Columbus Commons

Last Thursday we didn't have anything planned which was so nice...but then by 9:15 or so I felt like maybe I should plan something (Chris' inability to sit still is rubbing off on me) so I called up my friend Michelle in Indy and we decided to spontaneously meet in Columbus. If you across the street from the museum, the awesome climbing place is free! And clean, and not crowded! Love this place and so do the kiddos!

Ethan can climb all the way up and back down now. This was my first time going up...it's really high when you get up there!

Michelle's cutie, Adalyn with her big cheese

We packed lunches but then the pizza place next door looked too yummy so we ate a combination of pizza and packed snacks. :)

Ethan at preschool!

One day last week we were all running so behind for preschool. It was a grumpy morning where I couldn't get the boys rolling or even myself. After drivng about 2 miles from home I even realized I hadn't brushed my teeth (ewwww!) which has never happened so I drove back home. By this point, I just decided to take Ethan to school with me. After all, he says every single day, "I go school with Mommy" and it breaks my heart to drop him off at the sitters after that comment. :( He had an absolute blast!!! Such a big boy! I figured he'd do a lot of dumping and making messes but he totally surprised me! He loved playing, snack time of course and his favorite was probably the singing at dancing at carpet time. :)

Showing me the elephants he was playing with....with his famous cheese

He was pretty good at the sensory table scooping out pom poms

Pretty darn cute doing all the big boy/girl songs and dances. Love it!

New Kitchen!!!!!

So all last summer I was on a big moving kick. I had every house for sale in Clark and Floyd County memorized! After I wore Chris out with talking about it, he finally just told me it wasn't the time to be moving financially. So...what's a girl to do?! :) I said if we are staying, this kitchen needs a makeover! So the day after Christmas we started a complete renovation! The only thing that stayed was the cabinets and those were painted. I must say, my hubby with the help of his buddies and family did an awesome, awesome job!! It doesn't even look like the same kitchen. I LOOOOOOOOVVVEEE it and it just inspires me to cook. Thanks to all that gave us a hand and a big thanks to my babe for ALL of your hard work for a month! It looks fabulous!!! So onto pics....so you'd think being a blogger I'd have a ton. :( What a bummer but I did not do a good job of capturing this project at all. I have a few....the before picture was just a random picture I had taken and I am so embarrassed to even post it because the kitchen was a complete disaster but it will have to do. :)

A before shot...uhhh, could there be any more crap on the counters! I can't take it!

This is after we had moved the refrigerator to the other wall and already primered the cabinets...again, bad picture taker. Chris was starting our new crown molding.

Craig helped him take out the old counters

We started getting our new appliances...this was a story in itself. We ended up with 2 different stoves and 4 microwaves!! They kept coming with dents in them so we'd have to re order. Oh my! We finally have a set that is perfect. Here I had just a stove so I whipped up some soup before the stove would be moved...again. :) I basically couldn't cook for over a month. Oh and we sold our ten year old white appliances for $800 on craigslist! We were pumped!!

Cindy helped clean up the mess while the boys moved cabinets out

Jason, Nick, Matt & Chris started early on the floor one Sunday morning. They were awesome and got it all laid by the afternoon!

We also put new hardwood in the foyer. Nick was the hardwood laying expert. :)

The new beautiful floor!! It's hickory so has a lot of character to it. We love it!!! Then we stained and used polyurethane. That took several days of applying, drying and applying again.

Chris and I put the backsplash up ourselves. It took us 8 hours!! I was one tired girl!

Braden took this. :)

So here are some finished pictures. We painted the cabinets, got new granite countertops, new stainless steel appliances, added crown molding to top of cabinets and top of walls, added backsplash, new lights on top of cabinets, under cabinets and new pendant lights. We added a bar area with new cabinet storage underneath.

New bar area-Gave us more counter space, more storage, new lights above and just opened up the kitchen. This is where the fridge was before.

This picture doesn't really do the floor justice. The floor is just beautiful! You'll have to come over and see. :)

Picture of counters with new backsplash. I love our new colors! I based all my colors off of the backsplash. :) That is what I picked out first and knew I wanted to work with grayish/blues and blacks. :)

Our new sink and faucet. The sink is huge!

Another view.


Finally, we painted our table black with some help from Chris' parents (they are like professional painters :). This is my table from college that cost $199 and it's still holding up! What a bargain on that one. :)

* So there you have it...a major kitchen makeover. :) Love it, love it love it and I smile every time I see it. :)

Bye bye Paci

It's been time for awhile now to get rid of Ethan's paci or "bee bee" as he's always called it. He only takes it at bedtime but even so, we meant to get rid of before two like Braden-oops! Well he's my baby and my last and you know how that goes. :) Well after his first trip to the dentist last week (which I accidentally deleted the pictures-urgh!!!) the dentist said it could be effecting his teeth so I said, "Ok, that's all I needed to hear" and it was gone that night. We did the same method with Ethan that we did with Braden....sending it up in a balloon. Miraculously, it worked just as easy as it did with Braden. We waved bye and when he asked for it at bed we reminded him about the balloon and he didn't ask again. WOW! So easy and I'm so grateful! :)

Kissing it bye bye

BYEEEEE "bee bee"

Braden's party

Braden's party was on Sunday the 8th. He was VERY excited for his Star Wars party. I love my kids' parties because we get to have all of our family together in one place-it's just nice. :) He had a blast with everyone, of course loved the special visitor and got tons of cool presents! Thanks everyone for making it such a special day for him!

My mom and her famous cookies :) He loved the star wars ones of course :)


Ethan wanted to pose by the yummies

Some of the Spencer gang

We told Braden to stand by his presents for a picture....this was his face when our special guest, "Darth Vador" showed up. I just loved, loved watching him. He was excited but a little nervous. He whispered, "wow!" So cute!

Excited and in shock! Isn't this costume the greatest?!?!

Checking him out with Uncle Jeremy

Even his lightsaber was so cool!

Ha! A little family shot with Darth. Ethan cried when he arrived but then warmed up if I was holding him. :)


We had a taco bar for dinner. Braden loves "chips and cheese."

He of course got lots of star wars toys

He hugged everyone after he opened their present. He and Izzie are just too cute when they hug. :)

What a cool batman raincoat!

Star Wars bedding! He's been asking for a star wars room for months

Happy birthday sweet boy!

Big wishes!

Yummy!

* I cannot believe you are 5 Braden Alan! Mommy and Daddy sure do love you!! You are so very special to us and I am so proud of you!!

Braden's birthday

Braden's 5th birthday was our first day back to school after winter break. We made cookies for his class the night before in our makeshift kitchen. :) They didn't turn out very pretty but the kids ate them all the same.

These were supposed to be 5's and B's but the cookies expanded way too much. ha!

birthday morning....he picked waffles

Ethan enjoyed them too

At school, I snuck over to Braden's class while the kids sang to him. He was so proud. :)

Then they cheered his name. ha!

Since his party wasn't until the weekend, we had to do something special that night. He picked chic-fil a of course...it's always there or McDonalds for his favorites!

Then we headed over to Krispy Kreme for dessert. Oh my! He had never been in there and thought it was the greatest place on earth.

One happy birthday boy

Watching the glaze donuts being made...since we were watching they gave us 4 warm ones free. Oh my again! I had to eat them since they were free. Duh!

*Braden said it was the best birthday ever! ahhhh