Weekend {Mother’s Day 2013 & Mantel Project}

Talk about a really nice weekend!  It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable weekends.  I can’t remember the time that I watched TWO movies in one weekend (that I actually liked) – seriously why don’t I sit more and enjoy a good flick?!  Not only did we enjoy movie time, but we also had great weather so Liv enjoyed playing outside Friday evening and Saturday.

Saturday we celebrated Mother’s Day with my mom by meeting them in-between our house and theirs in Sumner.  We went to Loyalty Park and it was SO cute; great playground, grass fields, huge old beautiful trees in an old cute neighborhood.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch of sushi from Trapper’s – Liv had a yummy packed lunch from home to enjoy too!  She loved the park so much.  She was so happy running around, going down the slide, up on the play-gym and in the swing.  It you want to experience what pure joy looks like, take a 1.5 year old to the park filled with kids.  It was awesome!

We had a great time celebrating the day with my mom and dad.  I wish we could have done more for my mom – she is the best, but I hope she enjoyed her Mother’s Day.  We also ventured to look at some estate sales in the area and over to The Old Cannery to look around.  Nothing purchased, but we enjoyed our visit.

Saturday night we enjoyed pizza for dinner and watched “Django Unchained” once Livie was in bed.  We both liked the movie, but I felt like it kind of dragged on a bit too long.  I don’t think I was in the mindset for a long movie, but I did make it until the end.

Mother’s day at our house on Sunday started off with the three of us enjoying breakfast together, then a family run and a day of projects.  I had asked that we just be at home on Mother’s Day and work on things around the house.  Jeff and his dad worked on the mantel project and I had Liv for the day.  When she napped I worked on refinishing a new table for her room and different odds and ends around the house that I wanted to get done.  It was really nice.  Late in the day I even started a movie, “Safe Harbor” and it had better acting than I expected.  It was good.  For dinner Jeff grilled salmon and we had a delicious dinner all together at the table.  It was perfect spending the day at home with my family.  I guess I am easily pleased, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Mother’s Day dinner with these two cutie pies

Jeff and his dad also made great headway on the mantel project and it is really starting to come together.  It is just the shell and doesn’t even have the finishings yet and it looks good – I can’t wait to see it all complete.  I am in the process of figuring out the dark stain color we are going to use for the mantel beam and for the banisters.  I am doing test stains to see what looks best first.  I think I have it narrowed down to two that I really like.  The first photo below is where we are at right now and the second photo is close to what it will look like, wood-wise and our beam is thicker than our inspiration.

As of today – the shell is constructed

Mantel Design Inspiration

Jeff and Jim are seriously skilled carpenters!  I can’t wait for it to be finished.  We have another working weekend – hoping we make some more good headway. 

I hope all the moms out there had a very Happy Mother’s Day last weekend!

18 Months {Olivia Haven}

Olivia is 1 ½ today!  If you ask her how old she is though she’ll hold up one finger and say “two” and then we politely correct her and say “no, you are one”.  She is so funny not to mention adorable, sweet and so smart with a little stubborn in there too.  She blows us away in one way or another every day.  She is the best gift.  I haven’t done any updates on her since she was one, but I thought a mid year update sounded like a good idea so we can look back and see just what was going on at 1 ½.

We have had an entertaining and busy last six months with Livie.  She is a little spark plug and is always into something.  She enjoys playing with her babies and wrapping them up in a blanket, putting them in her stroller and putting them to sleep.  She will whisper and say “sshhh baby sleeping”.  She also loves her “Caa” car and takes my keys and drives her rig around.  She loves keys and tries to unlock the doors with them and she is pretty close to opening the doors too.  She locked Jeff outside over the weekend by turning the lock on him.

Livie loves her shoes.  She always wants them on and if she sees shoes or you say shoes she will ask to put some on or try to get into her closet in her room to get them out.  She’ll plop right down in front of you if you are sitting on the ground so you can put them on for her.  I just can’t help but buy her new pairs often because she loves them.  Her favorites right now are her salt water sandals – she wore them all weekend long and likes the way they sound hitting the hardwoods.

