Kitchen Upgrades: Backsplash and Table

Continuing the "New Year, Old Projects" post, I'm long overdue in sharing pictures of our kitchen. There were no major upgrades done, but sometimes the smaller ones still make a big difference. 

Here are the before pictures of our kitchen when we first moved in:

When we bought the house we were told there would NOT be a fridge included, it even said so in the contract. But they decided to leave theirs which we didn't discover until after we had purchased a new fridge. We decided to keep the new one since it was stainless steal and matched the rest of the appliances and sell the old one on Craigslist which sold in less than 30 minutes! The unsightly curtains came down promptly, and the peachy beige paint was covered by the same grey that goes through the majority of the house (as seen in the playroom).

For the backsplash, we jumped on board the subway tile bandwagon and I'm so glad we did. Miles did all the backsplash himself. I literally cannot think of a single part of it I helped with - maybe taking off the outlet covers? I also picked out the tile and grout color so there's that.

Obligatory 'during' pic:

And the after/comparison pictures:

Oh hey cute baby. Goes to show how long ago this project was done - MA was 14 months here and not yet walking.

After the backsplash was done, the next project Miles took on was to build a new kitchen table. Our old one worked, but sustained a large crack down the underside during our last move and we knew wouldn't survive another move. I picked a farmhouse style table from Ana White's website and even though I'm sure I took a bunch of pictures of the construction process, I can't seem to find any. But Miles did a great job building it as well as a bench for one side. 

Once he was done I stained it, sealed it, and began the search for chairs. I posted this to instagram and got some pretty helpful feedback:

Sadly, Miles vetoed this style. And they only had two, but I still swoon over these.

I really wanted fabric chairs on the end, but with little kids and a slobbery dog, I knew that probably was a recipe for disaster. I loved option C, and was even tempted to go with a mustard yellow color, but read several reviews of paint chipping. In the end I got the best deal on the metal chairs and they do make the most sense at this stage in life. With a couple of coupons and deals they came out to only $32 a chair and I do love how easily they wipe down.

Picture taken back when Mary would sit in the highchair. Big girl has to sit at the table now with Brabur.

Almost caught up on project sharing; hardwood floors are next. Other than some gardening, we probably won't do many other projects while in this house.

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Finn Quotes; or, His Obsession with Taylor Swift

(these are a collection of quotes I've written down over the last six months or so)

"Mom, because I'm a little sad, I might have to snuggle with you really bad"

...

Listening to radio in the car and "Bad Blood" comes on

"This is my girl Taylor Swift"

...

laughing. . .

"There's something tickling my penis!"

Me: "What is tickling your penis!?"

"It's just a string" (sure enough, he pulled out a loose string from his underwear)

...

Visiting with family back in September. Aunt Jenny was wearing a cute strapless top

"Why is Aunt Jenny kinda naked? She's wearing a dress like Taylor Swift"

...

Me: "You're getting tall. When did that happen!?"

Finn: "When I ate all my dinner!"

...

At the pumpkin patch - Miles was deployed at the time.

"Can we get the biggest pumpkin in the world?"

Me: "That would be pretty heavy!"

"Yeah, we would need to have a superhero come get it for us! We could call one. Or maybe we could call daddy to get it for us!"

...

Driving in the car

"Tell me if you see fast people and I will open my door and say, 'slow down fast people!'"

...

"Mommy, does Mary still need to see Ms Vanne?" (Mary's speech therapist)

Me: "no, buddy she is all done. Ms Vanne was helping her learn some of her words and Mary's talking so well now that Ms Vanne doesn't need to come anymore"

"But she doesn't know Spanish. Can Ms Vanne come teach her Spanish?"

...

Whining and not going to get his shoes which are by the stairs

"But I can't!"

Me: "You can't walk five feet!?"

"I can't walk five feet, I only have two feet!"

...

Radio on in car and we are listening to "Wildest Dreams" by Finn's girl and there's a part she sings, "say you'll remember me, standing in a nice dress. . ."

"Why is Taylor Swift saying to remember me? I remember her"

Finn Selfie after church the other week. Nailed it!

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Microblog Monday: Finn's First Library Card

We went to the library today and I decided to let Finn get his own library card. He's not the greatest about remembering where he puts things or finding things (even when they are in the most obvious places!) so I'm hoping this helps teach him a little responsibility. If he loses the card it costs $2 to replace and I can almost guarantee that will happen and warned him he will need to take money out of his piggy bank if he loses his card. So while I would love for him to actually be responsible, at least there will be some lessons in fiscal responsibility as well if he isn't. He was excited to pick out all his books and on our drive there I told him he wouldn't need me to check out books for him he sweetly asked, "but will you still come with me?" 

