sweaty equity and some fun changes...

When people tell you that it is a lot of hard work to fix up a house they really mean it. Also, home projects seem to multiply in size exponentially before they start to get reigned in when you run out of money:) So it has been a fun and tiring job to change things a bit before we move in at the end of the month. So here has been our biggest project of late, the kitchen.
Here is a pic with Aaron and my mom. So I think this house is pretty cool but the kitchen has seriously given me some heart ache. I haven't known what to do with it, how to change it so that I like it, how to be happy with it really. But as we started getting things ready for the new counter top, things just started to come out and we went from getting a couple of new drawers to getting a couple new cabinets, to gutting the whole kitchen and ripping out the ceiling...

Here is how it started:


The first thing we did was take down the uppers over the bar. That's me with my new home improvement muscles (and smile that disappeared by like day two:)


Next we planned on replacing the drawer cabinet with another so we took it out, but some how things ended up like this


and then we realized that we could fit in an island in after all, maybe and somewhere around that time we decided that we would just get new cabinets too.
Here they are waiting to be installed,


Then as we were about to put the cabinets in we realized that raising the ceiling right now would be easier since the kitchen was totally empty (because Aaron's mom told us). Aaron's parents have helped us with all of this and they had done their ceiling before and helped us get going, but we ran into a NUMBER of obstacles that made for a crazy week but after a lot of help from friends and family I think we may be able to move forward again.

Here is a pic with the ceiling ripped out after Aaron and Rob ripped the whole thing out, which happened after Aaron's mom and I took down all the uppers in the kitchen:

Here is a pic of the new cabinets and then here is where we are right now. Aaron and his dad spent all afternoon and evening on Saturday installing our cabinets with precision and to perfection:) I was super impressed with the amazing job that they did! Go Waldrons!
Here's what the cabinets look like:

and here is how the kitchen looks now (notice the two sheets of drywall on the ceiling):

Aaron also spent the whole morning fixing all the wiring up top with a friend of ours who was so kind to come and show us how all that electrical stuff is done. Yesterday was a very productive day and gave me hope that the kitchen will some day turn out like a kitchen that I can love:) Overall we took out the bar, put another cabinet on the side of the sink, moved the dishwasher next to it and then but the drawers in the island along with another regular cabinet. Meanwhile I am trying to decide if I like the island right there...any thoughts?

Aside from home improvements lately Julian has been squeezing all of his fruits like a little muscle guy. He looks like he is working out and then the juice goes everywhere. He has also been expert at crawling up everything. I have walked into the living room a number of times to find him on top of the desk or on top of the table. The rule is that if it has been quiet for more than one minute or two, he is on top of something:) The cutest thing ever is that Julian loves people! He especially loves little kids. At our new place he had his little face pressed against the front window watching the little kids playing across the street. When I opened the door he made a bee-line across the street to meet his new neighbors and the little girl was so nice and played with him by pushing him around in of those little red kid cars. You could tell he was in seventh heaven, he was so happy!

Julian has been in this thing more than he would like but now he gets a lot more free reign in the house:)
I have been feeling pretty guilty about life in the pac and play so we went to the zoo last Wednesday(the last free day of the winter) with some friends from church and we had so much fun. Almost all the animals were out and Julian had a pretty good time watching them and the kids.