Cardinal Sin

Cardinal Sin #1 after you buy your house: Looking at real estate in your area.

I stumbled upon 105 Chase Lane - and was immediately smitten:See those professional kitchen photos up there? That's because the kitchen in this house was featured in better homes and garden.

Yup, that's right. And this house is not a multi-million dollar house. This house would have been within our price range after negotiations.

Let's stare lovingly at that pro fridge:
And that gorgeous stove back there - with a pot filling nozzle (as shown in pic 1)
I love the decor - modern with clean lines. It's a bit too girlie for Brian I think - but I love it:
Yup, I'd just move in and put my furniture in there. No changes needed.
Love that neutral grey.
I'm not so sure about exposed brick. Haven't always been a fan - but I'm willing to overlook at it after seeing the kitchen. IN fact - with that specific kitchen, I'd just sleep on a sleeping back on the floor of the kitchen because it would be my favorite room in the house.
More exposed brick in the master bath? Interesting I suppose...
Love this vanity area. Ooh - la - la - imagining myself putting my makeup on there:
Another bathroom:
Back deck:
GRASS! GRASS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE!

"Phuong, you do not want this house because you would have been renting all this time and you would not have the great neighbors you do and you would not be settled and MIchael would not be settled. God wanted you where you are and you are happy!"

Repeat.

I love my house. I do. It's just decorated in a very traditional style with very traditional colors and that's just not my style anymore. Most of my furniture is pretty traditional because that's what I veer towards - but I really love more modern lines.

Here's my laundry list of things I"d do to this house if I won the lottery:

Rip up sandy colored wood floors and install dark herringbone pattern like in Paris:

Rip up the carpet on the stairs and 2nd level. Install dark hardwood throughout.

Refinish kitchen cabinets from light maple color to white.

Install backsplash in kitchen

Renovate powder room

Install built-ins on fireplace wall

Install built-in window seat in piano room with shelving along that wall.

Renovate master bath. All of it. Whole room needs to be gutted except for vanity and light fixture.

Paint Living room light blue (already purchased)

Paint Michael's room.

Refinish deck - install new railings.

What's realistic on my list?

• Need plumber to fix my wobbly sink faucet in the kitchen that might be leaking water into my under sink area.
• Heater needs yearly service.
• Paint living room with paint already purchased.
• Sell guest bed. (FYI: Our IKEA pull out couch is way more comfortable than our guest bed)
• Move pull out couch to guest bedroom
• Move computer/desk into guest room.
• Convert guest room into a convertible office/guest bedroom.
• Move main level couches and end tables to basement.
• Sell rug on main level or move to basement with furniture.
• Sew new curtains for piano room with fabric already purchased.
• Move piano room curtains to my room where it coordinates.
• Sew pillows for my bed with fabric already purchased.

All the above things can be achieved without spending money. I have a very warm colored house - and I prefer a very neutral, light, and airy house with pops of color. Little by little (meaning 5+ years from now and me needing to get a job) - our house will be what I am proud to display.

But for now, it's a place where we live and it's fine. But it's not my dream house. I am hoping one day we'll move to TX and I'll be in my dream house there.

P

Michael - Five Years Old

Where do I begin to talk about My Michael at 5 years old?

We see our little guy, and we're so very proud God entrusted him to us to love, raise, and teach.

Why are we proud? Please indulge us as we brag about our little guy!

He is respectful and knows that name calling is not respectful, constructive, or "nice." When he's upset, you can tell. When he is frustrated, you can see this too. What I love? He tells me (in a slightly elevated voice, but not yelling), "Mommy I am frustrated because I want to play Wii all the time, but you will not let me."

I can handle that. I am proud that he can express his emotions and have a conversation with me about it. In a calm and rational manner.

He loves to talk to us. About his school. About kids picking fights with each other at school. About how he raises his hand "like this" in school and that all the kids are amazed. Seriously, he said that. He talks about how he wants to be an engineer just like his dad and go to Daddy's work with him. I am relishing all these moments to know him, and to establish early on that we have a deep friendship and respect that I hope he will carry with him throughout his life.

He loves soccer - and we love being soccer parents. It's so fun to watch him play and we don't know what he'll do with it, but we're having fun being supportive!

