Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Renovation update

I haven't posted a reno update for a while, so if you're wondering how the house is coming along. . . this is a 3 month catch-up!

November 1, 2009:
We moved our bed over from the far side of the room so that a temporary wall could be built. The old spot where our bed used to be is going to be the new stairway in the house (coming up from what used to be Holly's bedroom downstairs). It's a much smaller bedroom now - nearly 1/2 the size it used to be! After I took this picture, we ended up moving the bed over some more, and my nightstand is in the hallway - the temporary wall is just to the right of the window.














November 24, 2009:
This photo is taken from outside in our back yard. This is what the back of our garage looks like (door and window on the bottom) with our master bedroom above - you can see where the windows will be upstairs, along with the door leading out onto a small deck from our bedroom.














December 2009:
Inside of the garage - you can see a bit of the door that leads out to the back yard.














Family room (aka the Great Room) - on the far wall you see two red stripes - in between is where the French doors will be that lead out onto a deck in the back yard.



















Master bedroom - the window opening on the left look out onto the street at the front of our house. The red light is in what will be my ("our") walk-in closet! To the right of the closet is where our bathroom will be.














Master suite - the doorway to the bathroom is framed and the far end shows where the doors will go for our bedroom deck, which faces the back yard.














The two windows in the master suite - this is the view to the front street.














Exposed to the elements - this is where our bed used to reside . . .














A kind of cool picture of the rafters in the family room - to bad we can't leave this exposed . . . this is what we currently see from our new master bedroom - this will be covered up and become the wall where we will likely place our bed.



















January 26, 2010:
My kitchen - this is a temporary beam to replace the one that was on the other side of the tarp - where our little nook used to be. A new beam is going in on the other side, which won't be seen and will give us a bit more ceiling height and more light from our skylight that will run along the entire length of the family room.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Mackenzie's 2nd Birthday

We went to our first birthday party of the year today! Mackenzie turns 2 on Valentine's Day! It was an optional dress up party for Disney Princesses . . .

. . . here are Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White and some other little princesses getting scarves to dance with.














Princess Anna - her mom is Holly & Cassie's JK (Junior Kindergarten) teacher at school.



















Cinderella, a.k.a. Mackenzie, the birthday girl!



















Very low limbo - so low you have to go OVER!















Princesses waiting for birthday cake.














The very cool Mickey Mouse cake.



















Brave pinata holder, Jeff (also Mackenzie's dad). Well, maybe not so brave - the pinata wasn't the type you have to hit, it just had strings the kids could pull until the pinata broke open.



















Pinata #2.



















Gathering the treats and candies to put into their bags. . .

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Car Seat Safety Reminder

A few years ago (November 17, 2006, to be exact), I posted something about boosters vs car seats. A friend had sent me a link to a YouTube video and I bawled my eyes out when I watched it. At the time it wasn't all that relevant to us because the kids were all just over a year old and not anywhere near ready for a booster. Well, they are all growing so quickly and some of us moms have been talking about boosters lately - the video I watched never left the back of my mind, so I wanted to pass on the link.

Actually, it's a new link to the foundation that Kyle's (the little boy who died in the car accident) family created after his death. There is lot of information on here about car seats, seat belts, etc. Even if it's not all 100% substantiated, it makes you consider your child's safety - I plan to keep Holly in a car seat as long as I can. The video is part way down on the home page - have your Kleenex handy . . . and please pass this on to all your friends who have children.

http://kyledavidmiller.org/

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Capilano Suspension Bridge

Today we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge to get our season's passes. It's a great deal on to celebrate 2010 - the pass costs less for the whole year than a single visit! And even better, Holly will be free for the year because of her age! I noticed some of the Christmas lights around the park - they weren't on, but I could imagine what it might look like at night - we'll definitely have to come back for Canyon Lights!

She wasn't at all nervous about crossing the bridge - no fear of heights here!



















On the other side, we went for a walk in the Treetops Adventure.



















We found a cute little hut next to Three Sisters Pond.



















Going back along the "bouncy" bridge!