THE ISLAND!!

James made some calls to track down a cabinet guy for the island (the other guy we had lined up stopped returning our calls!) But we are so grateful for the Lord's leading in finding Tom.  He came on a Monday night, gave us a quote and bought materials on Tuesday morning, and called Thursday to let us know it was ready. Amazing! 

After dinner, James and I left the girls at home, got some Starbucks, and headed to Tom's shop.  After nearly two weeks of being trapped at home with one sick girl after another, I was a bit drained, and this was an incredibly exciting sight to see. 

It's absolutely beautiful, and Tom will be building the rest of our cabinets when we're ready.  Still waiting on doors and drawer fronts, but then we'll be able to take it and start the staining and sealing process! Can't wait to be washing some dishes here!

Finishing up

Time to finish up the last sections of tile in the kitchen so we can grout!

Uncle Jeff Stops By

Uncle Jeff stopped by with a late birthday present for James. GROUT!  And Darcy was so excited. LOL. 

He also gave his time and expertise for cutting the tile along the carpet lines.

The process went so much more quickly with the two guys working together, and we are very grateful for his help!

Scenes from TileLand

Tile work has been going on for 6 weeks now - whenever James has time, in between work and birthdays and Christmas and SLEEP. But we're getting there. And remaining flexible in the process. The stove spent two days in the dining room, and moved back just in time for a late dinner. :-) 

And I had to include a pic of our "bridge." This has been surprisingly helpful in working our way over fresh tile - and Darcy has even mastered the procedure.

And James is taking naps whenever he can. Here, he was playing with Darcy, but she moved on.
He stayed.

Dining in the Living Room

The tile has entered the dining room, which we can deal with. Except when it's time to have grandparents over for Gwyn's birthday dinner. 

Cue the improvisation. And it was absolutely perfect.  Grateful for these flexible girls and sweet grandparents who don't care where or how we celebrate. :-)

And another happy sight - empty tile boxes:

The Brownie Moving Crew

The Brownies. These girls are amazing. They put up with all sorts of noise and messes, but they also work so hard to help!  After unloading and moving (and loading again) the pantry shelves (and then repeating the process to move them back), it was time to move the school shelves out of the dining room. We got this done fast!  And I'm constantly amazed at what a few girls (and a dolly) can accomplish. Although my back is always sore after... :-) 

Tile Enters the Kitchen

Welcome Inconvenience #227: 

The really fun part was prepping dinner with my team while tile is going down and then tiptoeing and reaching over to get the pizzas into (and out of) the oven.  This pic is our life. And I love it. (I'll enjoy the less-complicated dinners, too.) :-)