Of course - what post would be about Michael if we did not mention Wii? Kid is obsessed with Wii! Luckily, we grew up with Nintendo so we can play too.

He loves family time. He told me "We have fun as a family!" I am so thrilled to hear him say this! I know this may change in the future, but for now, I love this!

I am proud of his academics. He can add and subtract pretty well in his head. He can reason all the different ways to make the number 20. He is starting to sound out words. He is starting to recognize his sight words. He has great logic skills, playing games that are designated for age 12 and up. He loves mazes and has reasonable deduction abilities. If he wants to be an engineer like his dad when he grows up, these are skills he'll need. I hope that if this is really what he wants to be when he grows up, that I'll be able to help develop an engineering methodology of thinking early on for him so it is second nature instead of a learned skill. But we'll see!

He is a picky eater. Doesn't really care for it. He'll eat double servings of shepard's pie and chicken pot pie and pot roast and rice with Asian stuff. But most other things are not too popular for this character!

He is patient when you ask him to be. There might be a fair amount of whining before hand. However, all you have to say is, "This is a situation where you need to be patient and when I am done doing this, I will address what you need." Doesn't work every time, but enough for me to be happy!

He is a patient shopper. If you know me, this is key to our existence together! He finds something to entertain himself with (I usually try to go to places where I know they have books or toys) and lets me do my thing.

He loves Sukihana - the amazing teriyaki place in our mall. Yes, in the mall. Yes, amazing teriyaki. Yes, cheap. Seriously - it's awesome. And next to Chick-fil-A so it's always a tough decision at mealtime there.

He loves Cars2 right now, specifically Francesco.

He can dress himself and even pick out his clothes. In fact, most of the things he picks out, I would never think to put together, but it really works!

This ended up being a lot longer than I expected.

Five years into knowing this person - I am shocked to find a real person there. Not because I didn't expect him to be a person, but because I've known him when he was just a baby, eating and pooping. Now, I look at him and see this shining personality. A sweet soul - who I hope and pray sees even more delight in the world for the years to come.

McLovin'

So I love Michael's school. This week, they covered the Water cycle, specifically condensation and evaporation. I found this on pinterest (my mental home) and a home schooling mom listed it under 1st grade. Michael's in PK-4.

Unfortunately, Michael was sick this week and missed Monday and Wednesday at school. I know it's just pre-school, but they expose him to so much when he's there. It makes me sad when he misses.

I was really glad to run into the pinterest post above. It's a song about the water cycle sung to She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain. We'll take a peek at this on the blog tomorrow and go over it! Along with going over the workbook pages he missed covering the letter E.

His preschool also attached this binder ring to his school tote. On this binder ring, they add one new sight word flash card a week. He's picking things up little by little on his ring - but I'm not quite sure he has extrapolated those words to real reading yet. Step by step I suppose! He's starting to sound things out, so that's great!

I have a Leapster toy I bought him 2 years ago, hoping it would help him to spell words, that he has not touched for 2 years. Now, he's spelling words (with the toy's guidance) and being very proud of himself for doing so! I'm hoping, praying, guiding, and encouraging to my little guy to help him along with his reading skills.

Math - that comes very natural to him. Imagine that.

P

Michael's 5th Birthday Party

I must not want to go to bed!

Saturday, October 15th, we had a Harry Potter themed birthday party for Michael - complete with broomstick party favor bags:

And Quidditch:
Lots of playing in the leaves:

And of course, a Pinata:
Michael got it on the FIRST try. I even heard Abbey say to him, "Michael, you got it on the first try! That was - like amazing!"

After each pinata, would be the candy motivated scrum:
More running around. The kids were crazy. They played outside. They played Wii. They tracked half my yard in my house, but they ran off all that sugar we were feeding them!

Birthday cake time:

I got it from Costco. SO sue me. I was busy spray painting hula hoops gold! We lit the cake with trick candles that just kept relighting. It wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining if the kids didn't squeal with delight and surprise every time one would relight. It's so fun to be around kids!

I love kids' birthday parties - Michael's or not. I'm a sucker for them!

I even hung up a red sheet over my door, drew bricks on it, and cut a seam down the middle for the kids to run through. I forgot to take a picture of it though - it's tough to be a hostess AND a photographer AND a mother at the same time!

