Lights, Camera, Kitchen!

We are nearing our move date, that's plain to see, cuz our house has been a hub of activity. The lights are installed, most of the trim is on, the flooring is in and the cabinets are on. The mudroom is finished, the kids love their lockers, they've chosen their spots, they're so excited they're bonkers! Now I'll stop this corny rhyme, not sure what got into me. Here are the pictures so the work results you can see.

Here is the unfinished kitchen. The countertops along the wall still need to be secured, glass doors need to be installed and there will be open shelving beside the window. The appliances arrive Wednesday.



The desk area still needs a shelf installed under the upper cabinets. The hardware also needs to be installed on all the fronts except the island.

The living room lights. Have I mentioned I'm looking forward to having the scaffolding out of the living room?

The lockers in the mudroom. You can see a sweater in one of them already! The kids climb into their chosen ones first and then dump their sweaters or jackets in it. We need hooks for them, at least, I'm hoping the hooks will encourage the kids to hang up their stuff!

The railing on the veranda was installed this week too. This now completes the work on the outside of the house, except for the stonework that will happen next spring.

The kitchen should be finished by Monday or Tuesday. Sinks, toilets and faucets are being installed this week and hopefully our interior doors will be ready too. There is also a bunch of "small stuff" that has to happen in the next couple of weeks (closets, towel bars, etc). When I think of the to-do list it feels quite long still but I'm told most of it will happen quickly.

It's been suggested that a Pampered Chef party would be a great way to break in the kitchen, I might have to look into that!!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Last weekend we went to the local Pumpkin Patch with 2 other families and an adopted "Aunt" & "Uncle" for all of our kids. The kids had a blast! There was a train ride, wagon ride, pumpkin sling shot, corn gun, zip line, duck race, petting zoo, tricycle races, haunted house, corn trail, as well as bales to run around on and a pretend cow to milk. I could be missing some activities. Who wouldn't love this place?!

Little poser!

Going down the zip line! (Bethy's waiting for her turn in the background)

Let the duck race begin!

Pumpkin sling shot.

They shot little pumpkins into a target. This one was shot by Larissa (with a little help from Dad), it bounced and hit the bullseye. She got to take two extra shots and a whole lotta pride!

How many girls does it take to milk a cow?

We ended the day with a bbq supper and a play at the local school playground. It was a fantastic day, one that needs to be repeated next year!

Living in Colour!

Well, one thing you can't say about our house is that it's in the modern, monochromatic scheme of things! The painting was finished last week and it looks fantastic! Our painter, Jeannie, kept commenting on how interesting our house was without paint and now it was even more interesting. Not "interesting" but truly, genuinely interesting. Someone had walked through our house last week and Jeannie asked him what he thought of the colour and he said that it wouldn't be something he would choose. She looked at him and said, "That's okay, you're not the one living here!" She herself was trying to figure out where she could paint some of the colours in her own house. Ron's still trying to get used to some of the colours so I keep telling him that once cabinets are on and furniture is in it won't be nearly as overwhelming as looking at just the walls with nothing but colour on them. I'm making it sound like it's maybe something we shouldn't have done but that's not how I feel at all, I love it! Here are the pictures!

This is the view from the kitchen, into the great room and the hallway in the background. I think from anywhere in the house you can see at least 3 colours at one time. I'm not sure how well the colours show on the screen but you are seeing yellow, green and brown. Sorry, I don't know the "colour names" for each one! I can hardly wait to replace that scaffolding with furniture.

This is the dining area. The bay window is a darker colour from the rest of the walls, it's not an optical illusion! The kitchen island is a barn board painted the same colour as the bay window area.

This is our master bedroom. Unfortunately natural north lighting doesn't make for great pictures so everything looks a little off. Three of the walls are a dark grey colour and yes, that is orange you see on the wall! 

I don't remember if I've posted a picture of the girls room all painted so I'll post one. Again, the natural light and my camera do not work together very well.

The basement is also coming along quite nicely. We decided to put up all the walls down there and finish the bathroom. We won't mud/tape/paint except for the bathroom and flooring will not go down right away either. We have scraps of carpet that have been kindly donated for the time being and with the floor being heated it shouldn't be too uncomfortable down there. Here's a look at one side of the basement. The laundry/storage room is on the left, the main area is where Nathan and his friends can shoot the hockey puck around and wrestle till they cry! The tv will be well protected on the other side of the stairs where there is a wall blocking the action!

