We Give Books Website

I recently stumbled upon a website that I think is just incredibly fantastic!!  It is:

http://www.wegivebooks.org/choose

You can read books to your child online for FREE!  And on top of the FREE part...they donate one book to charity for every book you read online!  You can even select the literacy charity you would like the book to go to (from their list of accepted charities.)  It just doesn't get any better than that!!!

You create an account, but it really is free, and I have not gotten any spam from them.  When you read the books online, if your child really loves a book, you have the option to purchase a hard copy of it.  But you do not have to, it truly is an option.    

I absolutely believe that you can never spend too much time reading to your kids!  So please take a moment to go check it out!    

'E' is For Elephant

I hope you practiced your trumpeting skills because this week our lesson plan is all about Elephants!

This Week We Will Cover:
The letter 'E'
'E' is for Elephant
The color Red
The number 5
Octagons
Differences

Monday:  The Letter 'E'
-color a Letter 'E' coloring page
-have you kiddo trace the letter 'E' on the coloring page with their finger
-while coloring, watch this, this, this, and this
-Glue your coloring page to a red piece of construction paper and hang it on the wall
-make a set of Letter 'E' memory cards (one will have the letter 'E' on it, and the other one will have a picture of an Elephant on it)
-use pipe cleaners to make a letter 'E'
-talk about the different sounds the letter 'E' can make
-Sneaky Letter E's have invaded our yard!!  We are going to use our binoculars to go on a hunt for hidden letter E's.  (For this game, write the Letter E in all different ways and in all different colors on about 15 index cards.  Hide the index cards in your yard or in your home so that the letter E on each card is still visible.  Then hand your kiddo some binoculars and go on a hunt for them.)
-go through the letter 'E' section of Starfall
-sing the ABC song

Tuesday:  'E' is for Elephant
-color an Elephant coloring page
-while coloring, watch this, this, and this
-glue your coloring page to a piece of red construction paper and hang it on the wall
-talk about these Elephant fun facts (scroll down past the coloring pages)
-make an Elephant paper bag puppet (Use templates for the head and body.  And Use these instructions for assembly)
-do this fun Elephant puzzle online
-read an Elephant book like this
-sing "We went to the Animal Fair"

Wednesday:  Zoo Day!
-Go to your local zoo and check out the Elephants in person
-while at the zoo, be sure to look for other things that start with the letter 'E'
-watch this, this, and this
-talk about why the different item in each of the above videos is different from the others (also talk about the other items being the same)

Thursday:  The number 5
-color a Number 5 coloring page
-while coloring, watch this, this, and this
-glue your coloring page to a piece of red construction paper and hang it on the wall
-have your kiddo trace the number 5 on the coloring page with their finger
-make a set of number 5 memory cards (one with the number 5 on it, and the other with 5 stickers on it)
-sing "Five Little Monkeys"
-Play "One of These Things is NOT Like The Other" (Use household items like apples, buttons, cups, blocks, etc.  Lay out several groupings of items on a table.  Make three of the items the same, and one item different.  Have your kiddo find the one that is different, and then talk about why it is different.  Also make it a point to talk about the other items being the same.)
-read a counting or Number 5 book

Friday:  Octagons
-color an Octagon coloring page
-while coloring, watch this
-glue your coloring page to a piece of red construction paper and hang it on the wall
-have your kiddo trace the Octagon on their coloring page with their finger
-make a Penne pasta Octagon (put 8 pieces of Penne pasta on a pipe cleaner, and shape it into an Octagon)
-make a set of Octagon Memory cards (both cards with have octagons on them)
-Stop Sign Walk (walk to a stop sign in your neighborhood.  Count the sides on it, and talk about it being an octagon)
-Sticker Differences Game (Put three stickers on an index card.  Make two of the stickers the same, and one sticker different.  Make about 10 to 15 cards.  Have your kiddo point out which sticker is different.  Be sure to talk about why the sticker is different, and about why the other stickers are the same.)


