The Dentist, God and a Check Mark

First of all we had an exciting day today - Abby's first trip to the dentist!  We are lucky enough to have a family friend as our dentist and he and his staff are incredibly patient with children.  When I took Grace to her last check-up, they said I should bring Abby next time so that she can see what it's all about. I had no expectation that she would actually sit in the chair and have her teeth cleaned but she did just that.  She watched Grace get her teeth cleaned and she just kept asking, "is it my turn now?"  When it was her turn, she hopped in the chair, leaned back and said "ahhh" with her mouth wide open.  She sat there for the whole cleaning.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I remember Grace did ok on her first visit (around 3 years old) but as soon as the dentist put on the face mask she was all done - too scary!

And just a couple of catch-up stories. I found myself repeating these stories lately so thought they were blog-worthy!

A few months ago Grace brought home a religion test.  She was supposed to circle the "true" statements and she got just one wrong.  I read the statement - "God made the world good."  She didn't circle it as being true so Bruno and I asked her why not.  She said, "Well, there are bad things in the world and if God made the world then he didn't make it all good."  We were really surprised at how much thought she had put into it.  We decided to not go into the concept of "free will" at that point - ha!

Also a few months ago, Grace brought home her homework.  She usually does it after school so I check it when she gets home.  She was supposed to write 6 sentences using her word study words.  She decided to do extra and write 12.  She was very proud that she wrote 12 and I told her I was proud of her too for doing extra work. She usually just gets a check mark if she completes her work.  So the next day when I opened her book, I saw a check mark next to her 12 sentences.  Then I turned the page and saw the following note (written in first grade spelling - I don't have it exactly in front of me so I am summarizing in 38 year old spelling):

Dear Ms. (teacher's name has been removed to protect her privacy):

Why did I only get a check mark for writing 12 sentences when I usually get a check mark for writing 6 sentences?  I did extra work and only got a check mark.

From,
Grace

Bruno and I were very proud of her for bringing this to the teacher's attention!  I wrote the teacher an email and she talked about it with Grace but I still think it was pretty amazing of her to try and address this directly with the teacher.

Needless to say, I think we may have our hands full with this little one who is full of questions!

The kitchen is DONE!

It took a few weeks, a lot of trips to Home Depot, appliance stores, granite stores, tile stores, dinners out - but the kitchen is finally DONE!  There were unexpected delays (granite company cut our slab wrong the first time) and late nights but we are thrilled with the results! We used installers for most of the big jobs but Bruno installed the beveled subway tile backsplash and it turned out amazing. See for yourself!

It may be hard to tell some of the colors from this picture.  The walls are Benjamin Moore Nimbus Gray.  The granite is Kashmir White and the backsplash is a beveled white subway tile.  Appliances are all stainless steel.

 Happy cooking!!

Seven Years Old

After rescheduling a few times, I was finally able to get Grace to the doctor for her seven-year check up.  We are blessed with a very healthy girl.  She is 61 lbs (75th percentile) and 51 inches (90th percentile).  I guess some day she will be mad at me for posting her weight - luckily, for now, that is not something that crosses her mind.  She has passed her hearing and vision tests (luckily she got Bruno's good eyes)! 

So, over the past couple of years I have told Grace the story when I took her to her five-year old check-up and the doctor asked her what she ate for breakfast. She always laughed when I told her about it.  When we were at her check-up last week, the doctor asked her what she eats for breakfast and Grace just stared at me not knowing what to say.  I started laughing and just told the doctor it was a long story but that she usually eat pancakes for breakfast. 

Grace is such a sweet girl - she is very sensitive with movies and cries when the plot involves something even a little bit sad, or unfair and gets upset when there are "mean people" in movies.  In fact this weekend we were watching Toy Story and she wanted to turn it off because Buzz and Woody weren't getting along and there was a mean kid who wasn't treating them nice.  She has recently seen "Santa Buddies" (which involves a story about adorable puppies) and she cries everytime she sees it because, in the end, the mean guy ends up being really nice.  I think it is so sweet that she takes these characters and scenes to heart.  One day she was crying and I got her to laugh and so she was laughing and crying at the same time.  I told her she is truly an Irish girl!

She is a great big sister and plays really well (for the most part) with Abby.  She is fun and loves doing crafts and playing outside.  She is a pure delight and we love her dearly!

Is it really March?

Only five blog posts all year?!? It's not that we haven't been doing things - it's maybe that we have been doing too many things or should I say one big thing! 

We are in the process of renovating our kitchen.  It started out with a rather simple conversation... "Let's redo the kitchen.  All we really need to do is update the appliances, a new countertop and new floor."  Three things, really.  Ok, not so really.  We have spent almost every weekend doing some sort of shopping for this project.  First we picked out the granite.  Then we picked out the appliances and then the floor.  But there was also the backsplash, the paint color, the sink, and a new kitchen table.

Bruno will be installing the backsplash tile.  Of course he thought he could just "pop off" the existing tile but, as is usually the case with older homes like ours, it wasn't installed properly.  So it pulled off a lot of drywall when he took the tile off.  So there is spackling and finishing work to do before the new tile can be installed. The house is a disaster as we have cleared off the counters and now cleared out the cabinets for the granite installation. 

But we are close to seeing the results and we are very excited.  Bruno loves to cook and I love to bake. Our kitchen, as in most homes, is a gathering place for all of our entertaining.  All in all we feel fortunate that we can do this kitchen renovation.  And, yes, I will be posting before and after pictures soon!