The one where the bathroom is finished!

It's finally done! Ok....It was done about a month ago. I've been a blogging slacker lately. Since you've already suffered through many of our construction pictures of the bathroom, I'm just going to show you the before and after photos. Quite dramatic!

The accomplishment has extra meaning for me because we worked together as a family to tackle this project. All four of us dug in and worked on various phases. As typical boys, Austin and Noah enjoyed the demolition process. They also learned about installing drywall.

Mark can already do anything. He just honed his skills a little. I learned all about taping & mudding. I learned that only crazy people try to mud new drywall on their own I learned that it is much harder than it looks. This was after going through an entire 5 gallon bucket of mud for our tiny bathroom!

It's such a great feeling to see this room complete and to know that it was a family project.

The One Where Austin Starts Driving

After 2 weeks of Driver's Ed in the classroom, Austin was able to take his Learner's Permit test. He passed! Mark and I anxiously sat in the courthouse lobby watching him through the glass windows. I wonder if any other teenager has had their mom take pictures of them while they took the test. Mark was pretty embarrassed of me. I didn't even bother to ask Austin!

When we reached Zimmerman, Mark pulled over on a side road and put Austin behind the wheel. After moving the seat WAY back from where it is usually set, he made minor adjustments to the car and was off. He did a great job!

I even managed to get a little video footage of the experience before Mark cut me off!

The One Where They Play Cake Boss

When Noah and Riley are together, anything can happen. When Riley spent the weekend with us, I casually mentioned that we should play Cake Boss and decorate a cake. I was surprised when they jumped at the idea and dug right in. I've had fun creating some cakes of my own, so I was excited to get them started.

I decided to let them take the reigns. I stood by to supervise and make sure the kitchen stayed within a reasonable level of chaos. They chose chocolate cake. They mixed it and baked it on their own. They surprised me when they decided to bake a few tiny cakes in miniature loaf pans. My grandma Laugerman gave me these pans years ago. As a blue ribbon baker, she would be proud to see her grandson using them.

The boys were pleasantly surprised to see how easy marshmallow fondant is to make. I think they were secretly delighted that it also makes a huge mess. Boys will be boys, ya know!

It was interesting to see their designs. It was awesome seeing these two rough and tumble boys dig into their creative and artsy side!

The One Where They Spend the Day in St. Paul

Mark has some vacation days that he needs to use up, so he decided to take a couple of days off this week. Wednesday was spent working on the bathroom that is progressing quite nicely. I'll give you an update on that another day.

Thursday we decided to go to St. Paul and do a few things. We stopped by Rice Park to see the ice sculptures at the St. Paul Winter Carnival. It was a pretty chilly day, so we only stayed for a little while. Noah was very impressed with the amazing ice sculptures scattered throughout the park. He decided that maybe he'll make a career out of that some day.

We made a stop at the Science Museum. With Mark along, the boys spent time doing different things than they usually do. We actually only got to a couple of exhibits, but we spent a lot of time at each of them. It was a great learning opportunity for both boys. We were so impressed with the Hubbel Telescope movie at the Omni Theater that we decided to take that film in again.

When we were done with the Science Museum we decided to do a late lunch at Cossetta. We stopped by to pick up my brother, John who works just a few blocks away. Austin and Noah love hanging out with John. He has a knack of making each one of them feel like they are very important to him.

The One With the One Act Play

During the months of December and January my life was full. Full of things I love. I love drama. I love directing. I love teenagers. I love hanging out with my kids. With One Act Play I got to do all of these things. I have the privilege of directing the One Act Play at Princeton High School. I get to do something that I'm passionate about, plus I get to do it with one of my kids!

Austin is a freshman this year. Even though he is homeschooled he is allowed to participate in extra-curricular activities through the public school. It has been such a fun experience for him to get to know the kids at the high school and to have fun acting in plays.

The play I chose this year is "Check Please". It is about a series of blind dates that end up badly. Austin played dual roles. He played the part of a man who appeared to be the perfect date until it was revealed that he was married. For that, he got a glass of water in the face! He also played the part of a sleazy overly-romantic guy. His costume was complete with silk shirt and lots of bling.

