Happy Belated Easter

We're still trying to get that family photo. Ha. Happy Belated Easter! We celebrated Easter with Mike's side. I had to work Friday and Sunday night, so Mark was kind enough to host. That meant I didn't have to cook or clean, which I was delighted with!

None of us were quite feeling well, so I'm ashamed to say we didn't make it to church. The kids all have another cold. Riley ended up with a double ear infection and I ended up with a sinus infection. We're both on antibiotics, so I'm hoping we start feeling better soon.

The kids had a blast searching for eggs this year. Ethan and Mia really got into it and got so excited when they found one. They brought home an Easter egg from school on Thursday, and they were over the moon. It's the first thing they showed both Mike and me. Riley was a little scared of the eggs at first, but by the end, she was searching for them too.

We ate some ham and potatoes and the food was excellent. We also got the kayaks out and paddled out on the water. (Mark's house backs up to a pond.) I'll have to post those pictures later. It was time for me to go to work, and Mike and the kids stayed at Mark's for awhile.

Riley was afraid to touch the egg. She wouldn't pick it up.

Searching for those elusive eggs.

Ethan found the first egg!

Potty-Training

Riley is pretty much done being potty-trained. The last couple of days have really clicked for her. She will always pee when I set her on the toilet, but yesterday, she started going to the bathroom herself. She can also climb up on the toilet by herself! She'll come out and tell me, "I pee pee." She'll do her potty-dance and we do high-fives. And then I'll ask her if she wiped her butt and she'll look at me, think a few seconds and shake her head no. She'll then run back into the bathroom and try to do it. She still needs help in this area. Though, both Ethan and Mia still need help in this area!

I don't quite trust her enough to take her out and about without a diaper on. It took a good month before I took Ethan and Mia without their diapers. Riley still has a diaper on for naps and bedtime, as does Ethan. Mia has done so well without needing one for nap or bedtime. She had one accident when she had RSV and pneumonia. I blame the antibiotics because she had diarrhea.

I let Riley run around stark naked. Surprise surprise! I think that is the fastest way to potty-train a child, at least with my three. Mike is pretty much used to the nakedness now. It used to really bother him. Mia almost always has clothes on now. Ethan is naked about 70% of the time. The 30% is because he goes to preschool. He strips once he walks in the door. Ethan has started getting shy about being naked when we have guests. He will run into his room and put on clothes immediately! I tell him that so-and-so doesn't want to see his pee pee. He'll look at me and say, "Grandpa no see my pee pee." I tell him that's right, they don't want to see his pee pee. :) It is kind of embarrassing answering the door with all these naked kids though. I try to only open the door a tiny bit and use my legs to keep the kids back. I don't want people to think we're strange. :)

Conversation with Ethan

I thought I would post a conversation I had with Ethan today. He really is talking a lot now. He's getting clearer with his pronunciation of words.

I put a new tablecloth on my table today. It is black with white emblems all over it. It's really cute.

Ethan comes into the kitchen:
Ethan: "I don't like this. Take it off."
Me: (Laughing) "I don't care if you don't like it. I'm not taking it off."
Ethan: "I don't like it. I'm going to take it off."
Me: "I don't care if you don't like it. Don't take it off."
Ethan: "I don't like it." (He starts to pull it off the table.)
Me: "Don't you dare take it off. Leave it on."

He gives me a dirty look and leaves the room.

School Pictures

The kids had their school pictures done a few weeks ago. I thought they were too funny not to share. The pictures were done a day before they started coming down with RSV. They were both kind of sick at the time. I tried picking out cute outfits for them, but they wanted nothing to do with the clothes I picked out. They have to pick out everything themselves. I'm just glad they matched!

The question is now, how much do I want to spend on pictures. They're pretty expensive, if you ask me. An 8X10 is $13. A picture package is $40 and they go on up. I honestly don't think they're the best pictures of them, but I want to get some because it's their first class picture.

Mia looks a little confused. She doesn't quite know what to do with her hands.

Mike looked at Ethan's picture and said he looked high. Ethan overheard him and said, "I no high, Daddy." Mike and I burst out laughing. Mike has said a few things that little ears shouldn't hear and Ethan has repeated them. Like, for example, Ethan accidentally kicked Mike in the most sensitive spot of his body. Mike fell to the ground and said, "he kicked me in the nuts." Ethan started laughing and said, "I kicked your nuts." He said this over and over and over. And now he'll sporadically say, "I kicked your nuts." Awesome.

Don't you love the expression on his face?

Pizza Time

The kids love helping me cook. They always have to take turns stirring or pouring stuff in. I bought some stuff to make pizzas and I knew that they would have a blast helping. Mike used to work at a pizza place in college, so I put him in charge! :) He objected heavily to this. You will do as you are told. Ha.

