandoned Chicken coop behind me....my intentions to get a few chickens were sidelined when we got Matthew, but I am anxiously awaiting springtime when we WILL get a few!)

Pumpkin Patch Day

On Sunday we made our annual trip out to Hood River to go to the Pumpkin Patch and the apple orchard. We had all been sick for the last week and needed a day out of the house. Luckily the horrible rainy weather had ended and we had a nice dry day to be out. We started our day out at our cabin. Our friends the Lorenz's joined us for lunch and helped Chris load up the truck with firewood for our house. I love this picture of the girls and Isaac praying before they eat their lunch! How cute is that...and all done without any prompting from us. :-)

We then headed to Ramussens Pumpkin Patch in Hood River. They have a great storybook area for the kids, along with games and a easy corn maze. Isaac loved running around in the mud,and Matthew was curious about everything.



We then headed to our favorite apple orchard, Kiyokawa farms, in Parkdale. It is a longer drive, but well worth the extra 1/2 hour. Their apples are wonderful, organic and cheaper than the apple stands closer to Hood River. They had a Mariachi band and a great play fort for the kids.

Fall already?? Time flies

It is hard to believe that our little guy is now 6 months old, it seems like just the other day he was so small and cuddly in our arms. Now he is 20 pounds of laughter and fun (and a lot of spit up still) hehehe. Matthew is really such a joy to our lives. Watching him and Isaac play together is so cute, Matthew adores his big brother, and Isaac is turning into such a a good Mommy's helper. Here is Matthew at 6 months, and just for comparison (and because he is too cute) here is Isaac when he was 6 months


Matthew is super smiley (though the last 2 days he has been working on his top teeth and has been super fussy) Gotta love this pic of him with dad's wee jimmy hat on!


Fall is one of my favorite seasons, and we have the best tree's in our yard for watching the leaves change.

Though they are a bear to clean up. But having kids around makes the leaves fun and a toy. Isaac had a blast helping daddy rake the leaves and then jumping in them. He really has become all boy lately and any chance he gets to jump and run, he takes.