So long hole

Our house has one of these in every room. After we moved in and started painting each room we weren't sure what they were for, so I painted around them, then painted the screen white (they started out a gross dirty beige color). They drive us crazy. When the wind blows, they rattle. When the back door is open, they rattle. When the furnace or AC kick on, they rattle. So when we had the AC serviced some time ago we asked the guy if he knew what they were for. Apparently when the house was built it had a swamp cooler and these vents were used to draw the cold air into the room. A-ha! We no longer have a swamp cooler, so we no longer need these stupid holes in our ceilings! Yipeee! So voila here is what the hole looks like in the den now.
It still needs sanding but Shawn did a great job, I am so excited to get rid of the holes!

Before

We have finally started the remodel on the den! I have scraped the popcorn ceiling off and today will continue to give it a final wipe down before we apply the new texture and then paint! Yay! I am so excited to be rid of the dark green and wood paneling. For the room with the biggest windows it sure is dark and gloomy all the time so hopefully a fresh coat of paint and new desk and shelves and tile floor with help out with that. We have also decided that since we are going to tile the floor we might as well attempt to replace the tile in the rest of the house with something nicer that the orangeish beige the house came with. And then naturally that lead to talk of a small makeover to the kitchen/family room! Not the big new cabinets and major remodeling I have dreams about, but at least a refinishing of the cabinets and new counters and floor, decent color paint on the walls and a ceremonial burning of the ugly brass mini blinds! I mean really what were the previous owners thinking? Brass blinds, seriously? So stay tuned for my updates on the progression of our fun project.

Athena's fabulous, wonderful, fantastic 9th birthday

My baby is 9! I have been watching all her old dance recital videos lately, and I pulled out her baby book the day before her birthday. It really seems like such a long time ago that we spent the whole day in the hospital, wondering when she was going to get around to being born. She spent a lot of her fisrt year crying. Then we moved on to those free spirited toddler years that really wore me out! So now I am trying to really enjoy the last few years of true childhood. Kids mature so much sooner these days, and although I love Athena's new witty sense of humor that has come with age sometimes she just seems a little too grown up!

If you remember from a few posts ago Athena had a very short list this year. After much deliberation and measuring of the backyard we decided to go with the trampoline as her gift from us. But we wanted it to be a surprise and for her to not have to wait the 3 hours while we were building it before she could jump. So... Shawn had the bright idea to put it up after she went to bed Friday night! Good thing we live in Arizona! So at about 9:00 p.m we headed out, Mike and Jon came over to help out too, and Hailey was on door watch (since she wasn't feeling well). We actually had the trampoline up in about an hour and a half so we figured the enclosure couldnt be that hard right? Wrong! It took us another hour and a half! But by her birthday it was up, it was tested by Hailey and Athena didn't hear a thing.

So she wakes up on her birthday morning. She opens all her gifts from far away family and friends. When we tell her that's it she says "what about presents from you guys?" I tell her we are saving them for her party later, could she please let Bubbles in for me. She opens the door and screams! It was one of the best little excited faces I have ever seen! She ran out and jumped, it was a little wet with dew so she had to wait a while to really get jumping! But she jumped and jumped and jumped. Then it was time to get ready for her party. As she was getting ready she came and said to me "if you happen to have any shoes you bought for me do you think I could open them to wear to the party?" I hugged her and said sorry the trampoline was all we could afford. Then smiled to myself knowing her friend Emily had bought the shoes she really wanted!

Her party was really nice this year. Just 4 of her closest friends. We had pizza, cake and ice cream, a pinata and Hailey gave them all face paint! I think most of all she just loved having them here to jump with! She got a few gift cards so we went shopping the next day and then had a movie and lunch playdate on Monday. So it was a very fun filled birthday weekend indeed!

Shower Redo

I have been noticing lately that all the wonderful gifts that we received as wedding and shower presents have started to really show their age. Apparently the life span of things like towels, measuring spoons, hot pads and even dishes and silverware is about 19 years. Yes the dishes are still in pretty good shape but really are very outdated as far as their style. I am also growing tired of that one spot on all my hot pads that I still get burned through! I even actually broke a measuring spoon in half last week! And where do all the spoons go? My theory is pudding cups, I think when someone eats a pudding cup they accidentally throw the spoon away as well.

So here is what I am proposing: my 19th wedding anniversary is coming up in March. So how about one of you throw me a redo wedding shower and I will return the favor when you reach 19 years? If someone can make up a holiday around a rodent why not shower redos? It will soon be so hip, you'll see!

In Her Words

Here is Athena's birthday list in her own words:

high heels from Justice
trade tree house for trampoline
an itouch phone (only call parents)
paint room blue or purple

I like that she really tried to sell the iphone by mentioning that she would only use it to call us, her parents. Does she think there will be a lot of instances when she would need to call us from down the hall? It is a very short list so I guess we should be very thankful for that. Only 5 more days until she finds out how many items on the list are hers!

Turning Into Grandma

When I was a kid and would go to the grocery store with my grandma I always found it so funny that she knew all the workers. She would talk to all of them as if they were great friends. She would bring them treats and even little gifts on holidays. I never understood why grandma would want to be so friendly to all the employees at the grocery store. Until now! I know everyone at my Safeway. They all know me and don't even need to ask if I want my milk in a bag anymore. One of them, John has even been to a few of Hailey's shows at Ironwood. Now I don't really know a lot about these people, nor do they all know everything that goes on in my life, but it's still nice to have a few friendly words with someone while doing one of my most hated chores :) Grandma really did have a reason for what she was doing.