Open!

Eric didn't want/couldn't wait for the insurance company so he and his friend Bill took out the walls today.

It's open!! The darkness is gone. 

It looks like way too giant a problem and mess to me but Eric is excited about the project. 

I think in his mind it's his thing and there is little chance he'll let the restoration company do the work. 

Let's hope the insurance settlement will be enough to cover the majority of the cost.

We spent some time in Home Depot last night just the two of us.  Looking at options and pricing things out. 

The previous owner was a flake who fancied himself a builder.  Eric has been shocked and dismayed many times over the years at things he's discovered.  This is no different.  Even I can see that his wiring, plumbing and even gas lines are a disaster.  This will be a good opportunity for Eric to put some things right. Amazing that he ever passed inspections! Makes you wonder how he did?!

Beams and posts are incorrect.  Pretty excited about getting proper beams in and eliminating some of the posts.  So glad Eric is so handy. 

Stoney Hill Hike

We finally went as a family after dinner today.  NOT a Kai friendly trail.  Uneven all the way and we did the "easy" trail. 

Kai didn't want to go and cried about going, when we got there and again when we got out of the car.  He spent the whole time watching his feet. I don't think he got the wow factor of the view.  He was pretty happy to see the van at the end.  I had a tight grip on him and he almost fell 16 times.  We made a game of counting.  My shoulder is sore from catching him 16 times!  We really need to consider that he might prefer having a sitter occasionally.

The rest of the family was sufficiently in awe of the view.  Blue sky would have been prettier but I did appreciate not being hot.  Lili and Fei did the whole loop.  The rest of us went back the way we came :)

Hiked all that way, dragging Kai and Jia sticks her tonge out for the photo at the end!

Arbutus paper...more interesting than the view!

Hot

On a super hot day, with super giant heaters blasting in the basement it's possible the decision to make a double batch of cookies wasn't a great plan :(

I needed gas in the convertible so Eric was heading out and the three girls ran after him for a nice cool drive. 

I'm here watching Lili's peanut butter cookies. 

Progress

The project manager and insurance adjuster were here today.  Discussing options and looking at details.  They're hoping to have amounts figured out for the end of the week.  Floor being measured tomorrow. 

Months ago Mr. Kai got into the kid puzzles and dumped them into a big pile.  He went over the fence.  Determined boy.  We weren't really sure which ones were affected.  So it's  been a massive project waiting for some day.  I went through and picked a tiny handful of favorites and the big girls and I made sure they were whole.  The rest went to the dump.  Couldn't give away puzzles with missing pieces. For now they're back upstairs and he's been told not to touch but honestly we're likely on borrowed time on this one.  Same thing with all the photos.  We're trying to keep a closer eye on him and we've been asking the other kids to help supervise what he's getting into.

Eric had to work at getting rid of my books.  I had actual physical pain at getting rid of them and thrift stores would only take a couple boxes each.

Jia's Pikachu came in the mail. She loves it.  She however wasn't thrilled with the idea of paying me.  Teaching lessons is hard sometimes.  I bought a Mickey at the thrift and I needed another one so both boys could have one.  Jia had a Mickey dressed in a bunny suit.  So I made a deal that she could trade me the Mickey for her Pikachu.  She was on it!  Boy's are both pretty happy with their Mickeys.  Eric is just telling me the boys are arguing "I'm Mickey Mouse" "No.  I'm Mickey Mouse" "I'm Mickey Mouse" "No. I'm Mickey Mouse". It's ongoing.  So Eric left the room. Hahaha. 

We did get to talk about Mickeys house and visiting him in his house.  They were squealing and jumping.  Who knows if they really have any idea but they're hyped right now.

I actually enjoyed this little bit of down time doing some puzzles from my childhood.

Load one of books.

We had five dogs on Monday.  Fun, busy day. They all got along great.

Just sat down.

Eric is the busiest person I know.  He does so much for all of us.  He meets his step goal every day, plus plus. We get lovely homemade everything for meals.  He is always setting up stuff for the kids to do.   He stays involved with their arts, crafts and science projects. 

I too am fairly busy.

Today we were up early.  Breakfast for everyone. Laundry.  5 loads today. Plus folding and putting away.  Pet care. Three loads to the dump. One load to a thrift store.  The back yard is temporarily back!  A bit more organizing.  A ton of dishes.  Grocery shopping. Home for lunch. Seriously busy all day.  Kids wanted to know if I was going with Eric on his last dump run because I wanted to not work.  Bahhahaaa.  Seriously.

It was quiet in Walmart today.  School supplies were just being stocked.  I was on my own so I whipped out 'the list' and got it done for the littles. 

