New swingset

Our backyard typically has a bit of a....problem. A mosquito problem. So bad that you can't even spend any time back there without getting bitten immediately.

So what did we decide to do? Put a swingset up back there, of course!

(No...actually, the mosquitoes haven't been too bad yet this year. And if they do come, we're armed with some yard spray we're hoping works.)

Anyway, so I braved my way over to the neighbor's house. He had a wooden structure, what we could call a ghost swingset (similar to a ghost town). He moved in a year ago or so and his kids are in high school and are too cool for a swing set, so I thought I'd mosey on over there and ask him if we could take it off his hands. He said yes, and when I offered him payment, he said we could have it, and the sooner the better because he's hosting a graduation party and wants the room.

Well alrighty then :)

So Kevin's dad came over one day and hauled it to our house.

Colin found an inchworm on it.

We cut off the rope ladder that lead to nowhere but trouble but kept the climbing rope and the slide.

 

We took the baby swing off of the tree and put it on.

Kevin added a longer beam and we bought a swing for Colin, and Kevin's dad bought a steering wheel. (I asked Colin to steer his steering wheel for this picture, and he said, "But it doesn't go anywhere!")

We put some rocks underneath so Colin could play with his trucks (sand = kitty litter box for the neighborhood felines = yuck).

The boys really enjoy using it!

So thanks, neighbor! Not bad for the cost of a couple of swings! Oh, and that loaf of beer bread I've intended on baking for our generous neighbor.

Future expansion ideas: replace the baby swing with a two-seater seesaw, perhaps add some rings or a trapeze bar to the beam behind Ben's swing...the possibilities are endless.

New Entryway

In August, we used some curriculum money I had earned over the summer to transform our entryway into something a bit more organized and useful than just a dumping ground and a pile of shoes.

Before:
(The teeny tiny shoe shelf was broken because Colin sat on it).

After:
All supplies from IKEA.

Buckets: Knodd $29.98 for both
*One for each kiddo, and I'm thinking I might get some vinyl lettering to put their names on their buckets, once Snowflake has a name :)

Hat rack: Tjusig $29.99
*Kevin and I hang our coats up on the hooks. I was a little disappointed in this product because it's not quite long enough to screw into studs in the wall. So Kevin had to use some leftover laminate we had to make a backboard. Those Swedish measurements...

Hooks (we bought 2 sets...one for each kiddo): Tjusig $19.98 for both
*I might put vinyl names on the wood part of these hooks too.

Shoe bench: Tjusig $79.99
*Worth EVERY penny, because Colin can actually sit on it and all of our shoes fit!

Total: $159.94 + tax

We LOVE this so much more than our old, ghetto set up.

Basement mini-makeover

Up until a few weeks ago, our basement got little use since it was sparse, cold, and hard. We didn't spend much time down there. With Christmas and the inevitable growth of toys upon us, we decided to fix it up so it would be more inviting for us to play and hang out down there. We didn't to spend a lot of money because it's temporary and, well, we don't have a lot, but I think we did a pretty good job!

The walls had been damaged by moisture before we had working gutters (the previous homeowner drilled holes into the gutters for who knows what reason). Kevin scraped off the damaged paint with a wire brush. Before carpet, it was gray concrete floor. We got a big remnant for a good price, and Kev and my dad laid it down with carpet tape.

My co-worker/art teacher friend Amy helped me decide what color to paint the walls. We went with Georgian Bay by Sherwin Williams. We used SW's online color visualizer to come up with a coordinating color, Navajo White. Once I started painting the white walls, I realized they already WERE Navajo White. I put on a very quick coat of it on, not worrying about covering the entire area. I'd like to either buy a vinyl decal or have Amy paint something on a wall, but for now they're just blank.

Here are the before-and-after comparisons

As you're coming down the steps. My mom gave Colin some foam floor tiles for Christmas and they almost fill in the concrete part.

Bottom of the steps looking to the left. The laundry room, bathroom, and storage room are down that hallway. I'd like to buy a plastic magazine rack to hang on the wall by the little table to store coloring books in. Some day we'll get a little table and chairs to replace the IKEA end table and hand-me-down camping chair :)

The treadmill :)

The future TV/couch area. Once we get our big TV fixed, we'll move our small TV down to this corner. My parents graciously offered to give us an old loveseat they have just sitting around. Kevin would like to enclose the stairs and have a TV mounted to the wall someday.

Now we spend a lot of time in the basement "cooking," "camping," building, playing trucks, fixing things with tools, riding four wheelers, and just running around or dancing to music. It's not our dream basement by any means, but for now it's a dream come true for Colin and us!

New living room

Living Room Before. Note the analogous boringness that is the previous homeowner's work:
Living Room After. Kevin was dying to rearrange the furniture, so we seized the opportunity:
Entryway and Hallway (my favorite is the hallway):
Paint colors are Rainwashed and Jasper by Sherwin Williams.

