Happy Easter 2016

We started the morning with a yummy breakfast and and egg hunt at our house. I forgot to get pictures of this part.  Note to self: I had some chocolate bunnies in gold foil that I hid outside not in plastic eggs because I ran out. I thought they'd be fine. We hid the eggs and bunnies and went inside for breakfast. When we came back out 30 minutes later, all chocolate bunnies were gone. Apparently birds really like chocolate too!  So that didn't work. 

Waiting for the parade to start:

Then, we enjoyed watching the Snohomish easter parade! I'm not sure Patrick and Dylan were impressed, but the little boys liked it. And I liked it!  

Jack liked everything except the cannon the Seafair pirates were shooting off! He spent a lot of time with his ears covered!

After the parade, we had lunch, did a little shopping, and then went to Flower world, where I bought some strawberry starts and spring flowers, and Jack got to see the baby lambs (and chickens, goats, ducks, and peacocks). 

Then, we came home and Jack helped me dig holes to plant my flowers and strawberries and also transplant a couple blueberry bushes that I needed to move. It was a beautiful spring day with sun and 62 degree temps.   Of course today, there was a big hail storm that beat up all my spring flowers pretty badly! It looked like it snowed afterward.

Jack enjoyed his easter "basket" this morning. He especially liked the puzzle, which he's put together several times today.

We've spent most of the day doing laundry, packing upstairs, and I've done lots of homework. I did make a nice Easter dinner of ham, roast potatoes, and roasted carrots for dinner. Happy Easter everyone!

MAP Countertops are Done!

We used a product called Rustoleum Countertop Transformations. First, we painted on a base coat, and then you spring them with these plastic chips and then let it dry. The chips get everywhere!

 Then, you let it dry for 12-24 hours, and then you scrape it and then sand until smooth(ish).

 Finally, you paint a clear top coat on and let it dry. It's supposed to cure for a week, and then they can be used (and in this case reinstalled).

 I think they look pretty good. We did the counters and the table with this product.

Next weekend, we have to take a break from MAP remodeling to get things packed up upstairs so that our new carpet can be installed. The carpet guys will move the furniture around, but we have to get all the little stuff packed up and moved to the garage. They are installing the new carpet April 4. Then, the last big step is reinstalling the cabinets and countertops. After that, all we have left is cleaning the canvas and windows, I still have to make the curtains, and the setting up/getting our stuff in. We have our first small, weekend camping trip scheduled for Mother's day weekend in May!

We also dyed some Easter Eggs this evening!  We don't need very many, but Jack had fun with the few we did :). 

MAP updates and more

The boys had fun playing together today for Sam's birthday. We bought him this T-Rex headlamp and some books for his birthday. He wore it all afternoon. Not only does it light up, but it roars when you turn it on :). 

We made good progress on the MAP this weekend too. We cut out all the new counter tops and the table top and routed the edges so they are nice and round. We sanded and primed too, so they are ready to be finished next weekend. Mike did most of the work, but ironically, the only picture is of me. I cut out one sink hole before dropping the board and putting a dent in it and turning the job over to Mike to finish. 

I  have three of the four cushions done now too. I'm about half way done with number 4. Here's number 3. These are the seat back cushions.



In other news, took Jack bowling for the first time last weekend. He had a great time. He has very interesting technique, and thank heavens for bumpers.

New floors are in!

Last weekend, we put in the new floors...lots of cutting of tiles, so it took a long time, but it's done now!

This weekend, we plan to reinstall the cabinets and close up the camper so that next weekend we will have room in the garage to do the countertops.  And of course the sewing has to continue. I have two cushions done now!

Happy Valentines/Happy President's Day

We've been very busy this long weekend...homework, errands, a birthday party for Tommy, picked out new carpet for the upstairs, and of course working on the MAP.


We finished the last of the painting this weekend, putting a third coat on the cabinets and today Mike spray painted the tracks with appliance spray paint. I'm hoping to be done with paint very soon!

 While he was doing that, I sewed the first of the seat cushion covers.  I'm not going to lie. I really had no idea what I was doing. With the help of a couple Youtube videos, I figured out how to put a zipper into the end of the cushion. Then, I had to figure out how to handle the corners! It was definitely a challenge that stretched my sewing skills. It's not perfect, but the first one came out pretty well. The hardest part turned out to be getting the board and cushion back in--it was so tight we popped the end of the zipper and tore the seam, so I had to do a little repair work. Still, it looks loads better than the old one. Of course, it took me most of the day to do one, so hopefully I will get faster as I go.   I only have 3 more to go! Oh, and curtains and valances!

In addition, we tore out the old floor yesterday as well. With a couple of box cutters to score the edges, it actually came up really quickly. We will plan to put the new flooring down next weekend. We treated the plywood with some mold and mildew spray, so we have to let it dry good first. The new floor is peel and stick vinyl tiles, so it should go in pretty quickly. Then, we can reinstall the rest of the cabinets. I'm ready for things to start coming together. I think a few more weekends and things should start to really come together.


While we were working in the garage and/or sewing room a lot, Jack spent him time in the family room creating a new lego city, which he dubbed "Iron Man City." The city came complete with a runway, garage with roof access by way of a ladder, a tank, and additional walkways. He even built his own iron man.

One more picture...I was so proud of Jack for writing his name on all 12 of the Valentines for his preschool class.

The MAP progress continues

We continue to work on our pop up tent...we've decided to call her our MAP, which stands for Mobile Adventure Platform or maybe Mobile Adventure Palace (we'll see how good the remodel turns out!). We took her for service this week. She got all her systems checked out and a couple repairs and a new battery.   We have started to paint all the cabinets white. We've done two coats of primer and one coat of paint on all the cabinet doors and two frames. We still have to do the third one which has the sink, fridge, and stove in it so it's still in the trailer. We need to tape off everything to paint this part, but we are under way... 

 Mike went today and purchased plywood to make new counter tops and got the basic sizes cut out.

Mike made the most delicious, yummy turkey in his smoker too. He's learning to use his new smoker to great results!

Camper Remodel Underway!

Here are some before pictures. It's not in bad shape, but it was really dirty. I spent most of yesterday scrubbing walls, ceiling, fridge...there was mold and mildew in several places, so I used a lot of mold and mildew cleaner. As an added plus, it smells much better now too. As you can see, the fabric is pretty dated as well. 

(After recently being left at the kennel for a week, Aspen is nervous and determined she's not getting left again, so every time we step foot in the camper, she's right there!)

While I was scrubbing, Mike was removing the cabinets. We are going to replace the flooring and paint the cabinets before reinstalling them. We've also been removing the canvas one panel at a time to clean it. 

Yuck! More mildew/mold growing under cabinets!

We spent a couple hours shopping too, so I've got new fabric for seat cushions (a red check), valances (red), and curtains for beds (fun antique map pattern). I have a lot of sewing to do. We bought white paint for the cabinets, and a light latte brown color for the walls below the beds. We planned to get vinyl with a wood look for the floor until we found out it was special order and would take awhile to come in. Plus, at $2.09 a square foot it wasn't going to break the bank, but it was more costly. Instead, we found a great bargain--clearance vinyl that looks like stone tile at $0.30 a square foot. That means our new flooring will cost a total of $18, and that's buying more than we needed because they come in 30 sq foot boxes. Turns out the flooring was way cheaper than all my upholstery fabric! 

We're underway anyway. We have a lot still to do, but all winter still to work. Jack doesn't understand why we can't go camping right now! It looks like the cars are destined to be parked outside for awhile as this project has taken over the garage. More updates to come...