Friday Five : 2/10/17

1) The cuteness of this one….I just can’t even!!! She’s cutting her 1st 2 teeth on the bottom and they’re almost through. The drool though….well that’s another story. She’s just the best.

2) I made my first ever from scratch gluten free cake! I combined this recipe and this recipe to make a gluten free black forest deliciousness for someone’s birthday….. we shan’t name names of who is old enough in this house for that. many. candles!.  😉  IT WAS AMAZING!!!!! The only downfall to gluten free sweets is the incredibly expensive replacement flour blend that costs $5 for 4 cups. *welp*  This cake was worth it and might be my new favorite cake ever!!!

3) Well I was planning to do the ever-exciting  dreaded task art of grocery getting today, and then share with my blog readers the ‘how we do’. But instead, I’m homebound for the 2nd time this week with the third sick kid 😦  I know, I feel the pity. Hopefully NO ONE ELSE gets this because I’m sure I could go through all of life without this and be quite content. Tuesday night was the beginning, with 2 girls coming down with in within a few hours of each other, then G picked up the slack last night at 2:45am. Let me just tell you that one of the worst parts of having a sick kids(s) is having to sleep on the couch to keep them company. My sore, aching body this morning was quite a bummer, and I’m apparently quite spoiled by my love of our Tempurpedic mattress. I should have given the 7 year old the ‘short couch’ so I didn’t have to sleep in a complete fetal position all night!!! He’s recovering and enjoying some Netflix and a documentary on airport technology from the couch while I try to get some fluids and crackers in him. *what a life*

4) After almost 2 1/2 years of living in the Maple Street Estate, we FINALLY got curtains in the living and dining rooms.  My first goal was to have them by Christmas a year ago since the first floor was finished by then. Whoops. Then I thought I’d get on them over the summer, when you know, I was hugely pregnant. Great idea. Yeah that didn’t happen. Then I couldn’t decide what I wanted and I was no way going to shell out the 5K for the blinds that I was quoted. So I improvised and did a little sewing and this is the result. I’m going to shorten them by about 10 inches, but that would require me not having sick kids and getting to the store for more thread since I ran out when I was originally sewing them. Yep. Won’t be today, but that’s alright.

5) We went to our first ever Hawkeyes gymnastics meet a few weekends ago and it was AWESOME. By ‘we’ I mean ‘myself and 4 kids under 7’ as J was already busy with a weekend commitment. I was a bit nervous to take them solo to a highly trafficked public sports venue, but actually they did really good.  I’m not sure if I just missed my calling as a gymnast (highly unlikely) or if I just like to live vicariously through those very nimble and at-the-top-of-their-prime 19 year olds (more than likely), but I loved watching it! They have another meet tomorrow that we’ll hopefully be attending. The best part is kids are FREE!!!

Happy Friday!

 

Maple Street Estate Update: Getting there!

View from the landing of the stairs; don’t mind the 3 and 5 year old rolling up carpet, that’s their stage…

So we have some floor! The wood floor we chose to install was a bit more complicated and timely than originally planned (what isn’t?), so it has taken a lot longer than we had planned (again, what doesn’t?).  Of course you have to *nail* every board every 4-6 inches with a pneumatic nailer and lay each piece one by one by one and painstakingly make sure they are not even 1/8 in off……..but hey – it looks nice, right? We don’t yet have any living room furniture as we got rid of what we had at the other house, so the kids love having all the open space to play tag, run races, or play soccer. We may/may not have family indoor soccer matches a few nights a week. So far, so good 😉  We still have about 2/3 of the kitchen to go.  It’s getting there!

The electricians came 2 weeks ago and gave us light! I cannot tell you what a difference this has mad in the functionality of our house! Yes, we have a fully functioning upstairs, but downstairs we had a lot of dropcords and lamps working. It was a bit of a hazard with 3 littles.  We still need to buy/install the light for above the island, but that may be awhile. The one we have picked out is a bit on the over-priced side….but isn’t it sweet?!  One can adjust the height using the ropes and pulleys by the handle on the bottom.  I’m just hoping the kids don’t figure out how to swing from it.

A glimpse of some of the lighting

And a bit more

We also have 6 cupboards in, with many more to be added. These have also made a big difference in the functionality of the house. The kids were getting into everything before the cupboards were installed. I had few places to keep kitchen things and many ended up in totes on the floor = play kitchen for kids.  It’s much better now 🙂  The lower cabinets are in progress.

