“So…” you might ask. “What’s it like renovating a kitchen while having three kids aged four and under, including a newborn?” 

July 30^th. That sums it up. 

July 30^th is the first day I swung a golf club this summer.

The kitchen is more or less done. The heart of the home now beats vibrantly again. Our old kitchen was due for a makeover. 

The countertop was coming apart. The cabinets were loaded with grease and losing their stain. The floor had several spots that were worn and not salvageable. And this weird little nook was, um, well you can see.

Time to get to work.

Despite a few quick projects, I more or less began the kitchen after Becca’s parents left from a visit, about a week into July. I think I would have finished 10 days earlier had Becca and I not had 3 little kids to deal with. Emilie started fussing quite a bit. And the boys, seeing change right before their eyes, fell apart frequently. "Sooo much chaaaaange!!! Waaahhh!"

 While Grandpa Bear was still here he helped remove the doors.

Me scrubbing and TSPing the doors. Seems like forever since I did this.

 

One morning Joseph went off to swimming lessons. Hehehe, it was John Paul and my time to smash some stuff!

More work.

 At two different points I kicked Becca and the kids out. To paint and to do flooring. They went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Nipawin. It was amazing how much work I could accomplish without having to run and wipe a poop, pick up a crying baby, or put tools away so that little kids wouldn’t play with them.

 

Me in the basement. It's funny how renovating one room can disrupt the entire house. The basement was a mess. The office was a mess. The kitchen, of course, was a mess. At one point we had appliances and a table in our living room. The bathroom seldom got cleaned. The outside patio still has a table saw on it... The only room untouched was the basement bathroom.

It turns out Joseph's favourite thing in the world to do is stain wood. He wouldn't stop talking about how much he loved it.

 

Slowly some progress. At this point I kicked the family out to do the flooring. Vinyl tile flooring. Holy moly what a lot of knee-breaking work. It took about 30 hours to complete (including the grouting). But with the kids gone I was able to complete it in less than two days.

One last thing before the reveal. You need the right tools for the job. One benefit of doing a major reno every summer is that I slowly get to build up my tool collection. Here is my Makita line of tools. 

They are amazing. We needed an air compressor. Becca let me get the nail gun that goes with it. I love it! The unsung hero of the reno was actually the palm sander. Though all of my tools were put to good use.

Enough of this. Time for the reveal....

THE REVEAL:

You like? That's what a million dollar kitchen apparently looks like. Now for an updated kitchen at around 1/250th that price...

Subway tile backsplash. Never goes out of style. Oh, and new GFCI outlets. Cause in 1963 they didn't have much for code. Not that anyone's been electrocuted here because of it. At least as far as I know.

 
Joseph also loves tiling. I was working away and he asked if he could do some. I put a bit of adhesive on some wood and left him to it. Pretty good! I wouldn't mind hanging this on the wall. Would you like one too? That'll be $50! Gotta pay for the reno somehow.




A decorative pot rack. Made from an old iron piece that a farmer friend had. Not quite a farmhouse kitchen, but we don't mind showcasing some farm roots.

A custom pantry. Mainly with some MDF, laminated pine, paint and hardware. We saved a bunch of $ with this. Becca says to tell you that it looks way better in real life. Much better than what was there.





Our floor. Oh my. The best part is, the floor is actually disgustingly filthy at the moment, and you can't tell!



New water jug. The boys are having a blast filling up cups. Hey, whatever gets them to drink more water. 

Final Thoughts

- Don't like your kitchen? Buy some TSP cleaning product and scrub away. You'd almost swear we had new appliances.

- As mentioned earlier, the boys were a mess for a good chunk of this reno. Yesterday Becca was sick and I simply decided to not work on anything. When they clued in that I was just going to hang out with them it was if a switch went off.  From Evil to Good.

- We're not done yet. I need to build a little spice rack. And a little pull out island to go next to the stove. And buy some items such as a new toaster. And actually tile the entrance (and paint it) since I have some left over tile anyway (and the entrance looks yucky).

- My favourite part? Besides that it is more or less done? Definitely that it's opened up. That one cabinet is gone. Becca and I can't get over that we can cook food and still talk with the people at the table. And it feels like we have way more counter space too, now that we don't have to duck our heads under a cabinet.

