Making Progress

WHEW!! What a month. It already feels like the new church property is "home"! (Maybe because it feels like I spend as much time there as I do at home).  There have been so many people working hard at the church getting it ready for move-in day. Small groups have each given up a night (or two) of meeting to volunteer. The young adults group has had a large crew show up to work- and many don't even attend FCV! Jr High and high school youth group have been out to work (and goof around ;-), and our men's groups have worked every week! We even had men's group from another local church lend a hand. It is true that many hands make light work.  I would like to challenge those in our church who haven't helped yet, to try to find a time to pitch in.  There is still lots to be done!

It has surprised me that no matter how tired I am going into the work nights , I always get energized and excited seeing it all come together. Most nights have been a lot of fun!

I wanted to share a little bit of the before and after pics. Scratch that. Before and progress pics (because nothing is complete yet).

This is the 2nd-5th grade class as we inherited it. Cute murals, but horrible peach color! Definitely outdated.

Men hard at work cleaning the walls and removing everything Week 1.

This is the pile of trash we removed on our first work night.

Week 2, the murals were primed over and the walls got painted!

And this is a sneak peak of what it looks like at the end of work week 3.

 This is the kindergarten room, and the only room to not get a paint make over. We just de-cluttered it and got rid of everything we aren't using. The plan is to put a chair rail up along the 2 colors.

Most of this is gone now.

The crew hard at work!

 I am so bummed that I didn't get before pictures of the Jr. high or High school rooms. This room was the "meeting room" and was painted mint green. It is now a nice gray, and this is a chalkboard wall. Lots more in the works to make this room hip!

 This is our nursery room as we found it.....

This is the nursery week 1 being being cleaned out. Notice a couple of  paint swatches on the wall. We tried 4 samples before picking the perfect aqua blue!

There is paint on the walls!

This is the Pre-k room pre-renovation. The former church used it as their nursery. 

 I don't have updated pictures yet, but this cabinet is down and the walls are painted tan.

  Here are some more pictures of the dedicated workers! We had crews start on the landscaping this week.

 Bob Kinsella has been hard at work cleaning out the storage closet. He is my hero because I saw this room pre-cleaning and the sight of those cobwebs may have scared me for good.

 The Cafe/Hospitality room is being updated now!

 The office is being spruced up!

 I can't wait to see all that gets transformed in the next  few weeks!

Some cute pictures

Aubri loves to ask for her picture to be taken. Try to take a picture of her when isn't her idea and forget about it. Go figure. 

"Take a picture of me and brother going to sleep."

 "Take a picture on our "wagon walk." Aubri had been asking all day to go on a walk in the wagon with her brother. I said it would be a great idea when he was bigger and could sit in the seat. She said, "Not when he is big. Right now!" We gave it a shot. I'm sure we got a few laughs from the neighbors.

 "Look at my sticker face!"

"Take a picture of my feet mom. Not me, just my feet." I played along but took it of them anyway.

For fun, here are some cell phone pictures of Ezra.  He was sleeping on the chair and a lot was going on! Thankfully he can sleep through noise (as long as it's continuous and not sudden), but we caught him covering his ear!

Tia Emma and Ezra. I love this picture of them!

Happy Half Birthday!

Today is Aubri's 2 1/2 year old birthday! When I told her this in the morning she was confused and excited. Nearly everyday she throws out birthday party suggestions, so she right away asked me "Are we having my princess, tinker bell, party at the park??" Later she asked me "Is it my January thirty party yet?" No baby, it is not  January yet so your  Tinkerbell-princess-party at the museum-in the park- in our back yard-at the jump house place-with Canaan, Ella, and all your cousins- is going to have to wait. Oh, and yes, we can have cake, cupcakes, and the ice cream man then.

Thankfully for her half birthday she settled for a "watermelon and artichoke party." Throw in some chicken, and we are going to have a wild dinner celebration!

