The Kitchen

Well, it's been silent here on the blog for a while, but it's not because we haven't been up to anything. We've been doing a lot of unpacking, learning the ways around the city, making friends, and the biggest thing keeping us busy has been house renovations. 

I knew when I first saw pictures of this house that I would have to do a lot of things to make it feel like a place I wanted to live. It wasn't my style, I didn't like the colors....or the wallpaper, but I was convinced by others that the house had good structure and I'd be able to make good changes to the house to make it our own. And it was selling for really cheap, so we'd be able to put some money in and update the house and later sell it for more. 

One of the biggest projects has been the kitchen. I'm pretty sure this room will never be done. Initially, I thought we'd have it done in a couple of weeks, but we've learned that house projects will always take longer than you think. So, the kitchen is not close to done, but I thought I'd do a quick post of the progress made thus far. 

In the beginning: the first two shots are the walk-through of the house before we bought it. The current owners were working between Florida and Kentucky and as far as I can understand, using this house as a middle stopping point/storage area for things as they were working on moving to Kentucky. When we first saw the house, it was a huge mess and not really being lived in- no couch, only one blow up mattress, no semblance of a home, which made it really hard for me to be at all interested in living there or trying to visualize people living there. 

The first thing I needed to do in this kitchen was to take down the wall paper. It was a small floral print with a top border of baskets. The day we did the paper work and the house was ours, I came home and started pulling that off. If you look carefully in the below picture, you can see small helper Ezra. 

The wallpaper came off pretty easily, only to reveal layer number two of wallpaper, a larger floral pattern, no border. I almost liked the second layer. If it was brighter and just used as an accent wall, I think it could totally work. But as an entire kitchen, not so much. So, down it came as well. To get the wallpaper off, we: first, used a tool that made little holes in the wallpaper; second, sprayed the walls with a mixture of vinegar, water and lemon juice and let it sit for 5-10 minutes; third, used a putty knife to help scrape off all the wallpaper. 

Once all the wallpaper was off, we were left with bare drywall. They didn't paint before they put the wallpaper in. Peter was super bummed when he woke up to see the walls like this. He told me, "I don't like that brown color for the walls." Well, neither do I buddy.

The next step at this point was to scrub all of the wallpaper glue off the walls. Even though the wallpaper was off, the drywall was really rough due to the dried on glue and we knew it wouldn't work to paint over it. Taking the glue off was not super hard to do, but it did take a decent amount of time and was fairly tedious. We used the same mix of vinegar, water and lemon juice and sprayed the walls again. Then Jonathan ran the scraper along the wall from the ceiling to the wood paneling, kind of like a squeegee, to get as much of the glue off as we could. Then he'd wipe the scraper, and run it along the wall a few more times before moving along and continuing the same way along the entire wall. I went behind Jonathan with a rag and a new clean mix of vinegar and water and scrubbed the wall, rinsing the rag frequently. Eventually we were done with that part and we were left with brown drywall and brown wood panel.

Next step, painting! Here is where things finally started looking up. The first step was to prime the wood panel. I wasn't sure exactly what color I was going to have on that part, but I knew it wasn't going to stay brown. Jonathan and Peter went to work and primed that, and it made a world of difference just having that part lightened up. 

In the middle of painting, Jonathan pulled this wood piece off from above the sink and took out the florescent light. I'm still deciding on a light to go over the sink, but having the scallops gone and a straight line in it's place is great.

Somewhere along the line of painting, I also took the popcorn off the kitchen ceiling. I figured if the place was already a disaster area, might as well take a bit of time and update the ceiling. I borrowed a tool from a friend that is a scraper with a frame underneath it that allows for a bag to be attached, so when you scrape the popcorn off it falls right into the bag! I had to change bags frequently, because it gets heavy quick, but overall, the cleanup afterwards was minimal. So, I scraped and Jonathan and I sanded and wiped it down for painting.