I'm slowly accepting the dark color. I LOVE how the light color contrasts with the woodwork and doesn't make it look nearly as "yellow" as it did with the yellow walls. In fact, I might actually be tempted to say that I LIKE the woodwork now instead of despise it's beechtasticness. And look how the tile in the entryway matches the light wall. I didn't even plan for this, but love.

Weekend nursery progress

We got 3 of the 4 jobs we planned on doing this weekend done.

#1: Install new extension jams. This didn't happen because we're having a stain issue. The maple of the door is different than the maple of the extension jams. Thus, even if we use the same stain that the door was stained with, it looks different. Not only does it look different, but it also looks...interesting. So Kev and his mom, the professional stainer, are working on that.

#2: Install new door. Check! Love it.


#3: Assemble crib. Check! Love it. FYI, in case you care, the brand is Babi Italia, and the model is Classic Eastside Single. The side doesn't drop down, but the springs can move lower as the baby gets bigger. It can also be converted to a toddler bed by taking one of the siderails off. We don't have the mattress yet (see next numbered list below), but I did put the crib skirt on, and the deer and squirrels on it are now locked up behind bars.


#4: Prep diapers. Check! Here they are after 4 wash/dry cycles with some ALL Free and Clear. Notice the difference between non-prepped and prepped!


We also went to Babies R Us and discovered a few things:
#1. We're pretty sure our car seat is being discontinued, and will have to choose another one. Not a big deal, but still...ARGH.
#2. Same goes for the crib mattress.
#3. Nothing we've looked at beats the Dutailier glider.

And...since I had my camera out, I took a picture of the Spring Chicken onesie I got at the GAP a few weekends ago. It's just way too cute not to share:

Let there be light! and other fun stuff

We've had quite the productive, baby-filled weekend!

On Saturday, my parents came up here. My mom and I split off to do our thing, and my dad and Kev stayed here and did theirs.

The boys stayed busy crawling in the insulation-filled, sloped attic all in the quest to install the wiring for a ceiling light in the baby's room. See, none of the bedrooms or the living room in our house have overhead lights. They were just never installed. Hence, everything is light by lamp. It drives us batty. Today Kev and I went out in search of a light and found 2 of them for $20 at Lowe's. We put it up, and now the baby's room has some decent lighting. 1 room down, 4 more to go (eventually...)! And whenever the time may be to install some more wiring, we already have a light ready to go! The boys also ripped the shelves out of one of the closets and the trim off the window in the baby's room. A little deconstruction for some future reconstruction.

Meanwhile, my mom and I ventured across the border to pick up the crib at Babies R Us. After spending quite a bit of time there, we headed to Jessica's house to see Nolan. We had fun holding the sleepy little guy, and it was fun to see Jessica, too of course! The knitted afghan that is pictured in last Thursday's post is one I knitted for Jess and Nolan. My mom quilted a, hmm...let's call it a "floor quilt" for Nolan. It's just the right size to put on the floor for him to play on and roll around on some day. It was fun to hand over our handiwork :) My mom also had her first time experiencing using a Boppy. The next time I will hopefully see Nolan is in mid-March when he's 5 or 6 weeks old. I'm sure he'll look different even in that short amount of time!

After my mom and I got back, we all stuffed ourselves silly at Famous Dave's. The baby really wanted barbecue. It was delicious and hit the spot.

Oh! And one of my co-workers owns a doppler machine, and she lent it to me to use. I whipped it out yesterday so my parents could hear the baby's heartbeat. I think they thought it was pretty sweet.

This morning, Kevin and I went on a mission to look for a glider/rocker for the baby's room. We hit up 5 different furniture stores, hoping to find something that was a little less expensive than the Dutailier I had previously scoped out:

(Ok, not sure if this is THE model, but it's the colors I want it in). It has a multi-position locking lever, which I think is fabulous.

We were hoping to find something that we could use in the future that didn't look so baby nursery-ish. Two places had La-Z-Boy press-back rocker-recliners, so you could rock with the back reclined and your feet on the floor instead of up on the footrest. And, of course, you could pull the lever and recline with your feet up. I'm not sure how much I'd use that feature anyway. However, they weren't any less expensive than the Dutailier. The advantage to buying a La-Z-Boy is that it doesn't look baby nursery-ish when it moves to the family room (which, in reality, doesn't exist yet) someday. So, we're undecided about what we want to do, and we're back to the drawing board to do some weighing of options. Needless to say, our time is running out before baby comes, so we must think rather quickly, especially if the chair needs to be specially ordered.

Anyway, we got a lot done and I'm happy to be home lounging after walking around all day yesterday and today. Getting in and out of recliners today trying them out surely didn't help matters.