Kitchen Remodel....Yup day 302 ;)

So you probably wondered why I never finished up the kitchen remodel posts with grades for Ameritiles. The reason is that they weren't finished and still aren't. However, today they added the granite behind the stove. Originally when we planned the kitchen, we were keeping our appliances. When everything was in, we realized how ugly our eye sore white appliances looked with the bright kitchen. We decided to get a stove without the knobs on the back to show off the blacksplash more. What we didn't know at the time was that those stoves need to have 2.5 inches of counter space behind them. The stove did come with a plate which we used in the mean time while Ameritiles got around to adding our granite. Here is the before with the plate. You can see that there is a gap on each side of the plate...not so pretty.
3 men came to install the tiny piece of granite which took all of 15 minutes....wonder why it took so long for them to come out and install it.........Here is the almost finished project. I say almost because we need to add the gray grout from the backsplash to it to continue the grout line from the original work. Mr. E now has a weekend project :) I tried to take a picture with less bling from the backsplash...not sure it worked well, but you get the gist.
One tiny mistake Ameritiles needs to fix (that they are procrastinating on fixing)and we'll be DONE!!!!!!!!!! Woot!! Oh wait...still have the loaner fridge;(

Who needs a teddy bear????

Well Fall is here!! Which means it time for our annual Halloween decorating EXTRAVAGANZA!!! Mr. E and Little Lion have started decorating the outside of the house. LL was a little timid at the beginning of the process. The skeletons and big scary pumpkins made him a little jumpy. However, after playing with them and showing them that they aren't real, he got used to them and actually liked them....A LOT! So much in fact that he wanted to SLEEP with one of our many sets of skeletons.

We tucked in Bones and LL snuggled right on up ;) How cute is that....or demented :) Hey if he falls asleep, I'll all for it :) Did you notice the hand in the pants??? Who'd he learn that from???? Halloween decorations to come later......

Money Maker!

Yesterday the family went to visit my parents. Little Lion loves going over there because of their pool. My mom was telling me the previous day that she had turned in her old gold jewelry that was broken or never to be worn again. She got $93 dollars for it. I thought hmmm I have some old gold jewelry too. I brought it over with me to my parents. While LL and Mr.E were in the pool, my Mom and I went to turn in my gold. Here is what I had.And here is what I got back.... $147!!! Not bad for an afternoon jaunt to my parents ;) I did end up keeping the ring and earring that had diamonds in them since the jeweler wouldn't take them out. What to buy with it now???

Mr.E and I also did a date afternoon to the movies. We say The Informant which was just ok. We went during LL's nap time. Pop Pop put him to sleep and well did the same :)
Sooo sweet! I guess they were both knocked out from the pool!

Making Pancakes!

One of my few cooking specialties is Skinny Pancakes. I use the recipe from my Great Grandma that has been passed down. They are yummy!! I usually make them for dinner since there isn't a lot of time in the morning. Last night Little Lion decided he wanted to help make the pancakes. Here he is stirring up the batter.Yes I am standing next to him so he wouldn't fall off the counter. Next you have to add flour. LL was totally into it and being so careful to not spill. Mommy had to fry them up since it means using hot oil, but Little Lion got to enjoy his hard work!YUMMY!! My son the next Top Chef :)

Awww Kitty Love

It was time for Little Lion's nap today and I brought him into his bedroom as usual. However, we found Batman napping on his bed. I put LL down and grabbed the cat. LL started crying for Kitty. Ok fine. I put him back on the bed. I figured the cat would get irritated with LL and would get down himself and leave. Well I went back to check on LL and here's what I found.

AWWWWW they love each other :) It makes my heart melt! Such a sweet kitty I have!!

Bridesmaid Reunion

Mr.E and I have been married for 5 years. Yesterday was the first time since the wedding that all of my bridesmaids have been together. My friend L and her hubby and daughter were in town. I figured what a nice way to get everyone together and of course show off the new kitchen :) Here is the kitchen party ready!
Here are my girls 5 years ago and now ;)
There have been many changes....marriage, babies...but they are still great women and friends!

The weather wasn't looking pretty, but by the time the party started it cleared right up and it wasn't too hot! So the kids got to play outside. The men and L, however, stayed in to watch college football.
A few of the outdoor favorites for the kids were the water table which was more fun with bubbles and sand in it, the trampoline, and the new porch swing.

Once it got dark out, everyone headed inside to ROCK OUT! to the Beatles Rock Band. Everyone got a chance to play or sing.

My favorite picture of the rockers were of S's son and Little Lion, who are both 2, jamming out. I can see that we will be able to retire soon since they are going to form their own band :)The girl's were showing off how scary they could be in Little Lion's new fort. They also dragged in L which lead to a fabulous picture!!All in all it was a wonderful party! Our next party will have to happen soon! But first I'll brush up on my singing skills :)

Labor Day Weekend...Really!

Whoa Boy! We worked HARD over Labor Day weekend!! Mr. E and I had to paint the kitchen, but also decided to paint our hallway walls which have not been painted since we moved in 6 years ago. We decided to paint the kitchen a light, but bright yellow. Here is the progress.

