Bathroom Remodel - Part 1 aka What the he!! are we doing?!

Demolition on our master bath started Thursday. Saw jaws, sledge hammers and so much noise I thought on several occasion that we made a bad decision starting this project with an 8 month old who naps twice a day and 3 year old who naps in the afternoons. Amazingly both of my children napped right through it. Seriously, it sounded like a freight train all day. Anyway, lots of tear down continued through Friday. The kids and I went to visit Nana in Albemarle for 5 days while the noisy stuff was being done. Here are some before and "after demolition" photos.

Before: Bathtub and walkway
After: Walkway and bathtub
Before: Tub
After: tub
Before: ToiletAfter: Toilet and closet. My closet was next to the toilet. My closet and the toilet were ripped down and my new closet will now be the toilet plus my old closet. The toilet gets a new home altogether. I will email more pictures as progress continues.

Fun in July

Just some fun pictures I took of the kids last week. Grace loves her princess shoes and truly believes that she is a professional dancer while wearing them. Here, she is holding a horse that plays music...terrible music. However, it is good enough to dance to- apparently.
Grace loves playing with the older neighbor girls, Lauren (6 yrs) and Elizabeth (5 yrs). All three of them have birthdays in July...July 11th, 13th, and 14th. Crazy! Isaac loves the attention he gets from the three girls- seriously, this could be a problem down the road in a few more years.
My little computer nerd.
The kid LOVES to eat- just like his daddy.
See what I mean?

Rachel had her baby!

Robert Phillip Powell (Bobby) was born on Friday, July 18th around 3:30 pm. He weighed in at 8lbs 2oz and was 20 inches long. He is perfect in every way. Mommy and baby are doing well and are at home getting to know each other from the outside. Bryan is taking the week off and is going to do his best to assist and support and sounds like he is doing a terrific job already. Grace and I are so anxious to meet Bobby! Welcome and congratulations little guy- Rachel and Bobby
Bryan and his dad, Phillip, holding Bobby.
This photo of me and Isaac at the beach was entered into a photo contest. Kinda neat. I'll let you know if it wins anything!

Sunset Beach Photo Day

While at the beach I dragged the family out to the beach one evening for a photo shoot. My brother, Nana, Sid, the kids and I got all dressed up in our blue, white, or khaki and practiced our best smiles. It was so windy that the water was blowing off of the ocean...nevermind the sand. Our photographer was coming in from Myrtle Beach where the winds were calm. She couldn't believe our weather just a few miles north. She had never shot in winds like we were experiencing and offered to do a re-shoot, but we were all dressed and ready to go- so we did it. We didn't get any wonderful family shots, but there are still some great photos.

Happy 3rd Birthday Grace!

What a big day Grace had for her 3rd birthday. She awoke to the song of "Happy Birthday" and cinnamon rolls. She had been asking me every morning last week if that day was her birthday, so she could hardly contain herself when she came downstairs to a special sign and lots of balloons. She got a candle in her cinnamon roll and wore her tiara all morning. We then went to Crabtree Mall for her party. We had pizza, salad, breadsticks, cake and lots of sugary drinks. We played "Life Is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts over and over again, and made sure the birthday girl received extra attention- which of course was a challenge b/c the bday girl had already been borderline smothered in attention the entire weekend by all of the family who had made the trip to celebrate with her. We then took the party to Build-A-Bear in the mall where the kids each chose an animal to create. They had a blast. Finally, after the parents could take no more, it was time to go home and open gifts. Grace received some wonderfully thoughtful gifts and most everything was mother approved. Sid and I got her a bicycle with training wheels. We thought it was going to take her a couple of days to get the hang of it, but no- it took about 10 minutes. She is now a professional and Sid is training her for the Tour de France. We are blessed to have such a precious daughter...and as the mama I can say it is so bittersweet to watch her grow.The night before my mom and I spent 5 hours creating a Lightning McQueen birthday cake for the princess. Pretty darn good if I say so myself. I couldn't have done it without my Mom. She did the hard stuff.Princess Grace blows out her first candle for the day. Grandma, Nana, Aunt L, and Uncle Will store up on energy for the day. Later, they were glad they did.
The party animals- literally. Spencer, Grace, Hayden, Miss Betsy, CJ, and Isaac.

Daddy with the babies. Only one of them is ours. Just an FYI.
And like her father, Gracie can put down some icing.
Grace blows out her candles...and then wants to eat them. Seriously.
My cutie pie.
My other cutie pie.

The party-goers cooperatively stand to have their picture taken.
Again, cooperating.
Isaac and Grandma. Isaac spent a good part of day scoping out other babies. He did not want to be held.
CJ attacking the photographer.

Cruisin' on her new wheels. Fortunately the bike doesn't have a banana seat, so she won't be pickin' up her 9 yr-old crush up the street.

Isaac's Dedication

Phew! What a busy and joyous weekend! Grandma Rossan and Uncle Will flew in to celebrate Isaac's Dedication to Christ on Saturday, the 12th and Grace's 3rd birthday on Sunday the 13th. Nana and Aunt L drove up from Albemarle to celebrate as well. We all had a wonderful time together sharing these very special occasions. Isaac was so good for his dedication. He even let our pastor, Jeff, hold him during the ceremony. Grace loved being on stage and all of the extra attention. It meant so much to have our family there as well as lots of friends. How blessed we are to have our precious baby Isaac and we continue to pray that he will grow to know and love our Lord. Pastor Jeff holding Isaac during the ceremony.

Grandma with the grand-babies.
The Mitchener brothers with the rugrats.
Our little family.
Me and my babies.
Family photo. Sorry Will. There was only one other option and your mom's eyes were closed and Grace was hiding her face in Sid's chest.