Bathroom Reno {Part 1}.

Remember this lovely and outdated bathroom that I introduced everyone to here?

Well, it's back!!!! But not for long...

When I made the "priorities" list of house renovations this bathroom was numero uno! 

I just couldn't take the super creepy cement prison-like shower; because let's face it, a prison shower is pretty creepy.

Destroying this shower was a little more of an undertaking that I had originally assumed but I can say that I am super happy that I just took the plunge and did it and I'm so relieved that the demo phase is over. I like tearing things apart as much as the next girl but this shower was it's own special breed of horrible. What you are looking at in the above picture is all the layers that I had to bust through to take the shower down. 

outer layer- cement

2nd layer-metal mesh

3rd layer-more cement

4th layer-old crumbly drywall

last layer- super old insulation

Just a side note about the insulation, This stuff was GROSS. it was so old and sticky. It was the exact consistency that cotton candy gets when it melts. if anything touched it, it would just kind of melt down into a clump, so obviously that had to go too.

I scraped off ceiling tiles, busted up concrete and my arms were so angry at me at the end of every night. It took me roughly a week of working only after Grayson went to sleep for the night to get the shower completely dismantled and all the debris hauled out to the truck. 

Clean up was by far the WORST!!! Hauling broken up cement is hard, it's heavy, dusty and trash bags have a hard time holding it in. But LOOK, YAY! No more prison shower!!!

Since I was on a serious roll today after I cleaned up the remaining debris I pulled up the UGLY faux pebble linoleum {reference the first photo}. The plastic linoleum came up fairly easily, however the paper backing and massive amounts of glue stayed really stuck to the floor. I contemplated the best ways to get up the glue. For a hot second I considered sanding it, but that is really dusty and annoying besides the fact that we live in quite an old house and since I'm not too certain when that linoleum was glued down I didn't want to take any chances with the mysterious and dangerous chemicals that might be present. I gave some hot water, soap and a sponge a try.

I scrubbed it on and waited....

And waited...

And to my surprise, the glue came up SO easily and found hardwood underneath! And since there was wonderful hardwood underneath, which we will be keeping I get to take our floor tiles back to Lowes and save myself about $300, not counting grout and additives. 

Hows that for a demolition!

Little Boy Turns One Year Young.

Happy, Happy Birthday,

To Our Sweet Baby Boy!!

Today our darling little boy turns one whole year old! 

Yesterday we hosted his very first Lorax themed birthday party for our friends and family and had such a wonderful time.

Grammy and GIGI came to visit, which is always a special time.

I've been working the past few months preparing for my Boy's party! I knew we'd be moving in just as we hosted his party ( I might be the only one in the world crazy enough to do that) so I prepared early.

G totally devoured his cupcake in just about one bite! Probably to make himself feel better after he cried during the birthday song, he's an emotional eater ;)

I think Alex and I had more fun playing with the rolling train table we made for Grayson, it was a lovely way to wind down after a full evening of partying.

We were totally and completely EXHAUSTED after last night but we could not ever ask for a more perfect little boy, or the friends and family that shared his special day with us!

I'm totally in shock that our little tiny is already one! It's been a great year and has flown by.....needless to say TWO can stay away for as long as possible :)

The Big Announcement!

If you read my last blog post you were promised "BIG NEWS!" that I was intending upon posting on last Friday, however this "BIG NEWS!" has caused us to be very busy so I'm just now getting around to informing the world...

We bought a house!

We are the new proud owners of a craftsman style bungalow with a red front door!

If there is one thing I'm terrible at, it's making sure I get the "before" shots. So, as soon as we got the keys (which was like 2 seconds after this picture) I ran around inside taking pictures to use as a reference point as we decorate, upgrade and make this place our own.

Enjoy

Welcome To Old Abilene Town ( Fort Riley, KS)

Uh, hello there! Remember me? I used to write on this blog and give updates about our life and fun stuff. 

Well, I'm finally back from my in-definite and accidental hiatus. 

We have been seriously busy and crazy excited about something big that we will be announcing to the general public on Friday. 

Alright, let's get down to business...
So, like most good ideas this one came in the shower. I decided that our blog should do something besides exist. It should help people. And who better to help than people we can connect with through similar circumstances. Military families.

Alex decided that he liked this idea so we've set out to help military families get to know an area/ base before they move there.

When we were informed that we'd be moving to the Fort Riley area of Kansas we were hopeful, but just a little dumbfounded. What is in Kansas, I had never thought about it before. So, like most military people do, I turned toward google to find out about the new place I'd call home and here inlies the problem. I read a number of online forums and online group boards about Fort Riley and other bases and the common theme throughout them all was the irrelevant answers and opinions the everyone gave.  A general response on the boards sounded something like....

" I hate fort ____ because it's so hot. It's just stupid and the target is 10 miles away! And the only thing to do there is go shopping or hike nature trails or go to the beach, so there isn't anything you can do with kids."

I'm not even joking, that was someone's answer about a certain base.

Let's just be real honest, when the Military tells you that you get to move somewhere, hearing everyone's negative opinions about that place isn't exactly helpful.

So because of this, we are going to be a family that documents all the fun to be had at every base we have the privilege of being stationed at.   

So please, Enjoy Old Abilene Town....

Old Abilene Town is a recreation of the historic Abilene.

The story is, Abilene was a really rough cow town until the town hired Wild Bill Hickok as their sheriff. And Hickok cleaned up the town and drove off the riff-raff. 

Every Saturday and  Sunday in the summer  from 10am-3:30pm there are funny reenactments of Wild Bill and the "Riff-Raff" by The Gunfighters.

  

You can ride the passenger train (Train information).

On certain weekends a Steam train takes guest out and they are served dinner aboard (Dinner Train Information).

 This historic carriage house was moved from another location in Abilene to be part of Old Abilene Town. 

Old Abilene Town is just one of the many unique places in this area but it's a go-to spot when we have visitors.