bathroom makeover

Two months ago Lydia and I decided to start demo on the kid's bathroom.  I'm not one to start with a plan, I'm one who comes up with the plan as we go along.  Here is the bathroom I fixed downstairs.  Now on to this project

Before
-too huge of a mirror
-leaky sink
-toilet that uses too much water
-strange vanity top
-horrid paint color
-unnecessary ugly medicine cabinet 
-lame peel and stick flooring
etc...

Now on to demo with my trusty assistant.

I considered keeping the cabinet and getting a new top, but the vanity was an odd size and a custom top was too spendy.  Once the bathroom was all cleared out if was off to Lowe's to order a tile install. Simply ordered the same tile as we did downstairs. Then off to Home Depot to get a new dual flush toilet.

After the tile and toilet were installed I took on baseboard and toe kick (or quarter round, whatever you like to call it). I hadn't installed baseboard before, but with my new table saw and my nail gun I was ready to tackle the job, especially in such a small place.  One thing I didn't have that was essential was a miter saw.  My neighbor has a miter saw but he doesn't let me use it, he will do the cuts for me which is awesome but hard to schedule since besides remodeling I also run a small in home circus (kids, I have kids).  I bought a little miter box and a hand saw.  Next I turned to YouTube and my boy Trevor here taught me how to use my miter box...or mitre box has he calls it, Irishmen.

I started on one side and worked my way around the room.  Measure, cut, find the studs, nail, repeat.  Looks terrible at first, just know caulk is your friend, your best friend, caulk covers a multitude of sins errr not perfectly matched joints.

I mentioned above that I don't really fully advance plan, but rather take it one step at a time.  After the baseboard the choice was to either repair the wall from the vanity rip out or come up with another plan.  Yeah, I hung beadboard so I didn't need to repair the wall. It is sold in 4ft X 8ft sheets, I had Home Depot cut them in half and then I wedged them into my car along with a bunch of adhesive, I picked the Loctite brand or all purpose construction adhesive.  I watched a couple YouTube videos to get an idea of what to do next but really it's pretty straight forward.  Measure, cut, check, apply adhesive, place on the wall, nail, fill nail holes with joint compound, repeat, caulk all the seems.  Pick a style of chair rail, the piece that goes on top and follow the same steps.

added towel hooks

One reason the process took two months was because it took forever for me to pick a vanity.  I looked at the normal stores, amazon, overstock, etc.  In the end I decide that a vanity made of actual wood was what I wanted, no MDF. Plus it fits perfectly with my plain white style. 

my pipes didn't fit with the vanity so the plumbers helped me out with that

When you install beadboard or some other wall treatment you also have to adjust the outlet so it sits flush with the cover and isn't all wonky, or wonkady as Oliver would say.  I ordered these spacers from amazon. Kill the power, unscrew the outlet, fold a few spacers together (3 was my magic number), place them between the box and the switch or outlet, screw back in, add face place. 

Put all those steps together with some finishing touches and boom, new fresh bathroom.

Few more links
-faucet
-towels
-free printable flamingo, side note...she has a million free printables, search at your own risk, it's a huge time suck
-mirror and shower curtain can be found at Target
-priceless watercolor art was made by Lydia
-frames, shelf, bathmat can be found at Ikea
-paint, dovetail grey by sherwin williams

On to the next project!

To School and Back to School

Despite temperatures still soaring into the mid 90s and the calendar still firmly planted on August it's clear that this summer has come to a close.  What a joyful summer we had!  Spending the whole of July traveling to Boston/Iceland/Scotland was so much fun.  The kids loved exploring every place we visited which reconfirmed that traveling with kids really is worth the time, money, planning, and hours on end of flying.  Check out the video we put together of clips from the adventure....it's worth tuning in just to see Lydia's dance break at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. 

I've gotten side tracked.  To school and back to school! 

