kitchen

I realized that I had blogged a whole bunch about the kitchen, and then when it finally got finished, I never updated! I told a couple people I would send pictures of the cabinets we chose, and instead of uploading to facebook, I decided just to put them on my rarely updated blog.   Ok... here goes.

 detachable faucet:  this faucet is awesome. I only have to clean once instead of a separate sprayer.  It's nice because I can have a strong stream, a shower faucet type spray, a medium spray.

 LOVE OUR SINK!!
deep granite sink with a side for rinsing, which helps so that we put our dishes away right away!! We chose this because often with our old kitchen, we'd hand wash a lot of dishes, but then would leave them in the sink to "dry" instead of dry them ourselves. Now we are forced to!

I loved our old pot rock. Or, at least I loved not having to store them in a cabinet! Peter actually found this one at Lowes. It has a light built right into it so it's storage plus function!

The "island" is our baking center.  It's not done yet though, because we need a power strip along the sides.

Sugars and breakfast fixings.

This was supposed to be just for cookbooks, but I decided to easily store my recipe box along with my mixers for easy access.

Leather::: easy to clean!

love this too! We store all of our cookie sheets, cutting boards, and etc up here. Soooo handy.

pull out cereal cabinet

Half pantry-- all pull out because of how deep it is, and we purposely made it as deep as our fridge. We store all our pastas on the top (labeled, too) and cans, and snacks as well.

Colanders and pot covers

Bench storage for kid things-- coloring books, playdough, and then we decided to put the unused cookbooks to the right.

Our knives are under our utensils so that the kids don't grab for the knives! plus, i hated having them on the wood block.

Pull outs for all of our ziplock baggies and chips and bread on the bottom.

Open storage was supposed to be for plates and etc, but ended up decorational. I dont have a ton of white dishes yet so we'll collect over the years to strictly white.  Below is a sign painted just for me!

 kids can set their own table!

 trestle table for bench seating. also has a built in leaf and extends even more. We can fit 10 people around here! (most are kids)

refreshing

My little morning to myself  has been refreshing. I really should have woken up earlier; I do really miss the hour or so I would have in the summertime. Back then I got the sleep I needed and I wasn't up most of the night tossing and turning. Last night though, I slept great and it felt great to wake up and read, and sip my tea for a half hour.  This week I have been intentionally working on giving my faults to God right away in the morning. I keep thinking of the verse "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is my strength and portion forever". That has been such a true verse for me. I want to do good, I don't want to be crabby. But my flesh takes over me and at times I am not the mother I want to be. I feel like Satan knows that and tries his hardest to get me to fail. So, I made the decision that (duh) I need to ask God for strength because I will always fail on my own.

The kitchen is almost complete.  Yesterday around noon the countertops were installed. I really like them.  Then, complete shock, the table was delivered! It didn't take Peter long at all to put it up. There was this little bolt that wasn't lining up right so thankfully my mother and father in law stopped by and was able to help him. I am completely in love with our table.  It is a dream. The best part is that we don't have any chairs in the kitchen (besides our counter stools, which are also a dream) We can fit nicely around the table - the bench is awesome.... most of the boxes that were around the house are almost gone (we've got tons and tons upstairs and in the basement yet to find places for) but at least the clutter around the house is okay. We finally moved our dining room table back to its original spot and now I just have to work on picking up the little things.  We reorganized our living room and everything feels fresh. We still have our old carpet, though, in our kitchen (yuck) so we're hoping within a month we can get that done.... though it seems unlikely. Just yesterday we had 4 service men come in and we had to put other sheets and rugs down so that the carpet wouldn't get caked with mud (it was raining). I really don't want to have to worry about that... but I guess that was the trade-off with getting the flooring we really wanted vs finding one real quick to install. I better go..... I hear voices! Hopefully soon I can take photos. I feel bad b/c my 365 is suffering, ... but who cares. It is just a number.

They're in!

