Jason's 31 birthday party

This post is very late the birthday party was On the 13th but you know life with three kids and one on the way kinda slows things down a little. The kids felt it was very important that Jason have a birthday party, so they planned it and helped to decorate it. Jason was so kind he let the kids put the party hat on him and play with him. I think that is what makes him such a good daddy.

 Happy birthday Jason!

 He was a good sport about the party hat

 The kids were excited to celebrate with Jason too.

Jason made off with a lot of goodies this year.

Continued Home Renovations

We've been working so hard on our home renovations. We purchased an older home back in  Dec, 2007 and have wanted to update the little 1200 sq ft house. It has taken us 6 years to do it but we are almost there. Our flooring will be going in the first weekend in December and I think that is appropriate since it will mark exactly six years from the time we moved into the house. I finished up the decorative pillows in the family room with some help from my friend. I love the lighter brighter feel of the pillows and I look forward to making some valances for the window but as my husband has reminded me it will come in time.
My kids were very quick to get cozy with the pillow which makes a mother happy because that is why I do any of it. To make my children happy and comfortable in  the home they live in.

Josh's new look and a mother's silent prayer

My oldest started out the school year not wanting to work and being somewhat discontented with school. His grades were still decent, but his attitude had changed drastically from the happy little boy from last year. Then the signs started showing up. Watching TV from two inches away, not being able to tell me what time it was on the clock in the kitchen. Refusing to try and sing in church, having a hard time reading. Now being a person who depends fully on her glasses or contacts. I realized that my beautiful little boy may be having some trouble with his eyes. My husband was still in denial he didn't think that the ramifications from the other kids at school would help Josh in the long run, but as a mother I had a responsibility to my child. I took him in to have his eyes checked with our family Dr first. He failed the eye exam miserably so we then took him to a paediatric eye Dr. Josh's eye sight was not good. So we went to Lenscrafters. Where Josh spent an hour going through every boys glasses they had. He first wanted some really ugly green and black plastic lenses which had a great price tag attached but were so ugly that I gently guided him to a somewhat pricer but more kid and style friendly pair. It took me a while to get use to his new look but all in all I think he is by far better off being able to see and not being held back by his unlucky genetics. I pray that Josh has the confidence to withstand the other kids who may or may not have to have glasses in the future but may think it makes them better to tease and that the other kids are kind to him. He has a bit of a challenge being the smallest in his class and now being one of two who have glasses but he is smart and fun to be with and I pray that the Lord is with him every day at school holding his hand as I would like to be, but can not.

Renovation journey

We've been some busy bees these last couple of months and they have been stressful and exciting and hard and fun and pretty much every emotion you can feel. Back in June before we found out that we were expecting another little one we decided to start the journey of house renovating. It was something we have wanted to do since we moved into our house almost six years ago. All last year we saved and saved and saved so we could do this renovation. We started by removing the massive fireplace that was cutting off our kitchen from our family room. It was a useless fireplace that smoked when used and leaked water in the winter. Our house is a smoke free zone so the option was get rid of that ugly fireplace. I love watching the DIY channel and have always wanted to try to open up my old house and make it a open concept.

 Eden posing in front of our old fireplace.

The result from opening the living room and kitchen up.

Our house feels so much bigger but the truth is we only gained about 20 square feet. But the illusion gives it that bigger feeling.

Then we scraped the popcorn off the ceiling. Can I just say I do not like popcorn ceilings they are a pain to scrape and clean off.

Our new orange peel ceiling

clean and fresh

The next step was to demo our hall closet and linen closet and build a laundry closet. My washer had sat in my kitchen since we moved into our house and the dryer in the garage. Laundry was always tough and at first I couldn't envision taking out my linen closet and coat closet because I was loosing so much storage and in a house that is short on storage that was a tough choice but our contractor talked us into it. So we demoed and boy was that a tough job. To save on costs we did all the demo work in the house with the exception of the fireplace. That was a more complicated job so we left it to the pros.

 my old coat closet and next to it was the linen closet.

Now my beautiful wash closet. all my linens and cleaning supply's fit nicely in my upper cupboards. I'm so grateful for a ward member who pretty much held my hand through this whole process but who also acted as our contractor. He had the vision and helped us to see that vision.

 My beautiful daughter featuring our not so beautiful old kitchen with the old 1961 metal cabinets. What you see it pretty much all the cabinets I had with Eden standing by the fridge. Our pantry was located in the dining area across the kitchen and it held very little food storage.