She is also infatuated with birds and anything outside; the neighborhood playground and any slide is the best.  Every day we get home she wants to spend time outside so we have to go out and run around in the grass and see if the birds are out on the pond.  It scares me when she is outside because she is fearless and wants to run all over on the concrete, but if you try to stop her she gets upset.  The terrible twos have started a bit early and when she doesn’t get what she wants or gets frustrated she throws a tantrum.  Jeff and I are trying really hard to stay calm and if the tantrum is out of frustration from what she is trying to do then we help her and explain that she should ask for help.  If she is getting upset from something that she shouldn’t be doing or can’t have then we give her a reason and ignore her and turn to a “time-out” in her crib or somewhere safe that she can’t keep it together because she does the whole flip out on her back mode; pretty sweet.  All is easier said than done, but we are sure trying.  Parenting is tough.  We had a hard time this past weekend – she just wants what she wants and is not easy to deal with when she doesn’t get it.  The girl needs to learn and we are trying.

Besides the tantrums she is a true delight.  Smiles, hugs and kisses.  She gives the best hugs and love her sweet kisses.  She says “hiya” to everyone and everything.  When she walks upstairs with one of us she waves and says “bye-bye” to even her cats that are downstairs and is really good at blowing kisses.  She is doing really well and singing the alphabet.  When you sing it she will say some of the parts to it.  She is a pro at animal flash cards and knows pretty much every animals name and the sound that they make.  The snake is the funniest.  She knows most of her body parts and can point to them when asked where it is located.  She says “thank you” when you give her something without being asked and says “please” when she asks for something - such a good little girl.

Livie loves to talk and says pretty much every word that she hears and understands just what you are saying.  We are going in soon for her doctor check-up so we can get her stats, but pretty sure she is 27 pounds.  She wears 18 to 24 months and 2T clothing and size 5 and 6 shoes.  She has a full mouth of teeth – guessing 16 to 18 teeth.  She loves her “bubble” (binky) and Terry, her stuffed bird still… 

Typically she is a great eater, there are certain meals that she doesn’t want much, but the other meal before she may have eaten a good amount or had a large snack.  Breakfasts at home normally consist of mini waffles, pancakes, eggs, toast, muffins, yogurt, fresh berries; lunches are usually cream cheese sandwiches, cheese and chicken quesadillas, grilled cheese, cucumbers, carrots, fresh berries; dinners are usually baked chicken, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, turkey hot dogs, pasta, broccoli, fresh berries.  Snacks are string cheese, rice crackers, cereal, and dried fruit with some milk.  She enjoys a little dessert of M&Ms or Reese’s Pieces after dinner.

We love our little girl so much and have learned a ton from her.  Can’t wait for what is to come – we have lots to look forward to watching her grow up.

Lately {Spring Chelan Trip & More}

Jeff and I had a nice trip to Lake Chelan last weekend with Jamie and Troy.  It is so nice that our family is also our best friends – we are truly blessed to have such wonderful family in our lives.  They are the best!

We all took half-days on Friday so we were able to get going and get to town late afternoon.  We were all pretty excited to be there and decided it was best if we just started wine tasting – we quickly pulled into Tunnel Hill to start the weekend off right and then went to Tsillan Cellars to follow and then checked into the GrandView which was right in town.  We stayed in a condo and it was great, comfortable and easily walkable to all of the restaurants.  The first night we went to one of the Mexican restaurants in town, Marcela’s Cocina, which was really good; loved their seafood burrito, and headed back to the condo to watch a movie – I didn’t make it past 9:30 pm because I was so tired from the work week.

Saturday we started off by going to the casino which everyone enjoyed and we were all a bit surprised because we (or I should say Jeff, Jamie and Troy ) were not too jazzed about going originally.  All had fun and I got my gambling fix!  Love spending a little time at the casino when on vacation.

