La la la la, Party Time!

Someone is having a party.

The theme might have been influenced by her fabulous trip to Sesame Place Labour Day Weekend.

Originally, I was planning to play upon her obsession with babies and throw her a "baby shower" so everyone could get her accessories to go with her growing collection of "babies," but once she showed such a keen interest in Elmo, I figured that would be WAY more fun for tots to attend.

(Seriously, who wants to sit in a circle and watch someone open up gift after gift for their baby?)

My Sweet Angels . . . Well, Usually

Before these portraits become outdated, here are a few "recent" shots of my little sweethearts.

Avery, my little model. I tried to bring her on a shoot with me and as I was setting up another family for their portrait, she popped in. Every time. She really believes that she belongs infront of cameras.

Jackson, doesn't he just look so sweet in this portrait? Usually he gives me a crazy smile or looks like a bit of a tazmanian devil in photos, but I was able to capture the "nice" boy Jackson this time. I may have to hold on to this one for a while because I might not get it again!

Jayden was a little less than thrilled at the thought of having to pose for pictures when there were so many big, grassy hills to run up and down. (We took the photos at the Ski Club.)

Look Ma, No Scaffolding!

I thought about at least incorporating the kids into these pictures of the house, you know, to show that we do actually care about more than just the house, like even our growing children.

But, then I figured 1) I had a few posts before this one to prove that I do still think of my children, 2) I was worried about security getting on my case for driving around, let alone letting some young kids go running on a construction site while there were still workers around, and 3) I have some beautiful portraits that I plan to post tomorrow of my dear sweet children . . . with stories about them too.

So, in the meantime, enjoy a few shots of our house . . . sans scaffolding. The colours are somewhat true. The brick is really very unusual in colour, but in an interesting, cool way.

Here's the side that we don't like very much. We think the change from stone to brick is a bit abrupt. Hopefully the builder will put an eaves trough to separate the two. If not, maybe we can find a tall, thin tree to help block it. Once we have neighbours, it won't be so noticable I'm sure.

The front. We will have to talk to the site manager about where he is planning to put the exterior lights. I think it would be such a shame to put them over the centre stones above each garage. Any suggestions?

The other side. I wish the side door were on this side . . . I'd rather look at all brick than walk past the stone/brick line every day.

I would have gotten the back too, but it was pretty mucky and I was a little worried about security. I'll have to leave it to Brad on his next visit.

The Secrets of Sleep

We obviously do not know them.

Never have.

And it doesn't seem like we ever will.

While Jackson usually konks out as soon as his head hits the pillow at about 7:30 pm, others have more irradict schedules.

Avery has been having trouble for a while now 1) remembering that it's her bed that is for sleeping NOT the floor by the door, 2) remembering that screaming at her door at 3 am to get someone's attention is not appreciated by anyone else in the house, and 2) escaping when the door is opened (the photo above was taken during an almost successful evacuation . . . if only she hadn't fallen asleep three steps away from her room).

Jayden, however, has decided that he no longer likes sleep. He will stay awake until 10 pm every night . . . either running laps in his room, doing crafts, or sneaking into my room to watch TV until we discover him.

Of course all this late night partying makes him a little drousy in the morning . . . but so far he has managed to get off to school okay.

It just leaves an already tired and exhausted mother, well, more tired and exhausted. Especially since I was used to having them all in bed by 7-7:30 pm. What am I going to do when a newborn enters the picture??

Trikes, Stilts, and Sand

Jackson started kindergarten this year.

He was so excited to finally be able to go to the big school that Jayden has been attending for the last two years.

His only dissapointment? That he only gets to go for half a day and Jayden stays all day long.

The first day was great. They were welcomed with a "lemonade party" to get to know the classroom and teacher. Since his teacher was the same as Jayden's, we were pretty familiar with her . . . and had plenty of time to prep her for the fact that Jackson is the polar opposite of Jayden.

Of course he was sent off to school with his new light up shoes and a transformer shirt. (Clearly he would be the coolest kid in Kindergarten.)

The second day was spent in an assembly. But the days that followed turned out to be really fun. Jackson really enjoys outdoor play using the trikes and the stilts (little sand pails turned upside down with a string running through them). He also enjoys learning the national anthem (seriously, he does) and playing with the sand table.

Potty Queen

Once upon a time, a little princess was equipped with the latest editions of the top toddler magazines, plenty of Dora panties, and Huggies pull-ups, and (of course) the perfect pink throne to uh, well, you know.