The ceiling is still a work in progress. I primed it this week, but the paint started peeling off in some places?! Jonathan scraped the peeling parts off and sanded down the edges and wiped it down again so I could paint it the next day. The next day, the edges of where he sanded were peeling more! AHHH! So, we will try scraping and sanding once more and see if the peeling stops of if we have to do something more intense. 

Also, during this time I decided to go with my gut and do white wood paneling and grey drywall. I went back and forth quite a bit, but I love the result thus far! It looks soooooo much simpler and clean. Everything still needs another coat of paint, but it's getting there!

So, that's where the kitchen is at present. Hopefully we'll get the ceiling figured out this week, and get it painted. Once it's painted Jonathan will put in a new light and we'll move the table back in the kitchen. I still need to paint all the doors in the kitchen, and do second coats of paint on all the walls. Then, at some point, I'll tackle all of the cupboards- they are also going white, potentially dark blue on the bottom cupboards?? Still very unsure of that, but I saw a picture of someone's cupboards that did it and it looked awesome. We'll see how adventurous/worn out I get. 

Nelson Review- Moving Is Our Life

Ok, so clearly, blogging has fallen to the side lately. Our lives have been busy and lots of changes are in the works/have just happened, so here's an (ideally) condensed version of what we are up to and what's keeping us busy.

- Jonathan has a new job working at BCA (Bicycle Corporation of America)! He started working on 10 May. It pays better than his last job, has more time off (he went from 4 holidays to 9!), and he gets to be home more with the boys (new hours 7:30-4:00). The company is 49% Chinese owned and 51% US owned. So, Jonathan gets to go to China 3-4 times a year. He was hired as translator/whatever else they decide for him to do.

Ezra the firefighter
(We went to a park when Jonathan had his first interview with BCA) 

Peter climbing cypress tree roots at the same park

- Nelson Family Beach trip! After three days of Jonathan working at BCA, we left for a week for the NC Outer Banks. It was a little crazy getting ready for the trip since Jonathan was gone and I got really sick- high fever, achy and super sore throat. I was supposed to be packing for the beach and for moving. Instead, I laid on the couch and made Peter get me more blankets. I'm pretty sure Peter and Ezra survived on graham crackers and apples for a couple of days. Ha! But, we made it through that week and got rewarded by a beach week! We got to see lots of fun things, hang out with family, and spend lots of afternoons on the beach.

Ezra, Jonathan, Peter and Robin and the Bodie Lighthouse

- We're moving again! The new job is in South Carolina, about 2 hours from where we are now. Presently, Jonathan drives down at the beginning of the week and stays with some friends and comes back on Friday. Hopefully soon we'll get down there too....which leads to....

- We are buying a house! Short version- a lady from church's daughter is moving to Kentucky and they are trying to sell their house fast. They hadn't even listed it, and they are selling it for less than it's worth. It needs some work, but it has good bones (and a nice backyard, which we've been needing) and I think we can make it really cute. It took more to convince me to buy it than it did Jonathan, but it's really happening. We hope to close in the end of June. But, we hopefully get to move in within a week or so and just rent from them until it closes.

- Peter is getting eye surgery mid-July. Our current eye doctor is still in our insurance network and we'd rather stay with him than have to start over getting to know a new doctor. So, we'll drive up and stay with my parents a couple of days for the surgery. He'll have the surgery and then 4 days later he'll have a post-op appointment. It's an out patient surgery, and I'll try to write a post about that in the future.

- Ezra has started talking more! It's still at the parent understood level, but he's getting more and more words! He says, Mama, Dad, dog, apple, up, help, bubble, shoes, a word for plant/tree- but it doesn't sound like plant/tree, and a few more. He signs- more and please.

- Robin- I started working for a cool company called Tinkergarten. It's a nature based learning class that meets once a week for 8 week seasons. I was hired to be a Tinkergarten teacher! They have great curriculum and send me all the materials I need for the classes. I get to bring my boys with me to classes. We go and explore and create things outside. It's super fun and we love it. I have to recruit kids to come, but the company does lots of the other work. I started teaching, but then Jonathan got the job and with being sick and packing and crazy life, we canceled the classes here and I'll get going again once we get moved down to SC.

