Four Corners

Before:If you have heard us talk about our new house, you have probably heard us mention "the four corners". When standing in the kitchen you can literally see four different types of flooring merge to form "the four corners". The kitchen has wood laminate, which meets up with the carpeted dining room, which is next to the black flagstone tile, which meets up with the hardwood floor in the den. Of the four floors the only one we like is the hardwood floor. We decided it would be best to get the flooring redone prior to getting all of our furniture delivered, so we have been busy preparing to have tile and carpet installed. Trevor ripped out the black flagstone tile with a friend of ours, which was a big job. He also had to rip out the carpet in the dining room and the wood laminate in the kitchen. In addition, he had to disassemble all of the appliances. The hard work was worth it though when we saw the finished product. Take a peak...

After:

Trace is 15 Months Old!!!

Trace is definitely transforming into a little boy versus the baby he has been. He has started talking and can say: "mama or mum, dada or da, bah (ball), sah (sock), ta da (peek-a-boo), nana (Kianna), and Kayee (Kaylee)". He still refuses to use sign language but manages to get his point across. He has begun pointing and grunting to indicate what he wants. For example, if he wants a drink he goes up to the refrigerator or if he wants a snack he goes up to the pantry door. I would prefer he use the signs I have worked to teach him, but since he refuses I guess his method works too. It is funny seeing how different kids are despite raising them the same.

Trace is comprehending quite a few words. He understands upstairs, bath, cup, ball, and night night (bedtime) to name a few. He loves taking baths. As soon as I say the word "bath" Trace will go up to the bathtub and begin banging on it until I put him inside. It is fun watching him comprehend things. I love watching him learn. Trace has a cute little voice he uses when "singing" to his Praise Baby DVD. His faces just lights up when his movie comes on. It is so precious!

Trace loves sucking his thumb and it doesn't matter which thumb it is, they both work. As gross as it is, the only thing that makes sucking his thumb even better is having a fist full of his sister's hair in his hand while sucking it. Gross I know! He also LOVES to walk. He isn't the best follower, as he often takes his own route, but he loves to wander. This also means he does not enjoy being restrained. Trace loves to go up stairs but has not learned how to go down stairs yet. He knows that stairs are dangerous and so stays away from them. He prefers to be carried down the stairs rather than crawling down them himself. I have got him to practice going down them himself only a hand full of times. I guess he has a mind of his own, imagine that!

Trace loves balls and still enjoys playing fetch. We throw it and he retrieves it. Trace has recently learned how to climb on and off of his little car and thinks that is pretty fun. Trace also enjoys dumping things out of their containers (making messes). He enjoys putting his shapes into the shape sorter, although he still needs some help with this. He enjoys knocking over towers and is beginning to enjoy throwing things (i.e. balls, blocks, legos, etc.,). Trace is also starting to hit. He hits in a very innocent way. He doesn't know it hurts anyone, he just gets excited and begins hitting. He also enjoys banging on things and making loud noises.

Trace is a great eater and will eat most anything except for fruit. The only fruits I can get him to eat are bananas, prunes, and applesauce otherwise they end up on the floor. I don't think he likes the tartness of fruit, because he definitely has a sweet tooth like the rest of us otherwise. Trace is such a precious little guy. He loves to smile and often has a smile for anyone looking his way. He loves it when Daddy tickles him and he really likes playing peek-a-boo and hide-n-seek. Trace has a really silly smile that he does. He scrunches up his nose and gives a really toothy grin. It is super cute. He has such a great personality! We love you Buddy.

The Wenzel's Visit

We had a fun weekend with our good friends, Sally and Ryan and their two girls. We gave them a tour of The Center and LCS. We tried to convince Sally to apply for the High School Biology teacher job opening. Unfortunately, I don't think we succeeded. On Saturday, Sally and I had a good time visiting our friend, Jodi and attending her baby shower. Jodi's hometown is about an hour north of Adrian. It was so good getting some girl time and catching up with friends. The guys were troopers and watched the kids while we were away. They even took the girls swimming, which was a hit as usual. Saturday evening the guys got a little crazy and began hacking away at the entryway tile we decided to replace. Ryan is really handy and was a HUGE help to Trevor. He also saved us a lot of money. Yea! Trevor got a little crazy after they left and began ripping up the carpet in our dining room. He has been the energizer bunny these days. He still has to rip up the wood laminate in the kitchen and then we are ready for the tile to be installed next week. Yea!!! It is exciting adding a little of our own style to the house. Thanks for the help Ryan and for the fun visit!

Projects

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom Now- I think the before picture might actually look better. I'll have to take a new picture once we get the rest of our furniture on May 5th (whoo hoo)
Multi-Grain Cheerio Box Entertainment Center (tough competition I know)
New Entertainment Center minus one drawer
Trevor was a crazy man trying to get things done before our friends visited for the weekend. On his to do list were painting the master bedroom, putting together our new entertainment center, and doing some yard work. That list doesn't sound too grueling, but our painting projects are complicated. Just like Kianna's room the previous owners painted the trim, doors, and baseboards the same color as the rest of the room, which in this case were all yellow. Our room has three doors (bathroom, closet, and the main door). Can I tell you what a pain it was to paint them all, plus the rest of the trim? It took us 6 days to complete our bedroom. Actually it isn't 100% done, but it is close. Trevor still needs to do some ragging on one wall, but that shouldn't take too long. He just ran out of time. The almost finished product looks great though. It is fun making some progress on our house.

The entertainment center is another welcomed addition to our house. In it's place previously sat an entertainment center composed of multigrain cheerio boxes. I'd say this is quite the improvement even though it isn't 100% complete either. Trevor has one more set of drawers to put together, but again he ran out of time before our company arrived. I guess we know what Trevor will be doing next weekend...

Sick Girl

Kaylee woke up with a 102.5 degree fever the morning we were supposed to be driving back to Iowa for Easter Break. After a trip to the doctor and with antibiotics in hand, I loaded the kids up and began driving to Iowa. We made it an hour and twenty minutes when a bathroom break was requested. It was at this point that I made the decision to turn around and drive back to Michigan. Poor Kaylee looked horrible. She wasn't even able to keep up with us while walking from the car to the bathroom. It was a good thing we turned around because Kaylee's high fever lasted for 3 days and didn't go away completely for 6 days. It ended up being a really bizarre virus. She had an upset tummy and fever blisters. Her mouth was so sore. She had 5 blisters on her lip and 3 on her tongue. It was very strange and sad.

Despite Kaylee's illness we had a nice Easter together as a family. We attended a Good Friday performance of The Last Supper in which the disciples voiced their insecurities about whether or not they would be the one who would betray Jesus. They each ended their monologue with a rhetorical question of "Is It I, Is It I"? Of course the sanctuary was silent, when Kianna decided to answer their question out loud and said "NO". She got quite a few giggles from the congregation and definitely lightened the mood.

We also had a good time decorating Easter eggs and looking outside for the 106 eggs Trevor hid for the kids. The girls had a blast looking for the eggs and Trace had fun too. He was so cute picking up the eggs and putting them into his basket. He is getting to be such a big boy! We made some fun memories that weekend.