Reagan had a Birthday!

Gosh, really my princess looked like this 4 years ago!!! Where has the time gone? Happy Birthday Reagan!! I think she had a good one. We tried our best to make it special, despite all the craziness going on and I think we were successful because she still asks almost every day if it is her birthday.

It all began with a plea for a Tinkerbell cake. She got to pick out her cake mix and everything. Of course, she chose Funfetti, what kid doesn't? :) I was a little bummed because it seems that the cake mixes are MUCH smaller than the last time I used one...which was not that long ago. Gotta love the "economy" ;)
My pics are all backwards, but this mom doesn't have time to change them, so we will start with the end...we had cake and ice cream. Reagan insisted on the piece with the Tinkerbell candle, so I obliged.

She blew out her candles.

Prior to that, we played a plethora of games...all run by Matt! He is the games guy.

A little horseshoes in our "dirty" backyard. Thanks for all the pictures Wayne, he was our photo guy.

Oh man, the tub in the backyard...long story, but basically the previous owner had some sort of pond in the yard, we emptied it and somehow it got left behind after the people we hired had taken everything out. So there it sits.

Happy smiles everywhere! This year Reagan was much less of a drama queen than last. I guess 4 is the age to start doing parties :)

Red light green light, Matt was the light.

Water balloon relay. We like water balloons, Matt always uses some sort of game that way.

I am proud of my little 4 year old! She is growing up to be such a great kid and we are so lucky to be her parents! She is such a patient and loving sister, too.

One of my friends interviewed her 4 year old last year on her birthday and it was one of the cutest things I ever read. I tried it this year but it is really not that exciting. Every answer was pretty much Tinkerbell. Favorite show? Tink. Favorite movie? Tink. Favorite dessert? Tinkerbell. So I won't take the time to post it, but I will probably transfer it to her journal for posterity sake.

Happy Birthday Reagan!

Half Marathon

I ran my first half marathon on June 5th. It was the See Jane Run in Alameda. I wasn't sure how it would pan out. I spend February and March battling runners knee then the last 3 weeks prior to the race battling shin splints. But I ended up doing it and I am so glad I did. I ran the whole time and faster than I thought. I did it in 2 hours, 9 minutes, my pace was 9:53. I loved the feeling of participating in an organized race like this. You get to feed off the adrenaline and excitement of everyone around you. The first 3-4 miles were so crowded, you felt like you were dodging people left and right. Then it started to thin out. I started feeling it around mile 8, but my Gu and gatorade kept me going. Around mile 11, it got really hard. Those last 2 were the longest, but it was fun to race through the park for the last half mile and have just crowds and crowds of people cheering you on. I even turned off my music to hear everyone.

Matt and the kids were right there when I crossed the finish. Matt snapped this photo of me, reaching out to give Michayla Rossi high five!
I think the hardest part was when I stopped running and started walking. Every muscle in my leg cramped up and they were screaming. I just wanted water, food, to sit down but I couldn't. It was not a fun aftermath, but luckily I rested the rest of the day. Of course though, we had to make the rounds to all the vendors and get the free stuff. The kids had plenty of Jamba Juice!

I learned 2 things: I can do a half marathon and will definitely do another one in the future. I also learned the I will never ever be able to do a full marathon. Doubling what this race was? You guys must be crazy.

Tired

Tonight I am not doing any work on the house. The last 2 nights I have been up well past midnight and Matt much later. Nolan is up between 5 and 6am, so we are pretty worn out. Sometimes you just need a break, so I thought I would blog a bit. I really feel bad because I don't get to talk to family much lately and I look forward to when I have more downtime to do that. I am anxious for the 4th to see all our families.

Look at this tushie!
My two new babies. I love these things. Thanks for the recommendation Amy (via Mom Rasmussen!)

Oh yeah here is the new light switch, mom.

A few works in progress

Our current project is installing laminate floor throughout the hallways, entryway, kitchen/dining and family rooms. Basically anywhere where there isn't carpet. It is a HUGE job! But it looks fantastic. We have the kitchen and dining done and Matt has almost done the entryway.

Here is the dining before
Here is the after:I just love how the floor brightens the room. A few disclaimers: we have a fourth chair, but it is in our garage serving as a stool. Our garage has been temporarily turned into a wood chopping and sawing haven. Sawdust everywhere. We will eventually have our garage back when these floors are done! Disclaimer 2: I only have 1 set of blinds on the back door thing because I wanted Matt's opinion before I installed both. It is a yes. And I am realizing that I don't have a shot of the light fixture in the after photo. My mom wanted to see it, sorry mom I will take another shot and post it. Again, no wall art, no window treatments, etc. It is a work in progress :)

This is a before (with owners stuff) of the family room.

