Bueller? Bueller?

Anyone still out there? I have been MIA for sure. There seems to have been not enough time in the day lately and I'm afraid the blog is always the first to get the boot. I'm going to really try to catch up. We've been doing all sorts of fun things lately and I've still been taking plenty of pictures so hope to make time to share them. Where have I been? Besides my full time stay at home mom gig, we've had the major kitchen renovation (this felt like another full time job on it's own!) It's finished now, and we're thrilled with both the finished product, and that it's finished!! Adding to that, I've recently joined the board of Connor's preschool (my role is 1st VP). Connor's (non-profit) school is structured such that the board oversees the Director (who hires and oversees the teachers and the day to day operations of the school). I was looking to get involved, exercise the (limited) non-Mom part of my brain and meet new people-- in a way that wouldn't take away time from the kids. I absolutely adore Connor's school,  and this seemed like a perfect fit. So when the old board nominated me, I said yes. While I have met a ton of really awesome people, it's definitely been more work/time than I was anticipating (isn't that always the case?!) My job includes attending quarterly Board meetings, monthly executive meetings, and weekly Marketing committee meetings (I oversee the marketing). We just rolled out a new logo (huge project- and we hired another stay at home Mom to design it!) and I've taken over the website (both updating the current one and redesigning a new site since the current site's software is full of issues- it hasn't gone live yet.) I have zero computer/graphic design experience other than this blog so you can understand what a challenge this has been. However, if I ever start a small business and need to build a website, I now know how ;) I'm also in charge of communications and writing the board newsletters (just finished October's!) The good news-being that the board is almost all volunteer stay at home Moms (plus one working Dad)- it's very low key. With the exception of the board meetings, I take Leyla to almost all my meetings (there's usually at least one or two other kids there so it becomes a playdate of sorts for her). Meetings take place at Connor's school so I also get to watch him in action while I'm doing my thing (and he thinks it's way cool that I'm there too!) Anyway, now that the school year is off to a smooth start and major projects are out of the way (or at least in a holding pattern)- hopefully things will slow down a bit.

Here's some quick (very random!) recent iphone pics:

Sunday family bowling. More pics of this to come in another post (my Dad came to visit that weekend too!)

 Leyla on the playground at Connor's school. She really thinks it's her school too- it will be next year!

 Leyla's friend at the library.

 Kids eating at our new kitchen island!

Leyla feeding the guinea pig at her Mommy and Me class at the Nature Center- probably my favorite thing we do together each week- every week there's a new animal (the guinea pig is actually always there). She's such an animal lover, and fearless (at least when they are smaller than she is!)

Leyla has a serious crush on Ernie from Sesame Street so when I saw this stuffed Ernie I had to get it for her! She takes him everywhere.

Recent playdate at Tracey's house on Long Island. Connor and her daughter Maeve are apparently boyfriend and girlfriend right now.

Connor still frequently dresses up in his halloween costume from last year (his firefighter costume from the year before too!)

 Dance party.

Leyla likes Connor to carry her around like this. She's such a little koala bear. Those two are so funny.

 Kitchen pics to come next.

Kitchen Progress

We've been dreaming and scheming about building a new kitchen since we bought this house. Most of the house had been updated before we bought it but the kitchen definitely left much to be desired. This is obviously a huge project, so here were are 2.5 years later- Project Kitchen is finally happening and I couldn't be more excited!!

The before: Our home is a 1960's colonial and the kitchen, while repainted over the years, was the original. It was clean and bright, but really outdated- laminate counter tops, original cabinets that wouldn't really close, etc. The drawers were so hard to open that when they did, sawdust would rub off so much underneath that you'd need to rewash the dishes and bowls before they were used. We switched out the original brass knobs and pulls for brushed silver and replaced some of the appliances when we moved in but otherwise, we made no real updates. We knew we'd (hopefully) be tackling this project sooner than later. 

Some before shots taken just about a month ago. We took these next couple just before we began packing up all the cabinets. We commented that it was sooooo nice to be packing up the kitchen but NOT actually be moving (for once!!)

