The Great Bathroom Remodel of 2015

Our upstairs bathroom (the kids'/guest bathroom) has been looking a little shabby lately.  The flooring was a wood laminate that probably shouldn't have been put in a room as wet as a kids' bathroom can get.  It was beginning to peel, especially in front of the tub and around the toilet.  The vanity was really looking rough.  The walls, which we painted when we bought the house, were looking blah.  So we decided it was time for a remodel.

For the record, here are the before pictures:

(That basket is hiding a hole in the wall.)

The vanity had gotten wet inside, and the wood was warping pretty badly.

We really wanted to lay ceramic tile, but we weren't sure we had the know-how to do it.  We were right.  Fortunately, a friend told us about a tile workshop at the orange home repair store in Lexington, and we attended.  We left sure we would not be laying tile in our bathroom.  Then we found ceramic tile we really liked at about $1/square foot, and there was hardly any left, and they weren't going to order more, and we started to think maybe we can do this after all.

So off we go to the blue home repair store in Nicholasville.

So excited about getting a new bathroom

The kids jumped in to help with demolition.  Here Chloe is taking down the old towel rods.

AJ is removing the outlet and switch covers.

Dad is unhooking the plumbing from the sink.

And Chloe has had enough work and has switched to clowning.

AJ pulls out the baseboards.

And the vanity is out!  We were going to take the mirror down, but couldn't pry it off the wall, so we figured it must've been glued up there.  Fast forward to the middle of the night...CRASH!  The mirror did not break, but it did break off the drain pipes back in the wall.

Our friendly neighborhood plumber fixed things up nice, but that was an unexpected expense.

Upon pulling up the wood laminate, we found this lovely linoleum.

Amy started painting the walls.  We picked a shade of blue to match the sky in the safari pictures that hung on the wall.  (Matt took the pictures himself in Kenya.)  We only painted halfway down, because we wanted to install wainscoting all around the room.

Amy screwing down the concrete backing board

Matt is very proud of this cut to go around the air vent in the floor.

But the cutting is also very tedious work.

Down goes the tile!

Laid and spaced...about a 7 hour job.

And now grouted

Starting to cut and fit the wainscoting

We bought a new medicine cabinet that matched the vanity for some extra storage, and AJ put it together mostly by himself.

Of course, the girls wanted in on the fun too.

Finishing touches

Five people and one toilet is rough when you're used to two.

The sink has been re-plumbed and vanity installed.

And the toilet is back in place

And here is the finished project: 

Just look at that beautiful floor!

For comparison, here are the before & afters:

  

We are definitely amateurs, and it is by no means perfect, but we are happy with how it turned out and are satisfied with the hard work we put into it.

July 4, 2015

We had a pretty low-key 4th of July.  We enjoyed our town's little parade, as always, and a mostly-quiet day at home. 

Opal is apparently the Goodwill Ambassador of our town.  Wherever we take her, people want to pet her, which of course, she is happy to oblige them. 

The parade is always led by our local vintage police car.
Always reminds me of Andy & Barney.

Our friend Heidi is driving this fire truck and our friend John is waiving at us.

The always popular Lawnmower Brigade

Our own little fireworks display in our cul-de-sac

A Little Father-Son Trip

When I saw that the US Men's National Soccer Team was playing Guatemala in a Gold Cup tune-up match on July 3rd in Nashville, I decided to see if I could get tickets for AJ and me to see the game.  Nashville is about 3.5 hours from us, so it wasn't too bad of a trip to make in a day, and the USMNT doesn't play any closer to our Old Kentucky Home than that.

We were a bit concerned by the weather forecast - flash flooding, damaging winds, and hail - and expected to get soaked, but the storms ended up going south of Nashville, and we enjoyed great weather almost all day.

Since we were in town, we went a little early to see some sights.  Here we are at the Nashville Parthenon.

The Nashville Parthenon is a replica of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, that was built for Tennessee's centennial celebration in 1897, since Nashville was apparently called the "Athens of the South"

The Parthenon was originally a temporary structure built for the centennial celebration, but the people liked it so much it was made into a permanent structure in the 1920's.