The cabinets are in! But I don't want to post any photos because we are waiting for the counter tops. We have gotten, or, I have gotten about 40% of the stuff back into our kitchen. I am a bit worried that we don't have as much storage as before but we'll wait to see once we get our small appliances and bakeware back into the kitchen. Yesterday was a big day for me - I could hardly walk honestly. My back hurt and with certain steps my legs would give out. Once I sat down for a while I had more energy and felt better but carrying boxes up and down stairs is really not a good job for me. The kids helped by "washing" some of the dusty utensils  - they thought that was so much fun!  Then they put all the cans and boxes into the pantry and later that night Peter went through them and organized them better for me. That actually was so helpful on both parts because I would have had to bend over most of the time and that would have been really hard for me.  We got the dishwasher working and our old sink in until our new countertops come in, which is next Thursday.  I think they are already done cutting them, but for some reason it's Thursday when it works for them to come. So, that is sad! But, at least we have water - I am just so excited to see how it all looks!!!

We are also getting our table Friday sometime between 8 and noon and it's coming from the cities. I think originally it was from California.....it's amazing to us that shipping was as little as it was (though to me it's a LOT of money still for shipping) but if you think about how many people handled it, how much gas, etc... it should really be a lot more.  So, that will complete the look of the kitchen for now, until of course our flooring and back splash are in, which we don't know when that will be. We still have doors to be hung, too, and some trim on windows.  I am excited for it to be complete.

Last night I wrote a list of things to do so I am sure today we will be busy since Peter is home. We really haven't gotten to take advantage of when he's home because throughout the winter he's had SO many meetings to go to. Now, time has passed really when he can do projects around the house. Pictures are really non-existant for me at this point... I take some but as much as I used to. I am just too tired to upload and spend however much time it takes to edit. I have been cheating by using Peter's phone while he's home to take photos.  Oh well. I am sure once the baby comes I will be taking pictures like crazy. And once we get the kitchen in order and get through Easter, I will be focusing more on the baby, hopefully.  I feel like I am not prepared at all!!

pregnant

Yes. I am pregnant.  It never dawned on me until this past Sunday but while I was going into the ladies room, a lady from church asked me how I felt.  This is a question that gets asked quite frequently and I usually say the same thing.. "ok...(with a smile)".  This time, though, I said "I uh,... well, uh, ... I..feel...."   and then she finished by saying "pregnant?".  Exactly!  EXACTLY! What a great answer! Every single woman knows by the second and third pregnancies, it is a countdown from about three months of being pregnant. And that is exactly what it has been for me.  It wouldn't have been so bad had I not had cramps so early on... and now, i am feeling so much movement; every scrape internally, every painful braxton hicks (which seems like the real thing so many times!) and of course the back pain. It has often been hard to move without limping.  It is all so, so worth it for a healthy baby.

Oh dear, the kitchen. I won't even get into detail all that has happened, but finally we are at a point (lord willing) to move on and make progress. The cabinets arrived today after lunch, floor is prepped, and tomorrow sometime they will start. I really hope that goes well. Since I won't be home most of the week, I am hoping they don't have many questions. We took a look in the garage where they put the cabinets and it all looks so nice and lovely.  The walls are painted (last touch-ups were tonight!!)  We won't have water for another week and a few days, hopefully sooner or counter-tops, since they need to be templated and cut. Hopefully we can get our oven in this week and put in our old counter tops for some work space. yay!!

Today I washed clothes,cleaned the bathroom while the kids bathed (even mopped and scrubbed some of the grout!!) put all the winter gear away, or most of it anyway, brought some dishes to hand wash at my in-laws, and made one of the freezer meals that I prepped a couple weeks ago. We don't have an oven so being at my in-laws for meals helps so much. The frozen meal came in handy. I just went there and put it in the oven. It was GF lasagna, and honestly, it wasn't bad.  The noodles got a little mushy since they were GF but, that's ok.  It was food, and we could eat it in peace. Today seemed long with the girls as they argued with me about absolutely everything. Mostly Kate. It makes me feel like a bad mother because I am constantly repeating myself and taking away privileges. But, what can you do... they have to learn somehow.   Peter was even frustrated!  I think I might upload some photos and then read and go to bed. It's been a l-o-n-g- day and the next two days don't look any shorter!

big week!

