Milestones

We had a whirlwind weekend of not only getting ready for our kitchen demolition but more importantly celebrating Corbin's 6th birthday! He really wanted a Birds of Prey or Raptor birthday party. We also knew that having kids at our chaotic house this weekend was out of the question.  We investigated having the party at a bird rescue center, Sardis Wildlife Center.  They had not done one before but said we could use the picnic tables outside after a tour of the birds. He was ecstatic! Since it was outside, we were hoping for no rain... we didn't get so lucky.  But typical PNW kids, they all took it in stride, with the help of two tents, lots of umbrellas, and a big tree we more than just survived. They had a blast! 

Tour of all the birds. 

Sometimes you just can't do it all... I had to give up making the cake. This was a first but it was just too busy. We got the cake at Haggan and brought them some birds and it turned out GREAT! 

Then on Monday, they celebrated Corbin's birthday a day early so it wouldn't conflict with their graduation. I was able to go in and help out before work. It was so sweet.  

Corbin made this sweet card for his teacher, Mrs. Abbott. 

ooops, it upside down! 

Then on Tuesday it was a whirlwind of a day. Birthday day, last day of kindergarten and graduation! Corbin was excited about his new books; including a birding in your backyard book and nature journal...and we also entered the world of computer games and got him Mindcraft. He was super excited! 

Writing in his new nature journal at the bus stop. A mama deer and 2 babies crossing the road. 

Last day on the bus!

Kindergarten graduation! He had such a GREAT year! We are so proud of him and what he has learned this year. So much reading, writing, math and how to be a good citizen (Super Silver Hawk!). 

Graduation!

I got a little teary watching him walk in and then watching the sweet slide show Mrs. Abbott put together of the year. 

One of his best friends, Lucy. 

Mrs. Abbott was GREAT!

Wow, it was a whirlwind! but we have a first grader now! And a 6 year old. How is that possible. We love you Corbin Dean!

Make-shift kitchen

The kitchen is empty and ready for demolition. We have set up our make-shift kitchen but have not yet worked in it. I am sure there will need to be adjustments. Our living room/dinning room, guest room, and mud room are still disasters with items that need to find homes but I think we are almost there!

Dinning room/pantry/microwave area

Pantry & dishes

Dishwashing and coffee station 

Prep area

Will it all work?

Fridge!

                 Adam will start the major demo tomorrow with a friend. Then my parents come to help out with the rest. Can't wait!

Whoa, kitchen remodel!

Whoa, a blog post! We are hoping to get back to blogging through our summer project, a kitchen remodel! Good bye orange cabinets. Good bye rolling dishwasher. Good bye sticky gross linoleum. Good bye old outdated counter tops. And good bye wall between dinning room and kitchen!! Good bye all of it! 

And the most exciting part. We are not doing it ourselves! We will demo it, starting next Thursday and then a contractor will do the rest! 

My mother in law helped me start packing today. It was so nice to get things in boxes and start to set up our temporary kitchen space.  Thank you Susan!

Good bye orange cabinets!

almost empty cabinets

Almost 30 boxes of stuff and we have a few more to go!

The beginnings of our temporary kitchen space. 

Put away all the knick knacks and McSweeney's books to make room for food and appliances. 

Good bye rolling dishwasher and yellow floor!

The sink will stay in the same place under the windows

Taking down the shelving in the entry way. 

I have been wanting to take everything out of the entry way and clean it, we unfortunately won't be able to update this space yet but we won't be going in and out of here, so we have to move all our shoes, jackets, hats, etc. So I also cleaned out a hall closet that I have also been wanting to clean out to get ready for all our entry way items. It feels so good!

Can't wait for Thursday. First we have Corbin's birthday on Tuesday, last days of school for Adam and Corbin, and Corbin's kindergarten graduation.  It's going to be busy!

Snow day!

Last year we had almost no snow, so for us, this snow is a nice welcome! I know almost everywhere else in the country is sick of the snow but I LOVE it! Yesterday we were teased as it snowed wet snow all day with no accumulation.  Then this morning, we woke up to this....

Then it just continued to snow big wet flakes all day!  Started the day off right with blueberry pancakes then off to our friends to sled on their big dead end hill.  When we arrived back home, we had 6 inches and it just kept coming!

Bamboo forts. 

sledding with our friends and neighbors. 

snow fort in progress. 

No school for anyone tomorrow! I love snow days. Mostly because we have so much fun playing in it that we get little else done. So tomorrow will be a nice day to catch up on what we didn't get done today. AND, hopefully play a little more. At the end of the day we had over 9 inches of snow! The kids will sleep well tonight!