Eric had the littles in the backyard before dinner so I opened all the school supplies and sharpened the pencils and sharpied names on each item.  Took an hour.  Every year I end up labeling everything the night before school after getting home from camping.  Still need a lunch bag for Jia.  Bought backpacks for them months ago.  Waterbottles and Ninja Turtle lunch boxes for the boys. 

Still need clothes and shoes for all of them.  Full disclosure, I won't be doing anything for Lili and Fei.  They have strong opinions on their supplies and wardrobe ;)

I also picked up a few things for Christmas.  I know crazy.  Way too early.  Even for me. Life feels out of control with the flood.  Who knows what's next.  Trying to get everything done that I can!

On the flood front.  Giant heaters and fans have been going all weekend.  The breaker keeps going off.  We are now looking out the window constantly to see if the pool pump is on.  It's on the same circuit.

We're not interested in having this happen again.  So, need to fix/lower the drain.  I'm asking for wood panel wainscoting so there is no drywall low on the walls.  Now doing tons of reading about flooring on cement.  It's bleak and not many good options.  Suggested flooring is linoleum or rubber tile.  I don't think our family could deal with the smell of rubber.  Eric wants rubber finish but I've never seen it and the smell would still be an issue.  Lili, Fei and I are really hoping the lino rock pattern in our bathroom will work.  Anyone have ideas about flooring on cement?

Carpet isn't a great option re: flooding, pets and Luk  (lots of surprises). 

Fei gave me a pedicure yesterday, my toes are showing at the bottom of the photo. 

I tried to take a picture yesterday.  They didn't turn out.  We were like a scene in a comedy.  Fei got out a spa foot tub and filled it up with hot water.  The littles were crowding around to see.  I told Fei to squirt in some of the kids body soap.  So she did.  Then left the room to gather supplies.  The bubbles started and didn't stop!  Lili rushed over with a jug, I was scooping, Lili is running back and forth to the sink.  Jia finally turned it off.  Boys stood in shock.  Fei saunters back in wondering what all the shrieking was about.  Just another afternoon moment in Nelsonland.

Eric and the big girls are off to see Spiderman.  Fei made snacks.  Shhh.  We would never sneak in food to the movies.

Over Doing It.

Probably not surprising but I was already feeling pretty maxed before the flood.  Clearly this is going to be too much for me.  I had zero plans of changing up the downstairs. 

Eric is moving non stop.  He's being great about my crazy.  In order to move gift bags upstairs I needed to cull.  I resisted counting.  It was a wildly crazy amount of gift bags.  I kept about 25%.  Eric didn't question me.  In the scheme of things to be done it was stupid but he just went and got them for me.  I don't like the basement and I always avoid going.  Here is where I confess that I buy bags and use wrapping paper rather than go down there to the scary basement and the crowded messy storage closet. Hard to imagine our family has received that many gifts.

When Eric finished the floor upstairs the kids books were boxed up and moved to our bedroom.  I need room on the shelf for some of my books that are moving up  so I finally did the kids books.  Luk and Kai worked with me for two hours.  They brought all of the books to me and since they could only manage a couple at a time I had lots of time to sort.  Got a whole lot culled out.  All the girly, princess ones, all the younger ones and everything that is about kids misbehaving and learning lessons.  Not sure moral stories will teach the boys morals or just how to misbehave.  Then after dinner the boys helped box up the ones going.  We kept Jia away from the project because she wants to keep them all.  Lili came up to help but ended up stuck on memory lane.  I had to keep a couple for her ;)

Boys have lost their toy room.  Not good for Kai.  He LOVES the toys and tv.  I took him down to show him and he cried.  Fei and I set up a Thomas Train set to amuse them but it was way too complicated for them and Kai refused to share and screamed at Jia that it was his.  So I put it away.  We've tried letting them in the living room but as before Kai CAN NOT deal.  All three girls were distressed after dealing with him in here on Friday. They had a huge list of infractions to report.  Moving furniture, jumping on funiture, leaping off furniture. Still can't let him play in the bedroom.  So he's stuck in the kitchen.  I'm not sure who wants the toyroom back more, me or him. Luk is fine as long as he has paper and a pen he's happy.

Moved toddler books in for Kai to read in the morning.  Then had a hard time getting him in bed.  He's rearranging them already. 

Parade

We didn’t make it to the children's parade but we were there for the big parade.  Jia declined going!!  Losing our little girl.  It's happening too fast!  Boys were thrilled to be there.  We were sitting near the farmers market so for snacks we had peas, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, eggnog cookies and blueberries.  Eric even found me a decaf, sugar free earl grey London fog. And we had total shade.  And we got handicapped parking.  Best possible way to do the parade.

Luk keeping his cool.

Kai showing all his excitement!  

Luk was upset these giant balloons were coming because he's allergic.  I told him not to touch them.  He glared at me.

Little snooze in Dad's chair while he was off getting us snacks.

Luk just couldn't get as comfortable as Kai in his little chair.