An important thing to do:
Make sure that you take a few moments each week to review the previous letters, numbers, etc. that we have learned.  The numbers are easy...just count up to the current week's number.  For the letters, I usually go back and have Jay look at the letter coloring pages that we have already done.  I also take time to point out the letters we have already learned when we are reading.  And we typically read at least one alphabet book each week.  For the shapes, I just try to point out shapes while we are driving, or out on a walk.
It is just important to make sure that your kiddo does not forget the things we have already covered.  You, by no means, need to reteach them each week.  Just mention them and try to give your child little reminders each week.

Thanks for Learning 'E' is for Elephant with us!  If you have missed a previous week of the ABC lesson Plans, you can find it here.  And check back next week for 'F' is for Firetruck!
 

Where is My Friday Fail!?

Well, this week has just been so wonderful that I didn't fail at a single thing...

Ha ha....yeah...you know me better than that!! 

I was actually working to take some pictures of my Friday Fail, when the lens on my camera broke.  It stopped midway out for some reason, and will not go back in or come the rest of the way out.  Boo!  But I am thankful that we got the warranty for it, so hopefully it won't cost us an arm and a leg to have it fixed.  So for the next few weeks, you will have to endure crummy cell phone pictures and a serious lack of pictures in general. 

FAIL!!

And now for my Original Friday Fail:

On Saturday we had some cooler weather come in, and I felt like it was finally time to get my fall decorations out.  HOORAY!  I love Fall!!  The colors are so warm and cozy!  Anywho, I unpacked the boxes with my Fall stuff in them, and piled it all up on my dining room table so that I could put it all out.  Ha!  Jay woke up crying from his nap because he didn't feel good, and by that night I felt awful too.  The Hubbs was sick by Monday morning.  So we have all three been dragging around this week just trying to take it easy and get better. 

And, where do you ask are all my Fall decorations!?   Well, they are STILL piled up on the dining room table.

FAIL!!

I am participating in Friday Fails over at My Blessed Life!  Please take a moment to go check out her blog, you'll be glad you did! 

Easy Home-made Puff Paint that Sparkles!

This recipe is really fun!  When Jay gets tired of coloring or painting his ABC coloring pages, I whip up a batch of this just to give him something different to do.  I use an old mustard bottle, but any squeeze bottle would work.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Salt
1/2 cup Flour
1/2 cup Water--cold water works best
Food Coloring 

Directions:
Combine the salt, flour, and water.  Mix in food coloring until you reach a color that you like.  Put into a squeeze bottle and start painting! 

It won't really look sparkly until it dries, so let it dry overnight and wake up to a fun sparkly picture.  :0) Jay likes to make little dots all over his coloring pages!

 

I am linking up to The Thrifty Home's Penny Pinching Wednesdays, so be sure to go check it out!

ABC Lesson Plans

Here is a list of all the lesson plans for my Toddler ABC Curriculum.  The underlined items are the ones that I have already posted lessons for.  So just click on them to see the lesson plan.  I will continue to post the other lesson plans each week all the way through 'Z' is For Zebra.  But by knowing what is coming up, you can keep a look out at your local dollar and craft stores for things like stickers, crafts, toys, and worksheets that will go along with our upcoming themes!  

'A' is For Airplane
'B' is For Bugs
'C' is For Cow
'D' is For Dinosaur
'E' is For Elephant
'F' is For Firetruck
'G' is For Giraffe
'H' is For Helicopter
'I' is For Ice Cream
'J' is For Jack O Lantern
'K' is For Kite
'L' is For Lion
'M' is For Moose
'N' is For Nail
'O' is For Owl
'P' is For Pie

'Q' is For Quarter
'R' is For Rabbit
'S' is For Star
'T' is For Train
'U' is For Umbrella
'V' is For Volcano
'W' is For Worms
'X' is For Xylaphone
'Y' is For Yo Yo
'Z' is For Zebra

Thank you for looking, and I am so excited to help teach our kiddos their ABC's!! 
 

'D' is For Dinosaur

Are you all cookied and candied out after last week!?  This week, we're learning the letter D, so get ready to have lots of Dinosaur fun!

