A date with Preston

Preston was the last one to have a time alone with my parents this summer.  Just like with Brayden and Logan, my parents had Preston over for one night to spend some time with him one-on-one and get to know him better. 

Preston is a little tougher because he is so quiet and usually very compliant and easy to please.  They played a lot of games of pool and Preston won most of them!  For breakfast, my mom asked what Preston liked to eat for breakfast and he said "cinnamon".  Haha, so cute!  So him and my dad made coffee cake. Then, my dad took him canoeing at Evergreen Lake.  Preston really enjoyed that, so that was a good choice! 

 

After they went canoeing and then walked around a bit, they stopped for a picnic lunch.  Preston had a really good time!  He was so worn out that he put himself to bed all of his own accord at 7:30 that night!

Logan and Preston's first 14er

Chris took the boys to climb Mt. Bierstadt  a few weeks ago.  It was Brayden's 2nd and Logan and Preston's 1st.  It was actually Brayden's 2nd time on the same mountain, but oh well.  He likes to hike and he didn't mind at all doing the same one.  They all did great and they all walked to the top all by themselves with minimal complaining, stopping or injuries. 

Preston did have one injury right near the top, but he powered through and completed climbing the mountain all by himself!  Apparently he was climbing over the boulders that are near the top and one arm slipped and he fell and hide the side of his head.  Chris told me (the next day) that he thinks he might have even passed out for a second because when Chris went to pick him up, Preston's body went limp just for a second.  I'm glad he waited to tell me that!

I guess Chris carried most of the bags most of the way, but I'm proud of my boys to make it to the top of a 14er all by themselves.  That's more than their mama can say!

 Maybe me and Ashten and "K" can join you someday?!

10

Double digits - woo-hoo!

Yep, this guy is 10 now.  He's in 5th grade this year and such a good student.  We are so proud of the boy he is maturing into and the choices he is making as far as friends and time management and things like that go.  Brayden is a really good big brother, most of the time he plays what his younger siblings want just to include them.  But he is also wanting to spend more and more time alone in his room than ever before, and I'm guessing that will only become more common as he enters the teenage years.  Happy birthday Brayden!

One year waiting

Dear "K",

Today marks one year that we have been on the wait list.  We had hoped and prayed we wouldn't see this day, but we knew realistically that we most likely would.  I can't help but see every significant day or holiday as hopefully the last one we will experience without you, but time goes on and on and still we wait.  One year ago today I was talking a walk around the lake with Ashten in the stroller when our caseworker called and said we were officially on the waitlist.  I was so excited and I had no idea the emotions this past year would bring.

We miss you like crazy, sweet girl, and we wonder about you all the time too.  Your daddy and I dream about what you will be like.  What will your name be?  How old will you be?  Will you be sick and need medical attention?  What will your personality be like?  How long will you have had to wait for a family to bring you home? 

Today isn't significant to most people, just another hot day in August, but to me, I know we are exactly one year closer to being together as a family.  I have learned so much in the last year about trusting completely in God and His perfect timing.  It is a hard thing to do for a control freak like myself (don't worry, you'll learn that soon enough when I ask you to clean your room just so - just ask your brothers!!).  I have learned that God loves you so, so much and He desires to see you in a family, to have you not be lonely.  I have learned that even when it doesn't seem like He is working and moving, even when things look pretty discouraging, He is always working and He will be faithful to finish what He started,  He always has a plan and His plan is even better than what I could imagine.  I hope one day you will know God personally too.

Your brothers and sister are eagerly waiting for you to come home too.  You are such a lucky girl, to have them.  They will adore you and treat you like the little princess you are.  They like to tell everyone we meet that we are adopting you, they are so proud of it.  Ashten, especially, is so excited to have a little sister.  She is already setting aside some of her favorite bows, clothes and shoes for you to wear one day. 

I will keep praying for you sweetheart, and I will continue to boldly pray that we don't have to wait the "average" wait time to bring you home.  I love you, you already have a place in my heart and you always will.

Love,

Your mommy

Time capsule

When we were redoing our basement, I thought how cool it would be to find something from the previous owner, like a letter or old pictures or anything.  And then one night I was walking through the torn-up basement and I saw it, just leaning up against our furnace.  It's not anything real significant, but it's kind of funny.  And how we never found it before now and how it didn't get thrown out with all the other junk from the basement, I don't even know.

We bought this house from an elderly guy at our old church.  When he still lived here, he had a granddaughter that often came to stay with him for the weekend.  She was the same age as one of my sisters, so often my sister would come over to this house and spend the night with his granddaughter.  They were probably late elementary/early middle school at this point.  Well apparently one night they wrote all over this board.  It's really funny because it has the Spice Girl names written all over it and little hearts with "Nic" in them.  Typical teenage girl stuff!   It's just more funny to me because I know the people who did it!

 

I had always wanted to put a time capsule somewhere downstairs when we remodeled, just so if someday down the road someone else remodels (please don't let it be us!), they would find it and it would just be a cool little piece of history.  I put in a couple pictures of what the basement used to look like and a picture of our family.  I also wrote a little letter just saying why we're remodeling and a little about the house.  Then I put it all in an envelope and stuck it behind the insulation in one of the walls. 