It has been so busy, especially this weekend. Sunday we went to Grand Forks (again) after we failed to get everything we needed last Thursday. (We ran out of time because we had to pick up kate from school) We ended up ordering the doors we wanted and decided to wait until they came in. Peter will most likely have to put the doors in himself and frame them, but he is okay with that. We didn't want to get doors that looked junky, or purchase something we didn't want just because we ran out of time.
Here's some photos of our messy kitchen. We were in the process of packing up food/boxes and appliances.

..And here's what it looks like basically now.   Peter took out the cabinets one day, and then soffits another day. The cabinets were really easy to take out, but the soffits were a huge pain.  Because the soffits weren't the way we thought they'd be, the contractor said it would be easier for them to just gut the whole kitchen.   What?!  Nuts!  So, Peter will be trying to get a lot of drywall out on Tuesday, hopefully with some help so that we can roll right through and only have to clean up once.  Our kitchen is still usable, since our stove and fridge are still in there, but when there's drywall dust flying around everywhere, we can't go in there. So, it's important to just work really hard one day (hopefully) and be done, and the contractors can do whatever isn't finished.   It is for sure crunch time. For sure.  We also called for progress on cabinets and they will be delivering monday afternoon, and then starting the job on Tuesday. So from Wednesday-next week sometime we will not have water at all, which will be the toughest of all for this whole project.  Thankfully Kelsey is coming home this weekend to keep us company and maybe help with some things!

Well, the kitchen remodel has begun!  It officially started for me on Monday of this week. I packed a ton of food items and boxes and a good friend of mine volunteered to come and help bring boxes down to the basement or upstairs. Peter and I were really impressed with her heart and compassion to help me.  This week in our marriage devotions we are talking about generosity; not just in money form, but in time. He read or heard somewhere that the top two people that need help are the elderly and widows and he felt that pregnant ladies should be in that list! It made me laugh but it seems true. Sometimes I feel like an elderly woman for sure with my aching bones and waddle. It truly was a Godsend because I am not sure how I would have gotten all that kitchen stuff out of there without her help. Thank you!!!!

After a long day in G.F., we picked up our sink, drains, sample paint, and discouragingly looked at doors that we waited too long to look at. It will at least take 10-14 business days to get the one we want. I forgot all about the doors for the kitchen and Peter thought they were just in stock. We also looked at track lighting again for the living room since they will be doing plenty of damage to the living room ceiling. We had to rush through groceries just to get back to pick up kate!  Last night we ordered our faucet online (we picked up one from Lowes but decided that we liked another one better so we'll take that one back).  We ordered our kitchen table and bench this morning, which we felt was also a Godsend. For months I had this certain one picked out.  I had been asking Peter over and over if I should purchase it because we weren't finding anything anywhere else, plus we had our kitchen planner "design" it into our kitchen. It was just the right dimensions.  One day we panicked because we realized how close the kitchen project was and I vowed the night before that after my appointment the next day I would for sure order the table.  We stopped by Pier 1 and long story short Peter believes we were sent there to "stall" us from purchasing the table (we were contemplating tables from Pier1) .  A few days later we got an email saying there would be a 3-day sale of 25% off everything in the store.. so, we basically saved enough money to pay for the shipping for free, and we got the bench to go with it because of the sale!  We are still going to get the counter stools from Pier 1 and possibly some table accessories.  It looks as though the table will arrive hopefully around the time they finish installing the cabinets.   I even took pictures, but way too tired and lazy to upload them.  I think food will be our biggest stress, figuring out what to eat, how to clean it and etc.  Ok, i'm hoping that will be our ONLY stress, if we can even help that to be a stress.  Finding things to do all day has been hard since we can't really go in the kitchen. It will be so nice when it's warmer... i'm hoping to go outside next week.  It's been far too long being cooped up in the house.   Now... just to get rid of this nasty cold! :(