This Week We Will Cover:
The Letter 'D'
'D' is for Dinosaur
The color Yellow
The number 4
Squares
Sorting

Monday: The letter 'D'
-color a letter 'D' coloring page
-while Jay is coloring we will watch this, this, this, this, and this
-glue our coloring page to a yellow piece of construction paper and hang it on the wall

-make a set of letter 'D' memory cards (one of them will have the letter 'D' on it, and the other will have a picture of a dinosaur on it)

-use pipe cleaners to make a letter 'D'
-trace the letter 'D' on our coloring page with our finger
-Daddy starts with the letter 'D' so Jay's Daddy will talk to him about the letter 'D' and the sound that it makes in different words.
-Daddy and Jay will go on a letter 'D' walk through our neighborhood looking for things that begin with the letter 'D'
-go through the letter 'D' section of Starfall
-sing our ABC's

Tuesday:  'D' is for Dinosaur
-color a Dinosaur coloring page
-while Jay is coloring, we will watch this and this
-glue our coloring page to a piece of yellow construction paper and hang it on the wall

-listen to We are the Dinosaurs and march around the room
-go on a Dinosaur Excavation (take some toy dinosaurs, put them in a pan of water and freeze it, run warm water over the bottom of the pan to release the ice, then use tools to chisel the dinosaurs out.  For smaller kiddos, make the water very shallow--it doesn't even have to completely cover all of the dinosaurs.  The shallow water will be much easier to chisel through.)
-talk about Dinosaurs with some of the fun facts here
-What would your pet Dinosaur look like!?  We are going to talk about what Jay's would look like, and then make it out of our play dough

Wednesday:  Museum Day
-we are going to go to a local museum with a really great Dinosaur exhibit (if you do not a museum like this near you, you can watch a Dinosaur movie instead)
-read a book about dinosaurs like this one
-play a Dinosaur sorting game (I took three different sizes of dinosaur stickers and put them onto index cards.  Jay will sort them by size.  If you don't have stickers, you can draw squares on index cards in different sizes or even sort buttons or blocks of different sizes.)


Thursday:  The number 4
-color a number 4 coloring page
-while Jay is coloring, we will watch this, this, and this
-glue our coloring page to a piece of yellow construction paper and hang it on the wall
-make a set of number 4 Memory cards (one will have the number 4 on it and the other will have 4 stickers on it)

-read a counting book
-count things that come in fours like the tires on our car, the sides of our train table, the lights on our ceiling fan, etc
-play a numbers sorting game (I took stickers and put 1, 2, 3, or 4 pictures on a set of 20 index cards.  Jay will sort the cards by the number of pictures on each index card.  If you don't have stickers, you could cut out pictures from magazines to glue on the index cards, or draw shapes on the index cards to do the same thing)

Friday:  The Color Yellow
-we will watch this
-we will search for things that are yellow like the sun, a yellow crayon, bananas, flowers, toys, etc
-we will make a version of this Yellow sunshine
-read this book
-make some yummy yellow lemonade
-use the lemons from our lemonade to make lemon prints (Put out a plate with some yellow paint on it.  Dip the cut side of a lemon half into the yellow paint and stamp it onto a piece of paper.  You can even use the sides or different edges of the lemon to come up with some fun textures.)


Be sure to check out A, B, and C if you missed them, and check back next Sunday for 'E' is for Elephants!!

Cream Soup Replacement

I am by no means a health fanatic, but I do try to avoid certain things, and over processed foods are high on my list.  They typically contain way too much salt, and a bunch of ingredients that I can't even pronounce, let alone tell you what they actually are. 
I also love my crock pot...and I seriously use it at least once a week.  But finding recipes that are not full of all sorts of processed junk can be nearly impossible to do!! 
This recipe replaces store bought "Cream of Whatever" soups.  I keep one container of this in my pantry and when a recipe calls for a can of "Cream of Whatever" soup, I use this instead!  It is much healthier, and also less expensive than the gelatinous blobs of over salted and over processed "soup" you scrape out of cans from the store...