Brother carefully looks through and selects which books he wants.
Sister pulls 10 books off the shelf and reminds me why our library trips have been sparse.

Checking out books all by himself.
(And I'm cringing now noticing he was standing on the others!)

Baller.

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New Year, Old Projects

I'm very behind documenting and sharing some of the home improvement projects we (and by 'we' I mean Miles) finished last year. We'll start with the faux wainscoting look he created in the playroom. When we moved in to our house we made the formal dining room our play room. Like the rest of the house, the color of the walls was this peachy-beige that we promptly had painted over. We hired someone to paint pretty much the entire house a shade of grey, the only exceptions are the living room and downstairs bathroom which I painted "Sea Salt" by Sherwin Williams, Mary's room which is a similar light aqua color, and the dining room turned play room which I hadn't decided how I wanted to paint so the painters left that room untouched. But shortly after the house was painted I decided I wanted the dining room (play room) to be grey as well, but that I wanted to only paint above the chair rail and below I would paint white and Miles could create a faux wainscoting look. 

Here's a picture of the room when we first moved in:

The beige doesn't look too bad in pictures, but in certain lights was more on the peachy-pink side

I don't really have any pictures after I painted, but behind the naughty dog you can see that the walls were two toned:

And here are some of the "during" pictures when Miles was measuring out the wood he cut and framed for the wall:

It was a fairly simple project and one I'm so thrilled with because I feel like the room looks like it always was this way. You definitely can't tell that Miles is an amateur as the finished product looks very professional, which is good since I'm neurotic and type A. I  think it makes the room fancier which is nice for when we go to sell/rent the house as it may likely be used for it's intended purpose as a formal dining room, but even if it's used as a playroom again it just adds a nice touch.

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Christmas with Cale

A couple days ago I received a message from the sister of a guy I went to high school with just letting me know that she was thinking of me and Cale and was curious if we had any traditions for him during the holidays. She is not someone I'm close with, but just a really nice and genuine person who has reached out to me several times over the years with kind words such as her latest message. I wrote her back and told her that it means so much, to not only know that she thought of Cale, but that she actually wanted to know about how we remember him and honor him. And even better than just wondering, she took the time to ask. Those people are gold, they really are. I happily shared with her our few traditions and thought I would share them here as well. 

Each year we try to "adopt" a child that is in need off one of the Angel Trees. We try to find a boy who is close in age to the age Cale should be. This year we didn't find a five year old, but did get to adopt a six year old boy who needed clothes. We got him a jacket, several pairs of pants, a few shirts, Star Wars underwear and a Star Wars shirt, and some toys - we got this boy Legos as those seem age appropriate and I suspect Cale would be really in to Legos just as his brother is starting to more and more. It feels good to get to buy for a child in need, but to do so because of our love for Cale. 

Every year when we decorate I pause and wonder if I like the stocking set up. The damn stockings plague me every year and I think I've found something that feels as close to good as it can, but definitely not right. Right now I have four stockings on the mantle with our initials. Then I have a smaller stocking for Cale hanging from a bookshelf with his Christmas name in the sand.  When we put the tree up, I have a little tradition where the first thing that is hung on the tree is one of our Cale ornaments. On Christmas morning I light a candle either next to his sketch (which is always on our mantle) or next to his stocking and leave it lit all day. 

Love this growing collection of ornaments. Three of them are from
my annual Baby Loss Mom ornament exchange - something I look
forward to each Christmas. 

The other thing that I struggle with each year is what to write on our Christmas Card in regards to Cale. I feel like I say the same thing; "we miss him, we love him," but not saying it also doesn't feel right. Last year I didn't mention him in the short blurb, but signed the card, "with Cale forever in our hearts" which is similar to what a lot of my loss friends write and I like that it's a simple, yet powerful way to remind others that Cale is never far from heart. This year I mentioned him by acknowledging that he would have been five this year and also included his Christmas name in the sand on the back of the card as well as a picture of Finn and Mary. It felt like the right thing to do this year and I've learned that I just have to do whatever feels best and brings the most comfort.

That's about it as far as traditions go. I'd love to hear about any you have and hope that the holidays were especially gentle to those of you missing loved ones.

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