Finally . . . Kitchen Pictures!

I finally got around to taking pictures of the new countertops in the kitchen, so here they are! I love not having the tile backsplash! I really hated that. Looking at plain wall is sooo much nicer and easier to clean!
Here is a close-up of the granite. It's brownish with black flecks.

We took more off the island. Through that doorway is the laundry room and the garage. This walkway is by far the most traficked area of the house! So why would the builder put an island there with a huge overhanging ledge for stools? How could you possibly have a BREAKFAST BAR in this narrow walkway?! After a year or 2, Bob sawed off about 6 inches of the monster. That made it better, but I still could not carry a laundry basket through without having to either dip it down or raise it up to get it past the island. So we made the granite island an additional 4 inches smaller. We took a total of 10 inches off the island! Isn't that crazy?! The family before us had 5 kids--how did they manage? They had a huge fridge too! Well, it's tons better now.

And finally here is my beloved new undermount sink. The garbage disposal is still on the left side, so now it is under the big part of the sink, not the little part. I love it! I never understood why the disposal was under the small side. When I would dump things into it, water would splash out, and I was forever picking nasty stuff out of the grate at the bottom of the big part. No more! We had them drill a hole for my dish soap dispenser. I do like having that.

So good riddance to that nasty old tile and grout. I don't miss it a bit! I still can't believe it's gone, to be honest--throughout the day I still look over and am amazed at what I am seeing in the kitchen! When I made biscuits a few nights ago, it was SO wonderful to be able to roll them out RIGHT ON the counter! I haven't made bread yet, but I can't wait for that either!

Happy Birthday, Nathan!!!

Nathan is 11 years old today! He picked chicken salad on croissants for lunch, and kielbasa/potato soup for dinner, with ice cream for dessert. He's really growing up, too. He'll choose to read instead of play in the basement sometimes, much to Luke's chagrin. He pitches in when he can see I need help, especially if it involves cooking. He helps out tremendously with the girls. The reason I'm not intimidated by having more babies is that I know I have Nathan (and Luke . . . and Caleb . . .) to help with them! It makes such a huge difference.

I see so much of his dad in Nathan. He is a "think outside the box" problem solver, and he loves to play games. In fact, he is working on his own game right now, some complicated blend of Monopoly and Risk. He has a mechanical mind like Bob too, and he loves to help his dad in his projects around the house.

Speaking of projects, you may have wondered what Nathan was sitting in (or not--just humor me). It was one of Bob's projects last week, although he put it together after the kids went to bed one night, so they didn't help. It's a shaded swing for our front yard! We LOVE it. It doesn't have cushions that we would need to worry about if it got windy or rainy (because we are not the kind of people who can deal with those sorts of cushions, LOL). It is so wonderful to have a place to relax and swing in the shade as we watch the kids play out front.

Bob's second project is still on-going, and that is pressure-washing the deck. He bought a pressure-washer at Sam's, and he got quite a bit of the deck done last Saturday. Wow--what a difference that makes! The contrast between washed and unwashed is amazing! After he finishes washing it, he'll go ahead and stain it. We'll practically have a new deck!