School's Really Out For Summer!

July 21st was the boys official last day of school from the Summer Learning Program. 

The boys had such a great time working on different things throughout the program. 

They each built a solar powered cricket and a habitat for it. They came up with all kinds of ideas for epic parks. They had a chance to take apart small appliances that weren't working anymore. They made slime and battery powered cars. 

They did a lot of hands on work and use problem solving skills! 

I'm so happy they are finished though! I think it was harder for me to have them go...I really just wanted to have no schedule....so unlike me! I think it's because we've been so swamped with this remodel that I just wanted more free time to go and do with the kids. By the time the boys got home though we didn't really have enough time to go and do anything before it was time to start getting ready for dinner. 

I'm really looking forward to letting the kids sleep in and just getting to do whatever we want...when we want! I want to take advantage of the short amount of summer vacation we have left. 

Boat Rides, American Ninja Warrior & A Mermaid Necklace!

The kids have been thoroughly enjoying the pool this summer. They keep thinking of different games to play to keep it exciting. 

We have these two big buckets that we use to store the yard toys. The kids thought it would be fun to see if they could use them as boats. It worked best for Zeke since he's the lightest kid. Jack could actually pull him around and it wouldn't get swamped and it would tip over very easily either. 

Owen kept trying to get it to work, but it would always end up tipping and the flooding with water. 

Ahhhh......man overboard! 

Jackson didn't really like using the buckets as boats. He wanted to make his own American Ninja Warrior obstacle course. We had let the kids stay up until 9pm the night before watching it for the first time and they all LOVED it. It was so fun watching them get excited and cheer for people. They'd also get sad when someone fell in the water. When it was approaching 9pm we let them know that this guy was the last one they were going to get to see since it wasn't going to end until 10pm. By this time in the competition no one had finished the whole course. We luck would have it this guy made it all the way through and the kids were so thrilled. I mean Ella was laying on her back kicking her feet in the air she was so excited! Now Jack is sure he's going to be an American Ninja Warrior some day. 

Ella loves to pretend she's a mermaid when she's in the water. Jack found this cute shell that had a hole in it and he wanted to make a mermaid necklace for her. We got some pretty colored ribbon and threaded it through the hole and Jack presented her with the necklace. 

Sometimes Jack can be the instigator of issues in our house, but he also has such a great heart! 

So proud of her mermaid necklace! 

Boat rides, obstacle courses and a mermaid necklace.....just another day at the Martin household! 

Swollen Eye!

On Thursday the 14th I was outside with the kids...we had been picking raspberries and then they wanted to play hide and seek. That didn't really last very long because honestly there really isn't that many places to hide outside. I went in and was in the kitchen doing something when I heard Zeke coming down the stairs crying and saying that his eye felt funny. I hugged him and looked at his eye. I could tell his lower eyelid was swollen a bit and his eye was super watery. As I held him I could honestly see it swelling before my eyes. Also I noticed what looked like a water blister on the white part of his eye. That's when I called his Pedi and left a message for the nurse. When she called back she informed me that they didn't have any appointments left for the day. I knew right then that we were going to the ER. 

Zeke had gone off to lay down since he didn't feel good.

Poor thing looks pitiful! 

I called Michael and asked if he could come home early so I didn't have to take all 4 kids to the ER with me. Thankfully it wasn't really all that early so he was able to come home. When he got home we went up to check on Zeke and he was OUT...I mean Michael was blowing raspberries on his cheek and he wasn't waking up. Right after he told me his eye felt funny my first reaction was it was his allergies. So I gave him his rx allergy meds. They have never made him tired like this before so I think it was just the whole situation!

I finally just picked him up and he woke up a little bit. I strapped him in the van and told Michael that we were going to Mary Bridge. He wanted me to just go to the Children's Urgent Care in Federal Way since we know they opened at 5pm, but I told him when I took Zeke there to get stitches and the urgent care wasn't open I just didn't get a good vibe about the place. I love Mary Bridge and that's just where I feel comfortable taking our kids. 

There was traffic so it took us a while to get to the hospital which was nice since Zeke was so tired. He was out the whole trip there. 

Of course just like always we were taken right back. 

