Home Improvement: The Kitchen

So, what did you do this week? Well, we were a bit busy. Someone turned 11 months old (see below in dire need of a haircut), I had a job interview (more coming soon, maybe), we did swim lessons at the local pool, we took Noah to his first movie (Cars 2), oh and we completely re-did our kitchen! It's been an exhausting experience, but now as we round the home stretch I think it was worth it. And I KNOW we could not have done it without the expertise of my cousin Dave and my uncle Lou. As well as some help from the wrecking crew of Philie & Sons (along with their sharing of tools and shop-vacs), my brother & tia bringing hot dogs and ice cream, and my parents for all the babysitting and child entertainment they've done lately...Here is our kitchen before the demo began. Note the white on off white on white look.
Also note the backsplash tile and dental molding up top. Two features we were happy to be rid of.
So first on Friday night my cousin Dave shows up claiming he's there just to "check things out" and see what tools he might need for Sunday's demo. Mike and I left a mostly intact kitchen and went to Cars with Noah. We came home 2.5 hours later to Dave with a blow torch and most of our kitchen gone. He saved us so much time and money with removing the sink, dishwasher, microwave, and range. Along with doing some plumbing, electrical, and gas work!
And he was happy to give Mike tips, particularly on how to remove that dang tile, "Just bang on it real good!"
On Sunday Dave returned with Pops (Uncle Lou). Dave and I took a quick trip to Home Depot and came home to open walls!
Let the drywall work begin! There is absolutely NO way that Mike and I would have had the bravery to pull this much out. But in the end, I think it's much cleaner looking (well after cleaning the entire house from all the dust!).
Pops had some assistance with drywall screwing. Of course Noah had to wear his Spiderman costume and Mickey crocs for this important job.
So then on Monday Mike and I got to painting. Mike picked out the color and got supplies, we primed the walls while the kids napped, and then hit the color in the afternoon. With some help!
Noah loved painting. We secretly painted his name and Sam's name on a section that will be covered by a cabinet. So to the next home owner who removes cabinets, have fun trying to figure out who Noah and Sam are!
And then yesterday, the professional installers came and put in the cabinets and microwave. Aren't they pretty! And by going with full sized cabinets we gain a ton of storage space! The stove is coming today and the counter tops probably in the next 2-3 weeks. We'll have to put the dishwasher back in and drop the new sink in once the counter tops get here and then add some crown molding.
Mike and I aren't sold on our color choice. Now with the cabinets in, we're concerned we have a bit of a mint chocolate chip ice cream look going on. So the big question is, do we care enough to go through the effort of repainting? It would be a lot more work, especially now that the cabinets are in. But overall we are VERY pleased!

Happy Father's Day (times 2 this year)!

So, how did you spend your Father's Day? Did you get a clip on bug repellent? That's what Francesca picked out for her Grandpa...

And how did Mike spend his Father's Day (with 2 kids this year). Doing this....
But first, here's what we were up to earlier in the week. We've been busy starting some of the demo for our kitchen. We haven't completely gutted it yet, because we have to double check the cabinets (which we just received today) and have the installer come double check the floor plan. Then the official tear-out will be on Sunday. Doing a kitchen project with two small children can be tricky. You just have to involve them in the process. So, here we have Sam sending out some texts to his local contractor contacts...Ellie has been banished to the living room and the deck area. Considering the recent dump of cottonwood from a nearby tree, her allergies aren't doing too well. She looks thrilled, doesn't she?
Needing the assistance of some experienced home-wreckers (literal use of the term), Philie and her crew have offered to help out. They even brought an extra hard hat for Noah. Would you trust these guys in your kitchen?
Really Aunt Philie, really? I'm your Godson and this is how you dress me....
Yesterday, we took a break from the job site and went over to Kim & Frank's house for Father's Day. The kids enjoyed some time in the pool and with the hose.

Sam preferred hanging in the a/c with Josie...
Mission: Get a nice picture of PaPa with his 4 grandkids. Mission: Impossible...