Now is the start of the finishing! The floors are going in this week, the carpet and vinyl are in and the planking is well on it's way. The trim, doors, beams, steps from the garage, lighting, finishing electrical, furnace, hrv, central vac, and plumbing fixtures (I'm sure I've forgotten something) are all going in in the next two and a half weeks. The cabinets come next week! The end is in sight! We are hoping to move in a couple of weeks, it's so hard to believe it's here already. I'm in packing panic mode but I don't really have much to pack right now. I've already packed up the things that we don't use often or can do without for a few weeks (games, photo albums, etc) so I'm at a standstill for right now but I have panicky moments that I should be doing more. I'm also trying to paint a dresser for the girls' room but I'm finding it hard to make time for that. It really won't take long but little things are seeming to add up these days! Anyone want to come help me clean.... ;)

Hub of Activity

Well, hello!! I've heard from a few of you that this post is long overdue so here it is. The drywallers officially finished yesterday. Whew! They probably hope they never have to come back. Yesterday was just "touch up" day and the painter started on Tuesday already. Tuesday was a C-R-A-Z-Y day. The drywaller, painter, electrician, floor installers, plumbers and carpenters were all at the house at the same time! So that means the drywalling is finished, soffit and fascia are done, proboard installed, the basement is well on its way with electricity, plumbing, duct work, vacuum lines and other things that I'm sure I'm missing. The garage doors have also been installed. The kids were having a great time watching the doors go up and down, it's something new for them, they were especially impressed with the sensor that will automatically make the doors go up if something crosses the line while they're on their way down. Here are some pictures of the progress!

The house with the garage doors



Part of the work that's been done in the basement

When we walked into the house this evening we did not expect Jeannie, our painter, to still be there and we definitely did not expect to see colour on some of the walls. The girls were thrilled to see purple on their wall! They thought it was the most beautiful colour ever and can hardly wait to see what it will look like with the pink around the windows. Josiah built the window seat today and the girls already have ideas as to what kind of cushions and pillows should go on it and which toys should go on the shelves.

Jeannie had been working in Nathan's room and was just going to start his feature wall so he asked if he could watch her. Jeannie was very patient, she explained everything she was doing and the kids were mesmerized. She must have explained everything quite well because Bethany didn't even ask too many questions!

She then thrilled the kids even more by asking them if they wanted to help paint the wall. The girls were gracious enough to let Nathan be the first one to paint the wall in his room.

The finished product of the first coat!

I have a feeling I'm going to be telling Bethany "no" a lot tomorrow. She was so excited to have painted part of Nathan's wall, and she loves Jeannie, that I'm sure she's going to be begging to go back to the house to "help"!

School, Sibling Teamwork and Snakes

WARNING - PICTURES OF SNAKES AT THE VERY END OF THIS POST!!! Another warning precedes the paragraph that precedes the pictures. I know there are some of you who would prefer not to see the pictures, so I've posted the fun stuff first!!

Today was the first day of school! Nathan was looking forward to meeting his new Grade 4 teacher (she's been on maternity leave for the last 2 years) and Larissa was thrilled to start Grade 1 with a teacher she was already familiar with. I, however, was rather relaxed this morning (for real) that I completely forgot to take pictures of the kids on their first day of school! Mom of the year I am not! So I grabbed the camera and took the chaotic just-off-the-bus pictures. No one was wanting to pose for pictures and everyone wanted to get home to tell me about their day. So....here are the crazy pics I got this afternoon.

Here's proof of how relaxed we were this morning, Nathan's playing Blokus on my iPod after breakfast. We are so relaxed in the morning that our brains don't quite function properly. I remember to take pictures of the uber-relaxed moments but completely forget the important ones, like the first day of school! 

Rushing off the bus

The mad bike scramble as the bus drives away!

After supper the kids and I hopped on the quads and went to the house. When we were finished there we decided to go for a little ride. When we pulled back onto the yard the chain fell off from the quad Nathan was driving. I don't know how to fix it, I'm sure it's simple, but I didn't want to give myself a crash course in quad maintenance! Thankfully the quad is small so I was expecting an easy push to the shed. Turns out, I didn't have to do anything! The kids worked together and pushed the quad from the northeast corner of the yard all the way into the shop, I didn't even open the shop doors, Nathan did that himself! I realized right there how big, mature, helpful and loving my kids are. The girls were more than willing to help. Larissa automatically got behind the quad to push and all Nathan had to say was "Bethany, I've got a job for you" and she was a very willing participant. It helped that her job was to steer the quad that she's not allowed to drive! (Yes, Mom, the quad was turned off!)