Zeke wanted to eat, but I wasn't sure if they wanted him to eat. I called the nurse since he was almost crying. She told me that he should wait until the Dr came in. Thankfully the Dr came in shortly after that and said it was fine for him to eat. 

Yay for fig bars!!! A second Dr came in and said this is super common. He most likely got something in his eye or on his hand and then rubbed his eye and he's having an allergic reaction. She was also concerned about my eye so she checked it out and gave me the all clear. She sent rx eye drops to the pharmacy there at the hospital. After we were discharged we went right there and found out they didn't have them in stock and would have to order them. I asked if they could transfer the rx to Fred Meyer's because I didn't really feel like driving all the way out to Tacoma the next day to pick up a rx. They said they could, but I would need to call Fred Meyer's and have them call Mary Bridge. While I was talking to the pharmacist at Fred Meyer's I found out that they didn't have any in stock either. Then she called later and said that the eye drops he was prescribed were actually discontinued. Talk about ridiculous! 

After we got home I had to call Mary Bridge back and let them know what was going on. The nurse took down the information to give to the Dr so she could call in a different rx. Thankfully by the time we got home Zeke's eye was already looking so much better. He was also so alert! On the way home was so talkative! Complete opposite of what he was a couple hours before. I did give him some Benadryl to help at bedtime. 

The next day I got a call saying the dr called in a new rx. I also got a text from the dr checking on both of us!!! So caring! I went and picked the rx up after our trip to the zoo and I only had to put them in his eye twice! The nice thing is we have them now and I'm sure they will come in handy sometime in the future. 

Bathroom/Laundry Room Reveal!

On Monday July 18th exactly one month after demo day we actually had a functioning bathroom/laundry room again! Hallelujah! 

In the last post I showed you the view from the living room toward the bathroom. On Monday I moved the coat tree into the entryway. It really feels like that's where it should have gone the whole time, but with the bathroom door where it used to be it just didn't work. 

One of the requirements for the new bathroom was that the towel hanger be mounted low enough so the kids could actually....crossing my fingers...hang up the towel! I also love how there is that extra bit of room for the stool to be on the side of the sink instead of in the front. I can't tell you how annoying it was to have to straddle the stool when I needed to wash my hands in the old bathroom. 

I was also able to move in some of the normal bathroom stuff like the garbage can, toilet brush and tissue box. It's starting to look homey! 

The ironing board was also in it's new home! 

And now for the best kept secret.....

I got a new washer and dryer!!!!! 

Aren't they lovely! 

At one of our many, many trips to Lowe's a few weeks before Michael was looking in the plumbing section and I was browsing the appliances. Lowe's was having awesome sales! I knew that we would probably need new machines soon. The ones we had were almost 11 years old and the washer had been leaking. I was sure that Michael could most likely fix the leak, but it worried me that it might start leaking again and then mess up the hard work we just finished. Of course I asked Michael and he just told me to buy it. He's not very helpful when I'm wanting someone to talk me off the ledge! I was talking it out with him and he told me I didn't have to justify buying it to him. At first I was going to get them in white because they were $50 cheaper a piece in white. Michael told me to get what I wanted. I wasn't sure if they would look good with the tile so he told me to go get one of our tiles and check. Oh my goodness I put the tile down and I loved it! The above picture is what I sent to my Mom on our way home from the store. 

They ended up not having one of them in stock so they couldn't deliver them until Tuesday the 5th which actually was fine by us!

On Sunday after grouting we started moving them in. Michael was super nervous about this part. There had been a few things along the way that had been super close to fitting and some things that didn't fit so this was stressful for him. 

Michael had already had to fix the placement of the dryer vent because he accidentally measured from the wrong side so the vent was off. He's so amazing though he always figures out how to work around things like that! Such a problem solver! 

Then it was on to the washer. Here is where things got a little frustrating. Michael installed 1/2 inch water lines for the cold and hot, but that wasn't the size for the hook up we had for the washer. Since the Lowe's card is in my name I ran up to the store and tried to find the right thing. This was the second time I almost cried during the remodel. I was frustrated because Michael was frustrated. I felt helpless because I couldn't locate the right thing we needed and I didn't feel like I had any support because the only plumbing guy I could find at Lowe's was this super old guy that honestly just made me angry every time he tried to help me. It was the only time I went to Lowe's and actually walked out with nothing!!! Michael ended up going back and finding what he needed and he just paid for it with our debit card and not the Lowe's credit card. 

