Celebrating 6 years!

August 19th marks the day of our wedding 6 years ago, and I am so thankful to have spent the past 6 years married to such an amazing man!  Ryan is a great teacher, a loving and fun dad, my closest friend, and so talented in so many ways.  I am so lucky to have been given him to spend my life with!  We didn't really get to do much to celebrate our anniversary.  I worked Sunday all day (I NEVER have to work Sundays, so it was a bummer that I ended up working this one) and then we had church in the evening.  Ryan started feeling kind of sick too, so he didn't exactly enjoy being left to take care of the girls all day by himself.  We did end up ordering a pizza and watching the first half of Jane Eyre after we put the girls to bed.  It's an exciting life we lead, folks.  I am looking forward to our date night on Thursday! 

Knoxville

We had an awesome trip to Knoxville this summer to see my parents and sister.  We were only sad Amelia and her husband Josh couldn't make it too.  We really enjoyed hanging out with my family.  We mostly did a lot of lounging around the house and outside in their amazing new garden/patio.  My mom and dad cooked us amazing meals every night.  We saw lots of movies at the theatre.  We went to the farmers' market, played games, and visited the splash pads around town.  The girls' favorite activity by far was swimming in the little plastic pool with a built-in slide that my parents got them.  I got to see a few close friends, but I wish we had been there a little longer so I could have seen more people.  I can't wait to go back again!  My 10 year high school reunion was this year, and I wish we could have coordinated our trip so we were there for that, but, sadly, Ryan had to be back at school at the beginning of August.  I really love Knoxville, and would even like to live there again someday.  We'll see.  Here are some pics of the trip. 

Sally: Sweet, Sassy, Silly, and Spirited (an 18 month post)

Just so happens that the four words I thought of that most adequately describe Sally right now all begin with "S"!  This post is a little late (She is currently 19 months).  She has such a big personality these days.  I think the best way to describe her is by telling you a few things I have found her doing lately:

-She is a TALKER.  She can communicate almost anything, and is putting together sentences.  She says, "I need help" if she needs help,  "I play in the water" if she wants to swim,  "See Dada" if she is missing her dad, "Go outside!" "I want _____" "Watch a show," "Eat crackers," "Put it on," "Take it off," "Jump on the bed," "Go peepee in the potty," "Gimme that," "Go away mommy," And a million other things.  I think she picks it all up from Sophie, whose talking is finally taking off.

typical Sally face

-She loves to dance.  Anytime she hears music (especially if it is rap music), she starts bouncing up and down and waving from side to side.  Her current favorite song is the gummy bear song.  If you have kids, wait until they aren't around to listen, or they will be hooked!

Walking to the park with my mom.

-She is very caring and empathetic.  Today, Sophie got hurt, and Sally came over and started patting her, saying, "I'm sorry, Sophie."  Then she would look up at me in distress and say, "Sophie crying!" Finally, she leaned in to give Sophie a hug.  She does this all the time.  Melts my heart.

She is giving Sophie a hug, and Sophie is resisting.

-She is brave!  She has no fear of new things or people.  When we took the girls to the pool at the Y, Sally was the first one to go down the toddler slide, and even though her head went underwater, she was right back at it as soon as she got up.  Sophie on the other hand, took 45 minutes of convincing before she would even go up the stairs.

She just had to climb on the big kids' equipment with all the older kids.

She loves to slide or "tobogan" in Spanish.

-She loves to read.  She comes up to me about a million times a day with a book in hand and says, "It's a sit with me" (a phrase she learned from Sophie), when she wants to be read to.  I almost always do sit and read with her because I can't resist her sweet little earnest request!

 -She is so happy and always smiling.   The moment she wakes up in the morning or from a nap, she is in a good mood and ready to start playing!  She loves to smile for the camera or at new people.

-She is a big girl!  She is 33 1/2 inches tall (87th percentile) and 29 1/2 pounds (94th percentile).  A good reason for this is that she is a great eater!  She will eat almost anything you put in front of her.  She LOVES peas and broccoli.  Funny girl :)

Sally sharing a snack with her Aunt Betsy

-Her favorite activity is probably swimming.  Almost daily she asks to play in the water, and it is hard to get her out.  She goes up to the glass door and looks outside, then up at me, and asks with big earnest eyes and a half-frown "I play in the water?"

"Mommy, I play in the water!"

She can't get enough!

-She is a little bit of a trouble maker!  She doesn't mind completely ignoring what I say, and will even do things I tell her not to with a smile, just to get a reaction.  

This is her right before she tried to kiss the camera.

She is such a fun little girl.  I am so glad we have two kids, because they show us how different kids can be even when they grow up in the same household.  I just love her to death!

Kitchen Makeover!

A few months ago, I posted here about our renovations to our basement, and I am happy to report that we recently finished most of our kitchen updates as well!  Fixing up an old house is a LOT of work, and it goes much slower with two toddlers running around.  We moved into our house about a year ago, and we have finally finished almost everything except for our bathroom, hallway, and some trim painting in Sophie's room.  It is so rewarding to see how awesome things look when you complete a project, but as Ryan put it, if we had more money to put into things, we would MUCH rather just pay someone to do it all. 

The most recent improvements we made to our kitchen were to replace the counter top and sink and tile the backsplash.  Tiling was actually fun and pretty fast.  Replacing the counter top took a solid week of Ryan working all day long (not including evenings since I was working or we would just take a break).  Turns out that popping out the old counter top and putting the new one in isn't as simple as it sounds.  We had some termite damage behind our old backsplash cover, so Ryan had to replace the dry wall there.  Also, it turns out that a lot of walls don't make perfect 90 degree angles at junctions, so we had to sand down the corner of the counter top to fit the wall.  Getting the sink in took some time too, and we had some issues with leaking and improper pipe drainage when we put the new one in.  I was SO ready to have my kitchen back since we had gone a week with nowhere to cook or wash dishes (no dishwasher or sink available to use).  We tried to use paper plates and such, but we couldn't avoid dishes altogether, so I had to wash them in our bathroom sink and lay them out to dry on towels on the floor.  It was so chaotic trying to keep the girls out of the kitchen too.  ANYWAY, with no further ado, here it is, the new Lungwitz kitchen:

the original kitchen minus the carpeted floor

It's horrible.  But there is a sweet baby in the picture!

post-painting; pre-countertop, dishwasher, backsplash, and curtains

old countertop and sink

Finished product!

We plan to build a little cabinet in this small space between stove and cabinets. (For cookie sheets and longer baking items)

up close--the counter is a speckled and textured mostly black color.  It is supposed to look like sandstone, but the picture doesn't convey it well.

yay