No joke…. yesterday, Ginna opened up the cabinet under the sink and (looking at the P-trap), said “Mom, look! The sink has a “sophagus.” Can you tell we talk about bodies and nutrition around here??

Last Saturday we got Ginna back, and Stan’s family came with her. We had a week full of fun. It is amazing to me that 10 people could share one bathroom and a small house and have such a great time!

We went to Disney on Tuesday. Here are some photos.

Jamey loved the tea cups!

It was my first time at Disneyland. One of my favorite things about it is that there is a place for young children to play rather than stand in lines. This picture is at Goofy’s house. Mickey and Minnie also have houses for playing, and Donald Duck has a showboat. Goofy has a playground in his back yard. This is very nice for our children’s ages!

This is at the top of Donald’s boat.

Jamey loves  a pumpkin.

Ginna and Austin have become best buddies. They are going to miss each other very much!

Jamey was entranced with the parade (and pretty much everything at Disney!). He sat watching very intently and said “MORE SONGS!” at the end.

What beautiful blue eyes!!

When your kids say they don’t want to go on any more rides, you know it’s time to go home!!

In the midst of all the Thanksgiving preparations and celebration, the men managed to get a lot of work done on the house. We also had tree trimmers here yesterday…it amazing how many branches came out of the palm tree! It looks like a different tree.

They took out the old door and put in the new one in the addition. We still have to patch the dry wall here, but here’s a photo of where the new opening will be.

Here’s the new door.

Looking back in…

They also built this around the refrigerator.

The Magic Christmas elf brought Grinch floor puzzles yesterday.

All the kids had matching Christmas jammies.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Honestly, I don’t have any good photos of the windows in our house because they were soooo bad I rarely opened the blinds in our bedrooms. For some reason, these were the worst. So here’s a photo of the removed windows:

Many people in our neighborhood when replacing windows opt to place a wide band around the new window. This is the easy way out….and Stan won’t have it. Instead, he wanted the stucco busted out and replaced around the windows. So the re-stuccoing process remains to be done. Here is a picture of the side of the house with new windows and the back of the house with one old window and one new….you can also see that this side of the house remains to be painted. After we decided to replace windows, we held off on further painting. (Originally, Stan was trying to refinish the windows, which made them better but not enough better. The one in this photo is refinished.)

This guy spends his days trying to contribute to the effort.

Here’s a photo of the addition…it got framed today.

And here’s Ginna’s room with a new window. The finishing remains to be done inside as well.

I’ve been writing a number of blog posts in my head, but none have materialized. Here is a synopsis of recent things.

1. I’ve started teaching music class to both preschool classes at Ginna’s school once a week. We’re working on learning catechism songs by Eric Gilbert. I LOVE this CD…it teaches the catechism and is music I also enjoy listening to!! Check it out here: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=292282246&s=143441 Jamey loves going along. He participates in the youngest class while I teach the 4-5 year olds and then joins in the music class for the younger kids with Ginna. It is amazing to me how well songs teach. I asked Ginna one day last week how God made Adam. She said, “From the ground.” I then asked her how God made Eve. She said, “from a rib from Adam.” My mom was in the car with us and asked Ginna how God made her. She replied, “From a rib from Jamey!!!” Oh, my…she makes me laugh.

2. After 4 weeks with no kitchen sink, we have one. No dishwasher yet…but it is coming. I appreciate not washing dishes in the bathroom anymore. Half of the windows are in, and the kitchen is coming along. Here’s a photo.

3. I am preparing a lecture on world hunger again. Every time this happens, it gets me upset and thinking. Does a child really have to die every 6 seconds from malnutrition? To me, this is simply unacceptable. It makes me want to do something crazy like move to sub-saharan Africa. (No, Mom, I’m not serious….) Seriously, what can a person do to fight the influence of poor trade policies, the effect of colonialism, and the self-serving nature of multinational corporations??? Well, for now, I guess I’ll just have to be satisfied with packing a Thanksgiving meal for a needy family and hopefully teaching our children to love and care for the poor.

