Before and After: Master Bathroom

This was our master bathroom, up until about a week ago.

Please note the butterfly wallpaper, outdated colors, 60's trim on the cabinets, and--best of all--the carpet.

After things literally began falling apart in this room, we decided it was finally time to go ahead and renovate it.  Although the layout is not optional--it's very long and narrow--we opted not to move anything around because of the potential expense (we don't intend to be in this house a terribly long time, and it wouldn't have been worth it).  So we painted, had a tub put in (hooray!), and got all new tile and finishes.  We're pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Here are some pictures of the finished job:

The shower tile.  Rather than going with a tan/brown color, as seems to be the style these days, we went with white.  These tiles are white marble.  Nathan preferred natural stone; how can you deny a geologist a request like that?  :)

I now have a bathtub!  So exciting! ;)

We're pretty pleased with the way it turned out, and we've definitely been enjoying it since it was finished about a week ago!

Happy 2012 Olympics!

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Benesh for bringing the t-shirts back from England!

Deb's Wedding

One month ago today, Nathan's sister Deborah got married!  

(Happy One-Month Anniversary, Deb and Gary!)

We were super happy for them, and we were also happy to be involved in such a fun event.

Noah and Uncle Daniel, before the ceremony started.

Nathan's parents.  They put on a good party!

Pardon the fuzzy pictures; my phone wasn't taking good shots that day.

Noah and Mommy

Jane and Daddy

Now, the reception was really fun.  And I think the person who may have had more fun than anyone else was Noah.  He was on the dance floor almost the entire time.
It started out something like this:

And ended up more like this:

At one point, I even saw him dash into the middle of a circle of a bunch of twenty-somethings and start break dancing on the floor in the middle of them.  And what made it even funnier was when they started copying his moves.  Ha!  It was so crazy and hilarious!  Nathan's dad made a comment to the effect of: "It sure is a shame he's so shy."  He did have a grand time!

Nathan and Matthew showing off how the rent-a-ties were a bit too short for tallish people.

They attempted an old man posture to get the ties long enough.  I'm glad they didn't look this way in the official photos!

I love this picture of Deb and the kids.  Didn't the bride look pretty?  And I can't believe Noah and Jane were both smiling so sweetly.  Now if only we can get a Christmas card picture as nice!

 

Noah and Jane were especially fascinated and proud to be wearing flower corsages, by the way (especially Jane).

The Benesh side of the family.
Happy wedding, Gary and Deb!

Creativity is Coming Along

A few days ago, I asked Noah what he'd like to do, and he said, with great enthusiasm, that he'd like to make puppets and put on a puppet show.  So I said okay, pulled out some brown lunch bags, and he went to work.

Because he's not really a kid who likes to color, I was actually quite surprised at how well these turned out!  Faces with eyes and mouths in the right places, and even a witch (the one on the right) who actually has pretty scary teeth!  We added some yarn hair, and the puppets were complete.  Noah put on a puppet show that was basically his version of Hansel and Gretl, and he did a wonderful job!  This might have been one of his favorite summer activities so far.

Wimbledon Breakfast

This morning, we had a nice English breakfast in honor of the men's finals at Wimbledon.  Tea, eggs, sausage, toast, and--the highlight--homemade scones with whipped cream and jam.

We skipped the baked beans and broiled tomatoes. :)

If I'd had time, I would have run over to Central Market to get some clotted cream for the scones, but I just whipped some heavy cream instead, and we didn't really miss the clotted stuff, even though it would have been more authentic.  I tend to keep a lot of flavors of jam on hand, as you can see, but the general favorite with scones is always the Wilkin & Sons black currant, which I requested from Matthew and Emily for my birthday last year.  We opened up the last jar this morning, and I just have to tell you that that stuff is good!  It's a very common item in England, but of course, here you have to buy it at special import stores for like $9, so it was great to get a few jars for my birthday last year.  We've really enjoyed it.

By the way, if you are looking for a good scone recipe, this one is delicious and pretty spot on.  I tend to prefer them without any fruit in them, as the jam and cream are plenty delicious.

Funny Kids

Unfortunately, it has become apparent that Noah has been watching too much TV lately, because he's started regurgitating commercials.  Now, even though this signals the fact that we should really alter the cause of it, this is actually pretty funny when it happens.  Here are a couple of golden ones:
- "Mom, did you know Wendy's has a fruit and nut salad?  It's made fresh every day!"
- And my personal favorite: "Mom, do you know about life insurance?"

 Jane has a different issue.  Hers is that she is incredibly girly, to the point that when I think of her older childhood and teenage years, it makes me a little worried.  A couple of examples:
- Upon entering the mall, where we hardly ever go, she repeatedly said, "It's aMAzing!"
- Upon pulling out a princess dress and crown she hadn't seen in a while, she threw her hands to her cheeks and said, "It's perfect!"
- Tonight, I showed her the underwear I bought her for when we start potty training in a couple of weeks, and you would have thought I gave her quite a treasure.  That underwear delighted my daughter's heart, I tell you.  Said with great joy: "Pink unnawear, and white unnawear, and flower unnawear, and princess unnawear!" She played with it for a good half hour and went to sleep holding a pair in her hands.

Happy Independence Day!

On July 4, Noah just started reciting the Pledge of Allegiance out of the blue!  I stood there in a pleased state of shock, since I had no idea he knew it!  It turns out he learned it at Mother's Day Out.  Hooray, Noah!

Various and Sundry

• Nectarines may be my favorite summer fruit.  There's just nothing like them.  (Pears are my favorite fall fruit, in case you were dying with curiosity.)

• Noah and I were discussing our favorite seasons this morning.  I said mine was fall, and Noah said his is winter.  (Obviously, we live in the wrong place!)  Anyway, we had a winter night this evening--I turned the air conditioning way down, and we built a fire, had hot chocolate, and roasted a couple of marshmallows.  I also thought about wearing scarves, reading a snowflake book, and playing a snowflake game, but it got too late, and it was really still too hot for scarves.  We looked forward to our "winter night" all day, and it definitely fell under the category of "things I would not normally do but am trying to make an effort to do this summer before the baby comes."

• My snowberry tomatoes are finally producing!  (And my green and orange striped ones are, too, but they're not ripe yet.)  Still waiting on the German Strawberry Reds, Brandywines, and Dad's Sunsets.  I bought some tomato fertilizer today to help them along.

Dad's 60th!

We celebrated my Dad's 60th birthday a couple of weeks ago.  It was kind of a big deal, especially since my brother, Ken, flew in from Atlanta!

Dad did not know Ken was coming, so Nathan and I picked him up from the airport and he spent the first night with us.  The next morning, since Mom had planned a Lowe's party for Dad (the man spends a lot of time at the hardware store!), we all "happened" to run into each other in the paint department at their local store.  It was funny, but the best part was when Ken showed up and surprised Dad.  Dad was definitely not expecting him, and he didn't even recognize him at first.  Of course, this might have had something to do with the amazing disguise Ken was wearing: one of Nathan's hats, sunglasses, and a construction paper mustache.  I took a little video:

Here we are, waiting in the garden section until it was time:

Ken and Dad after the surprise:

 And then we had steak.

 

It was a fun weekend!

And here he was on his actual birthday:

 Happy 60th, Dad!