New Kitchen Floor

For the last couple of years our kitchen tile floor has been breaking/broken.  Grout had come up, tiles were chipped and completely broken, and I had rugs covering the worst of it to protect feet and my sanity.  There is no good time to tear up your kitchen floor, really, and my anxiety doesn't allow for my house to be upturned for long so we'd put this off month after month.
Late in the afternoon on Sunday, Sept 16th, I got a huge bee in my bonnet to tear up that terrible tile.  I got a crow bar and crazy looks from my husband and started in.  In my head, this entire project was going to take like 6 hours, start to finish.  I didn't realize tile had cement board under it so that was a sad surprise that had to come up, but once we'd started there was no turning back.  Also, I grossly underestimated the allotted time - it took about 24 hours of labor total with 2 of us working together at a time (either Mike and I or Phil and Mike + Xavier).  It's good that I don't think through things too thoroughly before I do them or I would have put it off yet again.

As we anticipated, the original hardwood floors were under the tile and cement board and were in sturdy shape (no water damage, no soft spots, no splinters - fine for a sub floor).  However they would have needed a great deal of sanding and love to be floor to walk on and I couldn't commit to that time right now, so we chose to lay out roll out vinyl instead.  We tossed around other flooring options but in the end Mike and I needed to still be speaking by the end of this project so we went with durable, affordable, and fast (ish).

As evening neared on Sunday night, we ditched the kids with Nannie, and ran to Menard's to choose floor.  We got some of the thickest 12 foot vinyl they offered and I really like how it's got a little cushion to it.  My feet have appreciated it, too.

Mike and I called it a night at about 2 a.m. Monday morning and got back up and at it by 8 a.m.  When we went to bed at 2 a.m. everything was ripped up and we were just smoothing some old linoleum glue, etc, so the next morning we were able to start in with a final clean of the hardwoods before laying new floor.  He took a PTO day to finish the floor, since the fridge was in the dining room, I was without a stove, and he knew my stress would be rising. 

I'm so thankful that his dad came to be his companion and to help him think things through as they figured out how to lay the floor.  Roll out vinyl is probably easier to lay in larger rooms, rather than 'z' shaped kitchens, but after a consult with a local retired contractor, they made a plan and got busy!

It's truly given me a lot of joy to not loathe my kitchen floor.  I don't dread going in there as much and I can sweep and mop it like a normal person (instead of scrubbing tiles on my hands and knees because the mop couldn't glide smoothly over them). 

It also makes me chuckle that the kids come in the kitchen to hang out because new floor is exciting and cozy.

Thank you, Mike for not hating me when I get a crow bar and start tearing things up.  And thanks to Xavier for doing a great deal of grunt labor, to our friend Kelly for the consult, to Papa George for always being willing to lend expertise and a hand, and to Nannie for watching kids.

Theo Sleepover

We got to have a Theo sleepover.  The little boys stayed busy, busy, busy for a solid 24 hours.  It's so fun to see how much they like being together!

The weather was drippy on Saturday but we did some porch playing for fresh air.

Lunch picnic!  And a show.  Because boys are loud.  HA!

Wrestling with Daddy/Uncle Mike...

Mike was in and out with the big kids - I can't even remember what all they were up to that day.  I did text him Saturday afternoon and say "these twin tornadoes want to go on a bike trailer ride!"  He came and gave me 20 minutes of quiet before bringing these little sillies back...just enough time to ready supper and baths and PJS. :)

Sweet clean boys in PJS doing puzzles.

We let them sleep together on the futon for bedtime and then moved them upstairs when we went up.  Are they not the sweetest?

Sunday was sunnier and our church was holding worship outside.  Outside church is perfect for little boys.

After church it was off to Grandma and Papa's for lunch...Lauren and Lance got back mid-afternoon, and although I think Theo had loads of fun he was glad to see mom and dad!

I love these goons.

Pets

The Beeler house has been a pet free home for several years.  We had a little dog that was supposed to be indoors and hated being indoors so we ended up re-homing her.  Since then, beyond a few fish, we haven't had any animals.  This weekend a kitty seems to have adopted us.  He loves the children and is around every time we go outside.  There is no shortage of attention for one little kitty and said little love seems to be soaking it up.  Our youngest two have especially taking a liking to "kitty."

 

I've forgotten how therapeutic and sweet having a little pet can be...someone that's always there for you to tote around.  We always had kitties on the farm and even though we weren't supposed to tame them so they'd stay in the barn, we always did.

Today, Natalee also {finally} got her chickens!  There was no reason we hadn't done this yet except for the sheer exasperation of the summer we had.

She named them Stacey and Tracey and was very excited to introduce them to the hen house.

She got them all watered and checked on them dozens of times throughout the day.  They are still a little uncertain about their re-homing, but we're hoping they'll adjust and we'll see some eggs soon.

(Zayden refused to be in the picture because he couldn't hold kitty.)

Proud little chicken farmer.  Thank you for the birthday/Christmas gift, Nannie and Vance.  Here's hoping we can keep them alive!

So, in one weekend we went from zero animals to 3!  

Kandinsky Art

I've scheduled "fine art Fridays" for us for school, but Friday Daddy was home and Mommy did errands, which meant Friday kind of went out the window, SO we did art tonight before bedtime.  I have a goal this year of doing better with art instruction.

I chose an artist (Kandinsky) and idea from our Usborne Art Treasury book.

We read a little history about Kandinsky and then followed the steps in the book to complete our project.  It was a nice assignment, because it led them to complete a "Kandinsky-ish" project but gave them freedom in choosing their own colors and designs.  

First, they drew circles upon circles in each of their 6 boxes using oil pastels.

Daddy and I did a project, too.  The kids really like it when we participate, and who can't use a little art therapy?

Natalee designed a box of circles for each family member, using colors they liked.  She's thoughtful..

Xavier liked LOTS of circles!

I was impressed at this 2 1/2 year old's direction following abilities!

This little 4 year old held her own with this project, too!

After we did our circles, we painted over them with liquid watercolors, putting a different color in each box.

The children had to mix colors to get the secondary colors.  More things to learn!

The completed projects are very cute.  I wish I was better at knowing how to display the children's art work.