Canton

Here's the ONLY picture I have from Canton this weekend. I cannot believe I left my camera at home!!! There were so many things to take pictures of that I was just ill thinking about all of these missed shots. We're going to make this a regular trip though, so I will definitely get a redo.

Yin and Yang

I've said it probably a hundred times, but this morning I received yet another confirmation that these children are about as different as two people could possibly be. Our fashionista Ashley spends each morning primping in front of the mirror, making sure that the outfit she picked out the night before is the right one for the day...and it usually isn't, and neither is the next two or three that she tries on. She makes sure each hair is in it's proper place, necklace and earings match properly. Belt and other sparkly accessory must reflect light in the proper direction in order to acceutuate each article of clothing. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Aaaand then there's Alex.

I made the mistake of pushing the snooze button one too many times this morning. As a result, I had no time to spare and Alex did not wake up to a coordinated outfit laying on his dresser ready to go. Instead, I left the task up to him....with slight hesitation I asked him to pick out his own clothes. From the bathroom I can hear each article of clothing in his drawer being either unfolded, pushed aside, or strewn across the floor, in attempt to find whatever it is that this boy is searching for. A few short minutes later he yells that he's ready. Great! No fuss, no hassle. Ha, I wish. He walks in to the bathroom where I'm fixing my hair, dressed in a long sleeved shirt from last year, possibly the year before, which is fine, except for the fact that it's so short that his little belly is peeking through the bottom, and the sleeves are an unintentional 3/4 length. And for shoes, he has on the famous brown leather slip ons that have created more than their fair share of arguments due to the fact that they can NOT be paired with shorts because of how absolutely ridiculous they look. They are a semi-dress shoe and just don't work with shorts. Of course, they also aren't working with the 3 inches too short wind pants he's chosen today either. Had he not been on his way to school, I probably would have let him get away with his choices, afterall, he did look pretty cute in a "that's my precious little boy" sort of way. However, I decided to forego the phone call from the school counselor telling me how to obtain assistance from the local clothes closet charity and asked him to change. He put up a small fight, and showed me how he could "do this all day"... as he pulled his sleves down over his palms and held them with his fingers in effort to make the sleeves appear long enough. No, no, no honey that just won't work, you have to write and play and use your hands, right? So reluctantly, he ran off to change clothes while I continued fixing my hair with a little cloud of guilt looming over my head. He's 5. I love his innocence and how he doesn't care what he looks like. He's just the way I wish the rest of the world could be, carefree.
So anyway, he comes back, this time a tad better. He walks in straight faced, wearing jeans, another long sleeve shirt (that actually fits), the good ol brown slip ons AND five (yes 5) hats stacked on top of his head. I just didn't have the heart to object and sent my little boy off to Kindergarten looking like a clown dressed for winter. It was an interesting walk down the looong hallway full of moms and dads walking their perfectly primped children to class. It was hard for me to keep a straight face, and I'm sure it was even harder for them. So today our little Alex is sitting in his Kindergarten class 1 foot taller, in more ways than one.

I can't wait to see each chapter of this guys life unfold...there's just no predicting what's going to be on the next page.

Bathroom Remodel Day 5 and beyond

We're moving along slllooowwwly, but we're getting super close to being DONE!

Here's Day 5....most of the tile is in place, we're anxious to see what it will look like once the grout and trim pieces are in place:








And here we are after days 6 and 7.... a wee bit more tile and grout later and now we're talkin':

And after day 8 (Friday Sept. 28th), Mark and I are getting more and more impressed with our design! It's actually starting to look like a bathroom! We're getting so close





Since the last pictures were taken, the only change is the arch above the opening to the water closet is back. Now we'll contiue to wait for the plumber and electrician to show up, and after that all that's left is patching, taping, floating and texturing the walls, and getting the glass enclosure installed around the shower. That's IT! We are now in to week 6 of the remodel.

As for the wood floors...nothing has changed. They were supposed to start demo this morning, but it's not much of a surprise that I came home to an empty house with no changes. PLEASE LET ME KEEP MY PATIENCE with these people!!!!!!

I'm hoping to find some more time to update with all of the recent happenings at the Urben house as soon as possible. Right now, I'm off to the dentist AGAIN, but this time for some relief. I'm pretty sure I have dry socket from the molar I had pulled last Thursday. I'll be feelin' good in no time, I'm sure!