The counter and stove didn't even meet, classy ;)

We were lucky in that our contractor was able to get the bulk of the demolition done the week before Connor started school. So the kids and I headed up to the camp for the week to avoid the dust and chaos (separate post about our awesome time up at the camp!) Being that our home is an older colonial, the rooms are all very compartmentalized. One of our first goals was to open everything up, and make the kitchen a much larger space, thus allowing for an island where the kids can sit (my #1 wishlist item!!) This involved taking the room down to the studs and removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room (and pushing the beam that holds up the second floor into the ceiling- this was a huge job).

Demo (what it looked like when I left):

Andrew sent me this video while we were away.

What it looked like when I came home. Not much better but it was only another day or so before there were walls and floors.

We've been out of a kitchen for just about a month now. Less than ideal obviously, but it's actually been better than we were anticipating. We moved our table and chairs into the living room, and everything else that we'd need into the playroom. Luckily the weather has been really nice lately so we've been able to grill, and Andrew's Mom was a saving grace when she sent us a single plug-in burner so at least now we can boil water, steam veggies and make one pot meals. I'm afraid we've been eating out way more than usual (we usually almost always cook at home) - so I'm definitely looking forward to having a working kitchen again soon!! The hardest part has been not having a kitchen sink. We've been using our (very) small bathroom sink to wash dishes- not fun! Over the weekend I commented to Andrew that he hasn't done any of the dishes since we began this project and that the sink was starting to drive me nuts. The next morning I found him out back washing the dishes like this (he assured me he cleaned this out before using it). Love the way he thinks ;)

It was so exciting when we had walls again- and the new space is so much bigger! And while I didn't get a picture, this made a great space for some indoor floor hockey.

 Connor helping me try out some potential paint colors (we decided on a grey instead).

 Cabinet delivery!

Cabinet boxes make for some great hiding places.

They loved sitting here where the oven would eventually go.

 In-cabinet tea party.

 Inspecting the day's work ;)

 

At this point we're just waiting on a new window, countertops, sink, paint, and tile backsplash. Official before and after pictures to come then, we're so close!!

Darien Road Race (10K)

On Thursday of last week I was driving through Darien (next town over) and saw signs for the Darien Road Race, a 10K (6.2 miles) held this past Sunday. On a whim, I signed up. Granted, I've tried to keep up a somewhat regular running routine following my June half marathon, but I've never signed up for a race that I haven't followed a training schedule for. I've only run one other 10K before (in Tokyo with Melanie) and we trained for weeks if not months leading up to it. But a mile into the Darien Road Race, I was warmed up and knew it wasn't a question of whether or not I would finish, but how fast! I ended up finishing with a time of 1:02:39, a 10:06 minute/mile pace.  For comparison, my 1/2 marathon pace was 11:21, so I made a pretty big improvement (granted it was half the distance and much, much cooler- 70 degrees) but I'm really proud!! Can't wait to break a 10 min mile pace next time- I'm on my way ;)

As with the half marathon, Connor ran the end of the race and crossed the finish line with me. It slows me down but it's so worth it ;) He was so excited getting ready for the race before we left the house- picking out which shorts and shoes he thought would help him go his fastest, a shirt with runners on it, etc. I think I have a future runner!

Andrew took this video. Apparently after I ran by and Connor ran off with me, Leyla was devestated beyond belief and threw herself to the ground in tears, poor gal!

Scene of the race- Pear Tree Point Beach in Darien. This was our first time there, can't believe we've never been there before! So beautiful!

Halloween Practice

My kids are so excited for Halloween! I'm not sure that Leyla really understands/remembers what Halloween even is, but she loves asking people what they're going to be and telling everyone that will listen that she wants to be Snow White. She wants Daddy to be Batman and for me to be Wonder Woman, ha! Connor has wanted to be Spiderman for months and months now, and we just got his costume. He's so pumped!

Spiderman... he's here... (that's a line from the Halloween episode of Modern Family, hilarious).