A close-up of some of the sculpting along the roof

AJ

Matt

There is not a whole lot that AJ and I have in common, but one thing is our love for the Man in Black  AJ listens to Johnny Cash constantly and sings along at the top of his lungs while mowing the lawn.  So of course we had to check out the Johnny Cash Museum.

AJ explores the wall of Johnny Cash's singles.

This is what $25 will get you if you get on it soon enough - great seats in the 12th row.  We were pretty amazed at how good they were.

Teams warming up as the stadium begins to fill

National Anthems

Game action

Guatemala scored an own goal to put the US ahead - the only goal on our end of the field.

Clint Dempsey scores on a penalty kick in the 2nd period

A 4-0 win for the US!

The team comes around to thank the fans for their support.

In the end it rained most of the way down and most of the way back, but stayed nice for us while we were there.  A very fun trip and some quality father-son time.

Hometown Race

Today was the annual RJ Corman 5k Race in our little hometown of Wilmore.  AJ, who ran his first 5k last month, finishing 7th at a race in Lexington, was excited to give it another try.  And by excited I mean he rolled out of bed at 7:30, strolled over to the race location, and stood stoically waiting for the starting horn.

Runners at the ready while Mayor Rainwater gives instructions

And they're off!

Cheering AJ on with about a half mile or so to the finish

AJ crosses the finish line at 21:23.  This is about a minute better than his first race, but the first race was all on level ground, and (as several experienced runners were lamenting) the Wilmore race features several hills.  AJ finished in 2nd place.  The only runner to beat him was his camp counselor, a varsity college basketball player.

He may look worn out here, but he ran most of the half-mile back home.

Opal made the walk down to the race too.  Plum tuckered out here.

The fire department made homemade ice cream.  Nine o'clock in the morning may SEEM like too early for two folks in their mid-thirties to be eating ice cream, but hey...we put a lot of work into raising that awesome athlete.  (The kids are campaigning for all 5 of us to run next year...better start training now.)

Opal, of course, was little miss popularity.

AJ sporting his 2nd place trophy.  He is a very humble kid who is still very uncomfortable receiving praise and compliments, but we're going to tell him anyway...we are so proud.

Homestead Update

Here's an update on our little homestead and a couple a videos on my sister's neat way of milking her goats.  Thought you all would find it interesting. 

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Last week we celebrated Amy's birthday!  Here are some pictures:

That's supposed to be a sunflower.  Not all the cakes can be winners.

Sometimes in marriage you get more than you bargained for...

Amy and the kids were at Amy's parents the week before, so Matt had time to design and build the kitchen shelves that Amy has been wanting for a long time.

AJ's 5th Grade Graduation

Well, he did it.  AJ completed the 5th grade and will be moving to West Jessamine Middle School in the fall.  Since he's already played 2 years of soccer at the middle school, we anticipate an easy transition.  This boy has worked his tail off the last few years.  He started at Wilmore Elementary School in August 2010 in the 2nd grade, knowing no English and never having attended school before.  He's come a long way and has been a leader at the school this last year especially.  We could not be prouder of our boy!

Presentation of Certificate of Completion

AJ was also nominated by the faculty at Wilmore Elementary School for a special award given to one girl and one boy from the graduating class.  This character award is more important to me than any sports award would ever be.  So proud of the young man AJ has become!

Citizenship Award presentation

Criteria for the Citizenship Award

Showing off his Citizenship Award

AJ with Mrs. Beckley, his teacher for 3 of his 5 years in elementary school. Mrs. Beckley had AJ for 2 years of 3rd grade and taught this boy a love of reading.  His first year of 3rd grade he was just beginning to read basic sentences.  This year, she taught his 5th grade class, specifically reading.  AJ has become a voracious reader and Mrs. Beckley could not be prouder of him.

AJ & his buddy Zach

AJ & his 4th grade teacher Mrs. Baker, who also taught him basic math after school one day a week when he was in the 2nd grade (just because she knew he needed some extra help).  Love this lady!

AJ & his buddy Jimmy

Some of "the guys"

Obligatory family picture