Not Yet

Sorry, no pictures today because of course they did not finish and I am too frustrated with this whole process to take pictures of what is done, so hopefully tomorrow. The carpet guy was irritated that there were people there working while he was, so he decided to leave and come back tomorrow when everyone else is done (which they won't be - don't ask me why). Then when walking through tonight they didn't get the same doorknobs as upstairs - or ceiling lights - or bathroom lights. I guess they didn't really think we meant it when we said we wanted everything exactly like it is upstairs - I guess "close" is good enough? And of course it is our fault and it would be really mean of us to make them get the right ones because they already threw the boxes away so they wouldn't be able to take the wrong ones back. I know this is fabulous that we are doing our basement, but as of right now I am frustrated and mad and want all these stupid, crazy, don't-do-their-job-quite-right guys out of my house!! (Did I mention that Amy is teething again and Sam has been running around crazy?) Thanks. I've vented and now I am going to bed so that everything will look better in the morning and hopefully I make it through another day of "we're almost done" - wish me luck!

So Close!!

Here are all the rooms with their final paint colors
My absolute favorite!! I love how this turned out and am really happy with the choice I made to do an accent wall in red instead of robin's egg blue on all the walls. Don't you just love how all the colors pop?



And one last look at that awesome wall to get the full effect of how much color there is and what you see when you walk into the room. We get granite and carpet first thing Monday morning and then it's just putting on the finishing touches! Monday is our finish day, but I suspect it will trickle into Tuesday as well.

Basement Progression Part 2

So, not enough has been happening each day to justify taking a picture and posting, but here we are as of this morning (no, it is not going to be finished today - not surprising) First up is the bathroom. We are supposed to be getting the granite countertop installed today!
The shelves that we did in both bedroom closets.
One of the two small linen closets in the hallway with the shelves in
The tile in my beautiful craft room! I finally decided on a paint color - amazing isn't it? I decided to do something that would appeal to more people but that would still be fun and something I would like. I chose a deep red color as an accent wall and the rest of the walls will be the same tan as the rest of the house. The accent wall will be the one you can see on the right with the three outlet boxes, so it will be the first wall you see when you walk into the room.
The tile in the corner of the family room where the pellet stove will eventually be.
And last, but not least, my new cabinets for the laundry room! I am SO excited for these! The carpenter said it was the largest upper cabinet he had ever built! These are going to provide a TON more storage space that is much-needed! No more crap on top of the washer and dryer that fall off whenever I'm doing laundry - hooray!!

Finally Some Snow!!

First here is a picture of Sam's piggy bank all painted. He was so excited for this project and has asked many times for extra things he can do to earn money and then runs to put it in his piggy bank. (and please don't mind the dust on the table; you wouldn't believe me if I told you I had dusted just yesterday but it's true - such is life with construction)
And FINALLY we have gotten enough snow to post about! I can't believe it is nearly the end of January and we are finally getting some snow to play in!
I am also really glad we got this little bit of snow so Sam can use the sled we got him for his birthday (yeah, we knew it was a gamble with the way things have been with precipitation this year, but it was half off)Daddy was quite the trooper and brought out the wheelbarrow to pile up enough snow to make a little hill the kiddo could sled down. He loves it!!

Using his snow shovel from last Christmas to help make the pile bigger.

Sammy Turns 4

Our big guy turned 4 yesterday - I can hardly believe he is four already! Here he is sporting his very own Captain America costume to go along with the shield he got for Christmas from his best buddy Josh (and Josh's mommy). Josh has a costume just like this his mom made for Halloween a year or two ago and every time Sam goes over he asks to wear it. So now they both have costumes and shields and can play superheroes all day long.
I think he likes it, what about you?
Opening his piggy bank. After reading about Little Critter saving his money in his piggy bank, Sam has repeatedly asked for a red piggy bank of his own. This one fits the bill because you can paint it yourself - a fun project to keep him busy this last week of basement construction.
Lion King!
Angry birds bean bag toss game. At $3 how could I resist?
I think Daddy likes Sam's new Thor helmet as much as Sam does

Awesome Captain America and Red Skull cars from Uncle Mitch.
Sam was very excited about getting his very own flashlight
A new puzzle because most of our other ones are missing pieces we have played with them so much!

