Between Christmas and New Year's

The first thing on the agenda after Christmas was to figure out where to put all our new stuff.  Santa brought the kids lots of art stuff and we needed a better and bigger set-up than the one bin of art supplies.  So, I repurposed an old plastic cart of drawers to be the new Dedini art center.  The hall closet was the perfect location- it makes it a little harder to sneak into than the kids' closets.

Notice anything in this photo?

Look closer... Jonah thought hiding in the closet was the best thing ever.  His squeals of joy echoed down the hall...

... and, of course, brought his sister running to see what the fun was.  She insisted on posing in the closet, too.

Erik and I (and what I really  mean by that is- Erik) also had a chance to work on some house projects.  I have been itching for quite a while to update our bathroom.  Slowly, but surely, we are making progress.  Cabinets painted- check.  New hardware- check.  New light fixture- check.  Bigger, updated mirror- check. Take down wall paper, paint walls, paint walls again- check, check, and check.  That was all the easy and less expensive stuff.  We've put off everything else (mostly due to a combination of lack of money/ lack of time/ lack of know-how), but there were some things we could no longer overlook.  Since day one, our bathroom faucet has not worked properly.  The plumbing under the sink was also not super fantastic.  But, we didn't want to replace the faucet until we replaced the horrible pink sink... and we couldn't replace the sink until we replaced the counter.  Well, the status of the sink plumbing got worse and we were finally done dealing with it.  So, Erik was totally fantastic (and I was his side-kick) and built and finished a beautiful wooden countertop.  Santa brought me a new sink and faucet and we now have a properly working bathroom sink.  Yay!

The wood- straight from the lumber yard.

All safety-geared up to help Erik plane the boards.

...and scene.  Here's the final product.

It is all much more our taste, we saved loads of money doing this ourselves....

... and it's a million times better than what we started with...

Pre-Dedini- circa December 2005

It is still definitely a work in progress.  I'm just glad for the progress!  Still on the list for this project: paint again, close in door from bathroom to bedroom, say bye-bye to the pink fiberglass shower covering the window, new window, new bathtub, subway tile, new floor, and new, water efficient- not pink- toilet.  We're getting there.  :o)

Post x-mas, pre New Year's we also had fun trying to get Cairo to finish her soup.  She insisted that I give her a large bowl of soup.  I told her no (because I knew she wouldn't eat it all). She begged for more and promised she would eat it all.  She ate two bites and said she was full.  So, the soup became her afternoon snack.  When she still didn't finish it, it became her breakfast the next day (lucky for Cairo we ended up going out to dinner that night and forgot to bring her soup along) and then it ended up being her morning snack.  FINALLY, she managed to get it all down.

Miserable Cairo- in the process of NOT eating her soup.

My wintery, blustery backyard in need of some lovin'.

But, wait!  The projects continue!  Santa was very generous with us this year.  He brought us a new stove (our old one had an oven that only burned food) and a new fridge (more energy efficient and size appropriate for our family of four).  Our early 1980 something fridge was on it's last legs- the drawers no longer really worked, ice maker went ka-put, the seal was tearing, and it constantly was running... plus it was tiny- 18.1 cubic feet.

So, we went about replacing our old appliances.  Of course, it wasn't as easy as sliding out our old stove and sliding in the new one.  We went from a drop in stove, to slide in and decided to no longer have it hardwired into the house, but plugged it in instead. As luck would have it, the space available was one and a half inched too small.  Lucky for Erik, he had his little helper near-by to help.

So, off came the counter (we are working on replacing it this summer), off came the back siding of the cabinets (to be replaced with beadboard at Spring Break), and we slide the end cabinet down.

Ta, da!  Erik backed up the cupboards and stove with some plywood (not shown) to keep little hands from getting to places they should not get to.  He, also, temporarily put our lovely yellow formica counter back on top....

... and we are back to a working kitchen!

But, let's not forget our other big purchase- and I mean BIG.  We went from 18.1 cubic feet to 26.5 cubic feet of refrigeration!  Yay!  There wasn't enough time to knock a bigger hole in our wall to fit the fridge, so it is living in the dining room for now.  In the process of bringing it into the house, the fridge got it's first ding.  I was slightly devastated, but now at least I don't have to worry about it getting its first ding.... plus, it gives it a more lived in feel, right? :o)

Poor fridge- at least it's not at eye level where I have to look at it everyday :o)

All of this fun happened in the week before Christmas and New Year's.... well, that and some other stuff.  We know when it's time to have some fun, though.  Katie and Lili came over to enjoy New Year's with us.  Our New Year's celebration climaxed at the East Coast New Year's (9 am).  So, we all partied until 9 and then it was off to bed.

Jonah, all dressed up for New Year's Eve!

Jonah even managed to pick up some New Year's kisses....