 Now our finished kitchen. Our kitchen had a great space to work with and there was little to no mold. We had some amazing bones to work with and we are so happy with the outcome. We learned so much. Jason did all the drywall and tileing we were pushed out of our comfort zone but came out of it with a better knowledge of construction and more appreciation for the job.

The second picture is of my  floor to ceiling pantry with a child lock so my children have to ask me for snacks and treats. 

We are not totally done we still have paint and flooring and baseboards to do but as in any project it will come in time. More specifically before the baby is born but not right now. 

We need a rest

Here are some of the pictures that I took during the renovation.

House Renovations

We've been renovating our house and the first thing on the list was to rip out our nasty fireplace that did not work and open up the kitchen and living room. Second was create a closet for my washer and dryer to be in. My washer and dryer have been separated for the last 6 years that we have lived in this house. My washer was in my kitchen and my dryer in the garage. Not a very convenient setting. We also started to rip out all the walls in the kitchen along with all the cupboards and replace them with better larger cabinets that would store more given that we still live in a 1100 sq ft house storage is always a problem. We scraped all the popcorn off the ceiling and re textured. Can I say oh my goodness it is a wonderful change. I will post before and after pics when we are totally done but for now I just wanted to post pics of how the hall closet before and after looks.

 Before picture of the hall

We have not done the flooring yet that is one of the last things to go in.

 After the hall closet was built

The many faces of Eden

Our family Dr has become somewhat concerned that Eden only says about three words. Ouchy, ya and NO! But if you think about it what do you think my little girl might say if she really wanted to. I'm not all that sure I want to find out right now. My beautiful little girl has more spunk than any child I have every met. I think she would tell you what she is really thinking even if it might hurt your feelings. She would also tell you how much she loves you and that she wants to be held but only at certain points in the day. She always insists on a bow of some kind in her hair for the soul purpose of ripping it out in a dramatic gesture and then bringing it over to you and with equally dramatic gesture demanding that you must put it back in. Now she dose not need words to tell me these things. She like her oldest brother are on their own schedule and nobody can rush that schedule the sooner everyone learns that the happier we all will be.

 Eden loves to make messes

painting her food all over her face is one of her favorite games.

 She does not like to have the camera pointed in her direction and this is the face she gives for most of the pictures I have of her.

 Careful she'll stare you down

 Getting dirty is sooooo much fun especially when she took her purse with her with the soul purpose of filling it up with dirt and bringing the contraband into her mommy's freshly cleaned house.

She has such a big personality no wonder she gets frustrated in her little two year old body 

As she gets older her personality I hope grows with her.

Kjar Kids 2013 Pictures

When Josh was just a baby about six months old a friend told me that she would get updated professional pictures of her boys every year now it helped that she was a photographer but I felt that it was so true my kids change every year. So I have had pictures taken of my kids pretty much every year since. Now I'm very blessed to have a very talented friend who takes the pictures for me and she does such a fantastic job . Our pictures this year are by far the best we have had. You know the photographer is good when your two year old  who refuses to smile and behave and she still gets a cute picture out of her. 

 A quick funny story about Josh. During the shoot my friend was trying to get Josh to pose in a specific way and he just wouldn't do it finally Josh says I'm just not feeling that. My friend looked at him and said well how are you feeling it? He responded with like this and then poses in a more casual way. That ended up being my favorite picture of him. Sitting on a rock in his own way, being himself.

 Eric was fun he just tried to mimic everything that Josh did and then ended up getting tired of taking pictures.

 Eden was being difficult the entire time. She refused to look at the camera and smile at the same time I have no idea how we got so lucky as to have gotten this picture. At the end of the shoot Eden decided that it would be a good idea to run into the sprinklers. Thus that ended the shoot but she seemed to have fun when she was with her brothers.

 Such a pretty girl

I wonder what she was thinking?

I love these crazy kids they are so beautiful because they are children of our Heavenly Father's

and they are loved so fully by a mom and dad and grandparents and aunts and uncles, friends and so on.

Eden turned Two!

It is official, I now have a very normal two year old who gets into everything and tells her mommy no all the time and hits and bites and gives the best hugs and kisses anyone could dream of. When she smiles at you you know your in for mischief or love you never can tell with her. I was a decent mommy and through my very nasty morning sickness that has plagued me I was able to not breath the smells in and made banana waffles which use to be my favorites but has taken a place on the shelf as smells I cannot handle right now but Eden loves them so I made them for her. I gave her a bath and did her hair she has not stopped moving since which I take as a good sign.

Happy Birthday to my very busy princess