Ezra making stone soup

Peter and his potion

- I just asked Jonathan what things were happening in our life, just to check and see if I forgot anything. He laughed and answered, "Everything is happening."

It's crazy, but we feel like we are progressing and that all these big changes will give us a better life. We are excited to move and to be able to see Jonathan more everyday. I'm excited to be able to paint the house any color I want. The boys are excited for a backyard- we've been telling Peter for about a year that we can get a dog once we have a yard with a fence...and he has not forgotten that. It's crazy, but it's good. Onward and upward.

40 Acre Rock in the Rain

"We are taking a picture and we are happy about this hike!"
- Dad to complaining Peter and fussy Ezra

Two weeks ago, we decided we needed some adventure. We needed to get out of the house and get outdoors. We went to hike 40 Acre Rock. We've gone a couple of times before and we've loved the hikes each time. It's very family friendly and has lots of interesting areas. This time around, we met up with my brother and his family. They did the upper trail and we did the lower trail and met on the rock. It was the perfect weather, and we were one of the only ones on the trails.

"Mom, take a picture of my leaf."

Peter braved the huge hill that he couldn't conquer last time.

Little hiker

"Mom! I found a dung beetle!"
Not quite, but still cool. 

This tree has a mouth...

Nelson family 21 Jan 2017

We got to the rock and had a little picnic. The rock is not actually 40 acres, but it's pretty huge. We ate and talked about different things we could see. We got in touch with Andrew and met up with them after our break. We all went down to one of the waterfall areas and let the kids play and run around for a bit. They had a good time playing and it was so nice to just be outside.

Ezra and Robin, picnic on the rock. 

Jonathan and Ezra at the small waterfall

Cousin party!

 We knew there was rain in the forecast for the afternoon, so after letting the kids climb around on rocks and go "fishing" in the stream, we gathered up the kids and parted ways. Peter was an awesome hiker this whole trip. It was about 2.5 miles round trip, and he walked all but about 15 minutes of being carried. He was a trooper. On the way back, we saw another trail that we hadn't explored before. Jonathan said, "What do you think? Should we check it out?" I said, "I don't know, it's supposed to rain soon." His response, "What's the worse that will happen? We will get rained on. Not a big deal. We have jackets and I have a rain jacket for Peter. I think we should check it out. We don't have anything else going on today." So, we did. We took the path less traveled.

We found a tree that was eating its trail marker.

 So, of course, it started to rain. And you know what? It wasn't even that bad. Our jackets did a great job of keeping us pretty dry. Ezra was in the carrier with a rain guard, and Peter looked like a little gnome in his (Jonathan's) rain jacket. I was a little nervous because we didn't know how long this trail was, and I knew the boys were reaching their limits. The rain got harder, and we got a little wetter, but we saw some cool things, and we will definitely do this hike again on a clear day. There was a cool bridge, and a bamboo grove, and a really cool overlook area of a marsh.

Little one hiking in the rain.

Rainy, but beautiful. Please note, Ezra's small foot poking out.

Gosh yes. We live in a beautiful world.
Jonathan says it looks like the dead marsh from the Lord of the Rings.

It was a great adventure. It was so nice to get outside, and it was great to have a free weekend where we could do something. Hopefully we'll get a few more hikes in here in different seasons; I'm banking on it will be beautiful when it's green! Here's to hikes, even ones in the rain. 

Tiny Dancer (Peter Does Ballet)

In December, Peter started talking about doing ballet. He'd run around, spin and jump crazy and frequently ask if he could do ballet. We aren't sure what sparked this interest, but he kept asking about it for over a month (which is like a year in kid time), so we looked into it. Peter's cousins did ballet last year, and there is a lady at church who teaches at the ballet school. I talked to her about it and she told me who to talk to. We didn't look into it too hard or talk about it too much because we were also looking into a job that would have taken us a few hours away from this area. So, I didn't want to get Peter excited about doing ballet and then not be able to do it. The job didn't work out, so I called the ballet school and got Peter signed up for a trial class.