We then made our way wine tasting.  We hit Four Lakes, Wapato Point Cellars, Vin Du Lac for lunch and then to Nefarious (our favorite).  We were not too impressed with Wapato Point Cellars or Vin Du Lac – all were not prepared for crowds and had horrible customer service unfortunately.  We finished up the day of tasting by going to a new vodka distillery, Blue Spirits, which actually has all kinds of liquors that they make.  The owners were so sweet and their tasting room / cabin was awesome being on the water and had a gorgeous look-out.  I watched while the gang tasted and then we were off to rest and then figure out dinner at the Local Myth which was amazing as usual!

Saturday was another restful evening with everyone and an early to bed – drinking during the day is exhausting!  We were all up and ready to head home Sunday which was nice because we were excited to get Livie from the grandparent’s house and spend some time with her before it was night-night time.  Looking forward to our next trip to Chelan in September.  A special thank you to Jim and Nancy for watching our little spark plug all weekend.  I know she had a great time!  Here are some great pictures that Grandpa Jim took – just love them all.

This week has been a busy work week with lots of meetings, but we are looking forward to a nice weekend again.  Livie hasn’t been sleeping that well all week due to a cold and up at 4:30 am…ugh.  We have had some fun after work enjoying the backyard with Liv on these beautiful nights.  She loves playing outside or maybe it is because she gets to wear her shoes – she is obsessed with shoes!  A 18 months / 1.5 year post is on its way soon.  I cannot believe that she will be a year and a half next Friday, the 10^th.  My baby is growing up!

We are ready for a relaxing Friday evening with the family at home, a Cinco de Mayo party at a family friend’s house on the lake on Saturday, some work projects around the house and wine tasting in Woodinville with friends on Sunday.  Weekends just go too quickly these days though – it is going to be a hot and beautiful weekend here in Seattle and I can’t wait!!  We will enjoy it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Project Update {Finished Kitchen}

We finally finished our kitchen project!  We started off the project by thinking it would take two weeks.  We completed the project in just about two months.  It was a long process painting our kitchen cabinets, but I will say that the finished product made it all worth it and we love our new kitchen.  Here are some before and after pictures.

Love my new faucet!

The glass cabinets is my favorite look in the kitchen.

So dark before – it feels so much more open and bigger with the lighter look.

Obsessed with the old school pendants!

We are going to be painting the walls in the kitchen next to match the newly painted downstairs walls.  We are also looking into updating our island to butcher block in the kitchen – love that look!

More to come!  Have a fabulous weekend - we are off to Lake Chelan to soak up some sun and spend time relaxing!

Working Weekends.

I have had this post pretty much all written for the last two weeks and just now updating.  We finished up another weekend of working on the downstairs.  We have had a few fun breaks the last two weeks though; we went to a very special little girl’s first birthday party in Olympia a few weeks ago.  Nina turned one and we were very excited to be there to celebrate with her – it was such a fun party!

It was a much-needed step away from painting and it felt good to be with friends and spend time together as a family since Jeff was gone all last week for work.  Livie was eager to be with kids her own age and play at the party since she was away from “school” and her buddies all that week due to Spring break.

With “school” being closed she got to spend two entire days with her Aunt Barb from Spokane, two days with dad at home and one day with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jim.  She had a great time and got lots of attention from some of her favorite people!  I do think she missed her buddies though.  She got to go on Monday of last week to see everyone, but the rest of the week she was at home with my mom who came to stay with us while Jeff was in Scottsdale for work.  We were sure glad to have her and felt very lucky.  She made my week SO much easier and less stressful.  This week is back to the old normal routine for Livie, but not at home because we are in spray mode with the cabinet frames.  Our kitchen is completely non-functional and has been since Saturday when we did our first spray of the paint.  Everything is plastic and taped off – I can now say that I am tired of take-out and I long for a normal meal at home.  Saturday was Thai, Sunday was sushi, Monday was pizza and tonight is Subway – sigh.  We spend most of our time in the upstairs bonus room playing while things downstairs are being worked on.  It does work out pretty well considering.

