Phase 9: Floors!

Sorry there haven't been many updates on the house lately. There has been A LOT happening in the past month, but a phase would be started, then something else would have to take place before they could continue, and so on.  One thing that is complete now, though, are the floors!!  Due to the allergies the four of us have, and how hard it is to take care of carpet, we decided our house was going to be all tile.  I chose a darker, 20x20 porcelain tile from a store in El Paso and we love it!  They started in the kitchen and dining room:

 Here is the master bath, looking out into our master bedroom:

 My, I mean, OUR closet ;-):

 Looking down hallway from garage door:

 Colton's bedroom, leading into j&j bath:

 Looking through j&j bath from Colton's room to Cady's:

 Cady's room:

Dining room, grouted:

 Master bedroom grouted and cleaned:

 Living room, just grouted:

 Our awesome tile guy, Alfredo, hard at work in the dining room:

 Living room freshly grouted:

 Tile baseboards cut and ready:

Baseboards finished in master bedroom:

 Close-up of the tile baseboards (since we have rounded corners, they cut tile into "fiddlesticks" to do the edges):

Laundry room:

 It looks so great, but I can't wait to get it all mopped and clean! :-)

In our office/guest room, which is immediately to the right when you walk into the front door, we wanted to do something a bit different and chose a wood-tile (tile that looks like wood):

 Here it is grouted and with the baseboards - we love it!!

Alfredo asked us if we wanted a design, or something a  bit different in our entryway and we thought about it and I decided I wanted to incorporate a little of the wood tile and make a rectangle, then he suggested doing some diamond-shaped tile inside the rectangle.  We loved that idea and told him to go ahead!

 The finished entryway, as you step in from front door:

 Looking toward front door from living room:

Having the floors done really make it feel more real!!  In the past few weeks, they have also got the interior doors hung, cabinets installed, gray coat done of the stucco, and the tile in the bathrooms started.  Today they measured for our countertops and tomorrow they begin staining our doors and finish painting the walls.  Lots of stuff coming up! Be watching for it!

A Rollin' Good Time for Jaycelyn's Birthday!

Our youngest niece, Jaycelyn, will be 5 on Wednesday and there was a party for her in Albuquerque on Saturday afternoon.  It worked perfectly for us because we had to take Colton up there for his first YOP Soccer session on Sunday! This was the first party for Jayce that we were able to make it to and everyone was excited! It was held at a roller rink, which my kids had never done before.  For some reason, Las Cruces can't seem to keep one open and this one was CRAZY BUSY! Here is a picture of Colton and Cady with their cute cousin, all ready to skate:

 Daddy rented skates, too! He used to roller skate pretty often growing up in Port Angeles, WA.  Not sure how much he enjoyed it this time, though because the kids needed a lot of support!

 Gramma Suzy also did a tiny bit of skating, but it was so dark and crowded that the picture above was the only one I really got. 

Here are the kids and Gramma Mary enjoying some pizza:

 Can't forget Trevor:

 Jayce blowing out the candles on her very cool Despicable Me cake:

We all had a great time!

Afterwards, Jeff and Tammi and the kids headed over to meet us at the hotel that Gramma and Papa and us were all staying at and we let the kids swim for about an hour and a half then went to Fuddruckers for dinner.  Sunday was spent in Bernalillo at the soccer complex for Colton's program.  All I can say is that it was COLD (snow flurries!) and that I was sick with a cold, so no other pictures were taken all weekend. There are 4 more soccer sessions, though, so I will for sure get some the next time!  It's going to be a busy couple of months with traveling to and from Albuquerque!

A New 'Do and a New Smile

Colton and Cady are growing up, whether we like it or not.  And for the record, we don't! Just in the past week, they have each had a significant change made to their appearance and are looking older than I am ready for them to! Over the weekend, I took Cady to get her hair trimmed and at the last minute decided to have them cut 4 inches off, leaving her hair right above her shoulders.  She had been wanting that for some time and I decided to try it.  She loved it and I was surprised at how nicely it laid down and stayed like it was supposed to! What I didn't like is how grown-up she looked. :-(  Especially when you see her smile with her missing baby teeth and new adult teeth. 

