House Update #15

  We had a setback when it turned out that our flooring was warping.  At first we thought that the radiant heating might be the culprit, but when the manufacturing was called they confessed that they thought they had corrected a defect that would cause the wood warp. We let them know that wasn't fixed.  Daryl and I were just grateful that our general contractor always dry fits the wood at first to see how it will react, so none of the flooring was actually installed.  

  Yesterday we chose new flooring that will only take three days to get to us, so hopefully this will be the end to our  flooring woes.  In the meantime a lot of progress has been made by the tile guys and the plumber.  Almost all of the tile is installed including our kitchen back splash and our shower.  Sinks and faucets are in half of the bathrooms, and the decks are completed.  Sometime next week they will start on getting the railing up on the decks.  If all  goes well it looks like we will be moving in mid-January.  

 I just want to point out that all of these pictures are taken about two in the afternoon. What a difference lights make even though we have a ton of natural lighting in our home.

Here are the master sinks and faucets.

The flooring of our shower is stone pebbles.  It is supposed to be very comfortable to stand on.

Here is  our shower completely tiled.

This is our kitchen back splash. It's glass mosaic tile with metal accents, and it's really hard to see since it is so dark in the house right now. Next week we should have more lights working.

Here's one of the decks.  It is stamped concrete, so it is very durable and easy to keep clean.

We have toilets in the house now!

Art Fun with Aunt Aimee

  Aimee came over this morning, and we let the kids do some painting.  Avery was really into it.  Tyler was good after one picture.  He and Harper has some good times playing though.  You can  see Avery had a really, really good time.

10 Months Old

  Harper turned ten months old on Thanksgiving.  Apparently she is insisting on getting bigger despite my urging to the contrary.  She still only has two teeth on the bottom.  She can stand on her own for a very short time.  Harper is very happy girl.  

Thanksgiving

   For Thanksgiving we ended up in Disneyland so we could meet up with my sisters and aunts to celebrate the holiday.  We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Napa Rose in the Grand Californian hotel at Disneyland.  Dinner was great, but it took them three hours to serve it.  The children actually were much better about that than the adults.  I forgot to take my camera to dinner, so no pictures of that.  In attendance beside us were my Aunts Joanne and Dianne, my parents, my niece Ashlyn, my sister Alex and her daughter Addison, and my sister DeAnna with her husband Brad.  

  We had a great time with all the  family and were glad everyone was able to get together.  Poor Daryl's ankle was hurting, so he ended up renting a scooter then entire time we were at Disneyland.  That wasn't too bad since we got to go in the wheelchair line.  Daryl was especially excited to ride the revamped Star Tours.  It isn't as bad anymore now that it has more than just one movie.  When we checked into the hotel Avery somehow got hold of a penny, and put it in the first place she could see that it shouldn't have gone: our hotel room's key card slot.  After we called maintenance we got into our room okay.  Then on the plane ride home Harper threw up all over me Exorcist style.  Fortunately it was only fifteen minutes before our descent. I smelled pretty awful though.   

Of course we put the baby in the dresser drawer.

Daryl in his scooter, and my Dad was getting Aunt Joanne's scooter.

Brad and DeAnna took Harper on Dumbo.  She was indifferent.

This is over in California Adventures.  Avery loved this ride and Dad endured it for her.

At least Alex was looking at the camera, and Addison was  facing the general direction unlike Avery.

Addison and Avery on the Casey Jr. train.

An action shot of Addison and me on the rockets.

The last day we were there with just my parents. We had sent Daryl to ride Space Mountain and Star Tours in peace.

Ashlyn and Alex on Pirates of the Caribbean.

House Update #14

   This last week a lot of progress was made on our master bathroom.  All the tile was laid on the floor, and one accent wall of tile was done. Our vanity was also put in place.  In general house news, all the doors are hung, and trim is up around almost all the doors and windows.  The flooring came in at last, and is busy sitting around the house acclimating. It will have to sit around for about a week before it can be installed.  It will be a Christmas miracle if we are in the house before Christmas; although it could be possible.  More realistically we will probably be moving in around New Years.

These are the doors they put in the master suite.

This is our closet.

Here's a view of the vanity and flooring.  On the right, the pipes that are sticking up are the plumbing for our tub that will be installed eventually.

Here's a better look at our accent wall.  It's glass mosaic tile.

Here's our shower waiting for it's time of tile glory.

Happy Birthday Avery!

  Today Avery turned three.  Daryl and I took her to the Supermall for some special Mom and Dad time without Harper.  After lunch we went and saw the movie Puss in Boots.  Avery did pretty good through the movie, but we probably won't be in a hurry to take her to her next movie.  After that we had a little family celebration with cake and ice cream, my parents, Adam, Angie, Karl, Aimee, and Tyler.  Avery wasn't really excited when we started singing the birthday song.  She plugged her ears and tried to run out of the room.  She's been plugging her ears lately at loud noises.  We'll bring that up with the doctor at her third year check up.  At any rate she wasn't so excited about the singing, but she loved her presents.

Avery is pretty fun, very energetic, and generally speaking a happy girl.  She loves to sing with  her little piano, to Disney movies, and to songs on the radio.  She especially likes to sing along to Adele's Rumor has it.  She really likes Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, and The Adventures of Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane.  She loves Shaun the Sheep and Ni Hao Kai lan among other t.v. programs. She loves to color and read.  Avery hasn't quite learned to pedal her trike yet, but it's coming along. Avery is also loves to brush her teeth.  Every time we go into her bathroom she insists on brushing.  We love her so much, and honestly can't imagine life without her.

She was so happy riding the carousel.

This is a little trampoline they have at the mall.  She wouldn't jump herself, so Daryl would grab her and catapult her up. 

She was a big fan of jumping.

I was able to capture this picture of Tyler who of late has not wanted to be photographed.

Daryl helping Avery blow out her candles.

Avery was thrilled to get Angry Bird decals for the walls.

Tyler and Avery sweetly sharing the iPad for a little bit before much complaining about sharing it.

House Update #13

  The bathrooms on the main floor are nearing completion, and they are looking beautiful. We got gutters put on this week, but I forgot to look for them.  The backyard was cleared out a bit too.  You wouldn't probably believe us that anything had been cleared out though. There's still a lot of work to do in our jungle.

These are cabinets in the master bathroom.

They've added cubbies for our components to go into above our fireplace.

This is a wall of tile in the main floor powder room, and vanity is floating.

This is the girls' bathroom.

Sorry this picture is a little fuzzy.

The tile is going halfway up the wall.  Pretty fun.