Mini Kitchen Make-over

AFTER





Ta da!! I have been wanting to put hardware onto my kitchen cabinets since we moved in a little over a year ago. We've had lots of more important expenses involving our house so it had to wait. My parents, in-laws and Bryan's grandma gifted me money instead of presents for my birthday earlier in the month which was exactly what I wanted because I was able to give my kitchen this mini make-over! So Mom, Dad, Jenny, Dave and Grandma Swihart....Thank you!!! I love my new cabinets so much!!
This little make-over was so easy and in-expensive! The hardware set me back approximately $125 and the special measuring tool was about $7. So in total the mini make-over cost about $132. Not to shabby! I had 36 cabinets to purchase hardware for and I wiped out Home Depot of this particular handle.
Choosing the hardware was tough. I originally had in mind mixing knobs and pulls/handles (I don't recall what the correct word is for them). I was thinking about using knobs for the cabinet doors and pulls/handles or the drawers. So I searched online and decided that I needed to see it in person, there was no way I could decide on hardware online. So I headed out to Lowe's and Home Depot. After many trips back and forth and weeks of thinking about it I decided on the two I liked best. I bought them at Home Depot came home held both of them up to each different door and thought to myself.."What was I thinking? This is not right." Brooke was standing next to me and said "Mom I don't like the round things." Neither did I. So I held the pull/handle up to the cabinet doors and loved it. Brooke approved too. So I called my mother-in-law to ask advice since they recently remodeled their kitchen and she encouraged me to look at magazines. I was not sure if you can mix pulls/handles and knobs or if you just pick one or the other and stick with it. So after researching kitchen images I decided to stick with the pulls/handles. I couldn't be happier with my decision. I have OCD tendencies so I have no idea what I was thinking mixing both knobs and pulls/handles, it most likely would have sent me in a panic mode.
Installing them was a breeze. Bryan marked the dots and handled the drill while I installed the hardware. We had an assembly line going and I loved the fact that I got to be apart of the process.
I love love LOVE my little kitchen make-over. I'm hoping next year we can install tile back splash and maybe a roman shade for my kitchen window. Home improvement projects are so fun!
Enjoy the before and after pictures!

February Has Been Tough.....

This month, though the first few days were amazing and spent with family and friends,the rest of it has been tough. The day after Brooke's real birthday she came down with that terrible stomach flu that was going around. My poor princess was so sick. Thankfully, by the grace of God, no one else in our family caught that awful bug. Then about a week later I started to feel a little under the weather and blamed it on allergies and stress. My face started to hurt but I didn't really pay any attention to it...its allergies right? Who knows. The last few weeks up until now have been a blur to me. Now that I'm finally feeling semi normal, I'm starting to re-claim my house and my daily tasks and I'm enjoying them again instead of suffering through them. Below are the fun things we've done this month. I'm so happy to be feeling better and normal again! Bryan and I started a project on our kitchen cabinets and I'm hoping we finish it up tonight. I'll share pictures of that soon. Enjoy the marathon of posts below!

Andrea

Brooke's Primary Talk

On Sunday my sweet Brooke gave her third talk in Primary. She loves being the center of attention and spoke so well and I was so proud of her! Bryan helped her write her talk since I had to teach my Mia Maids that Sunday and needed to focus on preparing my lesson for them. Here is a copy of her talk.

When We Choose The Right We Are Blessed
We are told to love our neighbors. At school I try to be good by helping other people, saying only nice things and sharing. When I'm nice to friends at school they're nice back.
Heavenly Father wants us to take good care of our bodies. I brush my teeth every morning and night and eat healthy food. I had no cavities at my last dental check-up.
We need to pray always. I say my prayers and ask Heavenly Father that I can have happy dreams. And I have happy dreams now.
I know that when I choose the right, Heavenly Father is happy. I enjoy going to church, praying with my family and sharing with my little brother. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Brooke's 6th Birthday!!!!

My sweet Brooke Claire turned 6 on February 7th. It was a whirlwind of a day. I spent the morning making sugar cookies for her class,her cake, and wrapping her presents and taking care of my grumpy 2 year old. Bryan helped me decorate the night before and brought her a special treat for lunch and had a special daddy-daughter lunch date at school with her friends. I took her cookies to her class at 2pm and stayed to volunteer. We came home and Bryan bought pizza from Costco and then we started the birthday festivities! It was a crazy day, but a fun one and I know Brooke felt so special. she loved her new Barbie and Barbie board game, Polly Pocket stuff and her new Ariel nightgown. The day was wonderful and I can't believe I'm a mother of a 6 year old!!!!

The Day After Brooke's Birthday Party.....

......I celebrated my 29th Birthday! It was by far the best birthday I have ever had. I woke up and made breakfast for everyone and then got spoiled rotten the rest of the day by my family. Bryan surprised me with a brand new Nikon camera! I was so very excited because our camera was so ready to retire so I was ecstatic with my new camera. It's perfect because its crazy easy to use, has an 18X wide optical zoom, 12.1 mega pixels and a huge screen to see your images. It's not crazy fancy to where I will need to take a class to learn how to use it but PERFECT for me and our family. LOVE it! Also Bryan bought me a new waffle maker. I had been eyeing it at Costco for months, it makes the best waffles ever. I could not have been more spoiled that day by my family, my parents, in-laws and friends. I felt so loved every time the doorbell rang and it was a neighbor or friend from church wishing me a happy birthday with a fun treat in tow. It was great to spend the day with family and to have a wonderful date with Bryan that night at Carrabas and end the night with the best gelato ever at Frost. I did not want the day to end at all, I totally cried when it was time for bed because I was so sad to have the day come to an end...it was that fantastic! Of course I savored the day and took no pictures of myself but I have been playing around with my new camera so enjoy the cute pictures I have taken so far....and yes Brody loves to play dress-up with his big sister. Don't worry he is still 100 percent boy/monster he just idolizes Brooke and will do anything she tells him too. I wonder how long that will last.
Thank you everyone, my parents, in-laws, family, Bryan, friends, neighbors for making me feel incredibly loved and important that day. I so needed it and it brought me great joy. I love you all and I'm so blessed to be surrounded by such loving wonderful people.

Brooke's Birthday Party

Weeks ago on the 4th my sweet Brooke had her 6th Birthday Party! It was so much fun! We had it over at BounceU and almost her entire Kindergarten class came as well as lots of friends from church. It was great and my mom and dad as well as Bryan's parents came all the way from California to help us celebrate. It was fantastic! I took tons of pictures but I'm only posting these few out of respect of every one's privacy that attended her birthday party.
I made her cute pink gumball cupcakes. I really wanted to do something fancy but since I had guests staying with me and the fact that I had to make 30 cupcakes I played it safe with these cuties. I'm so grateful to those who came to help us celebrate and make my sweet girl feel special. We are set on Barbies, dress-ups, lip gloss, Littlest Pet Shop, Lego's for years! Literally!