Nasty to Nice

I couldn't find a picture, though I'm sure there is one, of the nasty old bathroom in our laundry room. I'll just describe it to you: cinder block shower, concrete walls, painted cement floor, nasty sink. We had been talking about fixing it up just to make it not gross.

Then I went out of town one weekend and came home to something like this.

Marc made the executive decision to completely demo the bathroom and start fresh. It was the right thing to do in the long run...though I'll admit there might have been some yelling about the amount of time being spent working downstairs. New baby+bathroom reno=yelling (at my house anyway).

Marc did almost all of the work by himself. It's probably his biggest undertaking so far! He grew very attached to working on the bathroom (he's into stuff like this) and sometimes after he had been downstairs all evening "working on the bathroom" I would go see what he had accomplished and he hadn't made any progress..he would say things like, I tried to find my Dremel, or I thought about where to put the toilet. These things take hours. We laugh about that now, so it's ok to talk about it.

Anyway, from the photos above, to the photos below. It turned out so well! We consider it the guest bath even though it's downstairs.

Requisite detail shot-shower tile.

Tiled shower! New window!


We (Marc) did a good job of remembering this is our basement bathroom so the furnishings don't have to be the best. We did it pretty cheap, but it looks great! I haven't really decorated yet, just got the linens in place.

And there you have it. If you come visit, this is what you have to look forward to! Yay for Marc! Thanks for being so handy, honey:).

Happy Times!

It's a great time in the Shook fam right now with so much happy news!
Mom and Dad finished their pool!
Mom is turning 50!
Jonas and Erin are engaged!
Margaret and Nora are due in 3 months!
Ava is really cute and sweet!
Marc is turning 30!

At the beginning of August we all convened at the pool for the weekend to celebrate Mom's upcoming birthday and enjoy all of the good news we've been enjoying lately.

The bride to be showing off that bling.

We spent the whole weekend the beautiful new pool! Where else would you want to be during August in the midwest?

Looking out of the pool you can see wildlife down the hill toward the lake. Dad has been enjoying watching these two little fawns grow up and eat pears right off the tree. He has named them Heckle and Jeckle.

Lovely pool right on the edge of the woods.

View from the pool down to the lake. The weather has to cool down before grass can be planted at the top of the retaining wall and around the end.

Mom didn't want a big surprise for her birthday, but we wanted to do something fun! We ended up having her favorite Mexican restaurant cater and we set up a fiesta (in one hour while Dad had her out of the house).

She was surprised and excited, and glad there weren't 100 people there waiting to surprise her. Dad got in on the birthday gifts too since they were in Europe for his bday. Here he is receiving a gift.

Proud new pool owners, orally fixated baby, Marc not smiling.

Baby swimsuit model.

Up, Up and Away!

When Marc's Grandma turned 80 in February, her wish was to ride in a hot air balloon. At the end of July the family made her wish come true by giving her a belated birthday hot air balloon ride. Conveniently, hot air balloons take off from cousin Becky and Ryan's back yard in Eagle. They were very nice to host several family members in their new house, while the rest stayed with Marc's other cousins in their new house!

The whole fam watched the lift off-at 6:30AM.

A happy birthday sign was made to be seen from the air.

Grandma and Grandpa loaded up and they were off! They had a great time and a pretty view of the surrounding mountains from the air.

Following the lift off there was breakfast and mimosas, a day of family fun at Becky and Ryan's lovely mountain home. There were plenty of babies to go around. Ava had fun standing up like a big girl playing at a water table.

I also caught this precious little face-looking up at daddy.

There was lots of time for grandparents to get a fill of grandkids.

And lots of time to hold new babies! Yes, I did cut my hair. It typically looks better and a little longer than it does below. I really like it and it's SO easy. I guess that's why they call it a mom cut, although I like to think of it as edgy.

Eagle was so beautiful that we talked about moving there all the way home. I could see it happening. It was a really picturesque weekend and full of family fun. A big thanks to Becky and Ryan (parents for the second time to new baby Cody, so probably not spending time reading blogs), and cousins Jeff and Lourra for hosting!

Baby (Food) Making

**formatting on blogger drives me CRAZY. Sorry for all the spaces.
I'm not a crazy, organic, yoga, green tea, Whole Foods, Denver mom or anything (there are plenty of those already)...but I do make Ava's baby food.

Note: I'm into crazy, organic, yoga, green tea, Whole Foods in moderation.

I had already decided before Ava was born that I would make her baby food. When she turned 6 months I got started. Because she was a little older when she started solids, she took to them right away! She's been a good eater since day 1. You're not surprised, you've seen her thighs :).

This is the face of a satisfied customer after enjoying yummy carrots. If you're interested, continue reading as I detail my baby food making process. It's quite simple and fairly quick. Ava eats pretty much whatever now. I try to give her a variety of fruits and vegs through the week. Normally I go to Costco and get a bunch of fresh and frozen produce, whatever looks good that day.

A lot of times I will add rice or oatmeal cereal, and/or full fat plain yogurt, and/or formula or breast milk (until that ended, BOO) to the fruit mixes I make.

Here are some of the "recipes" Ava likes right now:

apricots+banana+rice cereal

peaches+banana+oatmeal+yogurt

blueberries+apples
blueberries+yogurt+old fashioned oatmeal

I also make apple sauce. Her very favorite food is by far the avocado which requires basically no prep at all.

Step one of baby food making is steaming. The only thing I've made her that I haven't steamed is blueberries, avocado, banana, peaches. I use a steamer basket it a big pot.
When food is soft, blend.
Then I put it in ice cube trays and freeze it. When it's frozen I put it in a big zip lock freezer bag.

I send it to daycare frozen in little individual tupperware.

Good news (Katie G.)! These Anthro bowls are just the right size for heating and serving baby food! You know, just fostering good taste in houseware at a young age.