All in all, the kitchen is more or less done. Thank you Saint Joseph.

Approved by the chef. And her soon to be helper.

Approved by the eaters too.

Now to go golfing...

The Boys Say Mass

 Becca's been sick the past few days. None of us have been feeling 100%. And the boys have been driving me nuts. Things had to change. Nothing like Mass said in your own living room to bring a breath of fresh air.

Joseph and John Paul decided to say Mass. They dutifully set up an altar, prepared bells and "holy things" (holy water, palms, rosaries, little icons). Joseph suited up in his chasuble (house coat). John Paul served.

A few pictures:

Consecration. Ad Orientem style. Well, liturgical east anyway. South in reality. John Paul rings the bells.

  Communion. Very reverent. He must learn it from me.

Both species, I guess. He must learn that from someone else.

 I'm slipping as a sacristan. I put way too many hosts on the paten. The boys take seriously GIRM 85: "It is most desirable that the faithful, just as the Priest himself is bound to do, receive the Lord's Body from hosts consecrated at the same Mass." So to avoid a large stash of hosts in the tabernacle, the boys stayed a while and consumed all of the hosts.


After the final blessing they processed out while singing Immaculate Mary. Joseph took his chalice et al. with him. He picks up on stuff from the Latin Mass.

 I think I'll have them do the same tomorrow. I'm sure it would fulfill our Sunday obligation. 

The Great Big July Post

This space has been sadly neglected of late. We've been very busy.


Dan has been tackling a rather large and very time-consuming kitchen reno. It's so close to being finished (pictures soon!). Meanwhile, the rest of our house has been a very large mess and our floors are so dirty.

I've been watching kids, trying to keep us fed moderately healthy food with a lower functioning kitchen, and nursing a hungry and growing baby. I also came down with a nasty little stomach flu this week which meant Dan had to drop everything and care for the kids. They ate hot dogs and fries for supper.

July started with a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Bear (my parents).

Watching the parade.

We had a great week and I have lots of pictures, but there's only so much space in a recap blog post. To sum up, Joseph likes to tell everyone that Grandpa Bear makes smoothies with him and Grandma Bear reads him books. Regardless of the other fun stuff they do, these are the important things.

They also took the boys to a fun end-of-school day in town with some jumping castles/slides.



On July 3rd, Emilie Marie became a child of God. One friend asked recently, "Has she been dipped?" Yes, indeed. Joseph was amazed that Emilie didn't cry, but thanks to a knowing priest, the water was warm.

What a crowd! And that's just most of the Millette side.


The kids (I totally just wrote boys and then realized, we have a girl!) and I spent some time in Nipawin during the painting and installation of the flooring in our kitchen. Our first little stint, the boys were bored because Grandpa was away working. The second stint... well, Grandpa sure didn't get any work done while he was at home. (Fuzzy iPod photos)

 Joseph caught his first frog. He was so excited.

While in Nipawin, we took a couple little 1-2hr trips, the kids and I. We visited Aunty Lynda who works at the Nipawin Heritage Museum. And we hit up the playground and splash pad at the Regional Park.

Back at home, we worked hard. The boys have been learning to tile, pretend they're caulking with glue, and love watching Daddy use the table saw. When they drove Dan crazy, I tried taking them on walks, park mornings, and encouraged longer naps. 

A little backyard hotdog and marshmallow roast. Gotta take a break from work sometimes!

Luckily we had a fireman to put the fire out!

Another break for a pool night!

And we haven't been neglecting bedtime stories!

And our little girl?! Emilie is 6 weeks old, 10lbs big, and getting chubby. We just love her!

Swimming Lessons

Our little boy, who somehow or other has become our big boy, is in swimming lessons. Two-a-days. Here are a few ipod pictures.

The class went rafting

John Paul looks on with joy (and some jealousy) .

Mostly joy though.

 Joseph runs away from the teacher (at least I'm not sure why he was by himself playing).

John Paul hangs out with his feet in the hot tub.

The lessons have been a success. Joseph's fear of getting his head wet is slowly washing away.