When we moved in a bit over a year ago, the bathroom looked like this. Lovely lighthouse wallpaper, shower door fun, and wonderful woody accents.
At the time, I thought, “No biggie. I the wallpaper can come down, and the shower door can come down, and a bit of paint, and we’ll call it good.” Unfortunately, something else came down that we didn’t plan on… See that huge mirror? Yeah, turns out that not only was it not glued to the wall, but after Thomas took a shower one day and closed the door behind him, we all heard a large crash to the floor, the anchor screws literally just fell out of the wall. With it, it claimed the sinks, cracking one of them in half as it came tumbling down.
Thom installed new sinks for us, and hung some new (securely fastened) mirrors, and we replaced the light fixture, removed the shower doors, (and swapped out the toilet seat for a lovely white painted wood seat), but that’s where the successful DIY updating ended. The wallpaper was not a cooperative coming down as the mirror had been. Upon diving into it, there was not one, but three layers of wallpaper and various paint jobs between each layer, causing the wall itself to just come crumbling after it in patches once I did get to the final layer, and if that wasn’t enough the tub spout started to drip. By the start of this week, that drip turned into a full on steady stream of HOT water, complete with heating up the shower handle in the process, making the whole thing not very kid friendly and needing to go. (Plus the wall behind it was caved in a bit too, so we were starting to worry about permanent water damage to the floor and walls).
Time to call in a professional to help us out. <3 We interviewed three contractors and the one we chose was a clear winner for both Thom and I. Since starting this week, he has been so professional and neat that our instincts seem to have been proven correct. We couldn’t be any happier with how it’s all been progressing.
Since the main bathroom is out of commission, all the kids have been piled into our little master bath, but I think our system has worked out so far! It’s not something I’d want as a permanent setup, but we all are working together to get this done as smoothly as possible.
Here’s a little taste of what we are going for in that space. I’m so excited to see it all finished, and will be back here next weekend to update you all on how it’s shaping up as well. For now, I leave you with this week’s progress.
In just four short (okay long) days, here’s where we are at. All the fixtures and walls have come out, and new electric (including an new awesome shower light in the ceiling), also the plumbing is in, complete with a DEEP soaking tub that our amazing contractor figured out how to make the deeper and wider tub fit into our modest space. I cannot wait to use it!
The kids created their own aliens, put together costumes and wrote and starred in a play for part of our “schooling” today.
Luna and Adipose 
X-CO 3000 meets Luna
He decides that he wants to destroy the planet…
Unfortunately for X-CO, he is no match for Luna!
Check out the whole play and their introductions with their origin and abilities! (and enjoy the comic styling of the adipose baby)
Come join me on the Sew Mama Sew! today. I designed a pattern for Molly a month back and decided to make it available as a freebie to you all exclusively on their blog.
The pattern includes full instructions and a free pdf download to make your own tooth fairy doll.
Also, since as you can see, Molly already has her own doll, I’ve decided to giveaway the one I sewed up for the tutorial! Head over to Sew Mama Sew! to get the pattern, and be sure to comment to be entered to win the random draw. Good luck, and happy sewing!
I thought it would be fun for the kids to learn about biomes. It’s only February and we are well on our way to discovering them first hand.
In January we visited the Coniferous Forest of Crested Butte, CO and partook in the snowy fun of sledding.
The kids {and Thom} had such a blast on this trip, that we thought why not explore another biome? So we packed up the car and headed to the desert. Joshua Tree National Park to be exact.
This time, I made up some nomenclature cards about desert life. {Which you can download in pdf form in 4 parts here: Part1, Part2, Part3, and Part4}
We brought them along with us on our hike of Hidden Valley Trail while the kids photographed them with their iPods.
I brought along my camera too and managed to get a couple shots…
…as did Thom.
The kids hiked the whole mile without a complaint and many a climbing opportunity detour.
Molly even discovered where the fairies live in the desert, and happily showed me.
Well, that’s two down and so many more to explore… who knows where life will take us next? All I know is that this girl is up for the adventure.
We left food for the reindeer outside again this year. The kids got bold and braved it without even a shoe, never mind a jacket.
They each had their own technique too. Thomas carefully sprinkled, while Molly tried to, but lasted only a second before turning her bag upside down and dumping the entire contents onto the ground.
Back inside, she was bright eyed in her Santa prep.
Pouring the milk, as Thomas readied the carrots.
Happy Christmas! And Happy New Year!!
The elves today started a slinky race.
Complete with Elva’s best ChaCha impression. 
Slinkys are fun.
The elves noticed that it’s the day before Christmas Eve and we haven’t baked a single cookie!!
We quickly fixed that and made several batches for good measure.
Well, it was inevitable that this post would come. In case you were waiting for it, a christmas tree bokeh was made just for you. If not? Well, enjoy it anyway.
Speaking of enjoying, we saw Scrooge the Musical last night. The kids really had fun with it.
In trying to make Thomas not fake pose smile at me, I sang him a little “I Hate People“…
Which resulted in a couple awesome Scrooge inspired faces. lol…
Happy almost Christmas! Three days to go!!
…oh and in case you were wondering?
ELF-PONG!!
The elves brought a gift of twister to the kids today. Marcus was the most excited about it, and was actually quite good at contorting his little body in all the twist moves. “Look mommy! I a pretzel!”
