Brady's moment...

Brady does not like to be singled out.  He gets so embarrassed but today he got 2 awards at the assembly.  First was a star of the month for Cooperation award from his reading teacher for always helping his neighbors in class.  Then he got a Principals Award that states:  Brayden is constantly helping out his classmates in subtle ways and never does it for recognition.  He pushes in chairs, turns off light and picks up after other always being a humble helper. 

He was called in front of the whole school and was looking very uncomfortable with the applause...

first award he grabbed and ran was gone before I could even get the pic!

At least the second time he had to stand there a little longer so I could get a photo!!! 

People are always telling me how wonderful my boys are at school, I just wish they shared some of that part of their personalities with mom and dad.

Criminal caught...

I went to take the boys to school and for the 2nd time I found damage to my van.

Last time it was the lower part of the LeBra left in shreds today it was the part that covered the hood.  I have had these on other vehicles for almost 10 years with nothing like this happening!

So we now have security cameras on our property so I asked Shane to check the video and see if it was damaged when I came home last night from the middle school.  What we found was that at 8:30 pm Romeo started jumping up on my van ripping the bra to shreds!  He had it half off then went to the deck and sat watching the van for a few minutes then ran back down and tore it the rest of the way off.  Unfortunately the van was parked just so we could only see the front of the vehicle so I do not know if there was a cat sitting on the roof or something that set him off.

China hutch

I think I have the china hutch set up so it looks wonderful...

I am so excited!  We are going to be using the good china more often now that I have it all right here!!!!

Sky's solo

My friend send me a pic she took of Sky playing his solo

Yes, that is Sky wearing something other than sweats and a t-shirt!  He hates it and he has it off before we even get home but he looks so nice.

blue jays?

Ok, never really been into birds but I have to share these birds that are hanging out here.  They have a head like a cardinal and they are a beautiful blue color so I am thinking maybe blue jays...

One is in the top window pane 2nd from the right dead center and the other is diagonal in the bottom 2nd pane from the left.  I know you can't see them very well but they were so cool, watching me clean the living room.

New Bathroom...

I keep forgetting to get "after" photos of my main floor bathroom and I thought I had better get some photos before the men in the family have time to mess things up!  I just LOVE the color of paint we went with.  It is a blueish green color.  The fixtures are bright white and the floor is beige...Shane picked this out and I really like it now that it is in!

We put in a whirlpool tub and I love how deep it is, really feels great when you have sore muscles. 

I fell in love with this vanity when I first saw it!  I first picked it out for upstairs but then when the time came we thought something larger would be better for the bathroom we all use every day but I had hopes to get this and it fit perfect here. 

I just added the rack behind the toilet, still not sure if I like it and it might not stay.  The new toilet has a way smaller tank then the last one did and we didn't move the drain pipe so there is a big gap between the toilet tank and the wall.  I thought a rack would help make that look better but now I worry it makes the small room look too crowded...  I am using the brown and blue-green towel sets I used in the downstairs bathroom at our last house for now and they look ok, hope to find a nice beige set to really look nice though.

Now that the holidays are over we will get started on my old office.  I was going to have it be Sky's room but the boys want to stay in the same room and make it a playroom for them.  We are thinking that will be a good idea but if they can not get along then they will have to be separated. 

Here is a look at the before pictures of the bathroom...

This tub could not be cleaned!  I scrubbed and scrubbed and yuck!



The vanity was just painted plywood and see the classy industrial soap dispenser?

All I can say is gross!  there was so much water damage in this wall when we started removing things!  I had started taking most of my showers at the YMCA.  When I showered here I took my glasses off at the door, made it better when I couldn't see it!

sorry bad photo but the floor was horrible too.  see the green color behind the toilet is where the brown flooring had been torn up.  The first time I saw this house I walked into this bathroom and there was a dead bird on the floor...that is all I thought about when I walked in here!!

One thing you don't see in the photos is that one wall had wood glued to it.  pieces of wood about 10 inches long and 4 inches wide...it was really strange!  Under the wood we found 3 layers of wall paper and a couple different colors of paint.  I know someday someone might look at what I have done and think "gross who would choose this" but I am so happy I could piddle!

sun is up...

Now that I can see here is hwy 101 in front of my house

This is just south of Ocean Beach Road.

weather

Sun isn't up yet so I can say how bad things look around here but all schools are closed, our basement is flooded and there are mud slides blocking highway 101 just north of our drive way and a couple miles south of our driveway.  At this point town is blocked due to mudslides so we can not head west to Olympia without going up around the peninsula.  At this point just going to have to sit tight tell sunlight and then we can see what is going on.  I need to try and make it to town and get a pump!

New Years...

This New Years my plan is to declutter and finally get rid of everything I don't need, want or use.  I started by getting my china hutch set up and taking out all the items that don't belong there.  I also FINALLY got all the pictures back up on the walls in the living room and dining room.  Looks pretty good too if I say so myself.

I will continue my goal of us eating dinner at the table each night as a family when possible.  I am going to enforce the concept of not using the table as a catch all.  This has gotten to be quite an issue since we finished the remodeling.  We got use to not having a table during the remodeling and now I have to get everyone back into the habit.

I got to use my beautiful china for New Years dinner

We had ham, mac and cheese, scalloped potatoes, sour dough rolls, hot cocoa, corn and salad.  The table looked so nice.

We had a special New Years Eve dinner also, due to various reasons we did not get to have a special dinner for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day so Sky cooked an amazing Prime Rib dinner for New Years Eve.  I do not know what Sky's future will hold...he loves music and he loves to cook.  I had to be gone due to Brady having a swim camp and I gave Sky some direction and crossed my fingers...

The Prime Rib was cooked perfect!

 

 

The dinner was rounded out with baked potatoes with all the toppings, salad, corn and Cheddar Bay biscuits.  I just wish we had used the good china for this dinner too.

So we have had a wonderful start so far.  My babies go back to school tomorrow and in many ways I am going to miss having them home all day.  But, I will enjoy the quiet during the day also.

Hope everyone has a wonderful 2015!