We had dinner last night on an enclosed patio at our favorite Mexican food joint. After queso but before our meal, Grant told me his stomach was making music. I thought it was indigestion and told him later his bottom would make music. HA!

But when he was halfway through his dinner, he told me he must have swallowed a tiny radio. I kept playing along and asked if he thought it was in the cupcake from the birthday party earlier in the day. He thought it was and kept eating. He would ask us if we could hear it throughout the meal.

Staying true to her form, Abby had to poop before we left. The girls left and the boys stayed on the patio.

When we came back, Grant exclaimed "Mama! It wasn't my stomach making music, it was the rock! I didn't eat a radio!" You see, we were sitting next to one of those rock speaker things and apparently this really threw him for a loop!

I laugh-cried while finishing my margarita.

On Saturday the 17th, we headed to Boston. I had a conference there and we decided to make it a vacation. My awesome parents moved in for the week to take care of the kiddos.

We stayed over in the Back Bay. Once we had unpacked, we walked over to Eastern Standard. We were STARVING! We headed back to the hotel to change for the cocktail & wine tasting on the Skywalk of the Prudential Tower. They had these ingenious wine holders.


On Sunday we were supposed to take a cruise in the harbor, but when we woke up the weather said it was 32 degrees outside and felt like 23. So instead we started out the day with brunch at The Bee Hive. After a delicious bloody and some jazz music, we waited for our Uber then headed over to the North End to walk the Freedom Trail.
The Freedom Trail was very interesting, but also very cold! We took in the sights and also saw an A Capella contest outside Faneuil Hall. We took some pastries home from Mike's.

Bunker Hill Bridge

The Old North Church

Paul Revere Statue outside the Old North Church

Massachusetts State House

Inside the Old South Church on Copley Square

Outside Trinity Church on Copley Square

We headed back to the hotel and walked around all the vendor booths. We decided to check out the North End. We tried to get an Uber, but it wasn't working. So we went old school and took a cab. We tried to have dinner at Monica's (based on the cabby's recommendation) but instead ate at Benevento's.

On Monday, I had my conference all day. The breakfast they served was awful, so I was thankful for the pastries we had brought back! Derek and some other friends he made (lady lawyers were at the conference so the spouses got together to play) took a bike tour of Cambridge.

Monday night was an event at Legal Seafood Harborside. We had chowda and everyone had their own lobster, clams, and mussels to de-shell and enjoy. It was my first time having lobster like this and it was REALLY good. After dinner there was cocktails at Lolita's Tequila Bar, which describes itself as "Mexican Goth". The drinks were delicious! We walked back to our hotel.

I had my conference again all day on Tuesday. Derek and his new friend Ken took a segway tour of Boston and then tried some new beers at local bars. Dinner was at Post 390 (which was good, but not great). Cocktails that night were supposed to be at Guilt, but we couldn't rally so we were in bed right after dinner. Derek's new friend Ken was at dinner, so I got to meet him and his wife, Chris, for the first time!

I had a half day of the conference on Wednesday. Derek and Ken walked to the North End to try out Modern Pastry. The conference was done by 12:30, so we walked over to Fenway. We had lunch and a beer at Boston Beerworks, then toured Fenway.
I had to come back to the hotel to do a little work. We headed back out to the North End for dinner. We were trying to have pizza at Regina's, but because of the Bruins game, the line was crazy! Instead, we lucked out with a table at Monica's (the place the cabby recommended on Sunday). We had some gelato at Vittoria's Caffe, then called it a night.
I loved the view of the Bunker Hill bridge at night!
On Thursday we checked out and rented a car. We drove up to Portland, Maine. We saw the Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth and had pizza at Otto's.
From there we turned back south and had some coffee and pastries in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
We ended the day in Salem. We met back up with Chris and Ken and took a witch tour. We had a delicious dinner at Firenze and ice cream at the Screamery. We ended the night with a stop at Bunghole Liquors. Obviously I got a T-shirt! Derek got some new pumpkin beers he had never had before.

We headed back south on Friday. We had breakfast at Ball Square Cafe and kept driving down to Providence, Rhode Island. We walked around the Rhode Island State House (which was pretty awesome, I must say) and grabbed pastries and cider at Pastiche in Providence. We took in a view of the city at Prospect Terrace, then drove down to Newport.

In Newport, we toured The Elms, then had a bite to eat and one really large drink at The Red Parrot. After that we toured The Breakers (the Vanderbilt house). It was really awesome!!

From there we headed back into Boston, staying the night in Cambridge. We actually had dinner at a place called Abigail's and Derek drank a drink called Mr. Grant. Do you think we missed our kids?!?

