You know you're a homeowner when...

You have a sink in the living room!

Why is there a sink in the living room? Well because the dishwasher broke. One of the joys of home ownership, when something breaks YOU get to fix it. But this story has a very happy ending. After a couple weeks of Jeff vs. the dishwasher, with the dishwasher not draining properly, or leaking at the bottom, Jeff tinkering with it, coaxing a few more loads of dishes, checking the plumbing to be sure that wasn't the problem, it was finally decided the dishwasher just needed to be replaced. After comparing prices online and checking for sales on new dishwashers we decide to also check Craigslist. I was hesitant to buy a used dishwasher, because I didn't want to be going through this again next year, but I'm glad I checked! I found an amazing deal on a KITCHENAID dishwasher from a family that was doing a remodel and upgrading to stainless steal appliances. Kitchenaid dishwashers start at around $800 for their base models, they were selling this one for $100. Nothing wrong with it except the color. So, if you are still wondering about the sink in the living room... when Jeff went to go pick up the dishwasher the guy offered to sell him the sink and facet too. Well, it was a lot nicer then the one we currently had and easily worth the extra $15

The dishwasher model is called Whisper Quiet Ultima and it lives up to the name! The first time Jeff turned it on I thought he had left the water running in the sink. It has a couple different wash settings and a 2, 4 or 6 hour delayed start option!

Kohler sink with a nice deep basin and the facet has an extension hose on the head.

My "new" kitchen!
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This is the "before", a picture from our moving in day. I didn't really take pictures of the dishwasher. Pretty sure both the sink and dishwasher were original to the house.

Halloween x 2

Launching into the Holiday season with a new baby, who had outgrown the newborn who sleeps all the time phase, life got kind of crazy and blogging, well just didn't happen. So here is Halloween 2009 and 2010.


2009
Over the summer I'd been in a sewing mood and had bought pattern at a Joanne's sale to make Kara a Cinderella dress for playing dress up. Princesses and dress up were two things she was BIG into, still is. Well I got the idea that I had plenty of time, if I started right away, to make it in time to also be a Halloween costume. This was the most challenging thing I'd ever decided to sew that I actually completed. It really stretched me and I sure learned a lot! I wanted it to be a little big, so she wouldn't outgrow it too fast. So she was Cinderella... again... for the 3rd time! But she loved it!
First time trying on the completed dress...


As you can see, Jeff was Charlie Brown... again...
A two year old getting ready to go out trick of treating for the first time is not easy to photograph!

We went to my Dad's neighborhood because they actually get trick-or-treaters and its a nice flat culdesac neighborhood, just right for trick -or-treating!

Jeff's "Mikey" pumpkin.

On to 2010!
Andrew had two costumes that I had scored at an after Halloween sale super cheep. The Friday before Halloween we went to Jeff's work for the festivities where he got to be Buzz Lightyear... to infinity, and beyond!

Kara refused to put on the witch costume I had for her, she wanted to wear Andrew's pumpkin shirt.

Ward Halloween party with her Minnie Mouse costume, which she slept in for the next two days!

Andrew's Woody costume came with these cute "boots", but the fabric was too thin for outside.


Andrew tries hard to keep up with Kara and trick -or- treating was no exception, he figured that one out quick! Walk up to a door with a pumpkin, say something, and get a piece of candy, I can do that!

With Halloween falling on Sunday this year we just went to a couple of the close neighbors houses and then came home and popped some popcorn.

I convinced Jeff to forgoe his Charlie Brown shirt and dress as Barry Hucklebug. Don't know who Barry Hucklebug is? Well Kara does...

It's her current favorite bedtime story!

"I'm a monkey, Mommy!"

Says Kara as she is climbing the Rhododendron bush in the back yard. To a three year old it's a pretty good climbing tree.

