Slightly Less Yellow

This is the story of a kitchen that is yellow, so yellow, it won't quit. 

Last week, now that (thank you Hashem!) all of the construction and repair from the burst pipe incident of 2014 has been completed, I got the DIY bug back. Good news for me, bad news for Ami who has to deal with the brunt of my impulsive wallpaper peeling, ikea tripping, home depot ordering, etc. 

Our kitchen, as you know is highlighted by BEAUTIFUL (ummm) yellow cabinets. And two patterns of yellow and while wallpaper. While the more offensive one, with huge flowers was removed circa October, we left the far side with the far less offensive, though still pretty bad yellow zig zag side for "another day". Well, that day had come.

Here's a shot from inspection, on the wall you can see the zig zag stripes, not terrible, and particularly not so noticeable here, but really, not ideal, like, at all.

The flowers in their heyday, in case you forgot...

And after an hour peeling, steaming and scraping look what I found???

You got it- a hot yellow wall. HOT. 

Let me tell you. There is NOTHING sadder then peeling wallpaper with an ugly though not the worst yellow pattern then to find a heinus yellow wall beneath.

So you can imagine, the painting schedule in terms of priority got moved up from "over the next few weeks" to "RIGHTNOW". 

And here we are today; a Slightly Less Yellow Kitchen. We've still got those rocking cabinets, but the room seems mellowed minus the dueling yellow wallpapers. Small victories people. And thank you to my best partner in painting who drywalled, primed and painted to give me a fresh white wall to lovingly stare as I dream of ripping down the cabinets one day in the not so soon future...

Also, all this painting, and peeling and scrubbing took place as our little guy over here got in FOUR new teeth. This sweet poor Levavi has been such a crying, drooling disaster that one day Ami was so desperate that he even took my advice and stuck that kid in a bath. He is always happy in the bath even with tooth daggers cutting their way through his sweet baby gums. There's a smile!

Weekend Away

Last weekend we finally got around to taking Ami's parents up on their anniversary gift of sending us away and watching the kids. It was so lovely.

We were at the Hyatt in the Chesapeake Bay, only an hour and a half from home, but it felt like so much farther a) because of the whole no kids thing and b) because last weekend it was unseasonably warm we were able to be outside, take walks and hang out in the outdoor jacuzzi. 

Upon our arrival and check in we spotted an amazing rainbow outside our window. It was breathtaking. Here are some, do-not-do-it- justice shots from my phone. Oh, and by the way, it was not only one rainbow, but a DOUBLE freaking rainbow. A gift. 

Because most of our getaway was over Shabbat, no real pictures, but check out this view on Sunday morning. Even though we were kid less, it seems that my body can't sleep much past 6am. At least this beautiful sunrise came with it.

We had a great time, the kids probably had a better time with all the movie watching, chocolate eating and general love and attention spoiling, but we are so thankful for the lovely lovely gift and came home so excited to kiss their faces and with some energy to boot.

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!

Storyville

A couple of Sundays ago we spent the afternoon at Storyville, a Baltimore library set up which houses a fabulous playspace for kiddos with lots of different zones. There's a pretend store, pretend theater, a pretend construction site, all in amazing condition, with tons of toys and books all over.

It's amazing. And free. And even open on Sunday afternoons!

Here are some shots of our happy guys playing.

Eitan had his pants on backwards. HAHA. This is what we get for letting him get dressed himself. 

Happy Boy

Levav has been so flippin' cute nowadays. He just loves being cuddled and has been doing some silly little tricks to get a laugh from us. His favorite is putting things over his head. It is also terrifying and unsafe, so obviously this attention loving boy does it more:)

All the Kings Horses and All the King's Men...

Finally put Levavi's room back together again.

See?

This poor humpty dumpty of a room has had burst pipe virtual raining into it, ruined carpeting, lost it's ceiling, had asbestos tiles pulled out, new concrete sub floor put in, but finally after a few days more then a month of being out of commission, it's back and better then ever.

So we are still missing an AC vent that went missing during demo, and haven't hung up the new light yet, but the whole month I was focused on little ways we can make the room back and make it even better.

Everything is back, and I added in a little home made bunting above the crib, and put a new area rug in. The rug was in Eitan's room in DC and until Tuesday, and it was just sitting in the attic. It's totally not necessary in this wall to wall carpeted room, but I like having some more color and pattern in there. And it matches the bunting that I am super proud of crafting, so win-win.

We are thrilled to have the boys each in their own room again. Levers doesn't wake up Eitan before 6am anymore, and Eitan doesn't have to be evicted from his room during early bedtimes or naps. While we love the idea of putting them in the same room eventually, for now, having them separated again is doing wonders for our (and their) sleep.

Also, one silly snow day picture. Yes, another snow day, and yes this is as close to the snow as we got today!

Brotherly Love!

Every once and a while we catch these moments of glee between the boys. It's wonderful and makes my day! 

The thing about being a mom to a baby and a toddler (or are they a toddler and a preschooler now?) is that the minutes can be so hard, but at the end of the day, when they're asleep, I miss being around them so much.

 

But that's just me, so you can just enjoy the pictures of the best moments!

This Is What Happens...

When a three year old commandeers your phone!

Love him anyways. And was relived that he didn't erase all my contacts or call India. What a happy little surprise to find this shot on my camera roll.