4. Ginna is on “vacation.” She flew back east with my mom to stay with Stan’s parents for…..12 days!!! I was really getting nervous about this. Everyone I talked to thought we were crazy for letting a 3 1/2 year old go away for that long. I really thought if any child could handle it, it would be independent Ginna. The night before she left, Stan was putting her to bed and said to her, “Ginna, I’m really going to miss you. Are you happy you’re going?” She replied, “Dad, I’m going to miss you, too, but I really need a vacation.” Seriously?? Could she be more like Stan? She actually asked a few weeks ago if I could get her 3 tickets, so she could go visit my parents, Stan’s parents, and Granny B! We’re on day 5, and honestly, she has been having so much fun with her grandparents, cousins, and family that she hasn’t even wanted to talk for more than a few seconds a day. This time has given me a chance to really enjoy one on one time with Jamey. When I was pregnant with him, I was a little sad that I’d never have a chance to have him as a baby without someone else to care for. I love dynamic of two, but this is fun for a short time (even though he’s not a baby anymore). I feel like I’m getting a little bit of a “Jamey vacation.” It’s just SOOO different with just him. Here’s my recent favorite Jamey dialogue:

Me: Jamey, are you a big boy?

Jamey: No

Me: Are you a little boy?

Jamey: No

Me: Are you a baby?

Jamey: YES!!

Somehow, he still sees himself as a baby. Ha.

5. Lastly, gender has been on my mind lately. For a great sermon on gender, visit www.pacificcrossroads.org. The entire marriage series was FABULOUS… It is great to hear a perspective that embraces the fact that men dominating women (which has very ugly ramifications in every society) is a result of the fall…and that the call of women and men to rule and subdue creation is a joint command. Yes, someone must be “responsible” and the “head” in a marriage….but this does not call all women to submit to all men. This discussion last week in our community group (in which we are the only married couple) was great and made us thankful to be married and to have grounds for applying Ephesians 5. Which leads to….

6. Lastly, we’ve started hosting a community group. We did this in NY…and are so glad to be doing it again. It is good for us, and it affects the kids even though they are in bed during the meeting. The morning after our first meeting, Ginna asked repeatedly for me to tell her everyone’s name and something about them. Then she wanted to read her Bible like we did at the meeting.

I guess that’s it for now!!

Here are some random facts about the past two weeks of renovation and transition into the new kitchen (which is nearing completion).

1. We went for 5 days with no hot water, and 2 days (during the day time) with no water at all.

2. Before the “team” came to work, I tried to cook as much as possible and put things in the freezer…even in a rather destroyed and evacuated kitchen. I made chicken pot pie one night and had to use two forks as a pastry blender and my hands as a rolling pin. Yes, I know stores sell these things…. The night before Stan’s dad and neighbor came, I think I had three burners going as well as a slow cooker on an end table in the living room. The next day I lost the sink. I still don’t have it back…which means…

3. For now, I am washing dishes in the bathtub. Not fun. The worst part is finding an acceptable place to put a clean dish in a bathroom while you wash the rest. I usually shuttle the clean ones to the kitchen and then continue. I should get a sink back on Friday.

4. I am wondering how I ever did laundry once a week in NY when we didn’t have a washer and dryer. I had to go for a week before they were hooked back up…..and I washed 5 loads on Friday. For someone who doesn’t like a basket of dirty clothes to accumulate, this was a marathon.

5. We began hosting a small group for our church on Thursday night. I spent the day trying to get this place back in order…it took all day. I’ve never mopped so much (which I do with a rag and bucket because I think it gets things cleaner than a mop.)

photos to follow….

Things are progressing around here. Stan’s dad and neighbor arrived yesterday and hit the ground running….they’ve been working tirelessly. They spent the first day finishing the demo (which took quite a while) and today started replacing sheet rock and putting down backboard in preparation for laying tile.

