Get ready. Get set. GO!

AHHHHHHH! I'M SO EXCITED!

SO EXCITED.

SO, SO, SO EXCITED!!!

Okay enough, I'm ready to share. We are finally making progress on the kitchen project that has been a dream of mine since the day we moved in, seven years ago now! For about a year now Ryder has been working on the cabinets in his shop, little by little in his very rare spare time. He didn't have required over time at his job this past weekend and was finally done putting them together, so he said it was go time!

This has been my set up for seven years! Using a folding table as a make shift counter. Messy and ugly, plus over all there is hardly any actual counter space in this kitchen. We eat a whole foods diet so for someone who is constantly cooking from scratch three square meals a day and then some it was a bit frustrating. As soon as we put Atty on his special diet for seizure control and I started spending the majority of my days in the kitchen (only a slight exaggeration) I started to loathe my kitchen. I am so thankful for a handy husband, even if it did take FOREVER AND A DAY!

All geared up and ready to be Ryder's sidekick.

This was my job, to handle the spray bottle and the vacuum, both I know well. ;) Ryder had to cut the tile and then chip it all up where the cabinets were going.

It was a nasty job and he ended up cutting up his hand really bad before he put gloves on.

Worst part of the whole thing. Ryder did most of it on his own because I had to get our food shopping done. 

But I bought chocolate ice-cream bars to make up for it. :) Nothing like ice-cream bars when you are working hard at watching daddy work. ;)

This guy was especially happy because they were ice-cream bars that he could actually have. Made out of coconut milk. Happy kid.

Bringing in the cabinets and scoping things out. 

It's so exciting!!! This is exactly how I felt on the inside. ;)

Putting in the drawers. All of this was made by hand by Ryder!

There are some deep shelves back there! Ha ha!

It was a joyful moment when I actually got to fold up this folding table, that has been well used now, and store it away! As it should be. :)

There is a lot left to do. We have to strip the older cabinets of their paint and then paint everything. We are adding knobs/handles and last but not least… NEW COUNTER TOPS! Oh man I can hardly wait!

For now Ryder put a board on top to use as counter space. Hopefully he doesn't get too comfortable with that idea. ;) I'm a pretty patient wife for the most part, but I have a fever for this kitchen to be finished already!!!

Honestly I keep walking into my kitchen and just staring around in awe. It's so awesome. I reorganized everything, did a kitchen purge and a thorough cleaning and now I don't mind spending so much time in there. ;)  There's so much space!

This was from before I reorganized everything, it looks even better now! :D

So there you have it, the kitchen remodel is in full swing and hopefully more updates soon!

Ira turns eight and other adventures...

Ira turned eight!!!

He's been waiting, impatiently, for four months. ;) It drives him crazy that Atty's birthday comes first, ha ha!

Birthday pancakes, got to have them! ;)

Another cake success! Grain free, dairy free, soy free. This time I made a chocolate frosting with Enjoy Life chocolate chip. They do have cane syrup in them, but Atty seems to be able to tolerate a bit of sugar now and again. It has been five year after all since his last seizure. :) The cake its self was sweetened only with maple syrup, and the coconut cream in between the layers inside the cake were sweetened with a little honey. Still trying to stay as close to whole foods as possible (I'm aware that maple syrup is processed but I'm more okay with that than the other types of processed sugars). Every once and a while I'm okay with making an exception since over all we have a focus on healthy eating. 

I love seeing how excited the kids get about getting their sibling a gift.

Atty got Ira a fishing pole! So sweet. :)

Ira's auntie got him this awesome pirate gear. He makes a pretty fierce pirate!

He's a jolly pirate. ;)

Banden got Ira a football!

Leiella made a million cards for Ira, so sweet. 

She also got him some cool survival gear. My little survivalists. :)

Blowing out the candles! He got every one!!!

So, so, so, good!!! Best cake ever. I keep saying that, but truly they just keep getting better and better. Practice makes perfect. :)

So Ira really wanted a camp out for his birthday. So we packed up the trailer and went to a local KOA. it was a blast! We had some friends come and my mom and sister. Besides the fact that it took forever to get on the road Friday after Ryder got off work. It was just one thing after another. It sort of turned into a bad joke. After finally getting the trailer hooked up and finding everything we needed for that, it was so late that I went inside to cook the chicken for dinner at home instead of at the campsite. That left J to help Ryder get out, which involves maneuvering through a gate and down the side of our house with millimeters on each side. It's ridiculous really. Well J failed, big time, in guiding Ryder out and one of the legs on the canopy on the side of the trailer got ripped off and long story short Ryder ended up taking a saw to the fence post and chopping the whole thing down! It was crazy. Then when we finally got on the road, around 7:30 pm, we got two minutes down the road and Ryder realized he didn't put the big side mirrors on. It's illegal to drive without them because he can't see behind him. So we had to turn around and go back! After a lot of cursing on my husbands part (which the kids thankfully didn't hear because they were in the suburban) he realize that they were in the underneath compartment of the trailer. Sigh. I'm telling you it was no fun. Thankfully when we got there things improved dramatically and we ended up having a really nice time. Lesson learned hopefully. When leaving on a Friday after work have as many things figured out ahead of time as possible!

Mini golf! This place has it all and is one of our favorites for a quick get away now. Pool, mini golf, playground, a beautiful creek, movie on the lawn at night, bouncy pillow, you name it, they've got it! Plus a good lay out for the kids to ride around on their bikes. It's glamping, not camping, but you know what… I don't care any more! I use to be sooooo against it! I was all about roughing it and getting as far away from people as possible prior to kids. But now with kids it's just stressful and so much work for me! This trailer camping thing is perfect for this time in our lives. And the KOA's are so family friendly! Although I like taking the trailer to regular campgrounds as well. :)

Playing at the creek, they can spend hours here!

Great way to spend a Saturday, reading outdoors next to a creek listening to the kids giggle and play. :)

Silly girls!

Building a dam. It's a favorite pass time for my boys, ha ha!

Then Atty drove us all home.

Just kidding! We had a blast and despite the hard start it fed my fever for trailer campouts this summer!

Family days

My favorite spot to sit now. :)

Before you start thinking that my husband is never ever around, I thought I'd post some pictures of the family days we sneak in every now and again. ;)

Great walk at Padilla Bay.

Atty learned how to ride his bike! We turned his bike into a balance bike last year by removing the training wheels that weren't doing him any good and taking off the pedals. It really did help him get the idea of balancing. This year we put the pedals back on but he wasn't showing much interest in learning how to ride. Well a few weeks ago I really wanted to go on a family bike ride (our first one ever!) so I told Atty he could either push himself alone the whole ride or he could learn to ride his bike. It was slow going at first, and Ryder and I took turns hanging back with him while the rest zipped ahead. At one point he got really discouraged and I started talking to him about his attitude. That he needed to have a "can do" attitude and that someone who beat seizures can do anything they put their mind to. I traded spots with Ryder and went ahead with the other kids. A little while later I hear Ryder singing to Atty, a sweet song about being a bike rider now. I look over my shoulder and sure enough there is Atty just cruising along. Made my heart so happy. It's a real feat with his neurological issues. I'm really excited too because it's a good therapy for him! The whole rest of the 4 mile ride he kept up his good attitude, even in the rough spots, I was really proud of him. He's a bike rider now!

The moments when we are all together are the moments I feel the most peace. Such a treasure.

Just enjoying nature

More pictures of our favorite spot.

We can't spend enough time here. ;)