Ingredients:
-1 cup powdered milk
-3/4 cup cornstarch
-2 tablespoons onion powder
-1 teaspoon basil
-1 teaspoon thyme
-1/2 teaspoon pepper
-chicken, vegetable, or beef stock (for when you use this mix in a recipe)

Directions:
-Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container

To Use In A Recipe:
-1/3 cup of dry mix
-1 1/4 cups of chicken, vegetable, or beef stock
-Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. 
-Cook until it has thickened up
**If a recipe calls for cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup, I use vegetable broth and diced celery or mushrooms.  Just cook the celery or mushrooms when you cook the soup.
-this makes the equivalent of one 10 3/4 oz can of "Cream of Whatever" soup.

One batch of this will make the equivalent of 9 cans of soup.  :0) 

  

My Friday Fail...Fish Style

Today I am participating in Friday Fails on My Blessed Life, so be sure to go check it out!

A few months back, the Hubbs decided to get Jay an aquarium for his room to act as his nightlight.  We We have a plecostomus, 2 guppies, and 4 zebra fish.  The plecostomus is Walter, and the other fish are all Sully. 

So last Sunday I had a lot of things going on at church, so Jay and the Hubbs were home together most of the day.  Well, the Hubbs left a nice big bright yellow conatiner of fish food sitting out in Jay's room while Jay was supposed to be napping.  Can you guess what happened next!? 

If you guessed that the entire container of fish food went into the fish tank...then you're absolutely right.  Poor fish!  The Hubbs and I spent several hours switching out the water and getting most of the food out of the aquarium.  We were pumped when all of the fish were still alive and swimming!

That was Fish Fail Number One

The Hubbs wanted to take the aquarium out of Jay's room...but I talked him out of it.  Instead, I spent time talking with Jay about being a responsible pet owner and about never ever ever puttint anything into the fish tank.  Jay promised that he would not put anythign in there again, and told us how very sorry he was.  He even told Walter and the Six Sullies he was sorry!

Monday morning the tank was still pretty cloudy, so we went to get some ghost shrimp to help with the cleaning process.  At naptime, I reminded Jay that we never put things into the fish tank.  He said "OK Mommy!"  He took a long nap, and I cleaned the house.  After my cleaning, he was still sleeping, so I jumped into the shower.  Well...sometime during my shower Jay woke up and put two shoes and four stuffed animals into his fish tank.  It killed all of our shrimp and Walter looked dead too.  :0(

And That Was Fish Fail Number Two

The fish tank is now sitting in our play room.  Jay is not allowed to touch it.  And I am very happy to report that after a few more hours of switching out the water, Walter and the Six Sullies are all OK.

The moral of this story:  Aquariums make great nightlights...but little boys DO NOT make good fish owners...

Feed The Birds

Jay and I made these bird seed ornaments to give everyone last Chirstmas.  It was super fun, and I think we'll make them again this year!  The birds and squirrels loved them, and Jay was very excited to get to watch them eat these treats...a true win win situation!  I think these would be great to make any time of year--I'm thinking of doing some more at Thanksgiving this year.  :0)   

Try them, you'll be glad you did:

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons corn syrup
4 cups bird seed, any type
soft string (that the birds can use for their nests when the seed is all gone)
 
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together.
Pour the ingredients out onto a sheet of waxed paper.
Use a second sheet of waxed paper to press out the seed mixture into a layer about an inch think.
Use cookie cutters to make all sorts of fun shapes in the mixture.
Press the extra mixture from around your shapes back out and repeat the process.
Use a toothpick to create circular holes in each shape for the string to go through.  Make sure the hole is not too close to the top of the shape or it will not hold well when you hang it!
Let the shapes dry overnight.
Tie string through the holes and they are ready to hang.
Hang the ornaments in your yard and watch the birds (and squirrels) go nuts over them!
 
Have Fun!!

