First Day Of School

Every time I imagined the first day of school I pictured us getting up, dressed, fed and the house all clean ready to start this new adventure and then...that is not what happened AT ALL. In fact I was more confused than I was 3 months ago when we decided that homeschooling was the way to go this year.

Lets back up to last week. We have been working hard on our kitchen so we can focus on another project when we get home from vacation but the way our vacation falls wanted to start school before then to. I prepped all our books for the first week, gathered any other materials we may need, and started getting everyone on a routine to help me keep the house clean.

It was going great and even better other things were falling into place, working out, eating healthier together, and going to bed at a decent time until Friday. My youngest woke up feeling warm, a little boy I watch had been sick the last few days but its a normal thing for kids to pass around germs. By Friday afternoon the little boy was at the doctor and finding out he had Hand Foot Mouth Syndrome... my heart sunk not that we can't deal with the kids getting sick but knowing it was so close to school. I know it may sound a bit selfish but everyone was getting so excited. By Sunday evening it was confirmed that both my boys had it as well, I feel horrible for what all 3 are going through but happy to know it should be ending soon.

With high fevers (101-104) it was hard to do anything and we were at the point of thinking about postponing but the kids really wanted to start. Late last night I decided to be more flexible and aim for this afternoon. It actually went really well for doing this. I was able to exercise and run before my oldest woke up after 9am and then we went to have a good lunch and shopping for a few more school supplies before coming home and starting.

While it wasn't what I had pictured we did have fun. It had been pouring down all morning so I let them put on their raincoats and we took school pictures outside and then headed downstairs.

Being Silly

Still not feeling great

Ready for School

My boys are 5 and 2, the youngest loves to do whatever big brother does so it makes teaching a little easier. We started with the Pledge of Allegiance and then our Sonlight Core A curriculum and Hands On Homeschooling age 2. All in all we got home at 12:15 and done with school by 1:45. While having to be redirected frequently it did go smoothly until I went to start gathering tomorrows books.

Who would have thought that I could do okay for day 1 and freak out about day 2 when all I was trying to do was organize. I blame part of it on our printer ink not working in our printer because after so much research people were saying to just copy the pages which makes sense to me but a little overwhelming that I didn't do it before now. Then I realized that the math wasn't included in the schedule and started freaking out how to integrate it. Really not a big deal but yet lack of sleep (I was to excited to sleep) and putting extra pressure on myself to make this flow seamlessly I realized I just needed to blog about it.

Well first day of kindergarten and preschool completed and that is a huge success in itself. As soon as I figure out a rhythm I'll let you know and if you have any advice or tips especially for organizing please comment. Guess I should get to cleaning and making dinner.

Weeks 6-10

Yep when we started this project we were one of those people that thought we could get it done in 4 weeks... It is week 10 now and there is still quite a bit to go. Ok ok so we did take a couple weeks off after getting the cabinets installed due to outside things getting so busy and the house needed attention in other areas but lets start back at week 5/6 installing the cabinets.

It really only took a day to do the uppers until we decided they weren't good enough and started from scratch. Unfortunately our helper of the day was headed on a trip so we did it ourselves but it wasn't as bad as we feared. We learned a lot from the first attempt and YouTube became our best friend.

Lowers were much harder because the floor wasn't completely level as well as the cabinets, ESPECIALLY the lazy susan. It came together but the lazy susan was our hangup all the way until the counters were installed.

We also constructed our own kitchen cabinet, from a vanity, for under the sink. It turned out pretty slick and may be our favorite area in the kitchen. My husband used 2x4's to make the base and because we have a vent in the floor made an opening. I think we have more airflow now than we did with a straight vent.

Despite not having counters we moved the appliances back in to make a more functional kitchen! Sooo wonderful to feel somewhat normal. We even hosted a lunch for about 20 people the day before the counters were installed. It wasn't the easiest but we made it. We also finished the under cabinet lighting in time.

Counter tops were installed in less than an hour it took a bit of getting use to, we never saw an actual sample before we ordered. We loved it but didn't know if we loved it with everything else...that was until the backsplash started. It gave us another push to get things done.

Ok so this was a total of 9 weeks. We finished up most of the backsplash but still no plumbing. We wanted to make sure we had another pair of eyes so we waited until my dad could come help. It is truly just finish work now but we know it needs to get done otherwise it will be a long while...

Weeks 2-5 of Kitchen Remodel

The first week of demolition went pretty good with only a few hiccups but when we got to the underlayment and subfloor this last week it has been miserable. The subfloor definitely needed replacing especially after we got the underlayment pried up.

It took a week to lay the subfloor mainly because we had to be careful with the open sections. We have learned a lot about the different ways to construct a house. Some builders use rafters as duct work for return air. To know that in 1962 the standard was nailing your 1/2" subfloor while now they recommend screwing at least 5/8", yet knotted wood was not preferred and now your plywood is chalked full of them.

He found a gap to spy into the basement

The following week was installing can lighting. Started out only going to have 6 lights and ended up with 8. The recessed lighting helps give a taller ceiling effect  with such a long narrow room it needed it. This is the week our new fridge arrived :) It may be sitting in our living room waiting to be plugged in but we all can't wait to get it in the kitchen.

Late night of wiring lights

Lights in and drywall down

We did end up taking almost a full day break from the kitchen to work on other parts of the house. My parents came and helped us put jacks in the basement. Someone before us had cut out some major support pillars causing the house around the stairs to sag. It is very nice to know we don't need to worry about that any more. Dad also helped add a few extra outlets. I say a few but on one wall there had only been one behind the fridge and now we have 4 more on just that wall!

Now the kitchen is insulated! 

Mom also helped me work on the flowerbeds, something that would have waited until next year if not for her. I keep them cleaned out but the drought last year killed all of the bushes in the front. I like the looks of annuals but don't want to mess with buying something every year just to dig that same hole and replant it. I found some gorgeous perennials and split up our lillys that were large. In the end I still used some annual flowers in our large pots and my mom did some around our trees but we didn't spend an arm and leg on them and they look very nice. In fact our entire flower bed and a few plants out back ended up only being $65 and bought about 20 plants.

Week 4 was putting up the drywall. Very time consuming but really brought the room together. Mudded and sanded many times, painted the ceiling and walls. Very exciting since much of the week was consumed with graduations, showing property, writing offers, work, and kids.

We had great little helpers

Painted, all but 1 wall luckily it will be covered with cabinets and backsplash. Next time 2 gallons of paint needed.

Week 5 has been hard, stormy weather daily which is not ideal for mixing thinset let alone carrying in the hardyboard.

Here is a sneak preview of what we did for the rest of week 5 and beginning of 6:

 Cabinets arrived on May 21! A day of excitement especially for the boys who made forts while we installed the contents.

Until next time...