I hope MIchael loved it as much as we love getting to witness his little life unfold before our very eyes!

Hotel de Ville

I love running into Paris pictures that are not particularly obvious, but strike a cord with me.

Eiffel Tower images - nope, they just don't do it for me. It wasn't MY Paris - so it's beautiful and great - but it doesn't make me take pause and reflect.

But this image did for a lot of reasons. First, it's the carousel at Hotel de Ville across from BHV. Second, we used to ride it every winter - it was a tradition. Go ice skating at Hotel de Ville - ride the carousel there. All free. Maybe not the ice skating - but it might have been!

So I recognize this carousel. I recognize that lantern. I recognize that street corner in the background.

Hmm...on second thought, the street is kinda close - and I don't remember that. So I may be wrong. Eh - whatever. Makes me still think about my memories there!

I know there are ex-expats that read my blog and I was wondering if any of you have moments like this in your everyday lives? Things that make you stop and think back to that really different life we used to lead? And inevitably - you think for a second - it would be great to go back.

And then you remember about the day you had to argue with the woman at Monoprix just to give you change because you wanted to pay with cash and not your debit card because there was no way the Boulangerie would take your 20 euro to pay for a 1 euro baguette. So Big Box Retailer NEEDED to give you that change. You held up everyone in line as you and the cashier had a staring contest to see who's will would win out.

It wasn't her. I needed my baguette gosh darn it.

Michael, Age 5

Been seeing this idea on Pinterest, so I decided to do it too! It's not as cute as the blank wall ones I've seen, but I like it just fine for me!

More later on Michael!

Michael's First Family Portrait

Done on Post it notes.

Michael is on the left.

Brian is in the middle with one eye.

I apparently am the massive Hair Woman.

He told me that he drew the arms to show that we were hugging each other.

Love.this.kid.to.bits!

P

My Mommy

My mommy is just too cute! Took the family to Lytle's Corn Maze today - more images to come! From this and Michael's part-ay!

Love,

P

Organizing school work

Just in time! Michael starts Kindergarten next year! DEFINITELY going to be doing this!!!

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2010/11/school-paperwork-storage.html

Another pinterest find! If you like any of the things I've been posting on pinterest - follow me! I'll e-mail you my info if you want it.

I guess I better get to cleaning my basement - aka - shove everything in a closet and hope it fits with the door shut.

How to sew lined curtains

I've been looking for a book which explains how to sew lined curtains. I wanted it to have step by step directions, preferably with pictures illustrating each step because I am not a sewing maven extraordinaire.

I looked at my Pier1 curtains that I love - and in my mind's eye - I kind of figured it out already. However, my mind's eye can be wrong a lot of the times.

Luckily, Pinterest, my new best friend, pulled through. Found this thread today and it is absolutely genius:

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2011/10/12/how-to-make-professional-lined-curtain-panels/

I am so happy and need to pull out my sewing machine TOUT DE SUITE.

Another thing I love about this thread is she covers how to make it look "faux pinch pleated." I have seen the instructions on how to sew pinch pleats and wasn't too keen about measuring things and figuring out the spacing while sewing and also needing extra widths of fabric which would then entail repeats and lining up the edges of said repeats. Take deep breath here.

So also in that link is how to make it look a bit like pinch pleats (from far away!)

I'm a fan! And can't wait to start on this pinterest project!

Photoshop

It always amazes me what other applications I can use photoshop for. I love it for editing images and designing pieces for my clients. It's an obvious application!

But I needed to make a sign for 9 3/4 platform for our Harry Potter party this weekend. The blog I was reading said she painted a piece of wood and stuck stickers to it to make it look amazing.

I fully intended to do that.

And then I thought - it would be much cheaper just to make it on the computer and print it out on a sheet of paper.

SO I did it in Photoshop:

I love Photoshop because it lets me do what I want. Not like Microsoft Word, which thinks it knows better than you. I would have used Powerpoint if I did not have Photoshop. Powerpoint is such that you can move individual elements around if you like!

But knowing Photoshop, I whipped up this sign in less than 15 minutes and printed it out. For free!

CHECK AND CHECK!

What else is there to do - Harry Potter party wise?

