The Dental Fund

Patrick and I learned very early on that we needed to contribute money out of each paycheck to a "Dental Fund". It has come in quite handy these days.

First off, we have an amazing Pediatric Dentist. So amazing that we changed our dental insurance to pay a little bit more so that we could go to them. Never do we have to wait more than 10 minutes to be seen. Unfortunately, in their waiting room, the kids (and adults) can do this:


(Yes, that is a massage chair!)

Who would not want to wait in a pile of these:



and video games are a big hit as well!

Last week I was able to schedule all 4 kids at the same time for Dental appointments. That makes for a happy mommy (only having to make one trip rather than 2 or 3).

Ethan got his teeth cleaned and was happy to lay still watching Bambi while the dental hygienist cleaned his teeth:



Carly was there for the same reason. This was the first time she let them do x-rays:





She was really excited to get her teeth cleaned and talked about it all morning:



And then it came time to do the actual cleaning...



She was not the least bit interested when it came down to the nitty gritty. As always, she cried, which made for an easy cleaning since her mouth stayed open.

Raya had to get yet another cavity filled...I'm sorry Raya for the lame teeth genes. The poor kid can't catch a break. No matter what we do, sugar bugs find their way in. This time, the sugar bugs found their way into an opening of an orthodontic appliance that is permanently in her mouth. No fun!



Malia got her braces for Phase 1 of orthodontics. She's had her pallet expander for a while now and they finally put on four brackets. She's been a trooper and hasn't complained once.

BEFORE:



DURING:





AFTER:



I've written few posts about the cost of raising kids and after this one dentist trip, I once again can tell you that the figures that are posted online are true. Thank goodness for our Dental Fund!

Soccer Stars!!

Soccer season has begun!



Almost all our spare time goes to watching our 3 soccer stars do this:



and this:



and this:



This is technically Malia's first year of soccer (minus the one year she played when she was 4 years old). She is playing with the U10's and is one of the youngest players on her team...The LAVA GIRLZ! She is sporting the same jersey number as her brother, #29 and she is rockin' on the soccer field! She is getting in there and getting her foot on the ball defending the goal! It's really exciting watching her (and all the other kids too) play! She's enjoying this season very much!





Ethan is playing in the U6's for the TORNADOS! He is having another great year and continues to dominate the goal! He's got the natural talent and it shows during his games. He prefers the goalie position, but he also knows how to get his foot on the ball and take it to the net on the field...when he's not watching the dragon flies fly by.





Raya is loving soccer again this year. She is now playing in the U12's group, but for the same team as last year, the JAGUARS! Like Malia, she is also defending the goal and can do it with only 1 cleat on! During her first game, one of the girls on the other team stepped on her cleat while Raya was lifting her foot up. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but the eyelet holes for the shoe laces on Raya's cleat got ripped to shreds and totally broke her cleat. Because this kind of thing doesn't warrant for a time out, Raya threw her shoe down and continued to play until they could call time out and switch out players. I overheard one gentlemen say "That's right girl, throw that cleat down, you don't need it." The cleat was thrashed, but it wasn't anything a little duct tape couldn't fix...



You can't really tell in this picture, but she has only one cleat on:



The first games of the season happened to fall on September 11th. Only Raya's team took time out for a moment of silence in remembering the events that took place on that dreadful day 9 years ago.



We were also treated to parts of the Air Show that was happening out at Mather Air Force Base that day. I LOVE air shows and it was awesome to be able to see the Blue Angels fly by in formation (wish I had my camera ready to take photos then) as well as other interesting aircraft such as this:



This year, I really stuck to my guns about volunteering my time. I think I did pretty good considering I have 3 kids playing. The only thing I ended up having to do (besides the usual snacks on designated game days), was making the banner for Raya's team. With the help of my friend Heidi Wright, I was able to do it super inexpensive and super awesome as well. It took a few days to do it and with some extra hands from my brother Jared, I was able to get that sucker done before the first game!











And the finished banner:



Totally Awesome! Here's to another year of soccer...Yippeee!

Pizza!

It is very rare when I get alone time with just one of my four kids. Ethan and I somehow ended up home alone Saturday afternoon and we decided to make whole wheat pizza. I think Mister Man has a knack for cooking...He looks like a pro!

The House...Finally!!!

I have so much to blog about, but I promised that I would blog about our house first, so here it goes...the LONG AWAITED New House post....drum roll please!