 Then, just yesterday afternoon, it was Colton's turn for a change.  He had an orthodontist appointment to get partial braces, or expanders.  These won't be his real braces yet - they are kind of like pre-braces to get ready and make room for real braces.  He was pretty nervous but I think a bit excited, too.  I wore braces for 4 years straight, so I tried to prepare him for what to expect.  Not sure if that helped or made things worse! Here is a before shot:

 Then, after almost two-hours of work, here he is with his new, shiny smile:

Still as handsome as ever!! That smile above was forced and there haven't been any smiles since.  His poor mouth is very sore and things are just awkward right now for him.  :-(  The soreness will go away and his mouth will get used to having all that metal in there, even if he doesn't believe us when we tell him that!!

Our Day of Family Love!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!!  It was the 18th one for Colin and I - can you believe that?  It was also the 17th anniversary since our 1st date!  We are so very blessed!  In recent years, we have tried to focus on our family for Valentine's Day.  No gifts exchanged between us and no wasting money on expensive store-bought cards.  I do usually try to do something homemade for him, but this year with subbing and everything, I ran out of time.  We did get cabinets and interior doors delivered to the new house, though, so that was a pretty exciting Valentine's gift for both of us!

 

This year, Cady's class was asked to make Valentine card boxes at home and they were having a contest in class for the most unique.  We decided to make - what else? - an owl!  It came out pretty cute and she was chosen as one of the winners for her class!

 If we have time, we always try to do unique, handmade Valentines for their classes and other friends.  This year, Colton and I made these cute little Hershey Kiss mice:

I found the idea on Pinterest, but added holes to the cheese with a craft punch to make it a little cuter.  The one above, I wrote on as an example, but we made almost 50 and he wrote on every other one without complaining!  Here he is with just a portion of what we made:

 We went the owl route again for Cady - this idea also a modified Pinterest idea...

 ...but, she is the one who came up with what to write on the back:

 I thought that was pretty clever! She made about 40 and again, wrote on each one and never complained. So proud of both of them because that is a lot of work!

 After school, they were excited to show me all their loot:

 Now, for the past few years, we have been doing a fancy dinner at home of crab legs and shrimp and getting all dressed up.  Well, this year, with the craziness of building the house and me subbing for both Tombaugh Elementary and the Kids in Christ Daycare, I had purchased some things (not the seafood yet) but wasn't near as ready for it as usual. So, I casually asked the kids that day after school if they had their hearts set on a fancy dinner at home or if they wanted to get take out or go somewhere instead this year.  Colton immediately said "Pei Wei's sounds good" to which Cady agreed.  Pei Wei's always sounds great to me, but the closest one is in El Paso.  I told them I would check with Daddy but not to get their hopes up. Well, Colin must have been feeling as tired and overwhelmed as me, so he thought that sounded like a great idea and we headed down there as soon as he got home from work!

 They love the kids chicken teriyaki bowl - especially with the chopsticks and "cheaters" they get!

 After dinner, they wanted to walk around the mall a little, so we did that and then we stopped at Albertson's on the way home to pick up some stuff for a special dessert at home.  Strawberry shortcake:

 Valentine's dessert and their gifts:

 

Cady got another beloved stuffed animal (her favorite toys), a thing of Tootsie Rolls and $5:

 Colton got $5, M&Ms and a new HexBug:

 For our fancy dinner, we always let them drink some kind of soda in "fancy glasses" and I had already purchased a bottle of Cherry 7-Up, so they each got to drink a little of that since it is a McVaugh Valentine's tradition! :-)

 It was a fun evening, even though we steered away from the usual this year.  Next year, we will get back to our fancy, dress-up dinner at home - in the New House!!

How I love my three Valentines!! xoxoxo