Fun ABC Website

My friend Laney, over at 5 Little Munchkins and How They Grew found very neat (and free--you know I am all about free!) ABC website.  I love it because it has a section for the ABC's and other sections that teach reading.  There are some ABC printouts that will be fun when Jay starts to write too!  I am going to incorporate it into our weekly lessons, but if you would like to start playing with it now, here is a link to it:

http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/load.htm?f

I love that it is slightly interactive.  Jay will have to pay attention and click on certain objects to get it to keep going.  And it will reinforce our phonics, which is great!

Anywho, go check it out, and look for it in next week's lesson, 'D' is for Dinosaurs!

 

'C' is for Cow

'C' is such a fun letter!  There are so many wonderful things that start with the letter 'C'...things like cookies, chocolate, cake, and candy corn.  So 'C' may be for cow, but don't let that stop you from enjoying all the other things that begin with C!  :0)

This week we will cover:
The Letter 'C'
'C' is for Cows
The color Yellow
The number 3
Squares
Sorting

Monday:  The Letter 'C'
-color a letter 'C' coloring page
-while Jay is coloring, we will watch this, this, and this.
-glue our coloring page to a piece of yellow construction paper and hang it on the wall
- make a set of letter C memory cards (One with the letter C on it and the other with a picture of a cow on it
-sing our ABC's
-talk about the letter C and the different sounds it can make (hard C like Cake, soft C like Celery, and Ch like Chicken)
-use pipe cleaners to make a letter C
-bake letter C sugar cookies and decorate them (you can use a letter C cookie cutter, a cow cookie cutter, or even just do round cookies and use icing to write the letter C on them)
-eat our cookies with milk and talk about how the milk comes from cows

Tuesday:  'C' is for Cow
-color a cow coloring page
-while Jay is coloring we will watch this
-glue the coloring page to a piece of yellow construction paper and hang it on the wall
-Sing Old McDonald Had a Farm (with C animals: cows, chickens, coyotes, crickets, etc)
-Jay will play this cow game on the Internet
-Read My Little People Farm
-we will work Jay's farm puzzle and talk about cows.  Here are some fun cow facts.  (you can also make a cow puzzle by printing a picture of a cow, gluing the picture to a piece of cardboard or even construction paper, and then cutting it into pieces)

Wednesday:  Cattle Drive Day
-we are going to head down to our local stock yards to watch a cattle drive.  But you could go on a picnic in a rural area or at a park that is close to some cows too. 
-While we are at the stockyards, we are going to look for things that start with the letter C
-sing Hey Diddle Diddle
-Jay will "paint" this cow on the computer

Thursday:  The Number 3
-color a number 3 coloring page
-while Jay colors, we will watch this, this, and this
-glue our coloring page to a piece of yellow construction paper and hang it an the wall
-make a set of number 3 Memory cards (one with the number 3 on it and the other with three stickers on it)
-we will open a bag of M&M's and sort them into groups by color
-we will talk about how we already sort toys when we put them up (we sort them into labeled bins)
-We will read a counting book

Friday:  Squares
-we will color a square coloring page
-while Jay is coloring, we will watch this, this, and this
-glue the coloring page to a piece of yellow construction paper and hang it on the wall
-use pretzels and marshmallows to make squares (the marshmallows hold the corners together)
-Play a shape sorting game (cut triangles and squares out of construction paper, then have Jay sort them by shape)
-sing The Square Song
-do a worksheet where Jay draws lines between matching squares
-Use our construction paper squares to make a square garland for Jay's bedroom door (tie the cut out squares together with ribbon to form a string of squares to act as a garland)

Don't forget to save the pictures from the previous week to make your Alphabet, Shape, and Number Books.  :0) 

And just in case you missed them, here are A is for Airplane and B is for Bugs.  I hope you will check back next week for D is for Dinosaurs!! 