One Act Play is a competition event. We performed at our Mississippi 8 conference festival and were one of the 3 starred performances out of 9. Our journey ended at the 7AA subsections. It was an amazing experience to work with such a talented cast. I will miss working with them and look forward to next December when we start working on another production.

The One Where They Celebrate Christmas

The Christmas Season kept us hopping again this year. We love spending time with our extended family for the holidays. I also treasure the time we carve out to celebrate with our own little family of 4. This year we were able to do it all.

Our Christmas celebrations started with a performance of "The First Leon" by the New Life Church kids. Noah participated in the choir and Austin had the opportunity to be the narrator.

Mark and I had the privilege of participating in the Zarletti Family Christmas with the New Life Church choir. It was a full service of music hosted by the Zarletti Family. It was an awesome experience to sing music written by Pastor Vinnie and performed for the first time at our church.

For Christmas Eve Mark and the boys went to his Uncle Lyle's house to share with the Berghuis family in their traditional Christmas Eve celebration. I was at church preparing for the Christmas Eve service, so couldn't attend. After the Christmas Eve service we came home and had fondue desserts and snacks. We watched the movie "A Christmas Story" and laughed until our sides ached.


Christmas morning we slept in. There are certain advantages to having older kids! We had a leisurely morning opening our gifts to each other. We had our traditional breakfast of pancakes made by Mark. Every year he makes special Teddy Bear pancakes for the boys. Something went wrong in their making this year and we all had a good laugh at Mark's Mutant Bears. In the past we have put a candle with them and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. I wasn't able to convince anyone to do that this year.

Christmas afternoon and evening we spent with my parents in Waconia. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon just hanging out together and enjoying each others company. There also might have been a nap or two sneaked in!

On the day after Christmas we hopped up to Milaca for Christmas with Mark's family. Mark and Austin snowmobiled up and I took the truck and trailer to meet them. We had a fun time of opening gifts, playing games, and hanging out. Austin and Noah don't get to see Alex and Brittany as often as they would like, so they take advantage of every minute.

I also took the chance to play beauty shop with niece, Brittany. She wanted to go with a subtle red. The end results were....interesting. After a few minutes of panic, it was decided that Mark would go home and the boys and I would stay the night so that I could figure out how to correct the color. When all was said and done, her hair turned out. Whew! That's one more Christmas memory for the books!

We had to wait another week to celebrate Christmas with my family. We celebrated our Laugerman Christmas on January 1. It is always fun to get together with John, Rita and their two adorable kids. Noah loves playing with Johnny. Since he is the youngest grandchild on Mark's side, it is fun for him to be the big kid with his younger Laugerman cousins.

We certainly are blessed to do lots of Celebrating for Christmas!

The One Where They Rip Apart The Ugly Bathroom

If there was an ugly bathroom contest, we would have a winner! Our lower level bathroom is beyond description in its aesthetic appeal. Words really can't describe it.

Don't you just LOVE the shower fit for a sarcophagus? King Tut would be proud!

We bought our current home as a fixer-upper. We have been trying to stay within our budget and only do remodeling projects as the funds become available.

I've had to learn patience with rooms like this bathroom. We've lived here 5 1/2 years. For 5 1/2 years I've had to restrain myself from shuddering as I walk past the door to this room. I named it the "Boys Bathroom" and only used it in emergencies. Yes. I know it is pink. I don't care. It's too ugly to be a girl's bathroom!

We finally decided that it is time to start on this room. Austin and Noah greeted the task of demolition with great enthusiasm. Mark gave them tools, and told them to rip away!

Austin has stuck with the task the most diligently. He has been Mark's right hand man through the project.

The final stage for demolition was set when we rented a jackhammer to break up the shower floor. The entire house shook! Austin and Noah both emerged from the project with huge grins across their faces!

Now we have a blank slate to begin reconstruction. It will be fun to see what emerges!