This is what it looked like tonight. Because we will be doing the laminate floors in here as well, I wanted to paint it. So I did that yesterday and today. We will get new blinds for the 2 windows and patio door. Our new couches are arriving this week! The fireplace is still ug, but I think I am going to try and make it work. I don't think we can handle another huge project right now and removing or refacing that thing will do us in. Don't you love the green though?

Reagan's Room

You can call this room whatever you want, but Reagan refers to it as Tinkerbell room. We just call it Reagan's room. Our realtor saw it and called it the Snot room. So whatever. It is green, we know. But you know what, I think it looks great!! It is hard to tell in the pics, but it is two walls of a darker more intense green and two walls of lighter green. The darker green is Benjamin Moore's Stem Green and I got it from Pottery Barn Kids. They paired it with pink and it looked fab. The lighter green is Hibiscus or something like that, just a few hues lighter. We still haven't finished decorating yet. There is not a single room in our house that has a picture hung or wall art or whatever. I just haven't done it yet, but I will! We also will be updating all baseboards too eventually. That is a couple of projects down the line.

The Yard Saga

We have gone and done it (or rather, had it done): we cleared out all the weird stuff from the yard. This picture below is a photo of the backyard when we moved in. Roomy, but so not practical and actually unsafe we found out. There was some pond back there that the previous owner was all proud of, but we hated it. There was an old old shed. Lots of lava and river rock. Randomly placed bushes and trees and brick pathways completed this ensemble. We saw the potential and some work, but we were do wrong: it was a LOT of work.One morning a couple of weeks ago, I headed out there with my rake and shovel in hand. About 10 minutes into stacking those cement stones, I uncovered these bad boys.Oh yeah, I don't THINK so!! I grabbed my children and ran inside, locked the doors and we didn't go out after that! These snakes were yuck, like overgrown earthworms. And they were hiding out under all those lava rock and cement stones. Oh my. I called Matt and pleasantly told him that unless he wanted to spend the next couple of years doing this every weekend, we were going to hire someone. So we did hire someone, thank you husband so so much!! A guy in our new ward brought some people out (translation: he made a trip over the Home Depot and came home with some dudes) and in 2-3 days cleared out the front and back completely. They must have taken over a dozen trips to the dump. They hauled away all our trash from indoor remodel as well. The trimmed out trees, transplanted some of the bushes and plants, stacked all the leftover brick on the side of the house so that we could use it for our landscaping plans. They took down a two story juniper tree that we shared with our neighbors and cut it up for firewood for us. They hauled it all out. It was a handful of cash I tell you, but sooooo worth it! That was months and months of work for Matt and I. I think the best part was seeing his face when he saw that back cleared out for the first time. He came home from work that first day and I just see this immense relief cross it and I thought it was worth every penny to see that look.

This is what it looks like now. We are still deciding on how exactly we want it designed, but mostly it will be sod, with a garden area and possibly a brick perimeter and sidewalk. We sure have tons of brick! That back corner is the only shade so Matt wants a few strategically placed trees. We might put in a swingset. I want to eventually have a garden. We aren't sure if we are going to do this ourselves or hire the same guy to do it all. He gave us an estimate, but we are still deciding.So this is what the front of the house looked like when we moved in. Lots of yucky plants and that juniper tree peeking out on the right hand side. It now looks like this. Dirt, I know, but I cannot tell you how many neighbors have commented how much better it looks. We are still deciding on the landscaping here. I will take ANY suggestions gladly!!

Here is our street...isn't it pretty? I will take a moment here and tell you about some of the people we have met. Our neighbors to our right are a young couple with two kids just like us and he loves the Dodgers. Matt has talked with them a few times and they sure are nice, he says. One day when I get a minute I will meet them myself :) On the eve before our big backyard haul-out, we headed over to the neighbors on our left to see if they didn't mind us getting rid of the big juniper tree we shared. Well, they invited us in and we talked and chatted for about an hour. They are an older couple, he is a retired FBI agent (shout out LANCE!) and she is an interior designer. They are from Texas and just the sweetest people ever. He has a houseful of western collections and memorabilia, including Texas horns everywhere, John Wayne memorabilia, western art--cowboys and indians. It is like a museum from the wild wild west. The whole time I was like, my dad would LOVE this place and afterwards that was the first thing Matt said to me. We have seen them a few times, and they sure love our kids. They have three daughters they raised and one lives with them. She studies birds for a living and has bird sanctuaries in the backyard. Across the street from us is a wonderful couple and she brought over roses and huge cookies for us when we moved in. Very sweet. I have met several people that live on other streets in the neighborhood. It has such a fun atmostphere. In the afternoons I see all the kids out riding their bikes and playing in the cul-de-sacs. In the evenings I see families and couples out walking dogs and pushing kids in strollers. Reagan's new thing is going for bike rides. It is a great peaceful neighborhood and I think we will really enjoy it.

