We have a bathroom!!!

So our new house is plumbed for three bathrooms and when we moved in, only one of them was fully functional but only marginally. And this was the main bathroom in the house. We were showing with duct tape and plastic wrap coving holes in the tile that had rotted through. And the time finally came for its remodel but the problem of where we were going to bathe now was a problem. The master bath has only a shower with a giant crack in the pan. Our solution...epoxy the crack, take short showers and keep a bucket under the drain pipe down stairs where the shower was leaking on to the ceiling. We've probably had better ideas...

 The hole over the bucket was intentional, the half of the ceiling missing was necessary after showering with a broken pan for nearly 5 months. Little water damage is all...and apparently the crack was the least of our worries. There was a leak on the pipe and literally the day our new bathtub was usable, the wall gave in the master shower.

 And this is the downstairs bathroom. Not a lot of privacy.

 

But back to our new awesome bathroom Thanks to generous donations of time by my daddy, we were able to put together the sweetest bathroom ever! He is so smart! We're so happy with how everything has turned out. Here's our before bathroom....

And the after!

The kids just love it too. After Evelyn used the toilet for the first time I over heard her

tell Caden with a big sigh, "I can't wait until I have to go potty again." We still need to get the window in and re-cased, but it's ordered and that'll be a project for another day.

Two Years Later...

Well I've been told I need to begin blogging again and wish I wouldn't have stopped. Now I've got so much to say. It's been a busy two years and will be hard to catch up with the ole' blog. Since Caden was born we've bought a house and with the help of my dad and brothers, done a ton of work on it. We've made it through 1 3/4 more busy seasons with Steven's work which is always hard. But I think this year he's only been gone 4-6 weeks from Jan- March instead of the usual 7-12. Other than that we've been just busy with day to day stuff. OH I broke a bone for the first time ever. Ok I think i'll just do pictures now and as stories come i'll add them in.

 While I was pregnant with Caden, Evelyn and I decided it was a good idea to drive down to Utah with my parents to visit Amanda and Jason. 15hrs in a car in August when your 7months pregnant is a little rough but we had a real nice time.

2012

And then my parents continued their journey to Kansas and me and Evelyn caught a flight back home.

 Then little Caden came October 30. Handsome little man at 10lbs even

 Mr. October

 She looks sweet but I very specifically remember this little photo session. She has demon eyes in this last one. Gave me a run for my money that day.

 

2013

 

 

 Sparklers in January

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Caden kept getting hives and swelling of the face, hands and feet so we went through months of allergy testing. We did the skin tests and several blood draws and it always came back with no major allergies so we had to sleuth it out. It was corn! When he has whole corn products like pop corn or corn meal or well...corn, he breaks out in ridiculous hives in less than 10 min and his hands and feet puff up and he has minor face swelling. Poor little man. But corn never came back positive in any of his tests. Weird. But we're glad to be done going to the doctor it seemed like twice a week there for a while. I'm a detective. I mean, I'd rather be a wizard but I'll take it.

 On Evelyn's 3rd birthday, we started the tradition of going to Seattle to the Zoo for her birthday. And by tradition I mean we've done it two years in a row now. This was the first year we did it. Also the trip that I fell down the stairs as we were getting ready to walk out the door and broke myself. And be fell down the stairs I mean missed the last step and folded my big toe in half. So we drove to Seattle with my giant, swollen, foot on the dash. After a couple days we did go into an urgent care and it was broken in 4 places. Clean in half and 3 other small fractures. First broke bone ever. I was in a boot for a few months and took up water aerobics since I could do conventional exercising. So I wasn't able to go to the zoo with the kids, but they seemed to have a nice time.

 Another reason we went to Seattle that weekend was for Steven to climb Mt.Rainier. The weather was too treacherous so they didn't get to summit but Steven and his brother Matt and their dad had a real nice time.

 Evelyn family birthday party on the mountain

 We did a preschool co-op for a while and we had the Halloween party at our house.

 Caden's one year picture

Evelyn helped Caden choose a cookie monster theme 1st birthday party.

Caden's year of growth montage

And our favorite holiday card ever...

2014

 

 

 

 

 House projects... Our first round of tree removal. We've taken down about twenty of them now

 Another house project...getting connected to the sewer

 Me and the kids flew down to Utah to see new baby Jake as a birthday present to me. Not sure where all those pictures are. Only found this one of Caden reverting back to being a baby.

 Evelyn had a pirate Jake birthday party

 And Amanda and Jason got to come up with Jake and take family pictures with this handsome little devil.

 We also made it over to Seattle around Evelyn's birthday and make it to the zoo where Caden made a frenemy

 and of course the carousel.

 And one of friends knows someone with one of these....

 ok...spoiled birthday girl....we also went to Wonderland and played arcade games and had pizza for one of her birthday celebrations

 Did I mention she got to meet Elsa and Ana on her birthday...

she was a little excited when she found out...

 Evelyn also got to be a flower girl the wedding of my cousin Brianna. She had a good summer of '14

 REAL good....

 And Caden chipped his tooth. We weren't there when it happened but best we can guess was he fell in the dishwasher.

 I cab pin point them making silly faces in pictures down to this day. Since this day I have a hard time taking pictures of them with their hands out of their mouths and tongues inside their faces.

 yeah...that's not how that toy works buddy...

 making Caden's 2nd birthday cake

 Happy birthday Caden!!

 and what a handsome Spiderman he was

 And a beautiful Ariel..

 ok, so funny. She could not wear this costume without singing.

 A crochet wig courtesy of mommy's handiwork. not to brag or anything but I am ridiculously proud of this wig

 always happy to help

 Cousin photo shoot on the farm.

 It took Caden a little while to warm up to Wyatt, who is so huggy and lovey and Caden...not so much with other kids

Evelyn came up with the most fun family tradition all by her ownself this last Christmas. We roasted marshmallows on Christmas eve and made s'mores. It was so fun. We all loved it. Funny how 4 year olds can actually think for themselves.

And that brings us to 2015. It's been a bust two years. We've bought a house, remodeled a ton, been on lots of trips here and there. We live right on the back side of a park so in the summer we're walking there everyday for picnics and flying kites. I love being home with the kids  and would say that most days I stay mostly sane. It surprised me how fast siblings start fighting. I mean before Caden could walk, they were hitting each other. and now, even though Caden doesn't say much he still manages to hurt Evelyn's feeling beyond repair almost daily. They love each other...about 3-5 hrs a day off and on so I'll take it!

As of today it's busy season, well, the last week of it. Steven's in Colville and then we're back to normal lives on friday meaning we see each other everyday for more than 2 hrs. I've purchased the entire Twilight Saga to get me through this last week. Worth every penny. Evelyn loves learning and writing and pretending Caden's her puppy. She loves games and singing and dancing. Caden loves tools and 'helping' fix things around the house and pretending to be Evelyn's puppy. He's in speech therapy and loving it. He's the sweetest naughtiest boy you will every meet and can mean mug you like no one's business. Whew! made it. I'm hoping to make this a regular thing so cross your fingers.