Here it is...in all it's original glory:



Can you actually see the house behind all the dead trees and shrubbery? If this picture doesn't give you a hint to what we got ourselves into, maybe the following before and after photos will. Here is our house journey...

Patrick and I purchased our first home and got our keys on April 20, 2010. Our lives became an emotional and physical roller coaster thereafter.

Many different projects were in the works. We had already began planning what we wanted to do to the house well before our offer was accepted. We were fortunate enough to rent a home (my dad's) that was the same model (only mirrored) to the home we purchased. So planning and measuring was super easy.

We've come a long way and still have a long way to go with this house. It is slowly but surely coming along...

We started the house remodel with removing the popcorn ceiling from the entire house. That was mostly my job and I did 90% of it (Thank you Guy Jackman for the other 10%)...It was a messy job, but somebody had to do it:



Days and hours of work, wet clothes, and a major neck ache later...it was done!

The living room proved to be one of the easiest rooms to remodel...well, sort of.

You see, there was this wall, and we didn't like it....



so we took it down:













You see that beam up there? I will be standing under that if an earthquake ever hits here...That is what we like to call "Structural Support" And thank you cousin Nate for you assistance in helping put that beam up...as well as other fun adventures we went on during the house remodel...


Below is Mikey working on putting drywall up after knocking down the wall...Sarah (my sister, Mikey's wife) being his moral support...Mikey is an amazing man who stepped up and helped us for many many days. We couldn't have done it in such a short amount of time with out him! Thank you Mikey and thank you Sarah for loaning him to us!



It started to look a little less like a construction zone and more like a house...well, sort of.



There were many random items in this house. Lights, Fans...stained glass windows????





Some things definitely just HAD TO GO...like the random stained glass window.



Moving onto the kitchen/dining area...

Originally, we were going to gut the kitchen and re-do it right away, but after spending WAY too much money on other things, we decided to hold off then, but keep it in the works...

I unfortunately didn't get a picture of the kitchen before we took the cabinets over the bar down, but you can see where they were from the different shade of paint on the wall...My counter top is sporting a huge hole from where the cabinet came crashing down on it. A fruit bowl covers it nicely now :)



After removing the ugly stained glass light fixtures in the kitchen, I noticed a slope on the ceiling. Patrick, Nate, and Mikey decided to take closer look so they ripped the drywall off the ceiling:



And found a broken Truss:



That was a fun little time consuming deterrent...

Our electrician friend Dave came and did all of our lighting...he also put fans with lights in all the bedrooms...It has been wonderful to have them!



So this house was listed as a 3 bedroom 2 bath, 1442 sq. foot home with an office (actually it didn't list the office, but we knew it was there). We decided to turn it into a 4 bedroom.

Here is one of the two office entry's before:



Let's just close up that entry and make it a 4th bedroom...







Mikey did the majority of the texturing...there was a lot to do, and I got to sand it...that was a lot of fun!



Painting came next...Details of this part of the remodel are few and far between due to an insane amount of craziness that has blocked most of my memory about it.

Patrick and his buddy Jason stayed up all night long and painted pretty much the entire house using a sprayer...let's just say, I had to come in with Jenn and fix a lot of it...The best thing that could have happened at this point in the remodel was this:

The tension in our house at this point was so thick that after the paint sponge flipped off its roller and smacked me straight in the face, Jenn had no idea whether to laugh or to be quiet because she wasn't quite sure if I was going to come after her with a knife or start busting up laughing. This, my friends, was my turning point. The stress from the two weeks of remodeling, the pressure of getting stuff done in the new house, packing and cleaning the old house, on top of being a mother to four active and excited kids was almost unbearable. So it took a slap in the face from a wet paint roller to change my attitude and rock out an awesome paint job with my friend Jenn...Jenn, you're the best! Thanks for letting me freak out and cry to you over paint...

I'll admit it, I don't have any style whatsoever, so when I came across this photo:



I had to have that color on my master bedroom walls...and so, my walls...and some other parts of that room got painted a similar color per my request:



Let's just say that when I entered into the room, I felt like I was drowning in the sea...literally...it was almost unbearable to be in there (this was pre-paint smacking me in the face) so we ignored it for a while and then left it for last...