Our hallway is long from our front door to our back sliding glass door. We decided to keep it pretty close to the color it is...beige since the other walls are dramatic....red in the family room, yellow in the kitchen and purple in the living/dining room. Can you see the difference? The wall on the left is freshly painted :)Mr. E also decided to add a border to the edge of the backsplash that hung over. We also changed the ugly white outlet covers to silver metal, and it matches the backsplash.I also am scrambling to find decor for the top of the cabinets before a little get together. So we got a couple of things and I'm not 100% yet. The wall art still isn't hung, but you get the jist.
So 98% done and I'm going to show off the kitchen with my college friends this weekend! Hopefully all our hard work pays off with lots of joy in the kitchen :)

The Kitchen Loaner and Problems updated

I'd have to say that the kitchen is about 90% done! I should have known our 2 week project has turned into 2 months and I'm going to be rushing to be done in time for our get together with friends in a week and a half! Remember my previous post where we had lots of problems with our arrival of our appliances. Here is the list of problems from that post and I'll update in green.

Problem #1 will be taken care of by Mr. E....I hope :) He thinks he's handy enough to install a microwave. Mr. E was handy enough to do it with my help ;) We got the same name brand of microwave, and putting it up was not an issue since we were able to use the bracket that was already on the wall.I think what I'm going to do about Problem #2 is to get a refund on the refrigerator and order a brand new model and suck up the price. A lesson learned is that you pay for what you get on big purchases!!! So we went to Appliance Direct and they didn't have anymore New in the Box GE Profiles. They looked up when they would get them and it stated late September! HELLO I have a party September 12!! We decided to look around for one at another store. Can you believe EVERY SINGLE STORE was out of stock!!!! And they all had a shipment date of late September. GRRR!!! However, AD was kind enough to get us a loaner fridge until the new one is shipped in :) It was delivered today! It's GE Profile as well, but counter depth which I don't want since I like more space in my freezer, but a girl has to compromise at this point other wise I'd have a white fridge for the party (see ugly pic above) . I love the look of all black! The kitchen is soooo sleek now :) Problem #3 will hopefully be fixed tomorrow. I pray that there is nothing majorly wrong or something that the last stupid electrician did to our wires!!! The electricians (not the crappy one from the remodel) came over the next morning. The outlet was fine. The only problem was that the men must have pulled out the outlet from the wall causing it to make sparks. Thank goodness it wasn't something major!!

Also yesterday we got our barstools. We had originally planned to get stools that matched the desk chair, but Mr. E decided he wanted swivel stools instead since that was what he was used to sitting on. Our evening last night consisting on putting together the stools. I like them, but don't love them. I think I miss my funky stools with the red seats. Maybe I don't want to grow up yet:) Here's the kitchen with matching stools.This long weekend I plan on shopping for decor and painting the walls since the fixed dry wall needs to be painted over. Good times! I see the light!!!!

First Day of Preschool!!

Way back in February, we signed Little Lion up for the 2 year old class at our local church preschool program. You wonder why so early, well getting into a good preschool is like getting into college :) It's a lottery system and you have to be one of the lucky few to be picked. It's easier to get in at the earliest level since you get dibs on the following years to come which is great since the school goes all the way up to preK. I was lucky enough to get the LAST spot in the Tuesday/Thursday class. Wooo Hooo!!

The school year finally arrived. LL is definitely ready to go...I hope :) Last Thursday was meet your teacher. We went and checked out the classroom and meet Mrs. W. This is Mrs. W's first year teaching the 2's. She seems very motherly and nurturing which is perfect for the little ones. Here is LL checking out all of the cool new toys he'll get to play with this year.



Any of you mom's out there know that the first day of school is a nerve racking day especially for Mom! I got all of Little Lion's supplies ready last night. There isn't much when you only go 2 days a week from 9-12 :) LL slept great last night and was a peach all morning long. Things are looking good. Here he is starting his day eating a yummy breakfast!
I got him all dressed cute. He HAD to wear his lion shirt.
Then he started being silly and sticking his hand in his pants....hmmm who could he have learned this from???? Such a ham!!He was all smiles in the car...the whole 2 minute drive ;)He enjoyed seeing all the Mommies and Daddies and kids waiting to start the school day.And then we walked into class......he was not so excited. He cried when I left and Mrs. W took him to soothe him. I too shed a few tears once I got to the car. I know this will be good for him and he'll enjoy it. I was praying he wouldn't cry the entire 3 hours. I kept myself busy with cleaning (post kitchen remodel) and we never got a phone call!!

At 11:45 Mr.E came home and we went to pick LL up. While we were waiting for noon, I read his progress sheet and he HAD A GOOD DAY!!! Yeah!! I could peek through the window and see him playing with toys and he went to the circle area and sat nicely. It was great to see!! When Mrs. W opened the door to release the kids, she called Leo to come out. AND HE CRIED AND WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH ME. *inserts lots of Mommy's tears now!!!* I was crushed my baby who I've been with practically 24/7 since the day he was born was refusing me for some *lady* who he has only known for 3 hours!!! I was devasted! LL did eventually go to Daddy. Mr.E being the wonderful man that he is calmed me down to remind me what a great thing it is that he is happy with her and having a good time in class. I know that, but my feeling were hurt....ok my feelings were hurt because my baby didn't need me as much anymore. He's growing up *tear*! I guess this means it's time for another :)

Now he is out like a light! Preschool is hard work when you are 2!!
Let's hope this wonderful progress continues throughout the rest of the year! I hopefully won't shed any more tears either :)