 

 

Goodbye paneling, hello lovely basement

Our basement was really retro.  But not the cool retro, the ugly, old, time-to-get-rid-of-it wood paneling.  Yuck!  When we moved into our house, the whole thing was in desperate need of a cosmetic makeover.  There was teal shag carpet covering the upstairs, a pee-yellow bathroom, wallpaper on almost every wall, etc.  And that was just the upstairs!  We decided to concentrate on getting the top, main floor looking more modern and then we said, "we will redo the basement in a year or two."  Famous last words, right? 

When I look back at these pictures I realize just how bad it was.  I had gotten used to it to a certain extent.  I mean, how depressing is this laundry room especially?  And we both were so embarrassed when we had guests over and they went into the basement, so we are excited to now entertain a little more.

Old laundry room (looking towards family room where the new door is now)

Old laundry room (other side)

Old laundry room



I don't mean to sound bratty or ungrateful at all, the space was great and it served our family for years, but it just didn't have the look we were going for and it didn't match the main floor of the house, which was mostly all updated and really reflected the style and needs of our family.

Old basement (looking north, where new bedroom is now)

Old basement (other end)

Old entry to laundry room

Old basement (where we used to sit and watch TV)

Old basement (double doors are to furnace room)

Old basement (entry to existing bedroom)

Chris did most of the work himself.  He so selflessly gave up his whole summer to work 8-10 hour days so it would all be done before school started.  It took 7 weeks of work, but I am so proud of the hard work he put in and the sacrifices he made on not getting work for school done so we could have a nice basement.  I didn't even realize just how much I hated the old paneling and how un-relaxing it was to be down there until it got gutted and it was like a breath of fresh air.  I told Chris once, even when all the framing was up and there was a saw in the middle of the floor and no drywall or anything, that even if we had to leave it like this it for awhile, it would be better than it was.  He agreed.  Maybe a little melodramatic, but seriously it felt like that!

First thing to do was demo.  I was so nervous about this part and told Chris I didn't even want to be home when they did it because I expected tons of dead mice to be behind the walls and up in the ceiling.  A couple of years ago we had mice in our house and garage (long, gross story) and I figured when they died, that's where they went.  Thankfully Chris didn't even see one dead mouse, though I didn't confirm that information for myself!

Demo!

 

Demo!

We added an egress window to the wall where the small window used to be, to make it safe to have a bedroom in there.  Chris and his brother dug the big hole outside (6'x6'x8') and then we had a company come and cut the foundation.  But then Chris and his brother cut up the big chunks of concrete and hauled them up and out of the hole to the dumpster.  Hard, manual labor!!



Demo is done!  Looking better already - haha!

Next came framing and insulation.  

We closed off the old entry to the laundry room and made a new, bigger one on the other wall.

We took the double doors off and just made a single doorway to the furnace room.

 

We sloped the ceiling down the stairway so Chris doesn't have to duck his head
every time he goes downstairs! (although he still does out of habit)

 

The walls to the new bedroom and hallway to the existing bedroom

 

Looking out from the new bedroom

 



New laundry room doorway

Insulation is done!


Then came drywall, doors, tile for the laundry room and paint.  We hired a company to do the drywall, mudding and texturing, but Chris and his dad tiled the laundry room and Chris and I did the painting (mostly Chris).  We chose a light creamy-taupe for the family room and stairwell and a grayish-taupe for the laundry room and new bedroom.  Funny story about the gray paint though.  On the swatch, it was more brown than gray, but on the walls there is hardly any brown, it's almost all gray.  It's not a cool, bluish gray, it definitely has brown undertones, but it doesn't match the swatch AT ALL.  It turned out to be a happy accident though, because I think brown paint in those spaces would have been too much brown with the trim and cabinets, etc.

 

Then we got carpet installed and furniture delivered and finished up the trim and the million other little finishing touches that really add up.

 

Photo bomb by Sequoia (who loves the new basement, BTW)

My new laundry room/office -LOVE IT!

Other side of laundry room/office

New bedroom

Family room

Family room

This isn't much of a playroom, but honestly the kids mostly
play in their rooms.  They just aren't much into toys lately, they
prefer Legos or dress-up.



It took 7 weeks total, including some really, really late nights painting, staining and hanging that stupid TV!  But I totally, totally love the new space and it feels so neat to say that this whole house is ours now.  Everything you see inside and out (minus just a few exceptions) is something we did, so it totally feels like ours!  I am so proud of Chris doing all the work - he learned some new skills and he amazed me with what he was able to do and how hard he worked to see the project through to the end.  I admire his hard work and his dedication!

We still have to save up for and hang up some artwork (probably DIY cuz it's cheaper and more personalized), style those bookshelves and hang curtains in the new room, but it really feels pretty much done at this point.

So......ten years later and it's finally done!  But I actually think it was good to wait (maybe not 10 years, but oh well), because we were able to live with it awhile and see how we really used it and what we most needed out of the basement.  For example, had we done it a year or two into living here when we only had 1-2 kids, we probably would not have had the foresight to put in another bedroom downstairs.  We probably would not have had the foresight to make a bigger family room and a smaller playroom, knowing that our kids were getting bigger and eventually the amount of indoor space they needed to play would be much smaller (Legos only take up so much space).  Phew, it's nice to not have that work hanging over our head each night anymore, now we can just sit on the couch and enjoy it!