THE PLAY KITCHEN-A story of blood, sweat and tears

We've had a plastic play kitchen for the kids since Ty was 3 years old. And I was fine with it, until I started seeing all of these adorable play kitchens people had made from an old entertainment center. So with Eliza's birthday coming I got to work.

I found this beast on freecycle.org (for free of course) and the guy even delivered it to us!

 In January w/ the crazy warm weather we got to work on it. We cut the top off and shortened the height, added wainescot to the back and cut a hole for the "sink."

 After working hard you just need a Wendy's burger.

 Here she is-all sanded and ready to be primed and painted!

 And what better place than the livingroom? We tried to take it to the basement, but it was too big and we literally almost killed ourselves. I had several holes to patch on the stairway. Oh, well...

 The "tile" top. I used automotive pin striping to tape it off and it worked perfectly! Notice the cute little fridge? Stainless steel appliances of course!

 Also on freecycle.org were all the burners, sink and fridge parts. Someone had gotten replacement parts and didn't need all of them for their kitchen so I got them for freesies! Awesome!

 Addition of the oven door. I cut a hole w/ my brand new jig-saw and added plexi-glass.

 And she's done! This is super easy to make if you have 1 1/2 months, lots of tools and patience! Ha!

 The picture in the "window" is one my great-aunt Martha painted for my Grandma Adeline when she was a school teacher. There are several more of them that make up a little story. We figure it's about 75 years old. And the faucet was a cheapy from Home Depot.

 the entertainment center was lighted, so I kept it. The kids think it's quite fancy. This original painting was done by Ty and Eliza. The frame was from the thrift store.

 Inside the oven. I added the rope so the kids can't stand on the door and break it.

 Inside our fridge. So roomy. :)

 And here the kids are on Eliza's birthday morning. They love it! And they'd better long after the cuts on my hands heal!

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day this year I got the idea from a friend to order from Omaha Steaks. We got a great deal, and didn't have to fight the crowds for dinner that night. Plus w/ Phil's work I never know when he'll be home-so staying in made more sense. And as a bonus it came in dry ice. We all spent the evening playing w/ it. We filled the styrofoam container w/ hot water and dish soap and it created huge bubbles that seemed to grow way too fast and looked like a huge brain. When we popped them the "smoke" would come out. It was great!

 Chasey had fun filling up a cup w/ the bubbles and blowing. What a goof.

Weekends around here

You know your leaves are bad when the missionaries call you in JANUARY and say they are looking to do service and noticed the last time they were here we had alot of leaves. Our yard literally kills us in the fall and we fell behind. So these 2 gems came and worked w/ Phil for HOURS and I think by the end had bagged 35 bags. They are AWESOME!!!

 We've been to Washington's Crossing several times to picnic, but never to the Visitor's Center and to check out all of the history. The boys, especially Ty, are really into the Revolutionary War so they loved it.

This is the type of Ferry that George Washington and his army used to cross the Delaware River on Christmas night and get ahead of the British Army. They took all of the local boats so that the British Army couldn't cross. That across the river is Pennsylvania.

 This is the kids pretending to shoot their guns. It's amazing that this thing would float! They made them this way, the sides folding down, so horses could get on and off the ferry.

 We then walked up to the Ferry House where George Washington is thought to have planned their next steps. Pretty interesting. I love all of the history here!

Warm weather in January

We have had unseasonably warm weather here in the Northeast-and I'm not complaining! This was a day late in January. We spent it outside w/ no coats or jackets! Insanity! The kids played and I started work on the new play kitchen. It was great!

I think Eliza is running for her life from Chase. This happens daily. 

 A happy, but mischevious grin. Also happens daily.

 I also worked on the sweet table and chair set that was Phil's mom's as a kid. It's now orange and pretty darned cute. Eliza does her "homework" at it.

Go BYU!!

I ordered BYU hooded sweatshirts for the whole family. Why? Well, it was pricey up front, but I figure if I can brainwash the kids into going there then it saves me tons of money in the end. You just can't beat the price for the great education there. So from now on it's-GO BYU!!

Our Humble Son

I always feel dorky doing a facebook post and then blogging the same thing, but this funny is enough it had to go into our blog/journal.

Last night on the way home from scouts Phil asked Tyler if there was any problem w/ bullying in his class. (Chase is having a problem w/ a kid bullying him. more on that in a sec.) So Tyler in his confident almost too confident voice says, "Only if bullying is making all of the girls in the class laugh." He kills me. Also tonight he asked if it's okay to have a crush on a girl that's twice his age. Don't know any 16 yr old girls but the ones in our church so I'll have to keep an eye on that!!! :)

Now to Chase. This kid Tyler in his class has been messing with him for too long. Like pushing and punching my son! Like he cries to go to school b/c he doesn't want this kid bugging him. So today I'd had it. I told him if he comes near him again to push him as hard as he can and tell him to stop. And if he came at him again he could punch him in the stomach. Sometimes your son just has to defend himself and show the bully that he's a force to be reckoned with. B/c honestly Chase is! I have no clue why it's gone on this long. Chase can practically kick my heiny when we wrestle! So today he did it. And he said the kid just stared at him in disbelief. We'll see if I get a call from a parent, but for now I'm satisfied. I think that if you teach a bully in kindergarten that he can push you around, he'll do forever. I'm sure most will disagree-but tonight Chase went to sleep with a huge grin on his face. Seriously.