My All Time Favorite Play Dough Recipe

This recipe is THE best play dough recipe I have found.  Jay and I make it every other month or so, and we generally make two to three colors.  I like to halve the recipe and do each half a different color!  The texture of it is very similar to real play dough, so you can use it with play dough toys...but this costs much less, and I don't have to worry about what strange chemicals might be in it!  I also love that it doesn't seem to come off onto our skin or the surface we are playing on or our clothes (unless Jay eats some and then drools the color onto his clothes.)  :0)

Anywho...here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup four, plus extra for kneading
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoon cream pf tartar
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup boiling water
food coloring (20 drops for darker hued colors and about 25 for lighter hued colors)

Directions:
In one bowl mix together the flour, salt, and cream of tartar. 
Pour the water and oil into a small saucepan and bring them to a boil. 
Once the water mixture is boiling, add the food coloring and stir well. 
Then pour the water mixture over the flour mixture and stir until everything in combined and the coloring is evenly distributed.
Let the dough cool for a few minutes and then turn it out onto a floured surface.
Knead flour into the dough until it is no longer sticky and has a play dough like texture.
Store in an air tight container for up to three months.

Have fun!! 

'B' is for Bugs

I hope you all had lots of fun with our first week's lesson plan!  Here is the lesson plan for week two:

This week we will cover:
The Letter B
'B' is for Bugs
The color Brown
The number 2
Triangles
Matching and Memory Skills

Monday: The Letter 'B'
-color a letter B coloring page
-while Jay is coloring we will watch this and this and this and this and this
-glue our coloring page to a brown piece of construction paper and hang it on the wall

-make a set of letter B memory cards (one with the letter B on it and the other with a picture of a bug on it)

-sing our ABC's
-talk about the letter B and the sound it makes when we use it in words
-look through newspapers and magazines for the letter B.  Cut out the B's we find and make a letter B collage to hang on the wall in Jay's room
-use pipe cleaners to make a big B and a little b

Tuesday:  'B' is for Bugs
-color a bug coloring page
-while Jay is coloring we will watch this
-glue our coloring page to a piece of brown construction paper and hang it on the wall

-look through Jay's toys to find things that start with the letter B
-talk about the sound the letter B makes in the word bug
-Sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider
-read a book about bugs like this

Wednesday: Bug Adventure Day
-we are going to go out to a local nature preserve to hunt for friendly bugs (you could also do this in your yard)
-we will draw fun pictures of the bugs we found
-Jay will do a worksheet where he draws lines between matching bugs
-Sing The Ants Go Marching while we have a picnic lunch

Thursday:  The number 2
-color a number 2 coloring page
-while Jay colors we will watch this and this
-glue our coloring page to a piece of brown construction paper and hang it on the wall
-make a set of number 2 Memory cards (one with the number 2 on it and the other with 2 stickers on it)

-match colored pencils to crayons (match the red crayon to the red colored pencil, the green crayon to the green colored pencil etc)
-Jay will do a worksheet where he circles things in a group that are the same
-play with the set of Memory cards that we have been working on
-read a number 2 book

Friday: Triangles and the color Brown
-talk about different shades of brown
-play with brown and white paint to make different shades of brown and then use our brown paint to paint a picture
-talk about differently shaped triangles
-use safety scissors to cut out all sorts of triangles
-punch holes in our triangles and then use string to make a fun triangle necklace
-sing our ABC's while hammering on Jay's musical triangle (a coat hanger would work just as well)


Whew, there you have it.  Week 2 in a nutshell.  If you want to start thinking about next week's lesson plan, we are doing "C" is for Cow, our color is yellow, and our shape is a square.  

Zoo Day...Hooray!

The past few days we have finally had some cooler weather...well relatively cooler.  (We do live in Texas after all and 88 is a heck of a lot better than 105!!!) 

To celebrate the nice weather, we decided to go to the zoo.  My MIL got us season passes last year for Christmas, and it has been wonderful!  The first thing Jay wanted to see today were the monkeys.  This baboon was just sitting there taking in the view:

 

These little guys were enjoying the cooler weather.  They were going crazy playing and swinging around.  It was pretty cute to watch!

Ha ha and this big guy was very calmly stuffing his face--which Jay thought was awesome!

Hmmm what do you think my boys were looking at in this picture?!?!

The elephants of course!  Jay seriously LOVES elephants.  After all, he is the proud owner of Bobo, the greatest stuffed elephant in the whole entire universe! 