slowly but surely

Every day I seem to think about the same statement: "April 26th seems so far away.... so impossibly far away".  It has truly been a long winter and now right at the end of it I am getting sick with a cold. I hope it doesn't add to my discomfort! This week might be the start of demolition to the kitchen. Peter will be destroying the soffits, lighting will hopefully be installed and also praying sometime early next week (week of the 12th)  we will have work completed to the living room ceiling and all cabinets out, walls and ceiling textured and ready for painting during the weekend. Then, the carpet will most likely go in that week or weekend, flooring will be taken out or patched up and the week of the 19th is a hopeful week for installation of the cabinets. Then, a full week longer for our countertops to come in.  I am trying, really, really hard to not get my hopes up for delays. The week of installation is when we are able to stay at our in-laws so that would be great for all of that to work out. Still confused about meals...hopefully it's not too hard. My goal is to have a really good and detailed meal plan worked out as soon as the contractor comes in to repair and patch up the walls.  There will always be people in my kitchen!

This week I plan to take out some of the contents of our upper kitchen cabinets (since they'll be removed this week) and find a place for everything. I am also hoping we can get some sledding in with the kids.... we are praying we feel better this week.  Better go to bed!

snowday

ah, I finally get to write! The girls are "resting" now, I think Maddy fell asleep but not sure about Kate. They are so behind. Yesterday I got up for my bi-monthly doctor appointment and Maddy walks into the dining room saying "I have a bad cough and really really lots of boogers in my nose".  I couldn't help but giggle yet feel sorry for her. Kids seem to handle colds much better than adults, though she wasn't as whiny as she normally is, especially since she had to get dragged around all over grand forks. Today I noticed more whining but she has been doing good. Last night she was up a couple of times-- I didn't even hear her. Poor Peter got up with her and brought her back to her own room to sleep so that she would not interrupt kate.  I really hope I don't get it... my stomach is already sore to the touch and also sore when I cough, so that would not be good for me. My doctor says it could be a possible hernia (or a developing one). Everything with baby checked out normal. I would say my thoughts on boy/girl ratio would be 60% girl, 40% boy. We still don't have definite names; I'm not fretting!

We stopped at Pier1 and looked at tables and counter stools. I think we found some good bar stools but still haven't 100% decided on a table. Ordering online is scary for us, especially since it costs so much to ship and you just never know what kind of quality it is! We are hoping to find one around here. We found two that we really, really like, but one is too long, and the other one is round, which we were hoping for square. I am not totally ruling it out though... I would secretly LOVE to see it work. (photo below) I think it would look really nice. Kate has a dentist appointment (filling #2) on friday so I am going to go back to look at it again.

 This table was the original table we were going to order but want to make sure we can find one around here before we order online. Just the table, and maybe the bench.


  We also picked out hardware for our cabinets and such. I feel kind of bad for our kitchen planner b/c we keep switching our mind on so many things. I always classified myself as someone that has good taste, but I realize I am only able to pick out things when I can visually see it. I am not a good visualizer. I definitely know what I want, but I have to search and search and search for it before I can make a decision that it will work. I know what kind of table I want, yet I haven't 100% found it (or its too expensive) along with so many other things.  It's hard when there really aren't a lot of resources in the area.

Anyway, this morning was supposed to be a 'snow day'. Kinda sad, but thankful too because bad weather usually means accidents. Peter got to stay home nonetheless so i was super happy. I let him sleep in a bit and got up with maddy and then the morning we spent doing some laundry, dishes, and other little things. I cleaned part of the bathroom, emptied garbage, put some clothes away, folded more, vacuumed, and made a meal plan for the week.  At the pace I walk, it literally took all morning to do things that would take me an hour. Peter on the other hand, did so much. He even made lunch and unloaded the dw, loaded again, swept the floor, and other things that I didn't even ask him to do. It feels good when we work as a team, especially since I move like a turtle! I kissed him and hugged him really hard and made sure to tell him how much I appreciate it... he literally saved me hours and hours of simple cleaning. Well anyway, I better go. I have a small fryer chicken in the oven... I hope it's done on time. I've never cooked one at 225 for 4 hours before. Maybe I should have covered it!