Avery did a fantastic job and caught on pretty easily back in late June/early July. Unfortunately, a trip up to the cottage for a week made staying on top of urges a little tricky . . . so things were postponed for a while.

And upon return, a few weeks of watery number two's made it NO FUN for mom, so we put things on hold . . . again.

With how crazy the summer has been, things have finally started to resume again.

I'm proud to say that she has been doing a great job. She is just about perfect on number one's . . . now for those tricky number two's . . .

The secret? You may think it was the self-help articles in BQ (Babies Quarterly) and Rolling Stroller . . . but no, it was actually getting Diego pull-ups.

Yes, there's no Dora for this girl, it's all about Diego. And Diego has to be put on every day . . . and must remain dry or life is over.

Excuse me!

It's coming!

(I think that is actually her smiling more than exerting herself. ;) )

Hopefully she'll be fully trained in another week. (We haven't really been locking ourselves in our house for "potty week" so it might take a little longer than usual.)

Exterior Colour

Eventually I will get around to posting about something OTHER than the house. (Like birthday parties . . . from JUNE, or our summer and vacation . . . before I forget.)

In the mean time, I wanted to post a few photos of the exterior. Bricking is either just about done or (more probably) finished.

Here's an idea of what it looks like.

Privacy . . . Please!

Sorry for those of you trying to access our blog lately. We tried doing some privacy settings, but it seems like it is more of a burden than a good thing.

So scary stalkers or crazy enemies of ours: just please stop reading our site. (If you even exist at all.)

To everyone else, enjoy our blog again! Sorry!

First

The first day.

The first grade.

With a few butterflies in his stomach about whether he will be at the top of his class, (especially in a 1/2 split), and maybe more than a little tired after our late return from our vacation, Jayden set off to conquer First Grade.

We armed him with a couple of reading sessions with mom, a brand new Transformers shirt, and (hideous) but oh-so-cool-and-coveted Sketchers Hot Lights, Police Series. Oh, and hand santizer and a love note from mom in his lunch box.

(Okay, these are the Race Car Series . . . Jackson's. If I hadn't been so tired and late this morning maybe I might have remembered to take the first day of school photos before school . . . and caught a photo of his shoes before he left them for indoor shoes.)

The First Grader in living colour.

Favourite parts of the day:

1. Recess. Three of them.

2. Snack time. Two of them.

3. Colouring in class. (They were asked to draw a picture of something they did this summer so naturally he drew a picture of transformers fighting. Ironically, this is actually what he and Jackson did this summer. Every day. One was Optimus Prime, the other was Bumblebee. And trust me, they faught ALL SUMMER LONG.)

4. His teacher. (Except when she made him dance with the entire class.)

As for myself, it was weird not having him around ALL day long. But, I really enjoyed not having to turn around and go back for him 2.5 hrs after drop off. (That will start on Thursday when I drop the boys off at 9 am, go back for Jackson at 11:40 am, and then for Jayden at 3:40 pm.)

Peer pressure from other parents was a little rough. (You seriously would expect all that to have ended in Jr. High.)

It seems like you and your child aren't "cool" if you are not in French Immersion. Nevermind the fact that most of these poor children come from parents who don't even speak a lick of English, forget French. Or the fact that it is still possible to learn French well by taking classes through grades 3-high school. Or even the fact that we are moving in 4 months and the thought of having him start in French only to be 4 months behind when he transfers to an English program . . . seems to all count for nothing.

I was taken a little aback by parents who would excitedly ask whose class my son was going into and upon learning he wasn't in French Immersion, kind of drop the conversation and walk away.

All in all, it was a good day. Even if we were a little time pressed (and hard pressed to find lunch food since we hadn't gone grocery shopping) and fumbled our way around to try and find his drop off and pick up points. Jayden had fun and got lots of compliments on his shoes from the "fashion police" (aka girls in class).

He may not be in French Immersion, but at least he has Hot Lights. That should count for something.

The Roof!

We have a ROOF!

I know that no one else might think of this as the least bit exciting, but for some of us who have been waiting almost a year and a half to move closer to work, it's pretty thrilling.

Even more thrilling is the pile of bricks sitting beside our house. We still aren't sure which exterior package they really gave us. The salesman said that we got our top pick . . . it looks a little off to me.

Pile of bricks.

Our colour scheme choice.

Interior view. (Now that's A LOT of wood!)

They are already insulating the exterior and soon the bricks will be laid! Depending on the weather, I would think that maybe early next week we will see some brick action.

