Hair Update

Rachel has been wanting to cut her hair, so we did it today.  Looks cute.  The front is a little longer than we may have wanted, but it gives her length to tuck it behind her ear.

A model is born

I had promised Rachel that I would take her to get her portraits done. But, since I got my new camera for Christmas and I saw Alice and Madeleine's photo shoot, I decided to try one ourselves.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, so we took full advantage.  We had a good time.  I think Rachel really enjoyed it.  She wore a skirt with her first outfit, so she was limited in the posing.  I really preferred that shirt, but, unfortunately, the shoot went better with the second outfit - partly because she got more comfortable and partly because the light was better.  

Our neighbors have a beautiful birch tree that we used.  I really liked it as a backdrop.  This was my favorite headshot picture of the bunch, but I really liked some of the kookier poses that we were trying.  

At the end, I had her just model a little.  I told her to express different emotions and then to just have fun with it.  I loved both of the these pictures because she was pursing her lips (which I wish weren't so chapped) and looking off to the side.  I hope I haven't created a monster!

Stay posted:  new style coming tomorrow!

Zack's battle

Zack finally lost his first tooth, but it did not want to come out.  It has been loose since before Thanksgiving, and we were all working on it for a few days.  In this first picture, you can see the new tooth just growing in behind it.  

I was wiggling it like crazy, but I could not get it all the way out.  I could just get it to stick straight out like in the picture below.  The tooth fairy always brings the kids a new movie for their first tooth, so all of the kids were working together to get it out, so they could have a movie night.  In the end, though, Mommy was the winner!

The new smile!

While talking to the drywall guy, I turned around to find Matthew standing in the hole left by the drain pipe for the tub.  He was just standing on the drywall of the ceiling of the family room.  I quickly got him out of there and thanked God that he is only 45ish pounds and didn't jump down into the hole.  

And, while I will often run to grab the camera to remember a funny situation, I didn't risk it.  But, I put together a VERY rough image of what it looked like just so I can remember it.  Scary!  So, needless to say, he's been banned from the bathroom.  

In a side note, notice the new 3/4" pipes sticking up out of the floor.  The plumber was here to upgrade the pipes to accommodate all the water we're hoping to use in our new shower.  Now, if only we have enough hot water in the hot water heater!

Snow football

My niece, Madeleine, is here for the weekend.  She and Dave were lamenting that she wasn't here over Christmas for the good football game then.  So, they wanted to get out there and play this weekend.  Despite the snow on the ground, we headed to the middle school to play a family game.  Luckily, I got to remain on my feet as the game photo and videographer.  Here are some of the highlights.

I'm pretty sure this is pass interference, but we'll allow it because of the size mismatch.

Looks like he got his revenge!

Madeleine went all out.  She ended up on the ground a lot!

 I was also playing with my new camera to try to get some shots of the kids.

Of course, a big snowball fight broke out.  

Zack received a snow earplug.  He was none too happy.

The gang of kids.  Aren't they cute!

Down to the subfloor...

Well, the last two days have been grueling work, but we've accomplished everything we wanted to. Removing the vanities proved more difficult than expected.

I removed the shut-off valves and cut the drain pipe. But, on the left vanity cabinet, they have the water coming in through the floor and the drain pipe out the back. I didn't want to cut either one of them too short and cause a problem for the plumber. But, I did need to pick one to cut (or cut the cabinet) or that cabinet was not coming out. I cut the drain pipe and hopefully, it will not be problem for the plumber.

Rachel and I installed new shut-off valves for each of the sinks. She enjoyed being able to do that. And, at the end of yesterday, everything was off the floor. It's a nice feeling.

Today started with a tougher task - removing the linoleum. That is always a pain, and today was no different. It was back straining work for me to pull up those sheets of wood with linoleum on them. But, after a couple hours, I had it all up. Luckily, I convinced Rachel that pulling up all the staples, like hundreds of them, would be fun. She was enjoying that long after her bedtime. I was reluctant to make her quit. Fewer for me in the morning sounds wonderful!

But, as you can see the bathroom is quite empty. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for our bedroom! (Note: the vanity cabinets have now been moved to the front porch for pickup, but still....)

Day 3

Church and football put a dent in the time I had available today. But, I needed to make good use of having Dave to help. So, we took down the big mirror. We're hoping to repurpose it by cutting it into two smaller mirrors and building frames around them. Of course, when we pulled the mirror off the wall, we found a chunk of drywall missing with exposed pipes. Not really sure what that was for and not really looking forward to yet another drywall patch to do.

Then, we began to tackle the vanity. I'm pretty sure every plumber that I have ever had here has been on the stereotypically large size. Every time I do plumbing work, though, I wonder how they manage. Fitting inside the small door of the vanity on my back reaching up between pipes and the sink to get to the tiny nuts holding on the faucet is quite a challenge. How a fat person does it is really baffling to me.

We had hoped to donate the vanity cabinets and the top to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore, but Dave and I had a very difficult time getting the top off. The glue was holding tight and the double vanity top was pretty heavy. In the end, we decided that we would need to call in reinforcements, so we smashed it. Unfortunately, Dave tackled that when I wasn't up there with camera in hand. It made quite a loud crash from where I was a floor below.

It would be so nice if I could just pull out the cabinets and put them outside to be picked up. But, no, I'm going to need to disconnect the water so I can remove the shut-off valves, move the vanities and them reinstall the shut-off valves. It all seems so simple in theory, but each step takes longer than expected. But, I should be able to get that done tomorrow and probably get the toilet out as well.

So, I'm hoping that tomorrow we will have an empty bathroom. Fingers crossed - don't hold me to it, though, because I've also got to volunteer in class, get the kids from school, help with homework, cook dinner, etc. Hopefully, I can talk one of the kids into helping me with the plumbing tomorrow. I like teaching the skills that I've learned so that one day, my kids will feel comfortable to tackle these projects themselves if they so desire.