Still going...

So, ya, the kitchen STILL isn't done. That's mostly because the only time we have to work on it is when Dave gets home from school, and end of sept/first of oct is major test time. I think I remembered that I've hated these few weeks for the last few years :) I don't understand how they can have SO MANY tests when they're only taking a few classes at this point-he's in clinic for the majority of the day. Oh well, this, too, shall pass :)

Mom told me she keeps checking our blog to see if we've added updates of our progress, so here you are Mom! We just finished putting up the tile, so now we need to grout it, put the drawer front on the sink base, fix the walls and re-frame the window, add the mouldings, put in the new floor and baseboards, then I think we'll be done!! WAHOO! I already LOVE it so much b/c I have a place (and the space) for everything, so it doesn't feel cluttered all the time. For those of you who have wondered why this has been such a big deal to me, you've probably never lived in a 100 yr old house made of plaster. APPRECIATE DRYWALL :) One of the previous owners remodeled the kitchen but didn't pay attention to details, so the cabinets were all screwed up, he used wall cabinets on the floor, and the tile backsplash was so uneven. On the previous post you might have noticed the horizontal wood pieces on the walls-that's how the walls were plastered in the ANCIENT DAYS. The previous owners put the tile on using liquid nails instead of tile adhesive and grout (which we discovered as we started taking the tile down), so everything had to come down and we had to put up drywall. Another "Cleveland special" is uneven floors, so as we put in the cabinets and had to make everything level with everything else, those wonderful wood shims were our BEST friends. We must have gone thru a million packs of them. But, we must say, we're pretty proud of ourselves, having never done anything like this before. Everything is level that can be level (just nothing we can do for the poor floor) and we're finishing things off so that they look professional and not "do it yourself." Some of you might say, why all the work when you're moving in a year and a half? TO SELL THE HOUSE :) I wouldn't exactly call the Cleveland market one of the hot spots in the country. But we DO get a lot of dental/medical/law/podiatry students from the west, mostly LDS, and when they look for a house, they want one that will make them feel at home, and most of these homes won't fit the bill! So our tiny little investment will (hopefully) go a long way. Okay, enough already! Here are the pics!

Poor tummy...

The other night I put the girls to bed and went to the basement to do laundry. I came upstairs and sat on the couch to (finally) breathe and relax. Emma's little voice called down, "Mommy?" You know that sad, pathetic voice that your kids master? Yep, in that voice. So I go up the stairs and she's sitting at the top of the stairs in the dark. I ask her what was wrong and she said she didn't feel good. I asked her what hurt and she said her tummy hurt. "Does it hurt on the inside or outside?" I ask. "On the inside." "Well, what does it feel like?"...

"It feels like it wants to go downstairs."

Back to bed she went! No more sympathy from me!!

But it WAS pretty funny-at least she was honest!

Fun at the Farm

We went to Patterson Farm's Family Fun Fest with our friends the Jacksons. Elizabeth and Emma are "bosom buddies." They are so silly together. They really have opposite personalities sometimes, but when they're together, they just click! They will have conversations with each other where each one is talking about something completely different, but somehow the conversation goes somewhere and they understand each other! Patterson's is a picking farm, mostly apples, but they also have pumpkins and squash and strawberries. They had a big crate of apples that you could just eat out of while there, and we gave Bree an apple. Boy, was that the highlight of her day! She attacked that thing with a fury, practically growling each time she went in for a "bite" (not much biting going on with only 2 teeth just breaking the surface). Then Emma sat next to her with an apple of her own, and Bree started going for that one too! The pictures are hilarious, especially when you can imagine what's going through her head!

And this is what happened when we took the apple away-notice the pulsating vein in her head? That's how angry she was :)

And there was the hay! The girls had a great hay fight-we're still finding hay in Emma's bed and in the car.

Patterson's is also out in the country, so there were beautiful tree surroundings, which Dave LOVED. It's funny how you can be in the privacy of your backyard in the city and still feel exposed (which I hate), but you can be in a public place out in the country and feel totally secluded. I love that feeling. We'll definitely be looking to live in a place like that.

Nicknames

What nicknames have you given your kids? For some reason, we call Emma "Goose" and "Goosie." She responds to it-we use it like a regular name. So far nothing has really stuck for Bree. Collins calls her Bree cheese so the other kids call her that too-that's totally cute. Maybe it's appropriate considering she's in that stage where she does that cheesy toothless grin-you know, the eyes squinting one? She makes me think of a koala bear because anytime I'm holding something near her (her bottle to her mouth, changing her diaper, etc) she wraps her legs around my arm and it reminds me of these little tiny stuffed koalas that Mom and Dad gave us once that would squeeze on to things like pencils. But you can't really make a nickname out of "koala." Or can you? I'm open to suggestions. Dave calls me Lolita and my old roommates call me Lolo and cousins call me Lo. Pretty basic. No nicknames for Dave...can you give a grown man a nickname?
So, what nicknames do you have for kids, friends, family? SHARE!!! I'm sure we'll all get a laugh :)

"Needs"

So I'm stealing this idea from AJ's blog-I just saw it and tried it out and thought it was so funny.
So, Loralee needs:
Loralee needs RAM!!
Loralee needs repetetive reminding about things.
Loralee needs help sometimes de-cluttering her house.
Loralee needs to be fired.
Loralee needs $35 a month.

