Quick trip to Peoria

I got the chance to sneak away the first weekend in August and fly to Peoria. My bro-in-law Eric was leaving for youth camp, so I got to hang with Miley and her babies. I tell ya, one of my favorite things ever is to go be an auntie for a weekend. Without my kiddos in tow, I can just focus on them and get some good snuggle time in. 

I caught Hudson in drag. Haha.

Avery making a face with her pancake. Love this girl.

The weather was perfect! We spent time outdoors, just playing and watching the kids ride bikes.

This 3-yr-old rides his bike like nobody's business. And he's barely 3. Such a stud.

Ridiculously gorgeous curb appeal.

And Saige at 10 months is a little love muffin.

Miles and I didn't get any pics together (we should've asked Avery to take one), but she did document our GNO dinner on Instagram. Yes, we each ate one. And yes, I think I gained 5 pounds instantly. If your travels ever take you to Peoria, be sure and eat at Sugar. Delish.

Until next time, my sweet sista. I love you dearly. 

So, the bathroom...

It has turned into one heck of a remodel project. A few reasons why:

1. We almost had a fatality. Not even kidding. The plumber was jackhammering in the slab to move the location of the plumbing hookup, and a freak piece of concrete about 2 feet wide and several inches deep dislodged from the slab and catapulted through the air. It went through the bathroom wall, the bedroom wall, and flew all the way across the bedroom and slammed into the closet door frame. By the grace of God, the plumber had been standing to the side of the jackhammer instead of directly in front of it...it's the only way he is still alive. He said the force of that concrete would've taken his midsection out and plastered him to the wall. 

2. So the rest of these reasons are NOTHING compared to number one. Maybe I should've left that one for last? 

3. We had to special order a shower door, it took over two weeks for it to come in, and when it arrived, it had a huge scratch down the entire thing. We are currently waiting for door #2.

4. We had a heavy rain mid-week last week, and apparently we have a roof leak because water fell from the opening where the vent is going to be in the shower... all over the newly laid marble tile shower floor. The tile turned to mush and had to be pulled up. They are starting over on that tomorrow.

5. We are exactly one month in. One month of living upstairs with our kiddos, sleeping on our mattress on the floor of the 5th bedroom. Now I really shouldn't complain about this one, because we are truly blessed to have an extra bedroom to occupy. But I'm ready to be downstairs again, feeling like we have our own space to enjoy. 

6. So now that I've complained and moaned, I am feeling a little convicted and a little bratty. Thank you Lord for the resources to be able to do a remodel and thank you for Your hand of protection over our house and for saving our plumber's life. :)

7. The End.

8. Oh, and I am VERY excited to be able to post the reveal once it's all finished. Hopefully end of this week or early next week!

July Picture Post

The majority of July was spent playing outside and going to the pool.

We also had another sighting of the albino squirrel. This thing makes an appearance every now and then, and I finally got a picture.

 Emerson came downstairs dressed as her brother. Haha.

The bigs at their music camp performance.

We had church VBS the entire month of July. Fantastic curriculum, lots of fun, and Jax even beat his sister in trivia on stage.

The highlight of our month was my bro and his family coming to OK!

Emerson & Addison...best of cousins & friends.

Grammy took everyone to her classroom and much fun was had by all!

It's a shame I can't get her to come out of her shell.

She's such a wallflower.

We went to the Tulsa Children's Museum on a rainy day...the perfect activity for these smarty-pants munchkins.

Uncle Jace with his mile-long legs.

The tape tunnel and slide!

Grammy and Grandpa graciously watched all 6 kids at our house while we snuck in a date night at Bluestone, one of our fave little steakhouses.

You already saw that pic if you follow me on Instagram. If you didn't and you're on IG, I'm @beetothevee. Follow me!

Oh, poor guy...

For some reason, this article made me completely lose it last night... hysterical. I'm sure the back story isn't funny, but the hilarity of the situation is too much. Click HERE.

Master Bath Reno

We knew this day would get here, but a shower leak spurred us into action. Our master bathroom is atrocious. Very few people have seen it, and very few people ever want to see it again. It's bad! From the brass fixtures and shower to the ugly ceramic tile to the oak cabinets to the plain-jane countertops and horrible wall texture, it's probably my least favorite place in the house.

We are using a contractor for the job, but the boys did some initial demo last week.

Unfortunately the windows are staying (we're in resale mindset, not make-it-like-we'd-want-it mindset). The huge corner tub is going, however, and I'll be getting my very first claw foot! My kids are gonna miss the 'stage' behind the current tub. Every time they'd take their clothes off for a bath, they'd immediately climb to that area and dance their little naked butts off.

Eeesh. It's just sooo ugly.

Would you believe my husband tore up an entire floor of ceramic tile—heavily glued, mind you—with a hammer? I'm not even joking. The dude is a machine. All while wearing flip flops. Ha! I got in on some of the tile-hammering action. Way fun.

So here was my inspiration picture from Pinterest:

I love the greige wall color, the marble subway-tile shower, the light grey cabinets, and wood floors. We haven't decided if we'll be doing stained concrete or faux-wood tile (it all depends on the condition of our slab when everything is out of there). 

The kids helped us pick the marble slab for the countertops.

Next up was more demo with the help of Russ Scott (or Mr. Russ as my kids call him). He runs our insurance agency, and he is best described as J's partner in crime. They're two peas in a pod. Two totally inappropriate, hysterical, often-genius peas in a pod. And WOW that picture is blurry.

Next up in the reno process was the discovery of mold. We were about 99% sure that's what we would find. Two reasons: 1) The smell. For about 3 weeks this gross smell had invaded our bedroom/bathroom, and we were pretty sure that's what it was. 2) I have been having some pretty freakish neurological things happening to the left side of my face, sometimes twitching in my eyelid (almost two weeks straight in March), sometimes severe cramping in my neck when I yawn, sometimes twitching in my chin. I was getting close to going to a neurologist to be checked out when the smell started and we put two and two together. I'll be anxious to see if everything goes away completely now that the mold is gone.

Behold le mold:

Our contractor Todd with Victory Remodeling showed up Monday morning with his crew. They've done a TON already... I can't wait to take pics after the week is over. Unfortunately the shower tile we ordered has to be shipped from a distribution center, so it's gonna take about 2 weeks to arrive. 

My favorite reno picture? The artwork Emerson taped to the bathroom door on Sunday night. I'm assuming this was directed toward her siblings.