looking ahead

It has been quite some time since I last wrote! I sometimes think to write, but then get too lazy, if that is even possible. This week I went 9 days without posting any 365 photos.  The last couple weeks have been pretty productive. Slowly we are getting a few things organized in the house-- the bunk beds have been up for a little while and this last week they both started sleeping in them finally. The first night was a little rocky because Maddy kept giggling, but since I threatened to bring her back into her bed I haven't heard any peeps the rest of the nights.  I organized our linen/medicine closet in the hallway.... oh my- I threw out almost a whole garbage bag of old medicines and body sprays/lotions, etc. I usually clean it out twice a year and I still had that much stuff. This year though, i've noticed my attitude with throwing out has changed a lot. Before I would think, "oh, I'll probably use this for.......(fill in the blank)" -- I know better this time.  Bags, and bags, and bags of stuff have been thrown out, including clothes that I normally wouldn't give away were sent to a thrift store and I even sold some of the girls' clothes since most is in excellent condition.

Other things done:  I cleaned out the "yellow" room to make room for kate's old mattress, well not old, we just got it a couple years ago, but now it is being used in another guest bedroom. I cleaned out all the papers and old junk in that room, cleaned out most of the toys, threw out lots and lots of junk, and even cleaned out my sewing/craft area.  Peter finally got the kitchen closet cleaned out and added two more shelves and now we are able to store some of our food/canned goods (use as a pantry) for when the kitchen remodel takes place. We're really trying to be efficient during this time and I have been searching for some frozen slow cooker meals I can put together within the next two weeks to be ready for when we don't have a sink. We still have many things to order, such as our table, faucet, sink, -- mostly everything and we're just not sure when to get all this stuff.  I think the faucet and sink need to be asap, but the table is rather large and Peter is worried that another sale would come up between now and when we need it. Production time is March 16th, which means we're hoping to have them deliver and install the week after and to be safe, for sure around the 23rd (but they can't guarantee the Monday after the 16th, --we're crossing our fingers!)   We are unsure when to start tearing out sofitting,  electrician work, contractor work, and flooring work.  We are also due to replace our living room carpeting due to water damage and ceiling work as well.... so, so much going on. It hasn't hit us quite yet but with all the work in the kitchen going on, it's not like I will be able to be in there making food.... so I will have to have a definite EASY meal plan for several weeks while work is being done. Awkward.

I've also been looking at some photos of myself during the summer, back when I weighed the least in my life since like, 9th grade.  It makes me really sad that I will have to start all over after the baby is born, and who knows how much energy and time I will have. The energy part is what I am hopeful for because I have the motivation... just not the energy. Baby has been terribly active, especially at night and seems to HATE when I lie on my left side! It is so weird, it goes nuts! As soon as March hits, i am hopeful it will go really fast, especially with all the stuff going on in the house! This week, Kate is going to the dentist for fillings (again, poor girl) we are now up to 3 times a day brushing and rinsing for both kids, we'll see if this helps.  Maddy has a concerning mole on her cheek that they (derm specialists we went to) advised us to get removed and do a biopsy on the mole to make sure it's okay.  Scary stuff, but that just adds to this overwhelming March month.   Off to bed I think!

not ours

It has really been a blur the last day or so. I had a really yucky fall yesterday afternoon around 12:30. I remember going to my appointment and driving to Target for groceries, and along the way I was praising God aloud in prayer just for allowing me to go, the health and safety of the baby and other prayers that were on my heart. I was just in such a happy mood, and soon I would be able to figure out more kitchen stuff!

I got groceries, hurried to eat a sandwich from Target I got, and arrived to do more kitchen stuff.  I put one foot on the ground and totally wiped out. I landed really hard on my tailbone and all I remember was leaning back in so much pain. It felt like I had fallen right from the height of my Yukon seat all the way to the slippery ice. Somehow I hurt my foot which I still have no idea how that happened and my arm is bruised a bit. My first few thoughts were: Oh my word, this is really bad, my baby!, and what will I do now?  Two men rushed over in their car (they must have saw me from the road and drove in) but they said they saw me fall and I remember them slamming their car door and running to help. They asked if I was okay and I just kept crying and said, I'm pregnant....  I'm so, so, thankful that I didn't hit my head or even worse, my belly.