Quick note note about Connor: we're currently in the midst of anti-thumb sucking bootcamp. We've tried everything- bandaids, the yucky tasting Mavala Stop stuff painted on his thumbs, constant reminders, etc. We finally gave in and ordered these plastic thumb guards from One Step Ahead. But my little thumb ninja still figured out how to wiggle his thumb out of them at night. We figured out that we have to splint his thumb with a popsicle stick, then wrap it with athletic tape and then cover it with a plastic thumb guard (this process takes about 10-15 minutes per thumb- annoying). The good news -we're about 2.5 weeks in now and it's definitely working! I don't make him wear them at school (he doesn't suck his thumb at school) but he wears them right up until I drop him off and I put them back on in the parking lot after picking him up. The hardest part for him was learning to fall asleep at night without his thumbs but that's no longer an issue. If he goes 30 days without sucking his thumb (we keep a calendar and every day he gets a sticker), we'll be getting him a new 16" Spiderman bike (which he's so excited about.) We printed out a picture of it to hang next to his bed as a reminder. Hopefully we'll be there soon!

Back to Halloween- while Leyla is going to be Snow White, we got her a Rapunzel princess dress for her birthday (she loves to dress up and Tangled is her favorite movie). The dress came with a 2ft long blond wig which we just think is hilarious. We called her Baby Gaga when she had it on. So funny.

Happy Birthday Leyla!

Two years ago today...

She was then (and still is now), the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on. What I wouldn't give to go back and hold her in that moment again.

Happy 2nd birthday to my sweet Leyla Grace- my happy, easy going, lover of life and living it to the absolute fullest, crazy smart, total chatterbox, athletic, funny, fearless girl. We love her to the moon and back!

 

She's laughing hysterically at Connor here. Thick as thieves these two!!

Connor has always been her biggest fan!

Birthday cupcakes earlier tonight. Sorry the picture is so teeny tiny- technical difficulties ;)

I also want to wish my awesome Dad a very happy birthday too!! I love that they share a birthday, so neat! We will celebrate when my Dad comes up for a visit soon.

Week of Firsts

Tuesday was Connor's first day of school. I actually shed a few tears at drop off-- I'm so sad that he's not mine (and Leyla's) all day anymore and that our super fun summer has officially ended! He's also looking so grown up these days- and the start of a new school year feels like just another reminder of how fast the time goes by. Connor however, was SO ridiculously excited to get to school and see all his friends. Leyla cried too- she was so sad that she couldn't go to school with him. Not only was she losing her best playmate- but she really thinks it's her school too. We've been spending 15-20 minutes at school pick up playing on the playground or in Connor's classroom so she can feel like she's a part of it too :)

I'm out a camera charger (lost somewhere in Hilton Head I believe) and I haven't gotten around to ordering another. So it's only cell phone pics for the time being.

Here we are on the front porch before leaving on Tuesday. Love Leyla's big cheese face here.

Connor picks out all his own outfits, he always comes in our room in the morning fully dressed and ready for school. He's so excited! He wanted to wear his "rockstar" shirt for his first day- of course!

Still have wet hair but cute pic with the kids. Note all the equipment and other crap laying around- we've just begun our biggest ever house project- a gut renovation of the kitchen!!! Details of that for another post.

After dropping Connor off at school, Leyla and I headed to her first gymnastics class at the YMCA. Here she was about 30 seconds into the class. I've always said she's part monkey.

Sweetface.

This morning was our first Mommy and Me "pre-school" class we're going to be taking Thursday mornings at the Nature Center. It was awesome!

 Posing!

 My pretty girl.

 Of course we have to go visit her chickens while we're there!

Random kitchen photo from today- cabinets have arrived- woohoo!!! And the kids are standing where the wall separating our kitchen and dining room used to be!

One Going on Four and a Half

Lots to catch up on- it's been crazy around here lately. In the meantime, a quick video of Leyla I took this morning. It's hard to believe, but my baby girl turns two next week! As you can see though, she claims to be 4.5 and that it's Connor who is 2, ha!