Oliver is back at Cram (yes, that's the name of the school) for his second year.  He's in the 2nd grade. Oliver continues to state that his favorite part of school is recess and his favorite job in the classroom is reading, he really is becoming a great reader. Most days he rides his bike to and from school because he says "that's better for the environment" 

Sweet Lydia.  Oh my goodness.  Our sweet girl started preschool today! We visited in the spring, we mentioned it on and off all summer, and we always got the same reaction "I not going there"  "I not going to do dat."  Errr.  We visited Monday morning for a meet the teacher and see your classroom time.  She wasn't too interested, but actually came around toward the end and said "Now I know that preschool is fun"  That was Monday.  Today is Wednesday, this morning she forgot that she thought preschool was fun.  "I only like it when mommy stays with me."  Yeah.  We got ready, and took our picture outside and loaded into the car and headed off.  She hung her bag, signed it, went to her class, hug/kiss/picture, and I pointed out the toys she liked on Monday and she got them out and said "I okay, bye mom" When I picked her up at noon I asked her what she did, expecting she would say she didn't know, but she mentioned singing and dancing, painting her hand, and playing with a friend named Chloe...impressive.

Cheers to the school year ahead! 

last day of 1st grade

Fail.  I threw out the shirt he wore on the first day because it was getting shabby and I forgot we needed to save it.  Luckily, Oliver basically wears the same thing everyday so we picked the closest match. 

                               

most of the shots are him refusing to
stand and look normal

for the last few weeks of school
Oliver has been riding his bike to and from
you know, because he's 7 now

Lydia isn't in school yet, but I always
sneak in a chance to see how she's grown also
No pictures of them together because she likes
to sleep late now...that's my girl

Where did our toddler go?

Cheers to summer vacation! We have exactly two months off and then it's on to 2nd grade and ::sniff:: preschool ::sniff:: We have a really fun summer planned and are looking forward to the adventure.  Games begin Monday when Oliver sets off to Kansas on his first solo flight...he's soooo excited. 

Happy 7th Birthday, Oliver!

Our boy is 7.  He's growing up so fast.  It felt like a minute ago I was in Moscow trying to get a terrified baby/toddler to take a bath. 

Last year we had his birthday party early so we could have one last party in Kansas City before moving.  Last year on his actual birthday the moving truck showed up.  Happy Birthday, you get to sleep in your bed tonight.  :-) This year, less eventful, and we like it that way.  We celebrated with a little pool party at our neighborhood pool with a few friends.  It was lovely....company, weather, food.

I read through last year's blog post from Oliver's birthday, and pretty much all remains to be true.  Oliver is a super extrovert and loves people, he doesn't always interact appropriately with people, but he loves them. He is still doing gymnastics and recently moved up to the next level. He loves to play toys and planes, trucks, cars, and legos remain to be his favorites.  Oliver is doing well in school, reading is his best and he struggles with math...maybe that's the proof he isn't actually related to Jim or I.  ;-)

Oliver is beginning to be a bit more independent, kind of.  He's trying to get himself ready for school a little more efficiently...less of me dragging him to the bathroom to and more of him crawling their himself.  We got Oliver a new bike for his birthday.  The person that might appreciate his bike the most is Lydia, she gets to sleep in while he takes himself to school.  In other independent news, Oliver is taking his first solo flight in 13 days, off to Kansas City to visit Aunt Melissa and Uncle Joel and the rest of the KC crew.  He's super excited. 

Cheers to 7. Today we celebrate with cupcakes at school, shrimp scampi for dinner, and an hour and a half of gymnastics class. 


 Birthdays past....

2

3

4

5

6

7

Happy 5 Year Family Day!

We celebrated Oliver's 5th family day like we usually do, spending time together doing Oliver's choice activity.  He picked adventure city an amusement park for little kids age 1-9.  It was perfect for him, and Lydia liked playing there too.   He loved the rides and he enjoyed riding them over and over and over and.... We ate his choice dinner, shrimp scampi and cake with ice cream for dessert. 

Like every year let's look at some baby Oliver.  Have you seen these photos before?  You probably have.  Previous to age 20 months my collection is pretty sparse.  Oliver always enjoys looking at his "baby" pictures.  He never remarks they are the same ones, he never comments on how there are so few.   I wonder when will he start asking more specific questions about his biological family, his stay at the orphanage, reasons he was there, etc. These are all things we've shared with him, but he's not the kind of kid that needs to talk about it much.  Oliver's basic view of adoption is.... my first family couldn't care for me the way I needed,  I went to an orphanage, orphanages are places that take care of kids that need a family, being in a family is better than being in an orphanage, mom and dad knew that so we decided to adopt, the agency helped us find each other. 