But, as always, there was some cute cousin love!

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend! More de-construction pictures coming soon!

Hulkin' Out!

For those of you non-comic people, the term "hulkin' out" refers to when one becomes Hulk-esque. Raging, smashing, yelling, destroying... all that good stuff. There has been a lot of that around our house. I'll explain in a minute. But first let me catch up with some pictures from a little over a week ago. We had a stray dog wander up while we were outside. After my initial panic of an unfamiliar, large (lab mix) dog near my children, we discovered he was friendly and ushered him to our backyard. A nice community service officer came by shortly thereafter and took him. She was dressed in full police uniform, so Noah was quite impressed. The boys both got honorary police sticker badges, pretty cool!

So back to the title. Here Noah gives a fine example. HULK.....
SMASH! This was taken at about 8am after a rather rough play session with his brother.
But don't you worry, Sam is hulkin out on his own. He's eating EVERYTHING. He often eats more than his brother. This week he seems to have found his voice and he is often grunting, screeching, and hollering at his brother. He's been keeping up just fine and even in throwing in an occasional face kick or eye grab of his own. Don't let the cute face fool you, this kid can PLAY!
As far as Mike and I, we too are preparing to "hulk out" on our kitchen. I think I'm much more excited about the process than Mike. But anyway, we are getting new cabinets, new countertops, new sink, new range, and new microwave. We are having them all installed by professionals. So here are some before pictures...
Oh, and yes, we'll be doing our own demo. Hee hee hee. Get ready for some smashing....
(I'm sure there will be some fun demo related stories coming soon!!!)

Pet Parade

So yesterday the boys and I (mike had to work) headed to the 65th annual Pet Parade in LaGrange. For those of you who did not grow up attending this event, it is HUGE. There are lots and lots of bands including LTHS and Park Junior High, my alma maters. There are people with their pets, obviously, this year there was a Harry Potter themed group that had chickens in cages as owls with letters plastered to the cage, so funny! Johnny Knox from the Bears was even there as well as mascots from the Bulls, Blackhawks, and Wolves. This was the first time I've been able to take my boys, so I was pretty excited. It was me solo with the two tykes, as my folks were out of town. So we lathered up with sunscreen and got ready to go...

Not sure if you can read his shirt, but it says "where's my parade?"
The highlight for Noah was the copious amounts of candy flung his way! He lasted about 45 minutes of the 2-3 hour event and then declared he wanted to go home. So not wanting to push my luck, we headed home. Despite it being a short trip, it was lots of fun.
We arrived back at my parents' house in the bike trailer (which I pushed there, I'm not riding a bike in front of THAT many people). Sammy was passed out and sweating like a fiend under that hat. Noah was just chomping at the bit to get his lollipops. Fun, sweaty, fun!

Missed from May

With all the happenings in May, I forgot to post pictures from our Big Truck Show in Palatine. We went to this last year, and Philie and I were both immensely pregnant and it was like 900 degrees (well maybe not THAT hot, but you get the picture). This year was much more pleasant. It was the first full weekend of may (my bday) and we took all 4 boys.

Sam and Cal weren't exactly thrilled to be in the stroller. Next year, little ones, you'll be climbing around with your brothers!
Fred seems right at home, doesn't he?
Noah piles in and Fred (safety inspector) finds them both helmets to wear.
The fireman seen here is also named Fred, how awesome! And can you see what Noah the Narcissist is doing? Checking out his reflection, of course!
No pictures, please mom, not in front of the guys!
Noah accesses the air brake for the garbage truck...
And his innocent smiling reaction when the guy manning the truck goes, "whoa buddy, not that one!"
How big is it Noah?
I'm sure Fred is describing the specs of the machine to Noah...
The highlight I think was the big industrial crane..
I'm not sure if this picture is cute or scary. Scary in that these kids could be driving one of these suckers some day. EEEEKKKK!
And Noah ends the day with a cone head, appropriate.