• Make 10 robes - iron on Hogwarts insignia and cut/hem openings
• Make brick wall out of sheet for kids to run through
• Brian needs to construct all the quidditch goals. Should just be nailing them into the sticks we already collected from the yard. I spent lots of yesterday spray painting and couldn't write normally for 1-2 hours after that.
• Then, stick quidditch goals in the ground.

We have to do normal stuff like food prep, setting tables, etc - but for the most part, we are nearly there! I'm so glad my mom is here to watch Michael while I get stuff done!

P

Oo-la-la

Great post on moneysavingmom about busy bins for kids everyday of the week. That way, it is organized and ready for them to play. Also has good ideas on what to put in the busy bins!

http://aprilemery.blogspot.com/2010/04/mammas-bag-of-tricks-quiet-time-bins.html

Le W.E.

Am having a great weekend! Our Saturday was busy but filled with fun.

I woke up at 6am because I fell asleep at 10pm. I had roasted a chicken earlier in the week and wanted to have Asian noodle soup for breakfast. SO at 6:15am I started my stockpot for noodle soup with my leftover bones from the roasted chicken. Love getting multiple meals from one.

After my noodle soup, we had soccer! Michael did great and scored a good portion of our goals! In fact, his whole team is playing so well, and Brian is doing an amazing job coaching! They held their own even to a team which was playing REALLY unfairly (always played with one MORE player on the field than us - coach BLOCKING our kids from kicking the ball forward - ALL UNBELIEVABLE).

After this, ran over to Sacred Heart to setup my display for the Silent Auction at Oktoberfest.

Then off to Brian's coworkers house for a really civilized French lunch. I love dining with the French. They set the table well. They have appetizers and present them with finesse. The meal is just served to where you can ENJOY the food. The kids eat what we eat, not hotdogs and mac-n-cheese. Their kids aren't OBSESSED with Wii and the television. It was just so fun. What was even more interesting was that they are renting a house which we looked at to purchase. So when it came time for the house tour, we really didn't need it!

Hurried home. Called in a pizza order. Quickly washed my dishes. Quickly cleaned off my microwave that was so dirty that the food was starting to make friends with one another. Because you never know if your sitter is going to microwave something. Ran off to get said pizza and coke. Back at home. Meet the sitter ( super sweet girl who Michael IMMEDIATELY loved , which for my shy son is a miracle.). Meet neighbors to go up to Oktoberfest at the church.

Had a great time at the fundraiser and hanging out there! Catholics know how to put on a good Oktoberfest! Was pretty STOKED that my photography package was getting lots of bids!! So excited to be able to bring in money for the school!! My babysitter's mom was at the event so she updated me regularly about her daughter and Michael at home (so nice that her daughter was texting her mom!). Got to know her a little better too! Heard a lot of good things about the private Catholic high school we are considering sending Michael to if we are still here.

Went home. Drove the babysitter back home. Crashed.

Birthday Par-tay!

I usually do not bring my camera to birthday parties - I like to eat, enjoy myself, and chit-chat, not worry about focus, exposure, and my shutter speed!

But this past weekend - Michael was invited to a birthday party where it was necessary to bring my camera!

First, there was a cute little critter scavenger hunt. Here's a grumpy Michael with his little jar of insects:

The real hit of the show came with this lady:
She was incredible! She brought all sorts of reptiles for the kids to hold including turtles, iguanas, and SNAKES.
Michael looking at the iguana:
Michael's initial reaction when the iguana came out:
When she brought out the 2nd biggest snake she had, the kids went BALLISTIC! They all ran away to their parents screaming!! Eventually curiousity reigned king and they all went back for a closer look.

Michael was not havin' any of the touchin' of the reptiles. He was happy to pet the turtles, but politely ran away and hid during the iguana and snakes. Can't say that I blame the guy!

He had so much fun at this birthday party! His friend's house is AWESOME. They have this amazing back yard with a little Amish built very fancy play house, a huge playset in the back, and lots of backyard toys with grass as far as the eye can see. Basically, what I always wanted and instead, I have a huge sloping backyard with a forest full of ticks.

She had lots of great food including a chick-fil-a tray of nuggets. DONE AND DONE!

Had to blog about it because it was seriously cool. We'll be doing this one year!

P