Here are my two handsome boys:

And here is one of me and my Little Man.  When he saw this elephant statue he ran over to it so he could sit on it.  And after the picture, he slid down the elephant's trunk like a little slide. 

We went into the new MOLA exhibit so that that Jay could see bugs (because "B" is For Bugs) but he was far more interested in the snakes and lizards.  I can thank his Uncle Blake for that one... 

Jay had a horse painted on his arm.  It is done with glitter, and is really pretty neato!  I think I would have gotten one if it wouldn't have gotten me so many strange looks from the other parents.  :0)

Here he is showing off his horse.  He named it Ollie after the horse we saw at the zoo.  Ha ha and I just love this picture because I think it really captures his personality.  :0) 

You know the really nice thing about going to to zoo!?  When we get home both of my boys take naps, and I have a nice quiet house all to myself for a little while.  It's a rare treat around here...

A Kitchen Worth Cooking In

The first time I ever saw this kitchen I wanted to run immediately to the nearest shower.  It was so gross!  Everything looked dingy and dirty and just plain worn out.  In fact my biggest hesitation when we bought this house was this kitchen.  I just wasn't sure we could make it workable...   

I guess it is a good thing that I loved the rest of the house enough to give this kitchen a chance, because after a lot of sweat and hard work, it really is a wonderful space!  And amazingly enough, this kitchen has more storage space than the bigger kitchen in our last house ever thought about having.

Anywho here it is:

We chucked all of the old appliances and replaced the faucet.  Everything that I could paint was painted.  Everything else got one heck of a good scrubbing. 

Here is my new gas stove (which I absolutely LOVE by the way):

See where our fridge is?  And how it is all tucked neatly behind the back door?  Well there used to be a closet with a water heater there...  I like the fridge there much better! 

And of course something I will always be grateful to Aunt Sarah for mentioning is the chalkboard paint on our pantry doors.  I. love. it.  I think I might paint a chalkboard for every room in our house.  It is so fun!  Jay loves it, and I can let him color while I cook so that I know right where he is....pure genius!!  And I think everyone that has come to our house has colored on it...even my dad!   

We still have to put the glass tile on top of the dishwasher that we installed (where the plywood is in the first "after" picture) and get the microwave put in above the dishwasher.  So I will get those pics up as soon as we get those things done, but I am pleased as pie with where the kitchen is right now!  Who would have ever thought!?

Living Room Renovations

Just two months ago the living and dining area of our house looked like this:

Notice the lovely hues of puke green throughout the room...oh and the chandelier that looks like a flying saucer...

We have brought this room through several decades in the past two months, and this is what it looks like today (complete with kiddo toys!) 

And of course my little man couldn't resist posing for a picture with his elephant, Bobo.  Um...also please ignore the green marker on his leg...

We definitely still have some work to do, but I am proud of what we have accomplished so far!  Keep checking back for more renovation pictures...

Have you ever wanted a trench in your backyard?

Ha ha well if you have, we have been living out your dream this week...

Jay woke up Monday morning to find this gargantuan tractor in our backyard.  It was seriously almost eight feet wide!  Talk about a little boy's dream come true!!   

Now here is where the trench part comes in.  The main drain line from our house to the city sewer system was originally made out of clay pipes (looked like Terra cot ta to me).  Well after over 50 years, the pipes were all cracked and broken, so we needed to replace about 70 feet of the clay pipes with new PVC ones.  

Here are some of the broken clay pipe pieces:

Here is the trench:

Here is the new piece that will allow us to snake the pipes out in the future when Jay flushes a football or something down the drain:

And just in case you thought it was a little trench, here is Jason standing next to it:

It is a BIG trench.  It went from three feet deep to four feet deep and was right at 70 feet long. 

Needless to say, out tile budget (and then some) is now buried in the backyard! But hey, at least we have plumbing!! :0)  I guess we'll have to tile the kitchen and play room next year...

One thing I can say is that the plumbing company we used was really exceptional.  If you live in the area and need a good plumber, let me know!