Aubriella is one amazing little girl. She is constantly asking questions and wanting to know and learn more and more. She thinks she is so grown up having a little brother around, and it never ceases to make me smile when she gets her little baby voice to talk to Ezra. "Hi there little brother. Cootchie Coo.  Yes, you are so cute. Yes you are. Don't worry brother, sissy is here. No need to cry..." The fact that my little "baby girl" imitates adult baby talk to talk to her little brother is too funny to me.

It is not new news, but not sure if I have mentioned that Aubri is completely potty trained and has been for months. She has not had a poop accident since before she turned 2, so thankfully I have only experienced wiping one poopy butt at a time. I kept her in pull-ups until the middle of May, in case of pee accidents. But once I got over my laziness she has been in big girl chonies since and only had 1 peepee accident playing outside- fortunately at home, and one other during nap time!

In the last month nap and bedtimes have stopped being a struggle and she (nearly) always goes down for either without a tear (though stalling is common). She came up with the idea of setting a timer for naptime (I set it once for time out), so sometimes I'll give her two more minutes of play and when it beeps she is ready.

Aubriella knows all her letters and a couple words they each stand for, and knows most of the sounds. She is great at counting in English and Spanish. She knows how to spell her name, and sometimes remembers Ezra. She looooves to be read to, and loves crafts and coloring. Playing "pretend", especially school, is her favorite thing to do. She also loves to help bake and clean, and wants to be my little helper in everything.

I copied my friend Chrissie's birthday questionnaire idea and asked Aubri these questions on her 2nd birthday (we plan to ask the same questions every year!). The paper is still on our fridge, so I  figure it is better 6 months late than never, right? So here are questions we posed to Aubri and her verbatim responses 6 months ago....

Favorite Color: Pink
Favorite toy: Elmo
Favorite Fruit: Apple fruit
Favorite TV Show: Elmo
Favorite Lunch: macaroni and cheese
Favorite thing to wear: she didn't know so I asked Favorite clothes to wear: black clothes
Favorite game to play: cards
Favorite snack: granola bar
Favorite animal: chicken (there was no way this was her favorite animal then, but since having a pet chicken it may be up there now!)
Favorite song: Happy Birthday Jesus
Favorite book: My ducky one
Your Best Friend:Ella
Favorite cereal: Cherrios
Favorite thing to do outside: go on swings
Favorite drink: Agua. I drink apple juice too, mommy.
Favorite Holiday: Christmas tree holiday (I didn't even know if she would know what a holiday was!)
What do you take to bed: my animals
Favorite breakfast: (refused to answer??)
What do you want to be when you grow up: No want to grow up anymore. (6 months ago she had never been asked this before. Now if you ask her she will answer either a butterfly, face painter, or police officer.)
What do you know about Jesus: Pray! Pray Aubri no throw up anymore and mommy no be sick. Tell me about Jesus.

Looking back over these answers it amazes me how much she has grown up in 6 months. She would now probably answer each question with a paragraph, and she uses better grammar and doesn't speak in the first person anymore.

Better late than never (again) here are a few pictures from her 2nd birthday. Jose took the day off and we let her pick her breakfast. No surprise Panera bagel and Starbucks.

 At lunch time a few of her cousins and Ella came over for an Elmo party (I was seriously so excited how it came out for working on the decor in 1 day!). A couple of weeks before I was at the dollar store and she threw in the plates and napkins herself. She said she wanted them for her birthday and at $1 I didn't care. Later she said she wanted pink Elmo cupcakes (strawberry) and her big cousin Adriana made these fore her! We served all her favorite things: peas, edamame, olives, grapes, goldfish crackers, macaroni and cheese, and peanut butter sandwiches.

 We let her pick her dinner restaurant (Olive Garden of course), and came home to another "little" party. I say little because it only consisted of cake and ice cream and our closest relatives (but that is about 40 people).

 Uncle Karlos bought her a radio flyer bike and ramp.

Time to get busy making a half birthday dinner, and planning her 3rd birthday party- because if we do all her ideas it could take a long time!