Sam and Josh knew just what to do when Sam's "big" present came out!
Peeking at the "big" present
Blowing out the candles on his shield cake

The cake - Devilishly Good Chocolate cake with cream cheese icing and mint chocolate chip ice cream

And the three superhero capes I made for his birthday with help from Robert's mom (she cut the symbols with her Cricut for me out of iron-on vinyl.
I can't tell you how frustrating these capes ended up being. First I bought WAY too much fabric and then I realized I bought the pattern that was boys sizes instead of little boys. So then I tried to shrink it down myself without really measuring and it just wasn't working. Then I sort of messed up the vinyl on the Spiderman cape. But knowing how much he loves and will continue to love playing with these capes makes all the work, frustration, and headaches worth it!

A Few Random Pictures

The other morning I grabbed the camera because my kiddos were just sleeping so peacefully I wanted to capture the moment. It's funny how kids work - if we have somewhere to go (like going to play basketball) in the morning they sleep in; but if we don't have to get up and going quite as early (like Saturday for example) they get up nice and early - kinda tempting to just go back to bed on the days they will sleep, but I know exercise is important, too. :)
Yeah, don't ask me how Amy got in to this position, because I have no idea!
A few pictures of my happy girl Amy trying out her new sleeper sack I made for her. The owl one didn't work for very long because she is so tall, so I made this one super long and it still didn't last that long because her neck got too big. That girl! She has to wear 12 month pants now because any smaller are capri's on her (she is not quite 9 months old, if you were wondering)


Another funny sleeping position picture of Amy. Now that she can roll proficiently, we find her in all sorts of places in the morning!
And yeah, I know this one is upside down, but I thought it turned out pretty cute. It's yet another sleeper sack I made for someone having a baby boy.

Basement Progression

So we are two weeks in to the basement construction and there is finally great visual progress to show! We got held up first by the electrician, then because of that our inspections didn't pass and there was a holiday on Monday, so we had to wait until Tuesday before we could move forward. But since getting over that first major hurdle, things have been going great. This top picture is from the first week when they finished up the framing, put in the shower/tub insert, and did all the electrical wiring.
Hooray! We have light in the stairway!! Now I can hang my nice picture and put the vinyl on the wall.
The family room ready to be sheetrocked
Sheetrock and tape going up. This is looking from the craft room to the smaller bedroom, small hallway closet and a little bit of the bathroom (with the orange floor)
And the other small hall closet and bigger bedroom on the other side.
Half of the craft room sheetrocked
I was unable to get a good picture of how awesome and bright our stair lights are, but at least you can see where they are in this picture. They are motion activated (although we have yet to figure out how to use it) and I think they are LED, so they are a really nice, bright light to help you when going up/down the stairs at night - soo glad we did this!
The family room with sheetrock, tape, and texture
And the other side with the door leading in to the craft room. We weren't planning on doing a door there, but after further consideration, I insisted we put something there to keep kids not only out of my craft room, but also out of that half of the house since it won't be used right away. We had really wanted to do a pocket door to save on space, but that wall is load bearing. We considered building it out and putting the pocket door in a wall right next to it, but with the door on the under the stairs area, it didn't quite fit - bummer. But to avoid doors hitting/blocking each other, the door gets to swing out into the family room, but at least we have our door to keep little feet out!
Craft room textured. Gotta love the funky little light in the box of ducting, but with a craft room you have to do light wherever you can get it. There was a ton of ducting and heating and whatever else running in the ceiling in this room, so the lighting is crazy, but I think it will be sufficient.
The under-the-stairs area a.k.a. Robert's man cave
Bigger bedroom looking from the corner to the door and closet. We went with the same closet doors as in the bedrooms upstairs. And look at the trim and tile waiting to be put in next!! Tile is going in the bathroom (same as upstairs) and a different tile in my craft room and then a small square of tile in the corner of the family room where we will eventually put a pellet stove.
Hallway with the two small closets and bathroom. One last door to be hung and then all but the exterior door for the mechanical room are in!
And a quick glance at the smaller bedroom with its texture all done. This week will have tons more progress, so hopefully I will remember to get down there each night to take pictures. Monday and Tuesday they should be putting in trim and then priming and painting. Wednesday is tile and bathroom stuff. Thursday comes carpet and finishing touches are on Friday. So barring any more complications/delays the whole thing should be complete THIS Friday!!! We are so excited!