This past weekend we had a huge house breakthrough. Get ready for it…..WE CLEANED THE GARAGE. I know, epic, right?  Well, it was.  When we first moved in, we put almost all of our belongings in our 3+ car garage due to the remodel and whatnot. It was stuffed, to the point that you had to walk the perimeter and finding anything was like a needle in a haystack.  My rule is that nothing comes into the house until it has a place to go, so there’s still a ton of stuff out there.  So Saturday, while J and L were staining cabinets, myself, G and A took to the garage. J and I decided that we did not need the majority of the stuff that was in that garage. After all, we have gone 5 months without it, and did just fine. We ended up keeping about 1/3 of it, the rest was taken to either a consignment shop or Goodwill.  A few things were put out for trash pickup.  So much less STUFF.  The best part? I can park my Expedition inside now and won’t have to scrape windows any more! Yes!

In other Costello news;

Gabriel and Lucy are loving school, after finally getting back into the groove after 3+ weeks off at Christmastime due to inclement weather.  Hard to believe that their school year is half over! Amelia is walking and climbing stairs like nobody’s business, and continues to scream for approximately 50% of the day, to express any emotion that she has (ie: happy, sad, angry, excited, to get your attention, laugh, need/want something, yell at a sibling, chocolate in sight).  She is getting closer to saying a few words, such as ‘yes’ and ‘hot’ and ‘mama’ (not all together 😉 ), and she’s so darn cute.  I realize how much we have all tuned out the screaming when we go places and we get a lot of looks and people covering their ears. Ha! Oh well! The Costello’s make a presence! Is it a bad sign when your 14 month old sings lyrics to “Let it Go”?  L starts ballet again this weekend and G will do spring soccer come April. The one kids activity at a time seems to be working well for us, so we are sticking to it. L is already planning her birthday party for April, and I’m pretty sure the tri-county area will be invited if she has her way. J is coaching basketball at his school this winter (although he’s never played a day in his life), I’m finally resuming attendance with my monthly book club, as well as beginning volunteering at a local crisis pregnancy center (something I’ve felt called to do for a long time).  L got the green light at her last orthopedist appointment to do whatever she wants with the arm, including monkey bars, to her delight. We will go back in 3 months to look at it again.  G did amazing at the dentist this past week (so did L), but he has never had a successful trip to the dentist prior to this one. Hooray for a bit of maturity!

He did so great!

 

Selfie in the library bathroom!

Have a great week!

-The {busy}  Costello’s

Never a dull moment

Common questions I am getting lately.

“How’s your family?  How’s your house coming along?”

What I want to say is,

‘Not sure you have enough time for that answer. There is never a dull moment around here. For real.’

Amelia: Turned 11 months today!  She is standing constantly, has a new love of saying ‘eh?’, and chocolate chips.  She loves to smile and get people’s attention.  She still wakes up the most unhappy baby I have ever seen, and fights going to sleep almost always.  She is my biggest mama’s girl but weighs in as my smallest baby, 18lbs currently.  She loves interaction with her siblings and tolerates G carrying her around all the time. She squeals at the sight of a wagon or food.  3 weeks ago she was a terror of a baby, only at night; and I am putting it lightly.  She would *scream* for up to 30 minutes at a time, at any hour of the night, repeatedly.  I thought maybe we needed an excorist’s intervention, but after 3 weeks of very little sleep at night I finally took her into our doc. Yep. Mom of the year, right here. Double ear infection. No fever, no unusual ear pulling, just insane night screaming at the top of her lungs, and fine behavior during the day. I’m glad to say she is sleeping much better now. However, during the 3 weeks of crying, she also decided to stop nursing all of a sudden.  Yep, now a nursing strike on top of everything.  Just another thing to add to the list of things she has done to keep us on our toes. The pump and I have made amends for the next month, as my best intentions of nursing past 1 year have slowly faded. I’ll just be happy to make it to November 25!

Bro underwear + baby

Melts my heart! He doesn’t know I uploaded this– muahaha!

Future marathoner?

