Vent Hood - the beginning

How many drill bits does it take to install a vent hood - 4! The tile is so hard that Jewels broke 4 bits drilling 6 holes. These pictures show the start of the installation.

Alex!!!

Alex is here! Alex is here!!! The kids can't get enough of their big cousin. He and Aunt Sally came in for Fall break (apparently some parts of the country have Fall). We all enjoyed the company. Alex was a great help in deciding on the back splash tile. And, of course, we put him to work at the house. He did a great job mowing the yard and back splash prep in the kitchen.

We're all looking forward to his Summer visit!

Kitchen Backsplash

The awesome Curtis (aka the tile guy) and Rene worked Saturday on our back splash. We chose large 24x24 porcelain tiles. The end product looks fantastic. Now it's time for the vent hood!

Progress?

We've unpacked more boxes. That action seems to make more of a mess than help. The house does look a little better right now, but unfortunately we have many trips to the storage unit in store for us.

Pool Safety

We realized a few days before the move in that little girl can fit through the pool fence. Jewels and Bill contemplated the best solution (other than a new one at this time) and came up with a solution. Jewels purchased rabbit cage wire. Andy spent one Sunday listening to the Texans lose while baby proofing the fence. The wire is not very noticeable - let's face it...the original fence is not pretty.

The long term plan for the pool is a complete overhaul. I'm estimating big $$$ - thus the cheaper, temporary fix.

Start of the Move In

#1 translator and Jewels headed to a local mission early Saturday morning to hire two guys. We needed muscle - I can pack and unpack, but heavy lifting makes me complain. The two were brothers from Honduras. They didn't speak English (hence the #1 translator) and were mesmerized by squirrels. Apparently there aren't squirrels in Honduras (they do have monkeys). It was funny to see two grown men jump around and chase squirrels in our front yard.

Anyway, they emptied one storage unit. The other is half full. I won't mention the other two - yikes! I've spent the last few days in box hell. I have already filled two boxes of future garage sale items. I told Jewels we may need to make a dump trip Saturday with all the trash I'm creating.

The last picture shows the kids in toy Heaven. #1 and #2 were so excited to see their things. #3 was just excited.

Cleaned Up Kitchen

Here are a few pictures of a slightly tidier kitchen. We're headed to IKEA tonight to get the missing doors and handles.

Granite Installation - Kitchen

The kitchen granite looks great.

Granite Installation - Hall Bath

The granite guys showed up bright and early Saturday. Jewels had a couple of issues with the language barrier (call in the #1 translator). And, he had to make a run to Lowes for silicone epoxy (they tried to use caulk but Jewels stopped them). All in all, the guys knew what they were doing and did a great job.