Riley had to snack on some of the hamburger. I bought turkey pepperoni, which were actually really good. The kids ate half of them before we even started! Mike even agreed that they tasted good, although they had a little bit of a weird texture.

Imagine that. The girls are fighting. They each wanted to be in control of the pizza!

Riley's 2 Year Check-Up

Riley had her two-year check-up a couple of days ago. It went really well. I had no issues or concerns to bring up, so it was rather a quick appointment. She didn't need any vaccines either! I love these quick appointments.

Riley weighed 26 pounds 5 ounces. She gained a couple of pounds since her 18 month appointment but is still staying in the 50th percentile for weight. I've had several people tell me how chubby Riley looks. Mia has always been so skinny. Both Mia and Riley weigh the same and wear the same size of clothes. There's nothing cuter to me than a chubby baby, but I don't want her to remain chubby when she enters school. Besides it being hard on your health, I don't want her to get made fun of. I asked the doctor about how chubby she looks. He said that she's rather short so that's why she looks so chubby. He said that once she starts growing some more, she'll get leaner.

She is 32 3/4 inches tall. She grew 3 inches since her 18 month appointment. The doctor was impressed with how much she grew. She is in the 20th percentile for height. If you double her height, this means she should be 5 feet 5 inches tall. She'll beat Mia at 5 feet 2 inches! Ethan should be 5 feet 10 inches.

They didn't do her head circumference for some reason, but I'm guessing it's still huge. She's been in the 90th percentile since 6 months of age! Her weight for length ratio puts her in the 75th percentile. She has actually slimmed down since her 18 month visit. She was in the 90th percentile then. So my short chubby baby is slowly slimming down!

Finally Done

This beast of a project is officially done. I applied the last two coats of sealant on Tuesday. It. Was. A. Lot. Of. Work. If I had known how much work it was going to be, I don't think I would have done it. It could have something to do with me not knowing what the heck I was doing. I did do a lot of research on the process of antiquing and even watched some youtube videos. Everyone said how easy it was going to be. Yeah right!

I started with using TSP and cleaning the heck out of the cupboards. I seriously had to chisel yogurt and dried oatmeal off of them. My cupboards had never looked so clean. I really like that stuff! I started with the two hutches and island. My inspiration came from Paula Deen's kitchen on tv. I love her kitchen. She has some hutches that are green and then her main cabinets are an antiqued cream. I did two coats of the green, which I really liked. Then came the antiquing. First off, I mixed my glaze too dark, but I didn't know. You don't know what you don't know. It came out really streaky. And I didn't like it at all. So I started over. I diluted the glaze but it was still a little dark. It still turned out a little streaky, but I didn't want to start over again. I like them now even though they are a little streaky.

I kept the base color the same on my main cabinets, which saved me a lot of work. I just touched them up with the base color, let them dry, and then started antiquing. I had the same streaking problem with these, even though I lightened up the glaze. I redid these three times. After the second time, Mike came and looked at them and said, "it looks like the kids threw mud on the cabinets and you wiped it off." And that's when I started the third time. To fix my muddy looking cabinets, I took the base color and really toned them done. I then put yet another glaze over top, but this time, it was very light. I like how they turned out. Finally!

I bought some oil-rubbed bronze bin pulls, knobs, and latches. They were a pain to put on because I had to drill new holes. I did almost all of them myself. Mike and his dad helped with the last of the bin pulls. I'm so glad it's done! I'd say I spent around $400 for paint, hinges, knobs, pulls, and latches. If I were to give anyone advice it would be to start with a really light glaze. You can always darken it or add more, but it's really hard to lighten it if you've gotten it too dark. Also, start with a small table and get the hang of it first before you dive into an entire kitchen! :)

THE BEFORES:

This is when the previous owners still lived here. Wow! It was so clean. It's amazing what three little kids can do to a place!

The cabinets weren't bad at all. I just wanted to change them up.

This lady was obsessed with gold. There were gold hinges, gold on the knobs, and gold accent paint on all of the cabinets. I'm not a huge gold person. You should have seen the downstairs of the house! Those pictures are yet to come!

THE AFTERS:

Still a little streaky. I love my dishwasher. If you are ever looking for one, go with a Bosch! The previous owners put those decals on the cabinets. She had them accented with gold metallic paint. I could not stand the color. I like them a little better now that they don't stand out so much. See? The paint doesn't go with the cabinets very well. I think it was sponge-painted.

I was going to try and save the hinges because they were very nice. I bought some oil-rubbed bronze spray paint, but it turned out to be too much work.

I still need to get a new faucet and kitchen sink. I would also like to do something with my kitchen counters. I would like them darker, and now the paint doesn't go with the rest of the kitchen. I would also like to change the tile backsplash. Mike said I opened up a can of worms! And perhaps I did!