Kitchen progress...

Movin' along... It has been a busy few months, but we have managed to squeeze in some kitchen work here and there. We painted, installed the fan, hung the peg board and pot rack, and re-worked an old cabinet to make it a kitchen workstation under the window. So, I guess we are pretty much done for now. The next phase will involve new counter tops and sink and some tile work behind the stove and along the counter back splash. I have no idea when that will happen, but I imagine it will be a little while. And, for now, I am enjoying my new space!Oh, yes, we also put in the counter on the other side of the kitchen. Shelves will be put up when we have the time, and the microwave will go up on a shelf to free up the counter space.Found a cool spot for my pot lids!In other news... we found this cool old hutch for sale on the street and I now have outdoor storage for my patio type dishes and such! And, the doors are up on the laundry room!... the carpet tiles are in, too. You just can't see them in this pic.

Kitchen Update!

After 3 years in our house, the walls in the kitchen are finally closed! Yipppee! (take note of the old door)The old door and frame have been replaced!
And, it is so much bigger! So excited about the new space and possibilities!
Oh, yes, and I have a new 36' dual fuel convection range! Isn't she gorgeous! We weren't planning on buying the larger oven yet, but, we ran into a deal that we couldn't pass up.
More to come... for now, I have lots of painting to do!

Kitchen changes

I am not calling this post "Kitchen Renovations" lest anyone get the wrong idea. We are not getting all new cabinets and appliances but simply doing some rearranging and making minor additions to the kitchen. It will be in several phases and the first began when we moved the washer and dryer. Again... no before pics were taken. We always seem to skip that somehow. So here are some random photos that will hopefully give you an idea of the before. The washer and dryer are in the background.

And from the other side.

Bye Bye, Wall!

Stay tuned...more to come.

My new nephew!

Isn't he just adorable! Such a sweet little guy!

I have a laundry room!

I isn't totally finished, but it is up and running. Here are a few pics of the transformation ( Yes, like always, we forgot to take a before pic, so I will be looking for an old photo of what it looked like before).

Here is what I came up with for "before" shots:

One from the dining room side...
...and one from the office side.

Now on to the transformation!

The built in bookcase coming out!

Justin walking through what used to be a closet!

Yuck... what a mess! This is looking from the hall through my hall closet into the office closet (a.k.a my new laundry room). The hall closet got new walls also.

And... drum roll please....

My new laundry room! This is the washer side:

and the dryer side.

Still to come: bi-fold doors on the other side (this will give us access from both sides and allow us to open it up and use it as a pass through to the office if we need to- think extra room for parties... I know, it is always about parties with us ;o what can I say, we like parties!), Flor tiles on the floor ( if you don't know what they are, look them up! They are awesome!), shelves on the dryer side, and a fold down ironing board on one of the office doors.

Drama Camp

Justin and Grace attended a week long drama camp at Jr. Theatre in June. They were grouped by age and ability into color groups. This picture is from Thursday, Team Spirit Day. Each group dressed in their color and performed their team cheers at lunch for all the other groups. Grace had an easy time with finding attire in her group's color, black. Justin had a bit more of a challenge with his color, purple! I think his outfit turned out quite well! His team's cheer was a take off of Lady Gaga's Poker Face ( "I love my, I love my... purple team"). It was quite a hit. I will try to upload the video of it at some point.At the end of the week the kids put on a 45 minute presentation. Each group performed 2 of the 3 pieces that they had put together: song, dance, and original skit. We were very impressed with all their hard work and creativity!

Jared's 8th grade promotion

Yup, that's right!... another high schooler in the house!

Got the Lei...

Found his seat...

and received his certificate!

Class Picture (he is over on the left in the front row).

and one of the whole family

Congratulations, Jared!!! Great job! Now on to High School!!!!

We celebrated our new high schooler with some fabulous grilled pizzas! This was a first for us and we were so pleased with the results of pizza on the grill, that we have already eaten it again! It is lots of fun and easier than we expected! The dough grills up nicely and the toppings melt right on the grill!

Jon manned the grill...

Yum!!!

We had 4 varieties: chunky marinara sauce with fresh mozzarella and basil, mozzarella and pepperoni, ricotta and lemon zest with asparagus, and caramelized onion with fontina and fresh arugula (everyone's favorite). Uh, oh...I am starting to drool on my keyboard just thinking about it!

Try out pizzas on the grill sometime this summer. You won't be disappointed and you won't heat up the kitchen baking the pizza in the oven!

A note about the last post...

I never really finished the previous post, but it has been sitting unfinished for a few weeks now and is making me mentally unable to move on to the next post. So, I am posting it as is... it may get some more pics later, or not. Life is moving on, post or no post around here, so I am going to have to move on with it! The last few "upcoming" events from the previous post have come and gone and summer has officially begun. So, Hello, Summer! Look for new posts in the coming weeks to update you on the Taylor Family happenings! But, don't expect anything to exciting... this is, after all, my lazy, low-key summer :)

Where have the past 6 months gone?!!!

Indeed, the past 6 months have flown by.

In February, we finally finished off soccer for the year with the play offs in Garden Grove. The Blue Cheese Comets played well but were unable to advance against the tough competition :(

We also celebrated Madeline's school achievements at the Caiman award's ceremony.

She earned her academic letter for holding a 3.5 or higher (in her case a 4.0) for 3 semesters!

The next week we saw Grace off to Spain with her Grandparents...

We celebrated Jared's 14th Birthday! ... and on the same day enjoyed the school's art show!

In March, we enjoyed cheering Jared on at the Rubik's cube team competition. Our school's team took 6th place at the San Diego Competition.

In May, Justin went to 5th grade Adventure Camp! He had a great time at his first camp experience! Then at the end of the month we enjoyed a day at The Wave water park in Vista in celebration of the end of the school year.

Next weekend we will finish off the years activities with Jared's 8th grade promotion, the girls' dance recital and Justin's Acting class performance.

Needless to say, we are looking forward to lots of relaxing over the next few months before we start up another school year! Perhaps I will actually have time to update our blog during all my free -time this summer! Hmmmm... maybe!

My New Chair!

Check out my "new" chair!

Here is where I need to brag about my husband's talents a bit. He brought home a "treasure" last week that, suffice it to say, I was less than thrilled with. My only request was that it please go in the garage until he got around to working on it so that I wouldn't have to look at it. To which he replied, "OK, but just you wait til I am done with it." I was also told that I was not aloud to like the finished product since I was so skeptical about its ability to be turned into something decent.

Well, he worked his magic and guess what... I don't like it... I love it!

I really wish I had a "before shot" of the chair because right now you are probably having trouble imagining why I would doubt that this chair could be attractive. Try to imagine the brightest most vivid blue you can imagine and then... turn it up a notch. That is the color the chair was painted. The cushion was an equally vivid plaid with bright blue, green, pink, and several other colors thrown in. It was rather obnoxious, so please, don't judge me too harshly!