We decided to do ballet for two main reasons. First (and biggest reason) was because Peter wanted to do it. Second, because boys get free tuition at this particular school. Free weekly activity...yes please. Other side reasons include- Peter is super social, so this gets him out around other people; he will learn some rhythm. He will learn how to listen and follow directions, and ideally he will be a little more coordinated.

Stretches

He's been going for three weeks now. The first week, he was a little nervous because, "What if I don't know the other kids?" I told him he didn't know the other kids, but that we could go and meet them and then he would know them. We got there, learned some of the kids' names, and his teacher's name, and then he was totally fine. When he got out of class, I asked if he wanted to keep doing ballet and he said, "Yes!" I asked what he did in class and he replied, "I did frog jump. But I didn't do everything the teacher said." Haha, at least he was honest. The second week, he told me he did everything the teacher told him to do....improvement. Peter's class is an all boy class. There are about 8 little kids (age 3-5) in his class. Peter and one of the other boys started at the beginning of January, and I think the others have been going since last August (ish).

Shark stretches

Peter's third week (this past week) was parent watch week, which meant I got to go into the room and watch Peter and the other kids, and get some pictures and little videos. The school does these watch weeks once every semester. All the other days, the kids go in and parents stay out. They have learned the kids do better when their parents aren't present.

So, this past week, I got to see what Peter actually is learning in class. It was lots of fun. We all sat in chairs along the mirror and the boys went along like normal. Ezra did awesome and he sat in my lap the whole class. (This was a miracle. He usually sits still maybe 5 minutes. Maybe he just liked watching Peter.) Class started with a bunch of different stretches. The teacher (Miss Becca) does a great job with the kids. She made the class fun and you can tell the kids like her and listen to her. After stretching, they practiced marching to the beat and marching for 8 counts. Then, they did quiet feet, frog jumps and leaps. Peter's favorite are the frog jumps.

Peter's face! Sooo happy.

After those things, they played freeze dance for the last couple of minutes. Peter has some great moves!

Peter has fun going to ballet. The other kids are fun and he gets some energy out. His teacher says he's catching on quickly to the things she is teaching, so he'll catch up to the other kids soon I think.

I tried adding videos to this post, but I can't figure it out, so here's a link to watch them: https://goo.gl/photos/3EGLrVpEka2yHNYU8

Peter Turns Four

Alex, Ashton, Gabriel, Lisa, Vivian, Jim, Ezra, OdaLisa, Natalie, Julia, Jade holding Adaline, Amelia, Robert and Peter peeking in

We celebrated Peter's birthday the same day as the snow day. I was a little worried on Friday that we might have a really low turnout due to the coming storm. But since we didn't get too much snow and it didn't ice the roads too bad, everyone was able to make it! Both sets of grandparents were there, Uncle William, Peter's NC cousins with their mom, Natalie, and some neighbors that Jonathan invited earlier that morning. 

We played a quick game of pin the balloon on the birthday poster, then opened presents, ate cake and played. Peter had a blast playing with the other kids. It was a little crazy, but overall it was a fun little party. It reminded me that kids don't need much to have a great day. They don't need everything matching or a huge present or anything crazy. They need love and a happy home. 

The circle of presents

I love Julia holding Ezra in this one, cousin love!

When I first asked Peter what kind of cake he wanted, he said, "Chocolate." I asked what kind of shape he wanted and he responded with, "Circle. Oooo, and I want sprinkles on top!" I almost prompted him to do something else, when Jonathan stopped me, "If he wants a circle cake, let him have a circle cake. I'm sure he'll ask for harder things in the future." Good point, good husband. So, we were set, chocolate cake with sprinkles on top.

Then, when Jonathan's parents were in town, I told Peter to tell OdaLisa what kind of cake he wanted. He said chocolate circle. Then, Jonathan's dad, Jim said, "Peter, you could have a castle cake, or a train or..." and just like that, the circle cake with sprinkles was out the window. Peter tends to work in extremes, he's either in a great mood or terribly sad, or he knows exactly what he wants (like Batman for Halloween) or he is incredibly indecisive. He took the indecisive route with this cake. Every color, every flavor, every shape and changing on a dime. He finally settled on a blue train cake with half strawberry and half funfetti cake. Peter and Jonathan decorated the train with a little guidance from Google, other's train cakes and me. I think it turned out pretty awesome.  