The main reason I wanted this particular washer and dryer was because of the Activewash feature. It has a built in wash board! Coming from someone that has 4 kids and used to have front loading machine without the capability to soak clothes.....I'm so ecstatic about this feature!!! I actually saw this machine for the first time at my friend Starr's house and I fell in love right then and there. 

On Monday I got to wash my first load. I washed towels and I used heavy duty so it used hot water...you can see how the top got all fogged up. One of the things that makes me smile is when I turn either of them on it does this little chiming song and I feel like they are singing to me. It's the little things! 

One of the funny things is when I went to dry the towels I opened the dryer and found the manual and then I found a box with a water supply hose in it. I read in the manual that we needed to connect the dryer to the cold water supply line. I was so confused! A dryer connected to the water! I thought maybe it was a fire suppression system just in case. Then while I was on the phone with Michael it dawned on me....my dryer has a steam cycle and it has to make steam from water. So cool!!! 

My laundry basket cabinet is doing it job! I love that I have clothes all ready to be washed but no one would really know unless they pulled out the baskets! I don't have dirty clothes spread all over the floor! 

My cabinet above the washer has all the washing supplies. 

The cabinet above the dryer has all the ironing supplies, floor cleaner, rags and some Windex. 

The cabinet over the toilet has extra toilet paper, garage bags, sunscreen, baby powder, flush-able wipes and baby wipes. 

Now for the before and after photos! 

My dining room before with my laundry closet! 

My dining room after with the built in cubbies! 

The entryway before with the cubbies in the closet and the door to the bathroom. 

The entryway now....no closet and a new placement for the door. I took this picture before moving the coat tree. 

My bathroom before...the view from the entryway. 

My view of the bathroom now from the entryway. 

The inside of the old bathroom. 

Old location of the sink. 

New location for the sink. Honestly the sink didn't move all that much. It's almost in the exact same place it just move a few feet back. 

The new view....the toilet is right where the old door to the bathroom used to be. 

And again the beautiful view of my new washer and dryer! Ahhhhh!!! 

Now there are still a few more cosmetic things that need to be finished....shelves to be hung, decoration put on the wall and a curtain needs to be sewn for the utility garage. All in good time....of course I'll post when those things are finished! 

On Sunday when Michael was installing the trim outside the bathroom I said to him....."You did it again...you made another one of my dreams comes true!" He's such a wonderfully amazing husband and I'm so thankful for all the hard work and sleepless nights that went into making this new bathroom/laundry room possible! 

The Rest Of The Story!

Even though the kids were home we still had a lot of work to do in order to finish the bathroom. We decided that it would be hard for the kids to come from having free reign of pretty much everything and having to jump right into a schedule so....we let the kids have an extra week of electronics galore. They got to watch and play as much as they wanted too. It kept them busy and gave us the time we needed to work. 

On Monday night Michael was able to grout the tile. Again on his knees for at least an hour! He loves me....he really loves me!!! 

I picked a gray grout color....I love it! There was no way I wanted white...come on I have 4 kids! It did dry a little lighter than this and that was just fine! 

On Monday while Michael was at work I went ahead and fixed my mistake of painting the entryway the wrong color. I also painted the pink on Ella's wall and then went to paint the brown. I opened the paint can that Michael had put in her room and the color looked a bit lighter. I figured it would dry darker, but then about halfway through painting I realized that no....no it was not the right color at all. I decided to just keep paint since the primer was white and we were going to a darker brown so this light brown would be a good primer as well. 

I took this picture and then jokingly sent Michael a text that said.....I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that's not the right color!!! 

On Tuesday I got a fire under me to rearrange our master bedroom. Because of the door that went into Ella's room it made it impossible to have our room any other way. After almost 11 years living in our house I was so excited to try a new layout! 

Here are the before pictures for our room. Our room is huge, but the only way we could position our big King size bed was on that wall so it was right there when you walked in the door. 

The bed really does take up a bunch of space. 

Here was the window side of the room. There was about 5 ft of space from Michael's side of the bed to the dresser, but that space was really just lost because it was on the other side and you couldn't see it. 

