Finished Daughter's Kitchen Redo, Thanksgiving and Babysitting

Let's see... first I will start with some babysitting.  We swiped two of the grandtots last weekend for an overnight.  It was full of fun, baking, toys, silliness and good snuggles.  The kids were so busy...  and we were happy to find interesting thing to keep them busy.

Donning the "baking aprons" they went to work in our kitchen.  They worked together on breaking eggs and baking some brownies... here are a few video clips of their creative cooperation:

Check out this video clip is just adorable of little Clayton 

serenading his Granfaddah with the song from Frozen, 

while Granfaddah makes up pancakes for breakfast. 

Granfaddah put in his time with games, stories, and just hugging grandtots on his lap as they played. They have a whole pile of toys here that wait for them in the little hallway closet.  We made a reading nook in there too with a light for them to see wayyy back to the bottom of the staircase inside.  It's a great getaway room for them to hide out and play quietly.  Finnegan likes it too and curls up with the grandtots in there.  I even crawled in and snuggled to read them a story in there.

Chelsea put in some time at the loom, working on a rug. She wove close to 12 inches of a rug before taking a break for a nap.  Little Finnegan loves the cuddles with "the"childrens" who come to visit.  He glues himself to their sides, waiting for snuggles, pets, and of course dropped morsels of food for his TREATS!

Both of the kids helped to prepare dinner for the grownups coming later in the day.  They worked so hard to create two pans of lasagna.  One pan was the traditional style with meat spaghetti sauce, ricotta cheese and mozzarella on top.  The other pan they made is becoming a family favorite of shredded chicken, alfredo sauce and mozzarella cheese with a liberal sprinkling of bread crumbs and parmesan on top.  Add in a big salad, some garlic bread and of course, their home baked brownies.  We had a meal ready for the parents.  The grantots even helped set the dining table for the meal.

That evening, our other daughter Heather and soninlaw Jesse came over with our grandson Jameson and their two incorrigible corgis!  It was a good family evening, but we were missing our son Dan and his Heather with grandtots Allegra and Mason.  They were doing a family annual shopping event with Heather's family.

Boy oh boy did Finnegan have fun running laps with the two corgis, up one set of stairs, thundering like a herd of elephants across the upper floor, then race down the other set of stairs.... Around and around and around.... Here is one moment that Heather got all three to sit still in ONE spot and held their attention with a treat.

FINNEGAN, PRINCESS LEIA and RADAR

During the week, I managed to get all of the outdoor Christmas decorations up on the house.  It snowed right after I got them up, so it REALLY felt like the holiday season was here!   I just love the house in the snow, it shows the Craftsman style so well with highlights of snow around it. 

The Pfundtner family gathered over in Waupaca for Thanksgiving... ya know, over the river and  through the woods to get there?  We meet in a restaurant because there can be anywhere from 20 to 40  people attending on any given year.  We sure fill up the room!    Little Clayton and Chelsea made little paper "turkeys" for Great Grandpa Pfundtner! 

Since we are both finally feeling better, yesterday we were able to get back up to our oldest daughter Erin's house to finish working on her kitchen with her.  Last time we got the cabinets and walls painted, and part of the countertop installed.  Steve also put in her new sink, faucet, and light fixtures....  So it's been halfway completed for a few weeks while we were sick. It needed to get done before she hosts our Christmas celebration at her house.  We drove up there Saturday morning and put in a full day.. and it's DONE!   (well all except a little piece of trim that Steve has to make a compound miter cut on that will take some time on the table saw at home)   

Erin and Steve mounted the last section of countertop on the peninsula to make the work area complete.  It was difficult to transition from the one piece to the other, but they got it done and it worked out great.  Then they put trim along the backsplash edge, the end cap on the countertop; it all came together great! 

Before we got there, she had given two coats to the floor with some porch and floor enamel paint, and it was dry enough for us to walk on the next day.  Great way to cover up ugly olive green and harvest gold patterned vinyl flooring without ripping it up or applying more over the top.  We were working on a set budget that didn't include new flooring at this time.  So she did the next best thing! 

The kitchen looks so sharp now, compared the the "before" pics I put in this blog post:

House Projects on Daughter's Old House

It really was UGLY in pale pink and hunter green and gooses on the wallpaper! 

The little bit of silver on the curtains really isn't this shiny, it just reflected from the camera flash. It has more of a hue and sheen like the muted silver on the backsplash around the countertops.

 She found this perfect table and stools for setting right between the windows.

Anything bigger would not look right or take up too much space.   

I can see sipping early morning coffee here as the sun comes up. 

I can see the grandtots sitting here to eat their cereal. 

I can see them helping to bake more brownies! 

And here it is... TA DAAAAA   

Complete with a new stove, fridge and rangehood/microwave mounted above

(missing a bit of trim yet) 

 Of course, little Finnegan helped too... 

with the painting!!!   Can't you tell????

Today is a rest at home Sunday kind of day...

I am going to work on a quilt. 

Steve is going to make us breakfast.

And later on there is a Packer Game that needs our attention....

from our comfy chair and couch in front of the television!