Here's a slideshow of the past 10 days of our lives.

1. Ronnie decided to rip out the old chain link fence on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It poured all weekend. We have a dog, so the new fence had to be finished on the same weekend.

2. Ronnie had to finish a bathroom to accommodate 17 Thanksgiving guests.

3. Ronnie had to put up a new wall around the new fireplace, texture and paint it.

4. My mom and I had to clean up the mess made by all of these last-minute projects. Sheesh.

5. I'm tired and I don't plan on making Thanksgiving dinner again for a very long time.

Big Sink, Little Buns

Couldn't resist sharing.....

Fireplace

This post is about the fireplace, a 5 month project. Here is a picture of our living room on the day we moved in. Wow. Ugly. Focus on the white painted bricks and the weird wood burning stove insert where there used to be a fireplace.

Many, many hours of labor went into the time between the above image and the below image. Way back in the summer Ronnie and my mom had to first remove the wood burning stove...no easy task. Then a few weeks ago Ronnie and his bro had to demo all of that brick on the wall and the bench. Ronnie slept for 13 hours straight the night they did that. In this picture they're removing the old fireplace insert that was too damaged to use.

Who is going to lift this out?!

A broken back and a gouge in my new floor brings us to this stageThe work between the above picture and the below picture is unknown. When Ronnie started cutting drywall to make the new insert fit, I left. Ellie and I went in the family room and watched Cake Boss. Next thing I know, Ronnie has a fire burning in our living room!

Here's Molly, "chillin' by the new fire" (her exact words)

Now, any ideas for a mantle or brick or stone work?

Halloween Weekend

Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we went to Oma's Dairy Farm & Pumpkin Patch with our friend Radana and Baby Natalie. Man, we live REALLY close to a dairy farm! (How did that happen?) Also, will someone tell me why it's 90 degrees in October, and we froze all summer long? It was SO hot but the kids had a good time. Ellie wrapped her little legs around me for a good portion of the day, or whenever there was an animal within 20 feet. Happy Fall everyone, and here's dreaming of some nice fall weather. Please, oh please, don't let it be 90 degrees on Thanksgiving Day.

Our Weekend Trip

We had to go to central CA this past weekend to deliver an ultrasound to a customer near Pismo Beach, so we decided to make a family vacation out of it. (Pretty cool side note: when Ronnie arrived at the doctor's office he discovered that my parents sold them all of the equipment in their practice, about 10-12 years ago. She loved my dad, and sought us out for another purchase after all this time.) True to form, we were supposed to leave at 3 a.m. on Friday, but ended up having to wait for FedEx and didn't get out of the office until 2 p.m. (Nothing has changed in all these years! Kids sitting in the car waiting to go on the business/vacation.) Needless to say we sat in LA traffic for about 4 hours. Smart thinking on my part......we brought our Nanny with us. :) Molly and Ellie are obsessed with hotels and pools. Poor Nanny had to go in the pool and it was FREEZING! Was it worth it, Emily?! :) The best part about this is that I didn't have to go with Ronnie on the install of the equipment. So glad those days are slowly making their way out of my life and into Ronnie's. Then on to Paso Robles for shopping, eating, a little wine tasting, more eating, swimming, more shopping, eating.

Family Room

Here are some After and Before pictures of the family room. It's still not done....we need an entertainment center, the black slider is on its way out, the lighting isn't done, shelving in the toy room, etc) but it sure looks WAY different than before!

(there used to be an extra kitchen in the little room behind the couch)

(there was a half wall jutting out hiding the wall where the large picture is hanging, the the wall where the large picture is hanging used to be a bathroom door.)

Yes, this was an extra kitchen/laundry area. WEIRD! We obviously tore out the kitchen, moved the laundry to the garage (boo), replaced the windows, removed the half wall on the left, and closed off the bathroom door opening into the family room (it now opens in the guest room so guests have a private bath.) We turned the old 'kitchen' into the toy room.

Yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck!!!! Hard to believe that it's the same place.