Stay tuned for more on the yard!

Backyard Baseball

Our back patio is actually a really large "indoor" patio that is enclosed by a screen and covered. I think the actual term is a Florida room. I have a love/hate relationship with this area. It has great functionality. My kids love to play in it, it has that indoor/outdoor carpet and so it is soft and not cement. The doors keep them "inside" and the kitchen and living and family rooms all look out into it. There are two patio doors that lead out. It really is the perfect play area, especially for winter during rain and mud season.

But it has its drawbacks: it is UGLY! I cannot help but wince when I see it. I really resist the urge to tear up and toss all that blue carpet, get rid of those rain roofs, tear out the screen and make it a large outdoor patio to grill on and write with sidewalk chalk on. But I think for now it is staying just because my kids love it so much.

The other night for family nite, we went out and played baseball. The kids had a great time and it seemed to be the perfect arena for it, at least until we get our yard finished.

A Few Firsts

This is definitely not Reagan's "first" time falling asleep in the car, but it is the first time she fell asleep looking this way. I was CRACKING up! We drove into Oakland to pick my mom up from the airport and it was around 5pm, so naturally she fell asleep on the drive. Luckily I had my camera in my bag, so I was able to grab a few pics.

This is Nolan's "first" cross-dressing experience. Again lucky me, he hated it! He tried putting Reagan's swimsuit on, and Matt helped him get his arms and legs through the holes. Then he grabbed at it and cried till we took it off.

Here is a BIG "first": Reagan's first haircut. She is almost 4, but has never even had a single hair on her head trimmed. She has always had these beautiful curls and I wanted to keep them forever. But lately those baby curls have turned into a mess that is really hard to brush. So we went and trimmed it all off. I kept that little pony tail that our hairdresser trimmed.

Her hair sure looks darling and so much healthier! It is easier to brush, easier to style and she just looks cute. The other day she asked when she could go get her hair cut again.

Clayton Valley Preschool Class of 2010

Last Friday Reagan graduated from preschool! It was one of the cutest and most creative graduations I have ever been to, LOL! The kids gowns were made from plastic tablecloths, blue for boys and red for girls (CVHS school colors). The students hummed the graduation march song since the tape player broke. My mom was able to be here for it, BONUS! Reagan really enjoyed preschool this year and it has been fun to watch her become so interested in learning. She is always practicing writing her letters, asking me how to spell things. She has just about every letter down (upper case). In the car, she points to all the street signs and says "R!!! Mom, there is an R! Just like in my name!" She also sometimes sees lower case letters and says, "What is that?" I tell her that is an "e" to which she vehemently responds, "NO! That is not an E!"

Reagan walking out with some of her classmates.
Sitting down. The tablecloth lasted about 30 seconds.

Receiving her diploma.

Reagan and Grandma Roundy

Katie and Reagan won "Best Buds" award. They really did enjoy being in class together. I am glad that they will be together for preschool next year, too.

Dad and kids

After her graduation, we headed over to Costco for shopping and ran into Katie! What a treat--they ate hot dogs and pizza together.

I can't believe I have a preschool graduate, oh MY!! *Just kidding* I am sure proud of Reagan and the strides she has made. She is truly a great gal and I love her to bits.

Tired, going to bed

I will post more tomorrow!

Dining Room, still a work in progress

This is a room I am dying to get done, but cannot decide on. It is yucky, started out with wallpaper (remember this pic has previous owners stuff).

We tore that ancient stuff down and it took a REALLY long time. My mom was here for most of it and she helped a ton. Matt took an insane amount off too. It was brutal. Once down, my mom and I washed the walls with TSP, patched them up and we painted.Like I say, still working on this one, but it will be BLONDE on top, with a chair rail and white beadboard eventually underneath the chair rail. We have a new light fixture to replace the fan and it is WAY cute! My mom and I hummed and hawed at Lamps Plus before finally deciding. We will be putting drapes over that door/window thing too for more privacy.

The floors will eventually be replaced with wood, but not for a bit I think. That pantry is yucky inside, we tore it out and will be putting new shelving in.

Master Bedroom

The master bedroom is one of my favorites. It is the first room I painted, I did it all by myself and I call is my Laura room, because my dear friend watched my kids for like 5 hours while I painted one afternoon. I used Sherwin Williams Macadamia and it is the warmest color I have ever seen. Here are some before and after photos. We are still working on pretty much everything, so there are no baseboards up, no pictures hung or anything, but this may give you an idea of what we are working on. We took the before photos at inspection.

Master bedroom before:

Mast after:

That door there leads to the backyard. We have a new light fixture, but it just needs to be put up. The bathroom will eventually be updated, but not for a short while. I would post a pic, but just know that it is small, has blue wallpaper and Matt has to duck down to fit under the showerhead. But it works!