Emma needs:
Emma needs a belt rather badly.
Emma needs serious help!
Emma needs a firm leader who will understand that she is just like an M&M.
Emma needs a love song.
Emma needs a hood boy!
Emma needs help with dumbbells.
Emma needs a good smack.
(seriously, I didn't make any of these up!)

Dave needs:
Dave needs a hug.
Dave needs a timeout.
Dave needs help walking through doors.
Dave needs firefox.
Dave needs Tailrank Mobile.
Dave needs more volunteers.
Dave needs to start paying attention.

Bree needs:
Bree needs a doctor.
Bree needs a firestone.
Bree needs to grow up.
Bree needs to come back.
Bree needs a chaser.
Bree needs YOUR VOTES!
Bree needs more than a friend.
(Bree's weren't as funny as the others)

You should all try it out-go to google and put your name with needs (in quotes) and see what comes up!
And yes, this is the 4th day in a row I've posted something-call me obsessed.

Scientific explanation please...

Bree has been eating baby food for about 2 months now and it finally hit...the carrot tan!! Emma had it at this age too but it was more spread out on her entire face. Bree seems to have a highly concentrated amount in her NOSE. She looks like Rudolph, just orange! It's been so gradual that I didn't notice how bad it was until I took some pictures-I hope it doesn't last too long! By the time Emma was this old I had so many professional pictures taken, but Bree hasn't been as cooperative at the studio so I don't have a single one, and just when I make an appointment, she turns orange and falls down the stairs and gets a little scar on her chin! Here's also a couple of pictures of her new tricks-she does the downward dog a lot, and loves playing peekaboo, and thinks it especially funny when she can see you thru something (plate, clear tupperware lid, etc).

Kitchen Remodel

We've decided that we somehow have the knowledge necessary to redo our kitchen. We're not sure where this knowledge was supposed to have come from but we have faith that it's there. Here's what we've managed to do so far.

That's me huddled on the ground weaping from the emotional trauma I've suffered that day.

And here's what we've managed to do to the other half of the room. I think it gives it a nice rustic look. Loralee seems to feel it needs more work, but I'm pretty sure she's just being overly emotional.

We'll post some pics of the final result. I think the pictures speak for themselves about how this will turn out.

Bree being cute

There isn't anything too exciting here but we think she's just cute to look at. There's bound to be a grandparent or two out there who thinks so too. And as an added bonus you get to hear Loralee talk some Baby Babble.

Playing Together At Last!

Let's get this party started...

k-since Dave OBVIOUSLY can't get this thing rolling...I will. Sheesh...does the woman have to do EVERYTHING here?? :) We've been up to a lot lately...and now that Emma has started preschool I feel like we're back into the swing of things. So...May-trip to Utah, June-back in Cleveland with Dave in clinic and me doing the food for the entire stake for girls camp, July-in Arizona for family reunion, then to California to enjoy more family time, then to Philadelphia and Ocean City New Jersey (THAT was AWESOME-we'll be going back for sure) and a little stop in Hershey Pennsylvania. That was the whole month of July. August was Emma starting dance AND preschool and, boy, am I giddy about both! Can I live vicariously through Emma? I now officially want to be a ballerina. Bree is the greatest baby-she's so funny and cute and I love her little voice saying dadadada and mamamama and babababa. She loves to eat ALL BY HERSELF. Thank goodness for star puffs and cheerios.

Happy Birthday to ME today! Dave was a genius and got me the 3 vampire books that are all the rage lately, so I was up until 12:30 am, then after cleaning up the kitchen today, that's all I've been doing. I've already finished the 1st. LOVE THEM. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you better get on the bandwagon!

We'll be remodeling our kitchen and bathroom and painting our front porch and back fence (after Dave's many repairs) during this next month. I'll have to do "before" and "after" pictures for ya'll.

And I'm doing the Race for the Cure next Saturday-SUPER EXCITED about it! So, lot's of fun stuff this month for us, and hopefully by mid-October we can be finished with"house" stuff and we can enjoy the flexibility of the 3rd yr of dental school.

So keep checking back for more-I'll be posting funny "emma-isms" and anything else that keeps us laughing.