Kelly Townsend helped with priming the turquoise off the walls and also with removing some rather difficult closet doors while Deidre played with SOME of my kids... Raya got to help too...thank you ladies!



We had to prepare for the floors to be done. Jenn once again came to my rescue and used her "destructo bar" to tear up the wood floor in the entry way by the front door...She also used her magical powers of persuasion and got her baby brother to drive an hour down and put our laminite floors partially in...for free...



We had to get this done before we could get our living room carpet in as well as our master bedroom carpet in...(turquoise painted carpet just wasn't going to jive in my decor).

After the carpets were installed, we moved into the partially remodeled house...we, unfortunately are still living on some concrete until we decide what to do with the kitchen. Our flooring is in our garage, waiting until we decide...hopefully that decision comes quickly as well as the financing because frankly, I'm over the construction decor and would like a more modern look in my home...perhaps, a finished floor would be nice...

Patrick's co-workers all came over after work one day and basically moved us. It was so nice of them to do it for Little Ceasers Pizza. They were done in a few short hours and we were finally in our new home... The weeks of stress, blood, and tears that were put into remodeling our house was worth it. We were in OUR HOUSE, the Way WE liked it, WITH SO MUCH HELP FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS and we were GRATEFUL!

Here are some before and after photos. Like I mentioned before, I have no style so my decor isn't all that great...let's just say that I'm glad I have curtains hanging from my windows...

Kitchen Before:



Kitchen Now: (We are not finished with our kitchen...it is only in a transition stage)





DINING ROOM BEFORE:



DINING ROOM NOW:





This is one of my favorite decor items in my home...



LIVING ROOM BEFORE:



LIVING ROOM NOW:







ENTRY WAY BEFORE:



ENTRY WAY NOW:




(Not sure if I like the table there or not yet)

HALLWAY BEFORE:



HALLWAY NOW:



I didn't take before pictures of all the rooms in the house. But here is what the rest of the house looks like now:

MASTER BEDROOM:





(Waiting for my bed and matching dresser...A nice large painting to hang over the bed would be appealing too. Maybe Santa Claus will bring it this year)

MASTER BATHROOM:





GUEST BATHROOM:





(Bathroom remodels are in the works...I did paint the master bath and we put a new toilet in the guest bathroom, but that's it folks...nothing big to see here...move along now...)

RAYA'S ROOM:





MALIA & CARLY'S ROOM:









ETHAN'S ROOM:





LAUNDRY ROOM:





I added the towels for your viewing pleasure...really, I never have folded towels in my laundry room, nor do I even fold my towels that way. This is another room that we have yet to remodel. I'd love for my laundry room to look like this someday:



I stole the towel idea from the above photo...

Before I end with my "Post Disclaimer", I wanted to give a quick shout out to all the family and friends who helped in our home remodel, child care, meals provided, yard work, and the move. You people are amazing friends and we are truely grateful for you! In no particular order, I'd like to thank...

Jennifer Thompson
Steve Richardson
My Dad
My Mom
Mikey Atilano
Sarah Atilano
Nate Sisam
David Gleason
David's brother (can't remember his name Gleason)
Kelly Townsend
Deidre Townsend
Guy Jackman
The Sutter Health Server Team
Heidi Wright
Amanda Tyler
Aaron Tyler
Aaron Tylers two older sons
Brian Jensen
Haley Jensen
Jared Poindexter
Jacob Poindexter
Jennifer Thompson's brother (can't remember his name)
Jason Gilbert

(to those of you I've missed, please let me know, I'd hate to forget you).

A few disclaimers as well as insightful information for this post:

1. Some details of our house purchase and remodel may have been left out of this post. It is not because I didn't want to share them with you, but rather the tortorous events that took place during this time has caused a tramatic amnesia effect on my brain. As details slowly start coming back, I will share them.

2. I've claimed this now 3 times in this post...my style (if you can call it a style) is BORING! Please, no yawning...I'm already doing that for you.

3. We are not done with our house. There are many things that we are still working on, and crossing off as well as adding to our list. Please don't think we enjoy living on concrete. We don't.

4. My house is ALWAYS as clean as the "NOW" pictures you are viewing. My kids never EVER leave toys, clothes, sippy cups, food, homework, garbage, shoes, DVD's, crums, and the like around the house.

5. We are happy in our new home...the inside is coming along quite nicely...now if we can only say that about our yard:





The yard post is coming up next...