Train cake for the win!

Blowing out the candles

For his birthday, Peter got an aircraft carrier, some cute (handsome) clothes, a Nemo scrubber for baths, a couple of books, a circuit building set, magformers magnet building set, playdough, and some peanuts. Jonathan got him this Snap Circuits Jr (affiliate link) but I'm pretty sure Jonathan actually bought it for himself. I was a little hesitant at first, but it has turned out to be a great activity for them to do together. It's a set that has a base and lots of different pieces that you can fit together to make a circuit that turns on a light, or a fan or make a little alarm go off. There are a bunch of different directions that tell how to make the things work. It's pretty cool. Peter is still to young to really do it by himself, but he loves doing it with Dad.

Building circuits with Dad

I've seen a couple of friends do these little surveys with their kids each year to see how answers change and how kids grow. So, we decided to give it a go with Peter. Here's the results. 

1. What is your name? Peter, Peter Benjamin Nelson
2. How old are you? I don't know
3. When is your Birthday? It was next week...wait I already had my birthday
4. What is your favorite color? Green and Orange
5. What is your favorite food? Dough that's not cooked
6. Who's your best friend? Eloise 
7. What is your favorite song? (sings) We all live in a yellow submarine
8. What is your favorite animal? Triceratops
9. What are you scared of? Nothing
10. What makes you happy? you, just you (then he snuggled up to me, extra points)
11. Where's your favorite place to go? Restaurant (I asked- which one?) all of them
12. What do you want to be when you grow up? Worker- building houses
13. How tall are you? (he had Jonathan stand up and he stood up next to him) Dad is large, and so I am medium. (then he made Robin stand up next to him) Mom is like my size. You are medium. So I am medium. 
14. Who is the smartest in your family? me and dad
15. Who is the cutest in your family?  Mom
16. Who is the funniest in your family? Haha, Dad
17. What is one thing you want to learn how to do? Maybe driving
18. What does Dad do for work? Get money.
19. What does Mom do for work? You don't work! (he later clarified that I don't go to work...slightly better)
20. What is something Mom always says to you? Clean up
21. What is something Dad always says to you? Go sit in time out

Snow Day!

On the 7th of January we had a snow day! It was not a lot of snow, and it didn't last too long, but we enjoyed it while it lasted. On the day's leading up to the 7th, we were getting weather warnings of a storm that could drop 4-7 inches of snow. Then, the night before, they were calling for 3-4 inches, and the day of they were calling for 1-3 inches. We got about an inch, and the trees were covered in ice. We were grateful for moving from Utah because we are snow prepped! Hats, gloves and snow pants for everyone! 

Ezra checking out the snow

This bear hat belonged to Jonathan when he was little.

Bearded burglar 

Bundled Baby

It was pretty windy for the first bit, so Ezra didn't last too long outside. Then he went back in with Jonathan's parents who were visiting us for the weekend. Jonathan, Peter and I went exploring in the empty lots on a street over. Eventually there will be houses there, but until then, we treat it like our backyard. Everything was covered in ice and if you were really quiet, you could hear it all creaking. I stood still for a moment and let Jonathan and Peter go forward and just listened. It was neat.

Peter and Robin 

Jonathan and Peter

It only snowed for a couple hours, and stayed on the ground for a couple of days after. Jonathan doesn't miss the Utah snow at all, but I do sometimes. It was fun to have some snow for a day, even if it was just a dusting.