Here’s a photo from this morning. Taking the cabinets down and everything out explains why this kitchen was so dirty! Look at these walls!

The kids and I stayed away as much as possible today to protect Jamey’s lungs. He wanted to be in the middle of the work so badly. He got in the kitchen for a few minutes to give Stan some screws.

Here are the walls with new sheet rock….worlds better!

It is incredible for Stan to have some great help!

After almost two years of on and off breathing troubles, Jamey’s doctor is finally calling this phenomenon “asthma.” We’ve had a rough week together….Sunday night he started having really labored breathing. We were up giving breathing treatments and hearing him cough most of the night. We took him to the doctor the next morning, and she gave him a couple of different treatments in the office while listening to his lungs between them. She sent us home with orders to administer SIX treatments a day. We were reminded that the albuterol we have had to give him in the past only dilates his bronchioles but does nothing to reduce the inflammation that is causing his problems. So we are now also giving a steroid treatment to help reduce the inflammation.

The poor little guy gets up in the morning putting on his mask and trying to turn on his machine. He is getting better…but we are looking forward to better breathing in (hopefully) a few days so that we can wean him off the meds. They are making him crazy! I knew albuterol could cause him to be hyper (which it does), but it also makes him get MUCH more upset that usual about little things…and it is making him rather aggressive. Not like Jamey at all…. This afternoon he got desperately upset about the route I chose to take him on a bike ride. I had to stop and sit down on the side walk next to him while he was sitting on his bike screaming for about 10-15 minutes, talking quietly to him to get him to calm down. Thankfully, Ginna was patient with him today!

I’ll have to post some photos…he gave his doll a treatment yesterday!!! He was sure to make sure the mask stayed over the doll’s nose.

Things are progressing around here. We tore out more of the kitchen, including part of the wall and most of the cabinets and floor. We left the sink so we can still pseudo-operate for a few more days. I never imagined the repercussions of taking down a wall in an older house….removing plaster has resulted in what seems to be about 300 pounds of sandy, gravely mess to shovel out in buckets.

Here’s a photo that shows one part of the process of taking down plaster. Behind the plaster was a metal mesh (pictured) that we had to cut through and take down.

Here is a photo of the floor after taking down a small piece of wall. Imagine this much stuff to clean up times 50….from the wall and floor demo, I think that would be about accurate.

Here is the current state of the kitchen.

Here is the new doorway between the kitchen and dining room framed (the new opening is twice as wide as the old one). We’re now in the process of patching and sanding.

Stan was very happy to have me involved in the process this weekend moreso than in the past. More photos to come…..

Have you ever remodeled while living in the house being remodeled? How about an 1100 sq ft house…having to relocate appliances and all kitchen related items in that space? How about with a 1 year old and 3 year old??? It is CRAZY around here! And now Jamey’s daily aspiration is to find a tool and try to destroy something with it. I keep telling him that eventually, rebuilding will start. Then we will build rather than tear down. But for now DEMO is the word. Here are some photos. What is the plan? All new windows, a new room (office/library), and a new kitchen/utility area. As in, we are ripping out the entire kitchen.

This was last weekend…removing the ugly paneled walls from the patio. This has served as a useful playroom, but has been an eyesore….Stan has wanted to tear it down since the day we moved in but I objected. We’ve spent a LOT of time on the patio enjoying the openness to the backyard this week!

This photo doesn’t really show how bad these cabinets are. They are very old, don’t close, have nasty paint and dust inside that can’t be removed by cleaning….really. I can’t wait to remove a pan from a cabinet and not have to wash it before using it.

Here is the existing laundry area. We will add a door to shut this off from the kitchen.

Here is the beginning of the kitchen demo.

Here are the kids trying to pitch in.

Here is one of four loads Stan hauled home…..IKEA cabinets to assemble!

Yesterday, we went to the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station to attend an air show. It was amazing. The kids had a great time (and so did we) watching the planes, parachutes, etc….and going in helicopters and planes. Here are some photos.