New Kitchen

Audrey is turning 2 next week! We ordered a toy kitchen from Amazon that I have been eyeing since Christmas. It arrived in only 2 days with Bill's free Amazon prime shipping, so it is a few days early. After opening the box, and getting all the 30+ pieces out, the last piece was broken. Luckily it is just the back board of one of the cabinets, so I was able to assemble the rest and the new part should arrive in a week. Feeling empowered by the play set deck building experience, I decided to assemble the kitchen by myself. Here is the before and after. Took nearly an hour and a half, but it is done! I covered it up and kept the kids away until Daddy came home from work. It was a hit! Although Audrey was really trying to figure out how to get real water out of the faucet.

Under Contract

After a few weeks searching through 50+ condos/townhomes for my parents in the 5 mile radius from our house, we finally found one and we are under contract! The place is a 2 bedroom / 2 bath room / 1 car attached garage / 1,317 sq ft / 2004 condo just over 1 mile from us, 4 minutes by car or 25-minutes walk from our house. It backs to open space, has a pool and gym in the community (great for our kids!), and it is in great condition. We should close in 3 weeks! More pictures to follow later.

Weekend Project

The floor boards on our playset, which we got used two years ago, was badly in need of some work. We had a couple of splinter incidents from the cracking wood boards. The sun and weather in Colorado gives any playset a beating, and this one since it was used to start with, had a lot more wear. We consider sanding and staining the boards, but at the end decided to switch the floor boards, bench and table. Instead of wood, we decided to use a Trex material that would not ever need to be maintained again. We ended up also switching the 2x4 supporting boards underneath, and the structure is stronger than ever. Bill and I spent most of our Sunday on this project, from 4 trips to Lowes (buying boards, getting new incorrect bolts, exchanging for the right bolts, and getting one last board cut to the right size). Our neighbor lent us his power drill, so both Bill and I could work together each with our own power tool, instead of me watching him and giving him my unwanted opinions of how to proceed. I love power tools!! Here are some pictures. We are so happy with the results. This playset will last forever!

Gavyn's Birthday Party

We went to Eric and Lisa's son Gavyn's birthday party this past Saturday. Although he may look 4 and wears 4-5T clothes, Gavyn was only turning 3!

The party was at a ranch, complete with pony rides, feeding farm animals and a hay ride. It was unique and lots of fun.

Their Rides

Here is a video of Mason and Audrey enjoying their rides in the basement. Mason was testing his new bike. Audrey was going around her battery powered vehicle (Xmas gift from aunt Heather and Jamie). She was able, for the first time, to make the vehicle go on her own with steering help.

Lego Star Wars on Wii

Lego Star Wars on the Wii is Mason's new favorite pass time. He can play for hours (not that we let him play for that long) and he is great at it. He actually knows how to use both Wii controllers and what each button on the two controls do.

Two night ago, I was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner and turned the Wii on for him.
I told him "Daddy is not here and I don't know how to help you, so if you whine, I will turn it off"
"Ok Mommy"
I returned after 20 minutes, he was still playing, so I told him "We need to go upstairs soon, to get ready for bed"
"OK, but I want to finish this level".
I didn't think he could finish a level
"You have 5 more minutes, whether you finish or not".
Two minutes later, I hear the Star Wars theme song and he had completed the level!! What?!?! Seriously?

The Force is strong in this one!

Sibling love

Mason and Audrey really seem to care for one another (at least for now). It is cool to see and a new experience for me (only child).

Bike day

There is an upcoming bike day at the kids school. Both Audrey's class (she is already in Toddler 2 although she turns 2 next month), and Mason's class will have a bike event. We felt that Mason is outgrowing his little tricycle, which is perfect for Audrey (she doesn't know how to pedal yet, but the trike can be pushed). I went to Target and picked up Mason a little bike today, and assembled it! It took me longer than the advertised 20 minutes to assemble (it would probably have taken Bill 10 minutes), but still pretty proud of myself.

No job, but still busy

Somehow, even without a job, I find a way to fill all the hours in a day. I've made a list of projects and things to do while unemployed, that includes:

• Working out and walking Sasha every day - I've made it to gym 3 times only during the week, and have only taken Sasha for two walks. :-( Our scale needed a new battery (not your usual common battery), so it was down for a week. As I suspected, I gained 5 lbs while without a working scale!


• Cleaning the basement and separate what we will donate, throw away, try to get rid off in a garage sale, or recycle (lots of electronic trash) - I would like to finish our basement some day, a place for the kids to play, an additional office (Bill will be working from home starting in May and if I find a job that is remote office, I will need a space), an additional guest bedroom/bathroom and theater area. The basement project is on hold until I secure a new job, but organization of the junk we have been throwing down there was needed now. Happy to report that with my parent's help we have done a lot of cleaning already and I have a date marked down for the free electronic recycling in April in Denver.


• Finding a condo/townhouse for my parents, helping them with their move - My parents' lease comes to an end in early March, and we have decided it makes a lot of sense for them to buy a maintenance free condo or townhouse near us. There is so much in the market right now, a perfect time to buy. The trouble is there is too much, and we are going nuts looking for the perfect place in terms of distance to us, age, layout, price, etc. The search continues! For now, they have moved back with us.


• Do our own taxes - we have used an accountant for the past many years, but I decided to tackle our taxes this year with a little help from the H&R Block online software.


• Straighten out my legal name in Brazil - I am a dual Brazilian and US citizen. Given that their economy is doing great, I would like to extend my citizenship to Mason and Audrey. But, I had some legal issues since my Brazilian passport name legally doesn't have "Cecilia" and my US name does, and that needs to be fixed first, since the kids birth certificates have my full name. To get my name changed, I will need to get a lawyer in Brazil and it may take time. I am still trying to figure out all the documents that are needed, the Brazilian legal system is very bureaucratic. Luckily, I have a few friends who are lawyers and judges in Brazil and can point me in the right direction. This is one of the main reasons I haven't changed my last name to Burns, I don't want to have yet another legal name in the mix.


• Oh yeah, find a new job is in the list somewhere. I've had 4 or 5 phone interviews, all from leads passed on from my connections. I feel fortunate to be pretty well connected. I will share more on the job leads once they are further along.

It almost feels busier than when I had a full time job!