I hadn't even gotten into the store to plan out kitchen stuff yet and I was already calling my doctor which they advised strongly to come right away to be checked out. I didn't know I would be there for 5 hours! It was a long day but it also felt nice to just sit and watch t.v.  I was in a lot of uncomfortable pain but not anything severe, and by the time the tylenol kicked in, I was able to walk fairly normally and probably could have driven myself home. The only thing that really scared me was falling on ice again and I didn't know how I would feel as the day progressed.  When I got home I had a really hard time walking before bed so I took another Tylenol and really today the pain is better, which I expected to be worse. So that is definitely a praise. I can't really bend, lift, or walk fast but hey, I am really happy about that! Peter is at his meetings today (boo) so hopefully the day will go well with the kids. He plans to bring home supper so I don't have to cook. My prayer last night was for supernatural power to have a good attitude with the kids and to see them through Jesus' perspective (which is all love) instead of "Grrr you kids, stop fighting!!". It has gone well so far.

When I visited with our kitchen planner last night, I was pleasantly surprised at the price-- we had no idea with all the things we added (pull-outs, different stain, etc) it would be that low, which is INCLUDING installation, counter-tops, handles, the stain we wanted, no tax, etc. We have a little more room to get different counter-tops if we wanted, but I am really feeling guilty about it. I am hoping God will really reveal to us what we should do because it's been extremely confusing so far, not exactly IF we'll do the kitchen, because we will, but WHEN is the biggest thing. And of course needs vs wants. There are lots of things we don't need... all the pull outs we don't need (which really aren't a lot but still, some), we don't need expensive counter-tops-- those are just wants. We're just really praying for wisdom. I just hope that whenever she submits the layout for production, that will tell us when we'll be able to have them installed and then it will be an easy decision on our part. We have included God in almost all of our decisions, even if its a small one and so we're hoping we can really be listening to Him. After all, it is HIS money!

weekend

Well, we have the flu now.  Maddy threw up just before bed. I was really worried about getting it before my appointment tomorrow which is very important I go....I have tons of questions and really need to get checked out.....Peter says we'll wait and see if she throws up during the night or the morning before my appointment to determine if he'll stay home with her... Just please pray that I don't get stuck bringing a sick child with to my appointment who would most likely throw up sometime during my trip to GF.

In other news: We have been working really hard lately with house stuff. It is all humongously fun, but overwhelming too because it's all basically at once. Last year we had some water damage to our ceiling and our carpet - so insurance will be helping pay for under half of the carpet and ceiling repair. We're picking out carpet and my dad came over to measure. About a month or two ago, we bought some bunk beds for the kids and a dresser. Today we got the dresser put together, but that also meant cleaning out closets, refolding, going through clothing, vacuuming, and we're still not done yet. It might take a while to put the bunk beds together but I am okay with doing things one step at a time. My goal this week is to get every unnecessary item out of the kids' room, separate all the toys that they don't play with much, and just declutter! It is so much work to keep up the house. I have to find a solution to the living room and the toy situation in there. They mostly play in their rooms or sometimes (very rarely) go upstairs, but I feel like they have enough rooms in the house to have toys in, so that might help with the mess in the house.

Thursday Kelsey came over after naps and we were all fighting over who could talk/play with her. It was so much fun. She took all of the photos in the previous post. Friday we got the pleasure of going to Grand Forks without kids while Kelsey babysat, which is so nice to be able to do once in a while. We talked with our kitchen planner for two hours and went through our cupboard layouts, stain, we talked about countertops, and the timeline. Tomorrow I have a doctors appointment so I will be able to go back there to see what the estimate is and if this is possible to get done before the baby is born. I'm not sure how this will go if I take Maddy so we'll see. We'll hopefully pick out some handles and other little things too. On Friday we picked out a sink, possible faucet, microwave, and possible back splash.  Possible carpet too. By the time we were at our last store, I nearly fainted again... I really don't know what the problem is but I think it has something to do with overheating.  From there, we went to Owens game which was also very fun. Here's some pictures of that:

a good attitude

Yesterday was not a typical Monday. Though I am not at all blaming anyone for my lack of appointments, it is a known fact that once you become a stay at home mother, it is harder and harder to be able to take care of appointments for yourself. You have to work with other people's schedules and lots of times they conflict.  My hair was fried and my eyes were in bad shape so I begged my husband to find a time that I could get these two things taken care of. It just so happened to be in the same day! My hair appointment was at 9am, and my eye appointment was at 11. Both in opposite directions, I was able to stop at home for a quick 10 minutes and on to my next appointment.

It was so nice to have my hair worked on. The whole cut probably took 20-25 minutes (without washing) and after she was done she thought it'd be fun to curl it all! So we talked and laughed and after about a half hour I was shocked at how nice it looked. I can't ever get my hair to look that nice after curling it... and guess what... I STILL have curls after a whole day, and a nights worth of sleeping on them. So, I bought the hair spray and will try her style of curling soon.  My eye appointment also went well, and I am proud to say my icky contacts have been thrown in the garbage and replaced with new ones.

When I got home, I called the kitchen planner and she dissapointingly told me that production time for cabinets are now 8 weeks out. So, it is pretty much impossible to get them done before the baby is born. That is not what we wanted to hear, but at the same time our prayers are being answered and I am grateful. All along we've prayed every single night for several months regarding the kitchen project and our hope was that it would not at all be something that would be stressful or at the wrong time. We still feel like we should keep moving with plans so that when we figure out the best time we can get started, but for now we feel like we just need to wait. A kitchen remodel, a new baby, and planting all at the same time might put us over the edge and that is definitely not what we want.

The day followed with several games of Old Maid; Kate always seemed to win, leaving Peter and I battling over who was going to pick the Old Maid from each others hand. We all were having so much fun. During the time Peter was left at home with the kids until he went to work at 1, he washed 3 loads of laundry, folded and hung 2, cleaned up the kitchen (loaded dishes, washed pots and pans) emptied all the garbage in the house, called a few people, made lunch and probably many other things. Needless to say he wasn't surprised at what happy mood I was in. Later in the night in our devotion time we talked about attitude and how it affects our family. He admitted when I walked in the door it was really nice to see a happy attitude. So nice to 'sort of' switch roles for the morning with me being away and him at home. We talked about our struggles with each others attitude and ways we can help one another out. So, my goal for today... a good attitude.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus

Philippians 2:5

new week

This weekend has been pretty lazy for us. It has been so weird feeling so tired all the time. For instance, today after my nap, I went to the couch, and almost fell asleep again. I think Peter was shocked as he told me... "you must be tired". I've been doing what I can to catch up on daily chores yet at the same time feeling totally worthless as nothing 'extra' gets done. Oh well I guess... it is just a season. I have also been really bad at drinking pop. I mean, really good at it. The last two days I have had two bottles of pop. I've shared with Peter of course but I've had most of it! Friday night I had a sprite at the basketball game; Saturday night I had a root beer on our way back from getting groceries! I've really got to stop this habit.

I keep imagining what my life will be like once the kitchen remodel happens (if it does). I feel like it will be a total disaster on my hormones. I dont know how many days/weeks we will be out of a kitchen sink, real dishes, meals of course.... I am beginning to plan what meals I can freeze, make effortlessly in the crock pot, and eat out. It will also be tricky timing to get carpenters, electricians and plumbers here at the same time so that it does not drag on. I think it would be a whole lot easier if our soffiting weren't coming out.  I probably spelled that wrong.  We have to still purchase a table, lighting, microwave, back splash, decide on paint color, and we're even not sure about cabinet color/stain because of a miscommunication.  So this is all very up in the air, but I hope we can meet regularly now with our kitchen planner to get some of these things off our list! We'll do a kitchen for sure, just might have to be after the baby is born. And after farming. And deer hunting. yikes.