Our first photo of Oliver

I left a camera at the orphanage, this is one of the pictures they took

Busted out!!! 
A three hour ride from his orphanage to my hotel

Sweet baby's passport photo

Saying goodbye to Moscow

--------------------

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Adoption remains firmly seated at the top of the list of hardest things I've ever done.  It's okay to do hard things. He was worth the work.  He was worth the hoops.  He was worth the jet lag.  Worth our time and heartache and money.  His life is important and special, all their lives are important and special, orphans are waiting for someone to come along and realize that. 

This James Blunt song came out after Oliver's adoption, but I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking yes, all that. 

"This world is getting colder.
Strangers passing by
No one offers you a shoulder.
No one looks you in the eye.
But I’ve been looking at you
For a long, long time
Just trying to break through,
Trying to make you mine

Everybody wants a flame,
They don’t want to get burnt
Well, today is our turn"


Many times we are told that Oliver is so lucky to have been adopted.  Lot's of adoptive families don't like to hear that, we aren't anything special.  The truth is that all parties involved are pretty lucky. 

We are lucky to be a family together. 

Go adopt or foster or support someone who is going through the process. 

stinky feet, and how to fix them

Oliver has the smelliest feet/shoes...especially in the warm weather, and it's always the warm weather where we live.  

First I set a bench up in the garage right before coming into the house.  Your shoes may not come inside! I also put up a little IKEA mesh shoe holder.  Then we have our amazing new foot powder in a glass jar with a small spoon.  Essential oils should not be kept in plastic, which is why we use a glass jar for this foot powder. 

supplies

 Foot powder recipe. 

1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup cornstarch
20 drops of lavender essential oil
20 drops of tea tree essential oil
20 drops of eucalyptus essential oil

measuring

mix

Whenever Oliver comes into the garage he takes his shoes off, puts a small spoon of powder in each shoe and rubs some on his feet.  It works really well.  Once you begin doing it regularly the shoes start to smell less and less until it isn't actually necessary to powder every time you take your shoes off. 

So if you have a kid wearing those stinky stride rite sandals you must make this.  It's a game changer. Or if you're not a kid and you have stinky feet, you must make this.  

I don't sell oils, but I have friends that do if you need a hook-up, let me know.  I also purchase some from the Whole Foods. 

milk carton gingerbread house

I signed up to be a room parent in Oliver's classroom.  Lucky for me there are a couple other ladies with that job title also...since I'm not actually allowed to help in his classroom.  An application, a clear TB test, and a yes vote from the board are all required...as well as someone to watch the other kids I'm in charge of.  So yeah, I do work at my home and bring it to school. 

This Christmas season I signed up to make 25 milk carton gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate at their party.  I'm still a little confused why public school kids even have a Christmas party, but whatever, I just do the job I'm assigned.

You need

-milk cartons

-graham crackers

-butter knife

-serrated knife

-royal icing (the glue)

-I didn't, but you could totally use a fine tip piping bag to help assembly

Good glue is critical and this icing recipe might

as well be spackle

You’ll need 3 cups of powdered sugar, 2 eggs whites and 1/4 tsp of Cream of Tartar. Whip the egg whites until frothy, add the other ingredients, and whip for 7-9 minutes until the volume has increased and the icing holds stiff peaks. Put your icing into a disposable piping bag or use a knife.

I would have purchased the normal rectangle graham crackers

but someone else did the shopping and got these square ones. 

I started by gluing a square to each side.

A nice blob of glue frosting is required to get the roof on.

The absolute hardest part of this job is cutting these ridiculous triangles to fill

in the roof gap.  I recommend a fine serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion.

It was good if one triangle was perfect and the other broke

It was a miracle if they both stayed intact.

oh and a judgy assistant can be helpful

Here is where the piping bag could be useful.  I used a

knife, but I wasn't going for beauty, only function.

Add glue to the sides of the roof and squish on your triangle.

Glue together the top seem, call it done, and repeat 24 more times...

At first it feels like it won't hold together.  Do not fear.  This frosting

dries so hard this house isn't going anywhere.