We are so close to being done with the kitchen.  I also finished painting the downstairs walls of the family, living and dining room.  Jeff and I also sold our sectional and ottoman that was downstairs and purchased a new couch a few weeks ago which will be delivered this coming Saturday.  We were not happy with the sectional; it didn’t work in the family room.  We are much happier having a regular sized couch and chair in the room.  We will be getting a leather chair and ottoman to go with the new couch soon, but for now the room is all freshly painted and we moved our living room couch set into the room and it looks great for now.

Freshly painted entry way

We have been able to relax and enjoy the new family room the last two Saturday nights which has been so nice.  Overall the feel is so much more light and airy – I still have no clue why we waited so long to make the house our home and add personal touches the way we want it.  We will post the photos once all is finished.  My mom has another project coming her way too; she is going to help make us new throw pillows for the family and living room and drapes.  I ordered the fabric over the weekend and am so excited.

Pillow fabric samples

The dining room is also coming together.  The painting is done, pictures are hung and it is ready for the final touches of color.  We are going to be adding two accent chairs that will go at each end of the table, but we will wait for those probably around Christmas.  I just love the way it is all coming together and all of our hard work is paying off.

So excited to put the kitchen back together – We have all of the new fixtures, hardware and bar chairs so everything is ready and waiting!  Once the kitchen is done the last two projects are refinishing our stair banisters to an espresso dark brown and creating our new fireplace mantel.  I can’t wait for it to be all done.  Our estimated completion date, at this time, is by Memorial Day weekend.  Hopefully we can stay on track – we’ll keep you posted.  I will post before and after pictures of each room to get the full effect and a detailed tutorial on our experience painting kitchen cabinets once all is finished.

Let’s hope this week goes by fast so we can have another weekend.  We are off to a 2nd birthday party for a family friend at the Hands On Children’s Museum on Saturday, Jeff is golfing and we have lots of work around the house.  I have a lot of cleaning ahead of me from all of the remodel.  We hope everyone is having a great week and thanks for stopping by!

Easter Weekend.

Easter weekend was beautiful and we sure did enjoy it!  We started the weekend off by playing with Livie in the backyard Friday after work and letting her run around in the grass and soak up the sun.  She loves being outside and being able to see the birds flying in and out of the pond, ducks quacking, the subtle train noises in the background, airplanes overhead and watching the bugs buzz around.  She is so interested and so acquisitive to it all.  She loves the outdoors just like her mama.  I love that we have a pond with all kinds of animals in it for her to play in when she is of the right age to enjoy it.  It is truly amazing looking through the eyes of a young child and reliving everything for the first time with her.

Saturday Jeff had a softball tournament and lucky little girl got to go to a couple of games with Grandpa Jim and watch dad and friends play.  I had a few appointments so wasn’t able to join, but I heard she had a great time!  Grandpa got some great pictures of her and there was even an awesome playground right there that she got to enjoy during game breaks.

Tickle monster time!

With no real afternoon nap, just a small car nap on the way home, it was an early to bed kind of night which was nice for me because I have loads of painting to do downstairs.  I got a lot done on the project this weekend, but still lots to get done.

Opening her Easter gift from Grandpa & Grandma Havens – adorable Spring / Summer outfits!

Easter Sunday was another spectacular weather day!  We started the morning by getting little missy up and brining her down to what the Easter bunny brought and boy did the bunny not disappoint .  She got all kinds of fun things in her basket this year; several new books, a couple stuffed animals, bunny ears, a new sippy cup, coloring book with crayons, bubbles and the obligatory Easter candy which we will undoubtedly eat most of.  After the Easter basket it was time for breakfast, playtime and then a morning nap.  She is funny – at home she still takes a morning nap, but at “school” she only takes an afternoon nap.

The Easter bunny also hid eggs for Livie this year.  She enjoyed her second Easter egg hunt of the season.  Earlier in the week at school they had an Easter egg hunt too.  She did pretty well searching for the eggs and putting them in her basket.  We had fun watching her.  We also attempted to take some family photos, but she was not having it this year and wouldn’t allow us to hold her to pose for photos so we chanced around after her trying to get a good shot…

Catch me if you can face – little stinker!