Hooray!

Now, if only we could get an appointment to sign off on our interiors!

A Harsh Reality

Everyone had a different dish for any given meal.

None of us ever had to clear the table or wash a dish.

When towels were dirty, we'd throw them on the floor . . . and magically by the evening they would be clean and hung.

Messy beds would miraculously be made in a blink of an eye.

Days spent touring NYC and an amusement park felt so carefree.

For a few brief days I could forget about the house stress, work, school day routines, and a messy house that seemed to only get messier.

None of that seems to happen any more.

Returning home from a vacation is never fun. Besides the harsh reality of how the dryer and laundry baskets are still as full as I left them, we hit the ground running right into school. (What a treat it was to figure out what kind of first day of school outfit could be made with 3 pieces of clothing not fit to bring on vacation. Or what kind of food items were still okay to eat in our house, since grocery shopping did not get done.)

On top of all that, there is the unpacking and laundry to do. It seriously looks as though every drawer in my house has thrown up.

It is a harsh reality. But at least I can day dream back to our carefree days and escape even if it's just for a few minutes.

Full Speed Ahead!

Amidst all the turmoil with the sales staff and our indecisiveness regarding appliances and interior finishings . . . one thing is going very smoothly.

The framers are making some great time with our house! It is almost completely framed!

Enjoy the first "tour" of our house! Here is the front (right half). The living room will be where the large front window is, the stairs will be more curved when they are done too.

This is the view in the backyard, and also from the breakfast nook (left) and family room (right).

We took out the wall here between the family room (left) and the dining room (right). I hope we won't regret it when we see our furniture in there! Past the dining room you will see glimspes of our office/study.

Looking down the hall from the breakfast nook. Dining room is on the left, office further down on the left.

Family room left, dining room right. Brad tried to get photos from the upstairs too, but his phone died. Next time.

It's exciting to see such progress on the house. It helps us remember that all this stress and frustration is going to be worth it . . . and pretty soon too by the looks of things. I am interested to see which exterior package they end up using on our house. I guess we'll find out in another week or so.

The Appliance Crunch

My goodness.

Who would have thought picking out appliances would be such a headache??

Particularly since I am so well organized. I was out searching for appliances last May. I had everything picked out within one visit.

All five appliances. All Samsung. All good reviews. All stylish.

Easy peasy.

Until we got into the colour charts with the interior designer.

"What do you mean you aren't going with gas?? It's SO much better."

Naturally Samsung didn't have a gas range. And even though their appliances are stylish, they are very distinct. (Read: they will not go with any other company's appliances.)

So, back to the drawing board with three kids in tow to all the appliance stores that I could find.

Kenmore, Kitchenaid, Whirlpool, GE, LG . . . the names dizzily circled through my head.

In the first appliance store, the salesman directed me to a package of Kitchenaid appliances, and seeing that they were great looking appliances, I was interested. A visit to Sears taught me that they are all made by Whirlpool, who also makes Kenmore. And inspite of the fact that I had to agree that Kenmore stuff was great value, I knew that with price matching I was more apt to get a deal on Kitchenaid (that other stores actually carried and marked down).

Sifting through reviews online was boggling. (Who makes such a large investment without any research? Certainly not us!)

Days went by where my poor children were neglected and replaced by new children named "Whirlpool," "GE," and "Top Ten _____ Appliances."

The conclusions from reviews? No one likes their appliance, what ever the brand. But everyone seems to buy Kitchenaid . . . or at least a lot of posters. Hardly any other reviews were up for Kenmore or GE.

I figured it was as good as anything else so I packed up Brad with print outs of all the appliances I wanted from a competing store and sent him on his way to Sears to hammer out a deal . . . while sat at home and finally subscribed to Consumer's Report. (I had no idea it was so inexpensive!)

He hashed out a great deal, and in the middle of signing all the paperwork, he thought he'd double check the manufacturer's numbers with me. Wouldn't you know it, but with the endless print outs and various models I had been contemplating, I had sent the wrong range with him?

Upset that I wouldn't be more careful, and steamed because the range I wanted was more expensive and forced him to fork out an extra $150 that he wasn't planning on, he came home simmering.

I didn't have the courage to tell him that upon reading Consumer's Reports I found that the range we had faught so hard for, was the worst rated, and most repair prone.

If I had told him, I was sure that he would have cancelled all our appliance orders and I would have been cooking over a fire pit for the next five years. Yet, at the same time, if the range was in deed a lemon, I would have been having to deal with a broken range and cooking over a fire pit in secret for the next five years.

