Happy, Happy Birthday Connor Dear

Aubrey's cheesey grin

Finally the REVEAL...the Before and After photos!

The big changes in the kitchen were: knocking down the wall on the left, moving and replacing the window, removing the soffits, replacing the cabinetry, and countertops, replacing the appliances, replacing the old lighting with recessed lighting, pendant lights, and undercabinet lighting, and replacing the vinyl flooring with hardwood. We added knee walls and columns to the separate the dining/kitchen area from the living room. It really makes a nice transition between the rooms.







I just laugh at those before photos of the kitchen. I had just unloaded the groceries and as you can see, we had a total lack of countertop space. I was trying to exaggerate it a bit because I wanted to enter those photos in a kitchen remodel contest. I never did but I'm glad I took those before pictures because everything happened so fast once we got started.

We now love our kitchen and it's so nice to have an island with seating. It's been great for the boys in the mornings. We're still finding a place for everything and we have a few minor things to finish up but we are so glad to be out of the demo phase. Remodeling is definitely not my favorite thing. It's funny because I love watching HGTV and I totally love the reveal at the end of those remodel shows, but when you're the one living with the whole process, the reveal really is bitter sweet. One thing for sure is that I have a greater sense of understanding for those homeowners going through it! I will never watch Spice Up My Kitchen in the same way again.

Flat Stanley found us once again...

We have had the fortune of welcoming a very quiet yet unannounced guest in our home. Flat Stanley has once again graced us with his presence. Our first visit from Stanley occurred while we were living in Bonn. He had such a great time that he came and visited us a second time. So, here we are in Chatham, New Jersey and Flat Stanley has found us once again. We took him on a drive to Washington's Headquarters in Morristown after church today. The boys were pleased to show him around the grounds. The Ford mansion home was Headquarters to Washington during the winter of 1779-80. For those history buffs out there, you can read all about it at http://www.nps.gov/morr Here are a few snapshots.



During Flat Stanley's first visit to Bonn, we took him to the Haribo factory.

On his second visit to see us in Germany, Flat Stanley took some great pictures with our lovely book all about Bonn! He didn't make a single complaint about not seeing it in person or should I say paper.

Stanley really did score on his second visit because he came along on a visit to the Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse, Netherlands. Maybe that's why he thought he would test his luck again and take another trip to visit the Gibbs Family.

Poster child for Cheerios...

We just love the cheerios phase. Cheerios are such a life saver!

Connor and Aubrey...so sweet. You can totally tell they are related.

Here's a snapshot of our stairs. Before the remodel, they had carpet. You can see part of the stairs before in one of the demo pictures.

Almost there. Just waiting for the plumber on Monday and we'll be cooking and cleaning real soon!

Weekend with cousins

Last weekend Mike's cousin Alma and his family came to visit us from North Carolina. We cleared out the basement for them and enjoyed having company despite having a chaotic home. We went into the city on Saturday morning. We parked at Lincoln center and walked across the street to the temple in Manhattan. It was really neat to visit the temple even though they don't really have temple grounds or a visitors center.

Here is Alma, Susan, Brigitta, Teagun and Phoebe across the street from the temple. I snapped a picture of them as we waitied for the light to change.



We only went into the lobby to escape the wind and take a quick picture.

We were still lived in Auburn, WA when this temple was dedicated.

After passing by the temple, we walked down the block to Central Park. The kids had a great time exploring and even found an unusual tree to climb on. It looked as if the tree had somehow fallen over at some point and continued to grow in a laying down position. It made for the perfect tree climb.


The kids found a massive rock to climb around on. They were playing all sorts of games. Phoebe found a perfect little niche in the rock and pretended it was her bed. Aaron enjoyed rolling pebbles down the steep side of the rock. And Connor and Brigitta were having a great time exploring the rock.

Connor thoroughly enjoyed having cousins to play with and asked when we would see them again. We told them that they live far away but maybe we would get the chance to see them again soon. The following day, Aaron reminded me that he didn't get to watch Stuart Little 2 with Dad's cousins. Both the boys were sad to have such a short visit. Makes me wish we were closer to family to get more playtime with cousins! Just check out Connor's smile.

After strolling through Central Park, we ventured on to the Museum of Natural History. What a great place to visit! Aaron was a tiny bit nervous at first because he's seen Night at the Museum and thought visiting the museum would be something like the movie. But he quickly got over his scepticism and enjoyed seeing the similiarities between the movie and the real museum. We spent just a few hours there and didn't even see half of it. This will definitely be a place that we come back to again and again. (Thanks PwC!)