Girls' Weekend in WW, Boys' Weekend of Gluttony

My girlfriends from Portland (Minah, Selynn and Lenny) picked me up from work on Friday for a wonderful weekend in Walla Walla. It made me appreciate all over again the value of good people, good wine, and good laughing!

Minah, Selynn, Lenny, me

Selynn carrying the take-out box that we were all mesmerized by

White exfoliating facial masks

This cute little BMW was out and about in WW

Meanwhile, Dae texted me the following pics with the title "a weekend of gluttony"

Guzzling juice at bday party

Guzzling yogurt drinks at conveyor-belt sushi. Look at his chubby fingers.

Lollipops

OK, more house updates:

Kitchen backsplash

Kids' bath

Kids' metal backsplash

Our builder, Rick, holding up one of our dining room chandelier options. He is the nicest. 

House Updates

Racing stripe in kids' room

White grout

Open shelves in wine fridge area

Open shelves in the area we're going to use for coffee

Accent wood along top of shelves

Fine Dining

We sold our table last night on Craigslist so Dae joined the boys at their kid-size table tonight for ravioli dinner.

It's like Christmas every time I go by the house these days. Today, I came across a bump in the road. The backplash I picked out (first photo) looked a lot darker once placed in our master bathroom (second photo). I think I'm over it, though. Much bigger fish to fry :) I've realized that there is a high probability, during remodeling, that things will not look exactly as I imagined them to. For one thing, we have never done this before in our lives, and another thing, I have absolutely no idea what I am doing! Thank goodness the hardwood and trim look excellent - seriously better than I could have imagined. I just can't believe we get to remodel a home exactly how we want it!

The Many Sides of Olin

Olin had diarrhea today from eating about a pound of dried goji berries today. So he hosed himself off in the laundry room, cried a lot, and passed out in the car on the way to Lowe's:

My plan to look at cabinet pulls at Lowe's was thwarted by this little cute thing.

Happy at Mandarin House. We will be eating out a lot once we move in to our basement.

Home updates next. They are flying through it now and trying to get things done before we move in. Every hour it seems like there is something new to see. It's marvelous. I can't believe this is our home! I feel like it's too nice to be our home, that it's a dream home and must be someone else's!

This is the bookshelf I was pushing for.

This sink is great! So large and single-basin.

I love this backsplash. Red things will be removed.

I am also in love with the trim. I love the dark, rich color.

One thing that went wrong, very wrong, today. The grey color I picked, Chinchilla, was terrible. It looked purple in our rooms. So I had the painter re-paint those rooms white. I think the painter is absolutely NO fan of mine. I have changed my mind several times about the paint. Oh well, life goes on. We are so lucky!!!

Kid Convos

In the car:

Olin: "Mama, kai kai pease" (wanting me to open his orange juice bottle)
Me: "No, I think you're going to spill again"
Olin: "No, I won't spill" (slowly, and with his poor enunciation)
Leelee interjects: "Olin you will spill"
Olin: "I won't"
Leelee: "Olin, remember? You already spilled once before"
Olin: "Oh"

So I guess the kid will listen to a little bit of reason after all...

Aqua-man and Home Updates

Our aqua-man! He swims better than me and Dae combined. We've talked about enrolling Dae in lessons (because at least I can tread water indefinitely if needed to survive)...

Pics from Easter at Kelly's yesterday:

Easter vest

In the back of Kelly's Yukon

Home updates:

New hardwoods in main floor

Kitchen cabinetry. The big doors lead to our walk-in pantry

Pantry

Powder bathroom

Master bath

New trim 

Master bath

Easter Egg Hunt

Pre-Hunt

Leelee dominated, but the other kids didn't stand a chance, seeing as how we mistakenly participated in the 0-2 age group hunt! hahaha! 

Loot

Good old Paas dye kits. They haven't changed a bit!

Nighttime Kid Conversation

I put the kids to bed tonight and Olin was crying over something about 15 minutes after I left. I heard Leelee go over to him and say the following:  'Olin, I love you very much. We all love you very much, and you have to love us too, ok? It's not ok to kick us or or to hit us - instead, you should do good things like playing, and playing ball, and playing games, and football, and soccer..." He kept saying "Ok?" and Olin said "OK". Then Leelee was jabbering away saying how much he loved laying in bed and how it was his favorite time. Good times...

Food (An Abnormally Healthy Day of)

I cherry-picked today to photograph breakfast and dinner, because 1) I'm proud that I fed them healthily and 2) I put their meals into these divider plates which always looks so much more enticing. So I'm patting myself on the back. Our kids have gotten so spoiled that sometimes they almost expect to go out to eat versus eating at our house. I remember when I was a kid, restaurant meals were a real treat. Aside from buffets, where drinks were included in the price (haha), we never got to order any drinks and on the very special occasions that we got a delicious drink, it was always diluted 50/50 with water.

I was excited about how well they behaved today so after dinner I told them they'd get a special treat for dessert. Leelee asked "What is it? Fruit con-san-tail?" I assume he meant fruit cocktail, and I have no idea why fruit cocktail was the first thing that came to his mind when I said 'special treat' and I was laughing out loud with his pronunciation. I ended up giving them some of Dae's Tillamook strawberry ice cream. :)

Breakfast:

Toast with Cheese

Oatmeal

Strawberries

Cheese

Dinner: 

Brown Rice

Curry Chicken

Carrots

Apples

Cheese*

(* the shredded cheese is really random. Baby loves it so I just put it on there today)

A pic of the boys and baba last week outside the mall:

Crooked Teeth, Kites, Auction

Olin damaged that front tooth so many times it is now crooked. It's still a little dark and I am just hoping it hangs on for dear life for the next 6 some-odd years!

Yesterday, we naturally picked the one day in Spring where there wasn't any wind and set about getting our kite to fly. It wasn't totally successful but we did get take-off a couple of times!

Picnic @ Leslie Groves using Leelee's leftover bday celebration plates, napkins and tablecloth.

Finally, last night we went to Kelly's CK auction - our second annual. The theme this time was Luck of the Irish I think, but I didn't have anything green so I went with one of my myriad Target dresses.