I don't think the older two trusted the steering of the youngest one so she had to get off and push so Nathan could steer from the side while still pushing. Amazingly enough, there were no complaints from Bethany when she was asked to push.

For those who may get the creepy crawlies I'm going to post a WARNING - PICTURES OF SNAKES TO FOLLOW THIS PARAGRAPH!!!! Ron's sister and family were out for most of last week so we headed on down to Reptile Gardens. Ron & Nathan did not join us, they had to "farm". They both have a huge fear of snakes that even though the snakes are behind glass that's still not enough to protect them. I'm not mocking them, I definitely do not want one as a pet and I am more than happy that my kids are not willing to pick up the garters we have around here. I find snakes amazing though and I am willing to expose my girls to something out of my comfort zone, like an up close and personal encounter with an albino boa constrictor that was about 20 ft long and weighed 70 lbs!

Pictures start now!!

The girls were a little leary to touch the snake but it didn't take long for them to warm up to her!

Apparently she had just shed her skin so she was looking "beautiful".

Our 11 month old niece LOVED the snake! I think if she could have taken it home with her and cuddled with it in her crib she would have!

It's Official...

We have the "roughest" house to mud and tape. Yay! (note sarcasm) The kids and I were at the house this evening and were surprised to still find one of the guys there mudding and taping. I asked how difficult our house was to do and he said it was the roughest house they'd ever done. There are so many angles and they are not impressed with the dormer windows (it is a very tight area, I'll let them not like us for those!) that it's taking them much longer than anticipated. Apparently the dormers each took 10 hours to drywall, I can only imagine how much fun they are to mud and tape! The crew has been busy at another job in Minnedosa (which I didn't know about) so there has been only one guy at our place for the last 2 weeks mudding and taping. That explains why everything is taking so long! He said that he finally finished the first coat of everything today and tomorrow there should be at least two guys working on our house for the duration of the project. I asked if he could tell me how much longer it would take and he would not give me an answer. Great. So we'll continue to wait.

The siding is coming along nicely. It looks so much better than I thought it would! It's so nice to see that a colour that was chosen worked out, especially something a little more on the permanent side. Here is a picture. The plywood is where the stone work will go.

The furnace and hot water heater were installed today so we'll have heat for those cold winter nights! I'm not sure there will be much to update on in the next week and a bit while the mudding is going on...

Acres of Hope

Acres of Hope is our local Canadian Foodgrains Bank growing project. Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) is a federally incorporated, nonprofit corporation registered as a charitable agency. Since 1983, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank membership has provided over 1.1 million tonnes of food assistance to people who are hungry in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Eastern Europe. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) provides an annual 4:1 matching contribution to a maximum of $25 million. There are over 200 growing projects in Canada and each growing project has a group of between 10 - 100 volunteers as well as a number of local businesses. Our own community growing project involves a group of people made up of farmers, churches and local businesses who meet together to farm a local 200 acre field. Once harvested, the money from the sale of the grain is donated to CFGB for use in food aid and development projects. (CFGB information was taken from their website http://www.foodgrainsbank.ca/)

This year the field for our project was so wet that for the first time in the project's 14 year history the field went unseeded. The project does qualify for the unseeded acres compensation program so there will still be a donation forwarded to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank but our kids and nephews and niece decided to do something more. For the last couple of summers the kids have been selling produce from our gardens on our farmyard to raise funds for Acres of Hope. This usually results in us and our hired men buying the produce considering no signs are up for advertising and we don't get much traffic on and off our yard! This year, though, Ron's mom decided it would be a great project with the grandkids to grow corn to sell in town to raise money for Acres of Hope. The corn idea grew a bit to include baking by the kids, Grandma, as well as a few donations by some women in the community. Yesterday was harvest day and it took the kids and Grandma, with the help of my sister-in-law and me, less than an hour to pick the five rows of corn that had been designated for Acres of Hope. We arrived at the Credit Union parking lot, set up and started selling at 9:30. By 10:15 all the baking was sold and there were a few dozen cobs of corn left. When the sale ended at 11:30 there were 1 - 2 dozen cobs left, which we gave to a local community group. We have been overwhelmed by the support from our community and raised over $600 just in sales and another $1200 in donations above product sales!!

Grandma and the grandkids before the harvest

Showing off one of the many crates full of corn

Pouring the fudge into the pan. Nathan and Larissa made three desserts all by themselves!

The kids are thrilled with the results from their efforts and are looking forward to doing it all again next year, with a few plans to make it bigger!