Saben's Birthday Party - Part 2

 Let the games begin!  The first game was to see who could blow their marshmallow the farthest. The farthest a marshmallow was blown from a gun was probably 40 to 50 feet.  I stood at the far end and was surprised that they were able to get the marshmallows that far!

 The second game was to see which team could get the most marshmallows in a bucket that was sitting on the ground a few feet from the teams.

 Annika was the only one on her team that got one in the bucket.

 Next was a marshmallow gun duel.  They took 3 steps, then turned and tried to hit one another with a marshmallow.

 The last activity before a break for dinner, was a shooting free for all.  Four of the boys made an alliance and shot from the playhouse.

 Saben doesn't really like cake, so his candles were in a carton of ice cream.

 Blowing out the candles.

 After eating pizza and birthday sundaes, then opening presents, everyone headed back outside for a game of capture the flag.  Each team got four cardboard boxes to use to make a fort so they could defend their flag.

 Making the forts.

Kari put bowls of marshmallow in strategic places around the yard, so they didn't have to go back to their fort for ammunition.  Ken and I were in charge of watching to make sure the kids didn't go near the road and I also guarded the "jail".  If you got hit or went near the road, then you had to go to jail and could only get out if someone from your team came and tagged you.  Everyone had a lot of fun and some parents even joined in on the fun when they came to pick up their sons.  Saben said that it was the best birthday party that he had ever been to, what better praise could there be than that!

Saben's Birthday Party - Part 1

 Saben's birthday party started out with a treasure hunt. Kari had written up riddle clues for the kids to solve to find the next clue and ultimately the "treasure".  The first clue told them to walk like a chicken and do some other animal sounds to get their next clue.

 Trying to solve the next riddle...

 ...and looking for the next clue.

 Another riddle to solve.

 Finding the "treasure"!

 The "treasure" was a bag of parts for each person to make a marshmallow blow gun and a pair of goggles to wear when they played with the blow guns.

 After putting the blow gun together the way they wanted it, they could decorate it with duct tape.

 Saben's almost ready to go!

 Annika's still decorating hers.

 Practicing blowing the marshmallows with their guns.

These guys look like they're playing instruments instead of blowing marshmallows!

Finish Kitchen, Continuing Work on Bathroom

After a lot of unscrewing and screwing of all the cupboard hinges in order to replace them and adding the new handles, the kitchen is done for now.  We just did a few doors at a time using an electric screwdriver, which was a huge blessing!  The electric screwdriver made it so much easier!

 Meanwhile, we're continuing to get things ready for the new shower.  Ken was doing a lot of sanding to get this piece ready, so that's why the picture is spotty, it's all the sawdust in the air.

 This is what the shower looks like right now...

...and this one shows the addition of the piece that Ken was working on.  That piece is the sill piece that the shower door will be fitting onto.  Ken had to get it done so he could take it down to the place that is making the walls of our shower, so they could cover it with the same material as the shower walls.  The place that is doing the shower walls is so busy, that they can't get the walls installed until Apr. 15, which is a real disappointment!

 We decided to go ahead and get started painting the bathroom walls, mainly because I was anxious to see how they were going to look.  This wall is a darker gray...

...and the other walls are going to be this lighter gray.  Unfortunately, we haven't gotten any farther than Ken doing the cutting in.  I went to a women's retreat at our church Friday night and Saturday, then as soon as I got home from that I got hit with a cold and haven't felt like doing anything for a couple of days.  Hopefully, we'll get back to it soon!

Kitchen Cabinets

 Besides the master bathroom work that is being done, a couple of weeks ago, we had our kitchen cabinets cleaned, stripped and refinished.  This is a before picture, and it's hard to really see a difference from the pictures I took, but they really do look a lot better!

After we got them redone, and because I watch some of the home improvement shows on HGTV, I had the idea of updating the cabinets by adding handles.  We'll probably be replacing most of our kitchen appliances sometime in the next couple of years and will probably get them in stainless steel.  So, we decided to get handles that are a stainless steel color, which meant we needed to change the hinges to match.  One thing always leads to something else!  This picture is taken without the flash and...

...this one is with the flash.  I wasn't sure if I had used a flash or not in the pre-refinishing picture, so I took a picture both ways.  I really like the handles and wish I had done it a long time ago!

Re-modeling Our Master Bathroom

 This is what the master bathroom has looked like for the past 10 years.  Yesterday, we started taking apart the shower, so we can put in a new shower, which is the one that was put in 25 years ago when the house was built.

 The shower walls basically shattered as Ken took them off.  They were ready to be replaced!

 The pieces of the shower.

 Ken starting to take out the wall board that was behind the shower wall.

 While Ken did that, I started removing the wallpaper.

So, as of today, we have the entire shower out, including the wall board and one wall of the wallpaper removed.  It took a lot longer than I expected to remove that wall of wallpaper!