Saturday we grabbed some of Mike's cannoli's for the road and took off for the airport. Even though it had been raining in Dallas for 24 solid hours (practically anyway), our flight was on time! The kids RACED down the driveway to see us!

I guess I need to shave. Abby had her head in my leg earlier and she said "I don't like the way this feels. It hurts me and cuts me and makes me bleed." 

When Grant dreams, he says, "My bed told me a story last night." Then he tells me about the dream. It usually involves superheroes and Abby in some way. 

In the front room, we decided to remove all the pony walls, demo the built-in book case, build in a new closet, and refinish the fireplace. Oh - and raise the floor a foot or so... It was sunken before and we wanted to "update" that.

Here are pics from before we moved into the house 7 years ago:
Please note the lovely wall color... also the fireplace is a ton of masonry, covered by wood paneling. As it would turn out, that tile in the entry would be the most difficult of all our flooring to demo out. It was tile on top of tile on top of tile. And that original tile was laid with CEMENT not thinset.

When we moved in, we painted the walls (and the walls behind the built-in book case), got rid of the popcorn ceilings and also got rid of the brass fixtures. A few years later, we updated the off-off-white trim to bright white. This was the shape of that area before the remodel:
Here are the remodel progress pics!

After Day 1:

After the wood covering was removed:

Bricks on the ground, bricks on the ground.... lookin' like a fool with your bricks on the ground.

Take a look around at the other framing work (and my cute photo-bomber) - After Day #9:

Now it was time to raise the floors (Day #17):

Then glue and screw the plywood on top (Day #19):


The leftover framing has disappeared below behind sheetrock (Day #21):

I'm sorry mama. I never meant to hurt youuuuuuu. I never meant to make you cry but tonight, I'm framing out my closet... (Day #24 - a/k/a Christmas Eve):

Floors are down, walls are painted and there are holes in the floor for the plugs we have added in the raised floor.

Between Day 45 and today, they have worked on the electrical in that room, added and painted base boards and we've met with the mantle designer (although we don't have a sketch of that quite yet). But the floors are covered in paper so the pics aren't quite as fun.

Our remodel started on December 1st with Demo Day #1. I was out of town for work so I kept up with progress with texts. Derek had to brave the dust with the kids! We are now on Day #56 of the remodel and I think we are about 10 days away from being done. Maybe (hopefully) less.

Our biggest challenges thus far have been (1) under-estimating flooring costs and sq. footage; (2) delay of 7-10 days for city permitting inspections - did not factor in inspector's vacation!!; and (3) countertop installation delays.

Here's a photo-summary of the progress thus far:

This is when we moved in 7 years ago. The fireplace brick was a dusty rose color. It doesn't show up here, but all of the trim was off-off white and all the fixtures were brass. We had popcorn ceilings!

This is just before the remodel. Before we ever moved in, we changed the fixtures to nickel and got rid of the popcorn ceilings. When Grant was a baby, we had the trim painted bright white. In 2013, Derek and his dad painted the fireplace bricks bright white.

Featured above with the lovely bi-fold blind-like doors is the World's Smallest Coat Closet. It's not even wide enough for coats unless you shove them in, close the door quickly and run away.

During Day 1:


After Day 1:


This is when we learned that the columns that I'd had in my plans weren't necessary. OH HAPPY DAY!!!

After Day 4:

You can see between the column and the blue wall what was once the World's Smallest Coat Closet. We have turned that into (awkward but useful) cabinets for storage that can be accessed in the new powder bath. You can also see that they have drilled through the slab, filled at least 10 bags with dirt and tunneled through to connect the new powder bath to the sewer line.

After Day 9:


In the first pic you can see between the living room and the foyer (where we once had glass french doors) is MUCH taller now! It went from about 7' there to 10'. In the second pic you can see the header that spans between the kitchen and living room. In that pic you can also see what looks like a board on the ground on the far right. That's actually where the framing was removed. We opened up that wall as much as we could. In the "before" pics, it's the wall where I had the canvas of the Pantheon on the wall.

This is where we had several slow days. There was plumbing work going on that can't even be seen in photos. Then the city inspector was gone on vacation...

After Day 20

My new bathroom!!! Sheetrock is so beautiful!

After Day 31:

After mud, texture, primer and the first day of crown molding installation!

After Day 45:

Paint is on the walls, crown molding is done (we even added crown over the window in the dining room in the background!), color is on the walls and FLOORING is down!!

Most of the work from Day 45-now has been touch ups or electrical or in other rooms. I'll update on those next time I blog (don't hold your breath). For now, here's a sneak peak at my new bath: