Our basement under-the-stairs remodel is completed at last!! Our good friend David came this morning bright and early to put in the finishing touches.
Ta-da!! I just LOVE the contrast of the dark stairs with the white cabinets underneath.
I forgot to take a real before image, but here is a before-the-cabinets, but after-the-demolition picture:
So for a real before image I dug around and found some pictures from a few years ago when Matt and Mike helped Pete bring his new pinball machine downstairs. Note the old-school phone shelf and, my favorite, wood paneling, in the background.
Back to the pretty pretty pictures. I started moving all my desk/office things down to the shelves and cabinets this weekend. But I'm sorting and throwing out/recycling anything I can as I go along, so I'm not quite finished. I painted a stripe on the back wall before the cabinets went in. They're pretty scary looking close-up, my frog tape didn't work so well on the bumpy basement walls. So Pete and I are deciding if we want to fix the stripes or just paint the walls the paler color.
Surprise! It's not cabinets - it's a giant bookcase!!
The rest are pull-out drawers.
Ellie likes this bottom drawer for herself, she put her pouf in it.
Lateral files in the desk area.
Here's one last look at the finished space. I'll post it again once I've got all my pictures in the space, and can do a panoramic shot to show how it all fits in with Ellie's play area.
Thank you, Mitchell Construction Management for a job well done!
I sat down tonight to write Ellie's 24 month blog, but as I was editing pictures, I decided these images from an afternoon in the backyard deserved a blog of their own (in other words, I couldn't narrow them down to just one.)
Ellie and I were out in the backyard the day after her birthday, and it was a cool afternoon so she had on her jacket and Ugg boots. I swear, every time I think we're done with boots for the season, she and I have to dig ours out again. Anyway, Ellie was super-smiley as she was going down the slide and climbing back up again, and the light seemed really good, so I grabbed my camera. I'm pretty pleased with the results. What really excites me about these is that I took them while Pete was out of town so they'll be a surprise to him as well :-)
Last Sunday was a rainy day much like today, but we had 12 toddlers and their parents coming over to celebrate our favorite toddler. Luckily, the showers were scattered so about ten minutes before everyone was to arrive, I ran outside and frantically began twisting streamers along the fence and Pete began staking balloons up the driveway. Alas, we took no photos of this, but I was pleased with how it looked given that we kept changing our minds on whether the party was going to be indoors or out.
Ellie and Owen decorate their stick horses.
It was pretty funny to watch them all stick a tail on the middle of the horse.
I had all kinds of activities planned - horse coloring pages, make your
own stick horse, pin-the-tail on the horse, dress up like a jockey and
have your picture taken, etc. But who was I kidding?!?! All these kids
cared about was the SLIDE!
Alexis getting up on.her.own.!!
David and Annie were the only guests to use our little photo op station.
Toward the end of the party Owen tried,
with the over-enthusiastic help of Ellie, of course.
Then it was time for cake and everyone settled down to eat.
So glad Ellie has so many little friends to make her day special!! We're pretty sure she had a great time.
Ellie's second birthday began rather uneventfully - I had to go to work and Pete was out of town for the whole week, so our morning was fairly typical. I DID try to have a little decoration for her, but Ellie tore it down before I could even see her initial reaction to it.
After she'd gone to bed on Wednesday night, I hung balloons on the stairs. She was halfway down the stairs and had torn most of the balloons down before I had even gotten myself dressed!
Ellie's day school requests that if a birthday treat is brought to the class, that the parent brings a snack after nap and takes the child home afterward. I rearranged my work schedule so I could do just that. Fruit was the suggested snack, so I brought watermelon slices on a stick, and strawberries, kiwi, and blueberries. When I arrived, she was wearing a crown!! SO cute!!
Here she is sitting with her little school boyfriend, Anderson. Sadly, Anderson has moved on to Busy Bees as he turned two before Ellie. I'm glad their last day together involved a party.
After school we headed over to Joanne's house to play in her backyard and go for a walk. Suddenly, she looked just like a two-year old.
Joanne and Jerry got Ellie one of the most special gifts: A BIG CICI!! Bigger than Ellie herself! Big Cici is a blanket with a giant Cici head attached and Ellie loved it right away. She recognized it instantly, called it "Big Cici" and started rubbing its ears and dragging it around, trying to show it to J&J's cat, Roscoe.
Then we walked to Graeter's for some celebratory ice cream. Jerry was able to take a break from work to join us. We made it home just in time to Skype with daddy for a few minutes before he had to go to another meeting.
Saturday, Pete was finally home after a week-long meeting in Boston. We opened gifts from family and gave Ellie her gift from us.
A fantastic cookie baking set from Matt and Jen for our budding cook!
Ellie's gift from us: A Skuut Balance Bike!! Her legs aren't quite long enough yet, but she likes to scoot around as best she can while Pete or I help her balance. Don't worry, we have since had her fitted for a helmet, and she knows she must wear her 'helmet hat' if she wants to ride her bike.
So that was Ellie's 2nd birthday! We threw a party for her on Sunday afternoon - I'll try to post about that tomorrow. Sorry there's not an update on the basement remodel - the contractors did not come Friday as planned, nor did they come today as planned, so hopefully tomorrow they will actually make it to finish the project. Then I will happily give an update!!
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
I just put my one-year-old to bed for the last time. I figure I should share some of what we've been up to these past few weeks since Easter. That and I'm really procrastinating with some reports I have to write for work.
Two Saturdays ago we went to Breakfast with the Babies at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. Admission included a buffet breakfast and then visiting with all the baby animals that were around the farm. Ellie got to meet Fiona, a one-month old Scottish Highlands calf, some puppies, lambs, goats, chicks, and a cat. Much like the first time we went to Shaker Village, she was still not a fan of the full-grown chickens or turkeys. What made it even more fun was that several of our friends were there as well. These girls have such a good time playing together.
Ellie rode in her very-first car cart last week while we ran to Lowe's to pickup hardware for our basement renovation. It's not ready for the full-reveal yet, but I think the guys are coming on Friday morning to complete the finishing touches, so be on the lookout for that post! (there's a sneak peek at the end of the blog) :-)
She also continues to engage in dangerous behavior with her toys at home:
and participate in general shenanigans with her Daddy:
That's all for tonight! I have to work tomorrow but am bringing a snack to Ellie's class after nap and will have a full report to follow.
