Staying Busy!

Haven't posted much lately...we've been busy. We are on "deadline" with the house! Deadline enforced by the baby coming, but more pressing than that the "floor guys" are coming this Thursday! Yep, Mayes flooring out of Beaumont are coming on Thursday to refinish the wood floors in the west side of the house. That means all of the trim above the floor has to be finished. So.....Dan and Steven have been working on b-board for the master bath, hanging the last of the crown molding, building columns and cutting and routing trim boards for the windows. Below is a progression of the b-board installation.

I handled the second half of the b-board project. Spackling all of the nail holes and the priming and painting. The picture below shows the first coat of primer. I finished the painting last night!

And then there is the trim...There are a few "critical" architectural elements in our house that we wanted to save. The top trim pieces from the windows and doors are one of those elements. They are made from true cut lumber and we wanted to hold that look for the house. Who knew saving the trim would turn into so much work! The pictures below show the process we went through stripping each of the boards. A nightmare I tell you...a true nightmare. Each board had probably seven or eight layers of old paint that was extremely "strip resistant." I thought the project would never end until our savior arrived! The heat gun! LIFE SAVER. Steven was able to finish in three hours what would normally take me a full day’s work.

The top most board shows a piece of trim after hours of work. The bottom board shows how each board looked before beginning the process.

Below are just a few of the freshly painted window trim boards. We had 25 boards in all. After the boards were stripped, they were sanded and then cleaned with a water/bleach solution. Then re-sanded, spackled, and primed. Finally a final coat of trim paint color was applied. Tonight they are being hung!

Below is a shot of the window trim boards that Steven and Dan created and that I helped to prime and paint. These are being hung too!

And finally a photo of Steven using the mighty heat gun to strip paint from one of nine window stools. Yes, you guessed it. These were stripped, sanded, cleaned with water/bleach, spackled, primed and painted. And boy are they smooth and pretty now.

Stay tuned. I hope to have before and after pictures of the floors posted next week. Then it's on to hanging doors and door trim and the bath fixtures. We have three sinks and a tub that we are having refinished for the bathrooms on the west side. Progress, progress, progress!

Beautiful Belly

Virginia is covered in snow. There are piles of it everywhere. So, belly picture locations were limited. Tasha's beautiful green eyes and flowing dark hair made up for the lack of locations. Here are a few photos we took during my visit. Wow, Tasha has always been extraordinarily pretty but pregnant she is even more so...

M4 Mommies

Last week I spent five days with my best friend Tasha. And yep, you guessed it, we are both pregnant! Tasha is due on March 4 (my birthday) and I'm due May 4. We've shared many milestones in life (having been friends since the age of four, that has a way of happening). We'd always teased about being pregnant together, and then I jumped the gun and gave birth to Marin in July 2007. Seems I have a history of jumping the gun...graduating college, getting married...there is a pattern developing here. So, upon discovering that we were pregnant together and that Tasha was two months ahead of me, I was elated!

Above is a picture that was taken during my short trip to Virginia to just "be" with my prego friend. Lots of talking, napping, eating, shopping. All of the things pregnant women do when they are together...and it was perfect.

Thank you, Tasha, for a wonderful vacation. Can't wait until the day our little ones meet face to face. I love you.

Mommy Gifts

I've been waiting to upload these until after I'd given them to Tasha as a gift. I made two of these bags as Christmas gifts last year and they were a big hit. Hoping this will make a nice, small, on the go, diaper bag. The Margaret Bag is a free pattern I found on one of my favorite blogs Oh, Fransson! The blogger Elizabeth Hartman has such creative and beautiful patterns and oh so much quilting which intrigues me. I modified the pattern for Tasha's diaper bag to include a magnetic snap instead of the hoop and button that the pattern design calls for. I'm anxious to see which "closure" users prefer. The fabric is Pop Daisy-red from Heather Bailey's Pop Garden collection.

This diaper case pattern I found on Jan Andrea at Home. It's a free pattern with lots of step by step instructions. The only modification I made was to add a magnetic snap instead of velcro.

And lastly, my own creation a crayola caddy meets baby grooming kit. Used a light weight clear vinyl for the front so that it's easy to see and clean. Rolls up neat and tidy and matches the diaper bag. Too cute eh? This pattern from Martha Stewart is similar.

Hoping to make a set of these for my bundle of joy...

Kayaking the Colorado River {Bastrop, Texas}

There are very few activities I find stress relieving. Kayaking is one of those...and I love it. Steven would probably laugh as this comment, because the first five minutes in the water I'm a wreck. "Don't come near me, I'll tip. Hey! Don't leave me behind I don't know where we are going. Why are you going so fast? We have all day!" After a good 10 minutes I slowly relax...the angry, anxious lady in the orange boat becomes calm and jovial.

I let the sounds sink in. I stop worrying that I'll tip and feel comfortable with my strokes. That's when it happens. I chill. Sunshine, the sound of water, a breeze. I forget about everything that has to be done at work and around the house. I don't worry about Marin and all the decisions that come with parenting. I just float or paddle. Slow or fast.
Last Saturday, Steven and I spent three hours on the Colorado River, near Bastrop, Texas. Yep, that's right a 26 week prego spent three hours in a kayak! Other than needing an extra large life vest and requesting a bit more help getting in and out of the kayak, I felt normal.

Thank you Steven, for a nice weekend away; and thank you mom and dad for keeping Marin. I needed that float.

Marin's First Theatre Experience

Saturday, January 16, Marin and I attended a performance of “Goodnight Moon” and “The Runaway Bunny” at the Temple Theater at Angelina College in Lufkin Texas. The performance was hosted by the Angelina Arts Alliance. Members of the Mermaid Theatre put on a wonderful show. The puppetry and sets were beautifully done and Marin and I both had a blast. Besides holding her VERY OWN ticket to the show Marin’s favorite part was the “Red Balloon.” Looking forward to more of what Temple Theater has to offer in the future.

Joshua and Sarah {Engaged!}

Have you noticed a trend in the Coburn family? Super excited to celebrate with my family the upcoming arrival of three new members to our growing family. Sarah, Jesse and Marin's baby sister. What an exciting year is ahead of us.

Took engagement pictures of Joshua and Sarah on Sunday. A beautiful couple with a beautiful love. We had fun...can you tell?