We went over to our cousin’s new house in Bellevue for an early Easter dinner with family.  Their new house is beautiful and we loved getting to see it and spending the afternoon with everyone.  Livie did pretty well with not taking an afternoon nap again – just the old car nap on the way home.  She loved playing with her cousins, Annelise and Evan and running around in the backyard with them.

Kristi’s pretty Easter table

Cousin buddies!

When we got home last night we enjoyed some time in our backyard and blowing bubbles!  She loves her bubbles and I got some great shots of Jeff and Liv.  So precious they are together.

A great weekend with family and looking forward to the next!  We hope everyone had a fabulous celebration with family and Friends!

Desert Trip 2013 Recap.

Okay, I am a little behind these days with work craziness and house projects so I am finally posting…oops.  The trip getting to the desert was way less eventful than last year’s trip.  We had to get up early to get to the airport, but it was so worth it because we arrived at my parent’s house just around lunchtime so Liv could eat and we could enjoy the outdoors and 80 degree temps.  We were so glad to be there.

Livie absolutely loved running around in the grass outside of my parent’s place.  There were many photo-opp moments and I probably took way too many photos.  So please bear with me on the over excess of photos in this post.

We enjoyed most of our days by starting with an early morning family run.  We pretty much-needed to vacate the house because it was so early and Livie is not quiet.  We made very attempt to not wake my parents up at 5 AM.  It did get us out of the house to enjoy the beautiful morning sunrises every morning.

Some photos from us in bed at 8:30 pm on vacation – pretty great <– sarcasm.

We had a nice official entire day in the desert by spending the afternoon with my aunt and cousin.  We enjoyed dining al fresco and sitting out late into the evening enjoying the nice weather.  It was so great to catch up with family and spend time together.  Jeff also got to see his good friend, Jason, who he used to play baseball with for the Giants during our trip which was good for the two of them.

Jeff golfed several of the days and went with my dad once too.  The girls were able to shop quite a bit and we found some great finds this year.  Jeff and I also enjoyed several of our favorite happy hour spots; Jackalope Ranch and Pacifica, and we found a new favorite spot, 3^rd Corner Wine Bar, that my parents touted so we checked it out and it did not disappoint.  We also enjoyed frozen yogurt several times and a dinner out at Don Diego’s which was a Valentine’s gift from my parents – so nice of them.

Jeff and I sure did enjoy getting a chance to catch up on life and be able to actually hold a conversation that didn’t completely revolve around our little cutie.  Thank you to my parents for watching her so we could enjoy some time away – we sure did appreciate it.

We also took Livie to the zoo for the first time, The Living Desert.  She did really well – she enjoyed the animals and she especially liked going on her very first ride, the merry-go-round.

The merry-go-round was probably the highlight of the day for her.  Jeff and my mom rode with her while my dad and I took pictures.  She seemed a little unsure when it started to go around, but seemed to warm up to it and then when she got off of the ride she wanted back on.  Our little dare-devil!  Shortly after the merry-go-round she decided it was nap time so we made our way through the rest of the exhibits and left for the day.  It was a good first experience and we are excited to go back next year.

We didn’t get to spend as much time at the pool as we have in the past.  It was just hard with her because she doesn’t sit still and the pool area isn’t exactly a safe place to run around.  We did take turns going out and took her into the pool a few times.  She wasn’t too sure about it this year.  We need to register for swim lessons again at home.  I didn’t get much laying out time this year, but that is okay.  My skin probably is thanking me, but boy do I love it.  Hopefully this summer I can get lots of sun and on next year’s trip.

We are now home and back into the work routine with memories of the desert.  Can’t wait to get down there again.  The focus for us right now is our house projects.  We are getting close to finishing the kitchen project – post to come on that soon!

Have a great week and Happy Easter!!