Ezra Turns One

Andrew, William, Peter, Ezra, Robin, Jonathan, Christina, and Peter
Singing Happy Birthday, Ezra was uncertain about that.
(Not pictured- my parents and Aunt Debra) 

Ezra is officially one year old! We had a really low-key celebration for him on his birthday (31 December). I've been sick for a week, we have been trying to figure out housing things and life has been crazy. Good thing he's one and has no expectations! It's been great to have Ezra as part of our family for the past year. He is a delightful little guy and we love him. We first opened presents. Ezra did not understand this at all, but with a little help from Jonathan and Peter, he got them open.

Ezra and his new broom! He loves it. 

Ezra loves brooms and vacuums. He gets mad and will cry endlessly if I vacuum or sweep without letting him help. So, he got his own little broom so he can still help me and I can actually get things clean! He might end up getting a little vacuum in the future. 

Ezra's new shoes

Ezra got some new shoes- he's worn through his pretty good, and these ones have a little thicker sole, so they will hopefully be a little better for keeping his feet warm and safer when he's traversing outside. He also got some cute new clothes, some little treats, a soft little frog, and some dinosaurs.

Ezra's conquering face

Fruit pack for birthday!!

Ezra Loves
- Food: but only on his terms. He does not like to be fed food. He wants to hold the fork or spoon. It's messier, but it's the only way he'll eat. He likes to eat most everything. He loves those little applesauce packs, sandwiches, pasta, fruit, cooked carrots, squash, anything with meat in it, beans....pretty much everything we give him, he will eat.
- Climbing....everything. He has learned how to climb onto chairs and has made it onto the table twice. Going up stairs is a breeze (still slow going down). If he can hold onto it, he'll try to climb it.
- Dogs, we've been living with my parents for the last couple weeks, and they have a dog, Lucy. Ezra loves Lucy. For the first week, he would squeal any time he saw the dog. He follows her around and if she sits down he tries to sit right next to her.
- Being thrown in the air or spun- this always makes Peter a little nervous, even now, but Ezra loves is! He laughs and laughs. If he's sad, give him a couple tosses up in the air and he's back to happy.
- Peter: Ezra loves his brother so much. It's fun to watch them together. Ezra is starting to get agile enough to wrestle back and play a little rougher. Give him another year and I think he'll outweigh Peter and be able to take him down pretty easily!
- Baths- always an adventure, and now that he is steady, it's easier to bathe him and he loves splashing and playing with bath toys. He got a little octopus toy with little rings for Christmas, and he loves that.

Ezra's not a baby anymore!

Peter, Jonathan and Ezra playing with the new dinosaurs

Peter playing a lively game of "keep the balloon in the air"

Ezra Dislikes

- Being told no, or not being allowed to climb things or get into things

- Diaper changes- I'd forgotten how much a small body can twist until recently. 

- That's about it, as long as he's had sleep and is fed, he's pretty happy

- Cuddling- he still doesn't cuddle a ton, only when he's just up from a nap he'll lay his head on my shoulder when we're walking, for a minute, sometimes if he's tired. If you try to lay down with him and snuggle in bed, he'll just pop up and try to crawl around. On rare occasion, he'll fall asleep nursing and I'll just hold him curled up for a bit because I never get to hold him in my lap like that.

Abilities

- Walking, sometimes really fast

- Climbs 

- He has a good pincher-grasp- can pick up things with finger and thumb

- Still 6 teeth

- Usually only wakes up one time at night

- Babbles a ton, but not many real words yet. Says Mama and Ez (we don't know if he says that to mean himself or just likes the sound)

- Understands lots of verbal commands and questions- no, sit, want some food?, come here, etc

- We started teaching him some sign language, he knows food....of course, and working on please, thank you, more and all done.

Birthday cupcakes

After Ezra opened presents and the boys played for a bit, we sang Happy Birthday to Ezra and had some cupcakes. The singing was my favorite part. Ezra just sat really quietly and stared at us. He was very uncertain about that. But, once he had a cupcake, he was totally fine with life.

Slightly concerned with the singing.

Jonathan showing Ezra how to blow out the candle.

Devouring the cupcake!

We sure love Ezra. He's a good boy full of smiles. He loves us and is always happy to see Jonathan when he comes home from work. Ezra is learning more every day! Happy Birthday big boy!