Now when you come in our room you walk right into open space! The chair is right inside the door, but it's so small it really doesn't feel like it's blocking anything. 

Here is the view of our bed from our bathroom....look at all that floor space! The white area on the right by the nightstand is where the door to Ella's room used to be. 

I moved the dresser to be under the shelves with all our wedding memorabilia. The white area on the wall in this picture is where the laundry hatch used to be. Now I just need to save for a new bedding set and then we can figure out what we are going to paint the walls!

I wasn't sure at first if I would like the bed in front of the window, but because I was able to center it I really do love it! 

Since we've been working so hard on the inside of the house we had totally neglected the outside. The lawn hadn't been mowed in over a month. I knew that this wasn't going to be anything Michael would have energy to do for a long time. So it was time for me to get busy. I had to call Michael to find out how to use the weed eater and then I was good to go. First I had to put gas in it and get it to start. Then I had to weed eat, then I had to put gas in the mower and then mow. I ended up having to mow without the bag on because the lawn was so long it was choking it out. After mowing I had to rake the lawn clippings into piles and then put them in the mower bag and dump them in the compost area. After doing that I ended up having to weed eat again and then mow again this time with the bag on. I had to do that for both the backyard and the front yard. It was 2 hours of hard hard work! 

Since we'd been inside so much I was so surprised to see how our garden had really taken off. Thankfully the weather had been a little on the wet side so I hadn't had to worry about watering the garden. Since I chopped into our Yucca plant to make more Yucca plants this year I was sure it wasn't going to bloom.....I was so surprised when I saw these stalks growing a few weeks ago and then when I was working in the yard they were just starting to bloom. I love Yucca blooms! 

Our Hostas had really taken off as well. This year we had SO many more blooms than we've ever had! 

I also planted a couple sunflower seeds around the yard and it's just shocking to me how well they do. This one over by the tree stump I kept forgetting about and it just kept right on growing! 

These two are actually in my garden and one of them got damaged, but it's still just reaching for the sky trying it's hardest to grow! 

The lawn looked so nice being mowed! I'm sure the neighbors were happy as well! 

By Wednesday I needed to do some laundry! We hadn't been able to get the washer and dryer hooked up because the tile was taking longer than expected. We had read that you have to wait 72 hours after grouting in order to seal the tile and we couldn't move anything in the bathroom until the tile was properly sealed. Ugh!!! So it was off to Ga-Ga & Pa's to do laundry! 

I picked up the boys from Summer Learning and we went straight to Ga-Ga's. I figured we would be there until around 6:30, but we ended up being there until after 8:30! 

The day before when I was mowing the lawn I hurt my eye really bad. I was bending over picking up grass clippings and putting them in the mower bag. I was right next to my Yucca plant and I was focused on the clippings. When I bent over one of the palms from the plant went under my glasses and right up into my eye. It hurt, but I was able to finish the lawn. Later that night my vision was off, but I figured it was because I was tired. The next day it hurt really bad and looked awful! 

Here was my attempt at a selfie showing you how red it was. When I picked up the boys at school earlier that day it was fun showing the kids and having them freak out! The next night when I took Zeke to the ER....that story is coming in a separate blog post....the ER nurse wanted to look at my eye and she gave me the all clear. I was pretty sure I was fine since my vision hadn't been impacted since that first night and it was getting better. It was still nice to have an opinion from a professional! 

Since we were at Ga-Ga & Pa's on Wednesday night I told Michael to take the night off...he needed a break. Thursday was his birthday so of course he wasn't going to work that night. We don't really make a big deal out of our birthday's....it's just another day. I did make him a homemade chocolate cake. The funny thing is we both thought he was the wrong age. For some reason I thought he was turning 35 and he thought he was turning 37....he's turned 36! I guess our brains are showing their age! 

We sang Happy Birthday, but Michael vetoed the candles! 

In order to have some actual family time Michael has taken off a few Friday's. It's nice to have a long weekend here and there. On Friday we took the kids to The Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium....yay for taking advantage of that annual pass. I was trying to think if we've ever gone to the zoo together as a family. I've been lots with friends, but I think the only time we've gone as a family was when Jack was a baby and we went to Zoolights. So this was our first official time at the zoo as a family....separate post coming for that as well! 