Doin' the Puyallup 2010

Going to opening day of The Fair has become a bit of family Tradition. Admission is free with a suggested food bank donation from 10am-12pm. Andrew was only a few days old last year and Jeff and Kara went without us, so I was excited for "Fair Day" this year. The weather was threatening rain, but turned out to be just right. With all the animals and "stuff" the fairgrounds isn't really a place you want to be wearing sandals and who wants to be wearing tennis shoes on a hot sunny day.

First thing we saw was the miniature horses. This turned out to be one of Kara's favorites and we were here for a while. She asked a couple times to ride them, so we're on the lookout for a place that gives pony rides.

The 4-H girl that owned this horse was in the stall with her horse and apparently he really liked people. Kara got to pet his nose and he even licked her hand!
"boc boc, boc boc, that's how they say g'day, boc boc, boc boc, that is what they say..." and that is what Kara said to the chickens too! so cute!
Andrew was scared of getting too close to the animals, but he really liked these baby chicks. I think because they were small. His expression in the picture is very serious, but he was fascinated by them. Jeff getting out the hand sanitizer. Just after I snapped this picture Andrew looked up at his Daddy and Jeff was looking down at him. It was cute and I tried to take another picture really fast...
... This is what I got. Hugs for Daddy!
Taking a sandwich break, see I was there...
The petting farm, Kara LOVED it, Andrew needed some encouragement at first.
He liked petting this bunny, again, much smaller then him.
Snacking on and Elephant Ear. We packed our lunch, but indulged in some Fair food for desert.

This year Kara was tall enough (you have to be 36") and brave enough to try the rides. She wanted "a purple one", seems to be her favorite color lately. We didn't notice until after she was buckled in that about half the cars had a working horn on the side to "beep" and hers was missing the part you squeeze. She soon forgot when she started moving though. Her face lit up with an ear to ear smile when the car actually started moving!

got my ticket! it started to sprinkle a bit and we put the kids jackets on, but it soon stopped :)
After how much she enjoyed the car ride we decided to let her try the helicopter ride. This one went around AND went UP in the air. Again she wanted "a purple one".
After a couple of circles in the air she looked a bit nervous, like she realized she wasn't sure how high she was going to go, but she was soon smiling again and wanted to go for another ride when it was over. Looks like going to the fair next year is going to be a lot more expensive.
Lastly we visited the "hobby house" collections. These were some of the favorites. Hello Kitty.
Tinkerbell
Andrew loved this Star Wars Galactic Heroes toy display and became a bit of an attraction himself as people watched him walk back over for another look several times.
The Wizard of Oz display
Such a cutie pie!

Jeff and I were trading off with the camera in here and neither of us got a picture of the Barbie display which was also one of Kara's favorites. Oh well. We ended with burgers at Red Robin where the kids got balloons and then visited with some friends that recently bought a house in Puyallup. For being two and a half and three, Kara and B played together VERY well!

FONZ members

What is FONZ? Friends of the National Zoo! You know, the one in Washington DC, we bought a membership! No we aren't planning a vacation, although that would be fun. The National Zoo is reciprocal to both the Point Defiance Zoo and the Woodland Park Zoo, and for only $60 we get admission for the whole family to both zoos for a year! A couple weeks ago we spent a sunny Saturday afternoon at the Point Defiance Zoo. I really like how the animal exhibits were layed out, it was usually pretty easy to get a good view of the animals. Some of Kara's favorites were the elephants, tigers and monkeys.

tiger cub, so cute!

This monkey was a ham, he really put on a show swinging around on those vines!

Polar bears a ginormous! Look at that foot!

Andrew liked the Meerkats in this toddler sized viewing area where he could get out and walk around.

both kids had fun in this sprinkler area, Kara got soaked and spent the last of our visit wearing a blanket

there was also an aquarium building, somehow we missed the touching tanks, we'll have to find those next time.

Point Defiance is a smaller Zoo then the Woodland Park Zoo, so we saw pretty much everything in one visit, but it was a lot of fun and Kara keeps asking to go back. All the parking is free and the parks surrounding the zoo have some amazing views of the water. I think we are going to like being FONZ members.