Lucy: Lucy is really enjoying ballet, preschool, Sunday school, and creating drama.  It’s true, as much as I have tried not to encourage it, drama follows Lucy around.  The latest is this: upon our very last followup for Lucy’s fractured arm (she actually broke it in June), the orthopedist declared that the bone cyst was still present and we now needed to see a pediatric orthopedist. Yikes. A specialist of a specialist.  Can’t be good. We saw the new doc yesterday and got his opinion. If we don’t treat the bone cyst, Lucy will repeatedly break her arm in the same spot, guaranteed.  Due to Lucy’s quite massive bone cyst that covers over 75% of her humerus cross section, they recommend doing an injection of donor demineralized bone.   What this involves: she will be put under general anesthesia, a needle will be put into the bone cyst to aspirate the fluid that is filling it, then another needle will inject the demineralized bone which will come from a cadaver.  The demineralized bone is basically a framework or scaffolding for Lucy’s bone to replace and re-build itself.  Makes sense to me as a healthcare professional, but scares the bejeezus out of me as her mom and expert worrier.  We talked with her about it and she understands it perfectly and has no fear.  In her words, ‘They will make me go to sleep and give me a shot in my arm to fix my broken arm to help it heal.  Then I will have to wear my sling again for awhile and I won’t get to do the monkey bars.”  Ah, the simplicity of a child.

Other than that whole mess, Lucy is a lot of fun and hilarious! She has the most vivid and creative imagination I have ever seen.  She is constantly playing make believe, pretending, or making up stories.  She’s become quite versed in drying silverware at Nana’s and folding washcloths at home.  She’s always outfitted in some sort of dress up clothes.  I am on the hunt for fall and winter appropriate dresses as that’s all she will wear, and she reminds me nightly that ‘Mom, I can wear a dress tomorrow?’ Oh Lucy…

Teddy bear tea

Weeee!

 

Gabriel: Gabriel is the least dramatic of my children right now. No nursing strike, no impending surgery.  Let’s keep it that way!  G has become a very dependable and passionate 5 year old as of late. He has recently taken on some new jobs at our house; taking-out-the-recycle-and-trash-guy and mail-getting-guy, as well as unlocking-the-door-when-we-get-home-guy.  This is the first time we have ever had a PO box so this one is especially exciting for him 😉  He has a new obsession with boxing; he makes pretend dummies to box, practices shadow boxing, and tapes his hands like a boxer.  He was severely peeved today when we would not let him ascend the ladder next to Jeremiah to fix the vent on the 16 foot roof.  He does a great job of keeping an eye on his sisters while I run down to the basement or out to the garage.   He’s making a lot of progress in preschool and loves it. I have never heard the words, ‘I don’t want to go to school.’  He has started to get an opinion about his clothes for the first time ever. It’s interesting. He wants to go hunting. He really enjoys the Maple Street Estate home remodeling…..which leads me to:

Yep. So mature.

Barrel train!

 

US: Jeremiah was the assistant athletic director at his school this fall, which meant that he attended all the home games/matches and worked on staffing and planning for those events.  Once that got over, he somehow got ‘roped into’ (ie he was easily persuaded) into being an assistant wrestling coach.  They guy has issues with saying ‘no thank you’.  Just kidding! Most times I love that about him.  I’ve been busy working part time, being wife/mom/chauffeur/master planner/crock pot connoisseur/painter/plumber/stuff seller/backsplash installer/crunchy mama friend.  We’ve carved pumpkins and We’ve taken the kids to the pumpkin patch, soccer games, ballet showcase, teddy bear tea, the zoo, field trips and Menards more times than they wish to remember.  There is now disdain in their voices when they ask, ‘Mom. Are we going to ‘Nards again?!’  Due to the awesomeness of Papa Bart and Uncle Cameron, J and I have been allowed not ONE but TWO dates within a month. Say what!? A few weekends ago we went to a great steakhouse together after shopping just the 2 of us and buying J a terribly overpriced pair of new wrestling shoes.  A few nights ago we ventured to a local (ridiculously good) Mexican place and stopped into a quaint shop where J got into a deep conversation with the shop owner about eating/not eating alpacas.  Don’t ask.  No, we don’t even have dull moments on dates.

Train at the zoo!

 

How tall this fall?

