The big move / kitchen reveal

So Saturday was the big day for us. We had gotten a lot of packing done and my visiting teachers came Friday night to help me finish packing the kitchen. Then we went over to the house and totally unpacked the kitchen. I had my cabinet drawings all ready with pencil markings all over it showing what I wanted to go where. We had at least 8 guys show up Saturday morning to help us move, which took a good 3 hours, including getting my piano back from my friend's house. I helped with things as long as I could, but then I had to go take the girls to The Nutcracker in S.F. with some friends, since we'd had it planned months ago. When I got back, a family in our ward who had showed up to help had set up our beds, computer, electronics, and Christmas tree. I couldn't believe it. They also helped watch the girls and had us over for dinner Sunday. Another friend brought us dinner Saturday night and my sister and other friends watched the kids pretty much the whole weekend. We were SO grateful. And so exhausted. We're still digging out of boxes while trying to wrap Christmas presents, put up a few decorations, etc., but it feels so good to be back in our own house! I LOVE how much space I have now.

They did have to do the final coat on the hardwood in the kitchen yesterday, so we had to stay off that floor for a day and a half (and smell the lovely fumes / keep the doors & windows open), but we're on it now, so that's good. Unfortunately, the fridge needs to stay in the garage for a while so that it won't hurt the floor, so use your imagination in the pictures. You can obviously see where the fridge is supposed to go! I'm so excited to finally reveal these pictures. Let me know what you think. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!

Here it is...........................

The table is still in the garage, too, for a little while, but it will go underneath that chandelier. Here are some pics of the backsplash area.

The border around the design is made of glass tiles and there are some 1 x 1 tiles interspersed throughout the pattern. Did you notice the skylight? I'll probably post some more shots of other things in the next several days, but for now, I have got to go to bed!!!

Christmas Events

Last Monday our family went to the annual Creche Exhibit in Palo Alto. They always have a fun children's room set up there where the kids can do crafts, see a marionette show, and dress up. Here are a few pictures.........

Tonight we went to see the "Bethlehem" live nativity scene and re-enactment that is put on by a local Baptist church. It's something we love going to every year. I've taken pictures in the past, but unfortunately I didn't take my camera tonight. We had fun seeing the sheep, the huge camel and the baby camel, learning how to weave, playing the dreidel game, and of course watching the neat re-enactment of the night Jesus was born. It's a really amazing thing to watch and SO much work goes into it!

On Saturday we had our Ward Christmas Party and the kids got their picture taken with Santa. I'm pretty sure with this belly shot of Andrew, that he's well on his way to becoming Old St. Nick himself someday! LOL! :)

The girls also went ice skating with Ruel last Friday for a "Y Guides" father/daughter activity. Actually it was for families, but Andrew had been sick, so he and I stayed home. They have been ice skating a handful of times before and they just love it. They both came home begging me to let them take ice skating lessons, so it looks like that might be our upcoming adventure for January. I think they'll enjoy it.

This may be my last post for a little while since we are entering the insanity of moving week. I'm already starting to lose my marbles, among other things, so I will blog with some final pictures of the house and my big kitchen "reveal" in a week or so! Wish us luck. Saturday is the big day! Oh yeah, and the girls and I and some friends already had tickets months ago to go see The Nutcracker in S.F. on the same day as what is now moving day, so I'll be taking some time out for that in the middle of the day. Yikes! Note to self: don't ever move again right before Christmas. No, make that: don't ever move again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

So I finally tried my hand at a new layout after seeing everyone else's cute ones. It was actually really easy and I didn't delete the whole blog! Yay for me! Anyway, I thought I would post an update on the house. I can hardly remember what I posted last about it. Let's see..... last week the driveway was poured as well as some sidewalk leading to the backyard. They also laid most of the tile and stained the hardwood. I'll keep the hardwood as part of my kitchen surprise, but here is a glimpse of the rest!

1/2 bathroom tile:

Here is a shot of the entryway in progress. The finished products looks nice but I don't have any pics of that yet. We had them replace the really orange tile you see in the picture.

Here is the driveway and pictures of the girls putting their handprints down on the walkway. We all put in a handprint. I even had to get Hannah out of school for a little bit so she could do it before it dried!

The concrete guy is the one helping them and pushing down their hands while I was taking pictures. All the workers have been so nice, especially Dan and Mike. Gotta give a shout-out to them, even though they'll never see this!

Today they started putting the granite in the kitchen and I really like it! They put the countertops in the laundry room a few days ago. It's a material called Kerrock (like Corian). I tried to take a picture but it just came out pretty black.

I think the last coat of polyurethane went on the hardwood today (or maybe tomorrow), and then they can finally bring the appliances in, which I'm dying to see. Not too many things left. Still, keep your fingers crossed that all goes well, everything passes inspection, and we're able to move in next weekend!

Hannah's new haircut

Well, it's not so new. Hannah got her hair cut 3 weeks ago and I keep meaning to post a picture, and am just now getting around to it. I think it turned out really cute. She wanted it really short. I told the lady how much to cut off and we had to tell her to cut more 3 times until it was where Hannah really wanted it. It's so easy to take care of now: brush and put behind ears OR brush and put in a headband!

Emily didn't want to be left out, so she had me take a picture of her straightened hair today and post a picture. Here is the little cutie-tootie.

Moving right along...

Here is the latest update on the house. All of the cabinets that were to be painted are done now (LOVE THEM!) and the doors are on. I especially love how the kitchen ones turned out and I'm dying to post some pictures of them, but I'm still going to save them to be a surprise. I should be able to show it by next week. So the tile for the entryway, laundry area, and 1/2 bath will be laid tomorrow. Appliances also arrive tomorrow and will be installed over the next day or two. I think the granite and kitchen sinks will be in really soon (not sure what day) and the driveway will be poured on Thursday. I will post some pictures from today:

Mud room cubbies:

It's kind of hard to see the true shade in this picture because of the poor lighting, but I like them. The back wall looks white, but it's really the same color as the other walls, which is kind of taupe.

Living room cabinets:

I like how the mantel turned out. I'll post a better picture later after we get the tile in around the fireplace.

Front door:

Live and learn: The outdoor lights that I chose were installed and the ones by the front porch look good, but I used the exact same ones for either side of the garage door and they look ridiculously tiny there (especially since our garage is pretty big now), so luckily Lamps Plus said we could return them and I ordered the exact same ones in a bigger size. I also got the mini shades for the dining room chandelier today (ordered them online) and I don't really like them. The ones I really wanted were out of stock for now, so I went to choice #2 and they don't look so good. Maybe I'll put them up and see what I think, but I may have to return them and just wait for the others to be re-stocked. Oh well. Sometimes it's really hard to know what something's going to look like until you actually see it where it's supposed to be. Those are small things, though, so it's not the end of the world. More soon.