I read more of what Consumer's Reports had to say about the Kitchenaid brand and it didn't look great. Not horrible, but not great. I just didn't understand how if it was Whirlpool's flagship brand and Whirlpool, Amana, and Kenmore were all getting rave reviews . . . how could Kitchenaid not?

Desperate, I subjected my poor children to yet another appliance store and asked the salesman to recommend a good brand for my kitchen. His recommendation? None other than Kitchenaid.

I asked about the repair history, and particularly about the range. He said he rarely gets them back in and that the range has been redesigned and is fantastic now.

Okay, so maybe he was just trying to sell me . . . but with all the other brands he could have recommended, it was reassuring that he chose Kitchenaid.

He beat our Sears' package by $100 and for an extra $300 he offered to throw in a $900 vent hood.

Even though we do need a vent hood (and were planning to purchase one for $200 later), Brad was exhausted from the appliance drama and so we passed on the offer.

Ironically, the vent hood he offered was the only appliance of Kitchenaid that Consumer Report not only had good things to say about, but recommended.

Ceilings: Smooth or Popcorn? One of Life's Pressing Questions.

It seems silly that for the past two weeks we have been tossed about with gut-wrenching, life-changing questions.

Eventhough there is an obvious sarcasm in that statement, we truly have been stressing over all these tiny things that make up a brand new house.

What will make life easier? Maybe an electrical socket in the garage? A custom pot drawer or two in the kitchen? What will help our house sell faster: a stunning fireplace mantle or smooth ceilings (instead of the dreaded popcorn)?

The colour charting appointment was anything but fun, like I thought it would be. I mean really, how exciting would it be to be able to pick out all your tile, flooring, carpeting, and interior finishings? Unless, of course, your builder has very few options. For instance, tiles: greyish white, white white, beigish white, aquaish white, and barfy brown. And for countertops: puke, puke, barf, and tolerable.

(Suddenly I had a new prospective on walking through houses earlier with questionable colour schemes, wondering "What were they thinking??")

Fortunately we solicited the help of an interior designer and found some things that we could live with. And, once the colours were out of the way, designing the kitchen became a very fun event. As did designing the rest of the house . . . until we tried to have the builder do anything we wanted.

Adding to all the confusion and stress is that fact that our builder/salesmen/whoever can't seem to get their act together (after 30 years in business and several developments later) to get out a price list to their home buyers BEFORE it's too late to choose options.

(Namely, the cold cellar we would have LOVED to have had, but no one told us about it until AFTER our foundation was poured and framing had begun.)

Then there is the fact that no one has answers to any questions you might have: could we replace these doors with another style? How much are _______ upgrades?

And then the flat out "No, we're not even going to look into that," responses to "Could we move the laundry room?" "Could we exchange exterior lights for exterior potlights?" "Could we maybe have some say about our exterior brick choice?"

Or, how about, "When is the deadline that all of our colour choices and upgrade requests need to be in?" and then given an indefinite answer . . ."Hmmm . . . soon." "Oh, you have time . . . end of September." "Oh, this week but I'm not available to help you. I have other people to do right now."

(No doubtedly, those people are the owners of the semi's that are fully built and bricked.)

Sometimes I wonder if it would have been less stressful building ourselves?

Now that we have come to terms that we just take what the builder offers and try not to do anything interesting, we still cannot sign off on our charts. Apparently only one person in the office is capable of entering codes into the computer.

Urgh. The frustrations.

I will be happy when our house is done and we no longer need to deal with these people.

At least I hope I will be happy. ;)

An Update

So I felt it important to follow up the last post with a more positive entry.

In a day where opening Jackson's long-lost drink container resulted in an explosion of week old strawberry milkshake firing at the kitchen ceiling . . . and consequently was one of the better moments in my day . . . it was nice to end off on a good note.

The boys did clean their rooms. Spotless. Organized. Finally.

Snuggling down with Avery is always a high point in my day, but it is even better when I tell her I need to help the boys to bed and she asks, "Mom back?" And then patiently waits in bed for my return.

Jayden spent the rest of the night thanking me for all the things I do for him and asking if there is anything else he can do for me. Like clean under the couch??

And Jackson, finally taking some time to sit still, fell asleep colouring in his Thomas the Tank book . . . but not before he drew a red curly crayola mustache on his face . . . and several other crayola tatoos on his arms and back. How can you not tenderly smile at a site like that?