Sometime during the week I did go to Lowe's and I returned the sealer that Michael had gotten because it wasn't the right kind. I ended up finding this spray on kind that get this.....can be applied as earlier as 2 hours after you grout! Ugh!!! All that waiting to grout for no reason! I ended up sealing the grout on Thursday so we were ready to get things moved in once that was done! 

On Saturday morning we went to Lowe's and bought a new toilet! Since Michel broke ours on Wednesday night while he was checking it out! 

Oops! 

I honestly wasn't mad at all...in fact when he texted me I started laughing. Stuff happens and it's not the end of the world. I figured we'd end up spending around $200 on a new one, but we ended up spending only $88! We got the cheapest toilet that Lowe's had. Not because I was being cheap, but because it fit all the criteria I had for a toilet. First off I hate elongated toilets...I want a round one. Secondly I don't like chair height toilets either. I want it to be standard height. Only two toilets met this criteria. One was $149 and the other was $88. The more expensive one was only 14.22 inches high and the cheaper one was 15.25 inches. I decided I'd rather have a little more height. Who knew you could think that much about a toilet! 

And here is said toilet! I think it's so nice and sleek! I also love how Michael tiled the top of the pony wall! The nice cabinet above the toilet was something I picked up for free. I was helping my friend Kara unload her car for our MOPS rummage sale and I knew this would be perfect for over the toilet and she told me to just take it. I took it right over to my van! So yes I made it so MOPS didn't make a little bit of money, but then when I bought something later on at the sale I paid $5 more since I felt bad about it! 

We also got the sink and the mirror in. The funny thing about the sink was we realized that after 11 years we've had the pedestal for our sink on upside down! It never really fit in there, but it didn't really bother us we figured the mold form for the sink and pedestal were off or something. Now when you sit on the loveseat in the living room you can see right into the bathroom and you could see how awful the underside of the sink looked. We were trying to figure out what we were doing wrong and then it dawned on us to flip it over. Ta Da! Seriously....you learn something new everyday! 

Saturday was also the day to put the tile up for the back splash....aside from getting the color on the wall this is something I was SO excited for. I love that tile! The night before I spent forever laying out the tile and trimming it trying to get it just right. We figured we would measure and then take the tiles up to Lowe's to have them cut, but I when I woke up that morning I looked up a few things online and found out since they were glass mosaic tiles we could actually cut them with glass tile nippers. So you guessed it....off Lowe's I went! 

 

Michael handled the tile for the floor, but this was something I really wanted to do myself. He did apply the tile adhesive to the wall and he also cut some of the tiles for me, but for the most part it was all me.

I absolutely love how it turned out! 

On Sunday after church Michael started the grouting process...he said this mosaic tiles was such a pain to grout because there were SO many lines that went all different ways. Thankfully it was just a small section. We both have said that when we remodel our kitchen we are not doing a mosaic tiles for our back splash....we will probably go with something more classic like a subway tile. Straight lines please!!! 

The little area to the left of the sink is the utility section of the bathroom. The cabinet is for the ironing board, broom and mop. Then there is the steam mop and vacuum garage. I will eventually be sewing a little curtain to hide them and there will also be two shelves above them to hold all the vacuum and mop attachments. 

Sunday night the bathroom became an official bathroom with the installation of the door! This felt like such a huge step! 

Michael also installed the hooks in the cubbies and the trim around. Other than a coat of paint on the trim this area is finished!!! 

Now you might thing that we really had everything all together.....check out our garage! 

It looked like a hardware store vomited everywhere!!! 

Paint, tools, tile, tools, plastic, tools, doors, tools...did I mention tools? 

See that door laying down...that was the door we took out that led to Ella's room. I ended up taking the door knob off that door and putting it on the bathroom door. I did that all by myself. I did think I almost locked myself in the bathroom at one point, but still I did it by myself! :) 

There has been so much stuff outside in our driveway I'm sure our neighbors think we are super ghetto! 

After getting the door up Michael was able to finish up the trim both inside and outside the bathroom. 

Here's the new view from the living room towards the bathroom. 

The final reveal is coming next!