Uncle Cam’s moustache, G’s scary face and L’s princess tiara jack-o-lanterns

The house: The Maple Street Estate is coming along, slowly.  We have about 90% of the painting done, as I just have to apply the final ‘spiced vinegar’ paint to the upstairs hallway.  Where do they get those names?! In our downstairs alone we have cottage green, patches, spiced vinegar, jute and sand fossil for paint. Today I got a working stove/oven (YESSSSS) and more of the plumbing was finished. Don’t worry, we have a full working bathroom upstairs, but I still don’t have a real kitchen sink. 😦  Yesterday we priced flooring and think we have it nailed down as to what we are getting for the living room, dining room, kitchen and foyer.  7″ plank Bolton oak hardwood anyone?  We also scored a 3 by 6 foot maple butcher block top for our kitchen island yesterday for an insane deal.  We’ve been stalking the lighting sections of our favorite stores (again, ‘Nards) and have an idea of some different types of lights that will grace our kitchen and living area.  Our kitchen cabinets are being made by a very talented family member and the upper cabinets should be done in a few days.  I’m hoping next weekend we will be breathing the headache-inducing fumes of wood stain as we stain and varnish our cupboards and I will be happy 🙂

And as I’m writing this blog, my handsome husband and his brother are opening a bottle of wine with a screw, drill, and hammer. The crazy part is that they were successful.

#can’tfindthecorkscrew  #auntmelisproud

Tools have multiple purposes here

-The {never a dull moment in this house} Costello’s

 

Move: Complete!

I type this blog, while sitting in our new master bedroom (master suite as I like to call it–it just sounds fancy), listening to the soft rain on the garage roof, content as my 3 little people sleep soundly in the room next to us.  Just perfect…..

Now let’s step into the reality of what actually is at the project house, AKA Maple Street Estate, as of now.

I’ll start at the beginning.

3 weeks ago I coincidentally ran into a post on facebook in a local group of a family looking for a home to *rent* in Cedar county.  They came and looked, we liked them, they signed a lease. Awesome! Our home is rented out to a nice family and our prayers have been answered. We can now move into our new house! (ie the Maple Street Estate, as we like to call it).  Just one little problem; they need to be in before the end of September, and our  it’s still majorly under construction!  The 2nd floor of the home was 1 step from being 100% done, but the rest was a work in progress, to say the least.

2 weeks ago I frantically started packing, moving things into our massive 3+ car garage/shed at the new house. We could not move anything into the house yet due to the construction.

1 0 days ago the drywallers began hanging drywall.

7 days ago the drywall finishers arrived and began taping, mudding, texturing and priming the first floor of the house. We have done mostly all of the work ourselves and with some very talented family members, but we decided to hire this out due to the *ahem* time constraint.

5 days ago the carpet layers arrived, and had a showdown with the drywall finishers, who were both trying to complete a job simultaneously; one very messy, one not messy at all.  By the end of the day they had the drywall finished in the first floor and the carpet installed in the 2nd floor.  The 2nd floor was now move-in ready.

3 days ago we moved the remainder of our home into the garage and 2nd floor of the house.

2 days ago we gave the renters the keys to the old house and said goodbye to our house of memories. We were completely moved out. WE MADE IT.

So reality is this:  I sit in my newly remodeled master bedroom, with a heap of clothes in the one half of the room because we don’t have a clothes washer hooked up yet, although we have 3 possible hookups in the house, 1 on each floor. (side note, I LOVE our master bedroom/bath/closet! We have never had anything like this before!)  The rain is tapping on the roof of the garage that is full to the brim of our stuff, lumber, drywall. We have a makeshift kitchen as of now that includes a refrigerator, utility sink, crock pot and microwave. (side note, you have to switch out the extension cord to run the crock pot vs the microwave–just fyi). The kids are actually sleeping soundly in the room next to me. The kids will be the first to tell you that you have to wear your shoes on the first floor, but take them off if you step one foot on the new carpet beginning at the base of the stairs.  I cannot find much of anything.

Half of my current kitchen. Notice the carpet remnants covering the plywood and lovely halogen lights 😉

We still have a ton of work to do in the house.  We are hoping to get the downstairs painted this weekend so the electricians can return to finish the wiring job and we will hopefully have working outlets, switches, and lights/fans by the end of next week. After that will be getting the kitchen a bit more, modern?, shall we say, and getting the first floor hardwood floors figured out. One step at a time.  There are a LOT of steps to be done, but it’s a home that is going to be great for us!

It’s a mess. It’s an adventure. It’s a lot of work.

As Lucy said a few days ago, out of the blue, “Mom! This is a GREAT house!!!”

Agreed, Miss L. Agreed.

-The {remodeling} Costellos