Another House Project ... Reading Nook

When we moved in, there was quite a bit of wasted space is this house. The first being the huge room behind the kitchen, where we are currently expanding our kitchen into and another being a six foot hallway outside Reagan's bedroom. This hallway can be shut off from the rest of the house, making a nice little nook attached to Reagan's room. The bathroom is also in this hallway, so again, it makes a nice "suite" for guests and a soon to be (I know, far off) teenager. 

Back in August 2010, Scott built a bench in this little hallway. This bench was designed as seating for "growing" girls to hangout on while primping in the bathroom. It has been useful for lots of things, such as smaller kids who need a place to nap, to a bench to sit on and read.

Well, here we are, almost 2 years later, we have finally completed the nook. We had the bench and foam for 2 years, but thanks to our dear Aunt Sunny, we know have a custom made seat and pillows. It is so cozy and a perfect place for the girls to relax and read. 

The completed nook to match her bedroom

A shot of her bed, so you can see how they match. 

LOVE IT!

Kitchen Remodel Part 1

Ok, I know everyone has been asking to see pictures of the kitchen remodel. We have been busy! For the past 34 days we have been consumed in this kitchen. 

Step one ... build the new walk in pantry in the corner of the existing laundry room. 

This is the corner where the pantry was built ... before

Framed all in ...

Shelves in and stocked! VOILA! We now have a walk in pantry with 50 feet of shelving!

Step 2 ... Demolition of existing kitchen.

This is what our kitchen looked like the day we moved in, 2 1/2 years ago.

Another view of what it looked like the day of demolition (you can see we started to remove the cabinets)

This is the existing pantry that is in the laundry room, that will be knocked down completely to make the kitchen bigger.

Plastic is up and we are ready to rock and roll!

Knocking down the wall where the old pantry was, allowing us to expand the open space by 8 feet!

View of the new space, all cleaned up. (You can also see the new pantry in the corner.

Next it is time to knock out the drop ceiling.

Ceiling and walls all gone, ready for new electrical, plumbing, and new walls!

Lighting and new insulation installed.

Ceiling replaced ... now it is the same height as the rest of the house. What a huge difference that makes!

Ceiling installed, new walls hung, new window put in, (plus all the work behind the walls that took a long time to complete), and plastic is down ... we are ready to install cabinets!!!

I know it does not look like much, but let me tell you ... the kitchen is HUGE!!!!!!!

We expanded our existing 8 foot kitchen by an additional 8 feet. Now the kitchen is the same size as the family room, all open to each other. And we did all this in 34 days, by ourselves, working on nights and weekends only. I am so proud of us! 

And, the girls have been AMAZING throughout the process!

COMING SOON

Step 3 ... cabinets, countertops, and appliances all installed.

Step 4 ... Tile the floor and backsplash

And then we will have our NEW KITCHEN!!!!

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our friends and family. 2011 brought a lot of memories to our household ... we went on a bunch of family outings which included Washington, DC, Miami, Disney World, and many more wonderful places. We took up camping and have enjoyed numerous camping trips this year. We had many happy times and some sad times. Losing Irbe was very hard on all of us, but we survived and now we have Charlie in our lives. Charlie isn't quite the same, but hopefully over time, he will prove to be a great fit with our family. 

2012 is going to start with a bang. In the first few weeks, we are going to the Circus, having Reagan's birthday campout, and also watching Reagan get recognized at the county level for her amazing artwork. 

Hope you and you families all have an amazing start to your new year ... here's to 2012!

Enjoy our pictures from Christmas 2011.

Our little family!

Man, I love these girls!

Nothing like Christmas without Ralph, our Elf on the Shelf!

Charlie all dressed up for the season!

Our new HUGE tree ... touches the ceiling!

Sending a letter to Santa (at Winter Wonderland at the Bass Pro Shop). 

Reagan sending off her letter to Santa.

Visiting with Santa

At Hollywood Studios, the Spectacle of Dancing Lights

It was snowing (kind of neat to be wearing short sleeves and seeing it snow ... gotta love Disney for making dreams come true)!

More lights

We really enjoyed the music and dancing lights.

Reagan watching the snow!

This is at the local botanical gardens, where they had it decorated up for Christmas (with our friend Jack).

The girls at church Christmas Eve ... Riley and her preschool friends got to sing some songs for us. 

Pretty girls, posing for pictures.

Riley ... such a little ham!

Reagan, growing up too fast.

Posing by the new fountain.

Of course, she had to pose too!

Christmas Eve, opening up their one present ... Christmas PJ's

In their new pajamas, with Santa's cookie plate.

Christmas morning

Wow ... that is A LOT of presents!

Stockings ...

Her first of many Lalaloopsy's she got.

Littlest Pet Shops

She got the calendar she wanted!

Charlie's first present ... new bone.

Lalaloopsy Silly Hair!

American Girl Kanani

Mom got her first Coach purse!

Charlie had a great time, he was very overwhelmed!

Riley got her own DS!

Dad's big presents ... jeep parts!

Reagan got a guitar.

Riley got art stuff.

A crayon making machine ... thank's Grandpa Joe and Kelly!

Charlie eating his toys while still in the box ... he was so excited we couldn't get it away from him!

Christmas night, Riley dressing up!

Charlie ... pooped out after a busy day!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!