The day after the tile was done, two guys came to put in our new baseboards. This was something we probably could have done ourselves, but it sure was nice having it all done in one day!

While the baseboard guys were here ,we also had them add some wood trim around our windows to make the windows pop a little. Andy's parents did it in their house, and we really like how it turned out. We had the guys trim all six of our downstairs windows. What we overlooked is the fact that in the study our bookshelves go right up against the window. We didn't notice it until we tried moving everything back into the study and the shelves wouldn't fit. Sadly, Andy had to tear down the boards, and it ripped out a lot of the drywall. It was such a bummer to make more work for ourselves due to an oversight, but at least the other five windows turned out great!

 

Here's the finished look! The downstairs feels like a whole new house!

We've found that now that we've gotten in the groove of remodeling, it's actually hard to stop coming up with new little upgrades here and there. For example, we had to take out the pedestal sink in the bathroom for the tile to be installed. When we were ready to put the sink back in, Andy decided he wasn't really a fan of it and wanted to get a new one. We headed to Lowe's and ended up getting a great deal on a vanity sink. We had a plumber come later in the week to change out the sink and put in a new faucet. Now I'm on the lookout for a fun, funky mirror to replace the old one. See, we can't stop!

Really though, we now have everything done that was on our original list except buying a new fridge. We know which fridge we want, we are just waiting for it to go on sale. In the meantime, it's so nice to see all these projects checked off our list! We'll see how long I can hold off on all the "Phase Three" ideas swirling around in my head! ;-)

After finishing Phase One of our downstairs remodel, we knew Phase Two would be right around the corner. For Phase Two, we were going to do new floors, new baseboards and get a new stainless steel fridge. 

We were still trying to decide what floor to do (we were going back and forth between vinyl wood flooring or tile that looks like wood) when a lady from the tile store called me a few days before Black Friday to tell me about their big Black Friday sale. That really motivated us to make our final decision. Our neighbor down the street just had wood tile installed about a month earlier so we went down to see what hers looked like. We loved it and instantly decided to go with exactly what she picked out. We even got the number for her tile guy. We ordered our tile on Black Friday, picked up the tile on December 30 (it took four trips in our Pilot!), and scheduled the tile guy for just after the New Year. 

 

 On New Years Eve we had our "Krause Christmas" with my parents.

They had watched Octavian for us while we were in Philadelphia, so we also got to take him home with us. Actually we made a trade: we took Octavian with us and left the three kids at my parents' house for the night. Everyone seemed happy with the trade except Octavian!

And this is what Sunday afternoon after church looked like without the kids. Carne asada french fries and an episode of Sherlock!

Poor Hannah Banana got a headache that started on our plane ride home and lasted nonstop for about four days. Sunday night/early Monday morning she came into our room in the middle of the night with a 104.7 degree fever. I took her to the doctor Monday morning. While she tested negative for Influenza, he diagnosed her with some mystery virus that just had to run its course.

The other kids were happy to get in extra TV time with their sick sister. I think they would call it commiserating. ;-) 

Monday morning, in addition to her fever and headache, Hannah started to develop a stomachache. The doctor said not to worry because a fever can give you pain in different areas of your body. All day Monday and Tuesday her stomach was hurting nonstop, she was refusing to eat, and she was in tears. 

Around dinner time on Tuesday I called the doctor's office and talked to the nurse on call. Based on her fever and severe stomachache and the fact that Hannah said it was mostly hurting on her right side, the nurse told me to take her down to the ER at the Children's Hospital.

After a urine sample, blood work, x-rays, ultrasound, and a CAT scan (see picture above), they finally figured out what the problem was. She was...how do you say...backed up! There was a separate virus causing her fever which made her stomachache seem more serious than it was. I was a little embarrassed that we did all of those fancy tests just to find out that she was constipated, but it was also such a relief and an easy fix. He prescribed us Miralax, and we were released at 1:00 am. The next day, the Miralax started working and her stomachache went away quickly. Her fever and headache were also finally gone, so she was finally feeling back to her normal self, and she was practically giddy about it!

In fact, she was feeling so much better that she said she felt well enough to go to a birthday party at a trampoline park Thursday morning. The mom of the birthday boy got a Groupon for 20 kids and had extra spots, so they also invited Joey. I wanted to stay for at least a little while to see how Hannah felt with all the jumping, so I was going to pay for Ellie to jump as well. Then it turned out that a couple of the kids didn't show up for the birthday party so Ellie got to jump for free! I brought my laptop, worked on blog posts the whole time (you can see me in the back of the picture) and chatted with my friend. Best birthday party ever!

The next day was our last day of break and Joey was invited to his friend Matias' house for the morning. Matias' mom was super sweet and also treated them to a game of mini golf!

That afternoon our old neighbors, the Postons, came for a visit. It was so fun having all the old neighbors together, but man, they are all getting so big! 

Ellie was having an unusual bout of nightmares for a few nights in a row, so she slept in Joey's bed. This is how Andy found them when he went in to check on them.

Last, but not least, my brother Benjamin and his wife Christina flew into town. It was so great having them come! Apparently I had so much fun hanging out with them that I didn't get any pictures! I hate when that happens. Here's one I stole from them from their trip to the zoo.

When Benjamin and Christina were in town, my other brother Timmy and his girlfriend Jill drove down from LA to visit. This is the only picture I got from that visit. Oh well, it was a super fun weekend!

The day after Christmas the Logans all came over to hang out. It was so great seeing the whole gang with Dave, Brooke, their kids, and even the elusive MikeLogan!

Christmas morning=four excited kids.  

One of the interesting and fun parts about our trip was that we had two home bases: Grandma and Papa J's house and Timmy and Sarah's house. Sometimes we would all be together, but often we would be split up. A few nights Andy and I spent the night with Timmy and Sarah, while our kids were at Grandma and Papa J's house. On Christmas Eve day we were split up like that so I decided to walk back to the Andy's parents's house to be with the kids and help them get ready for the Christmas Eve service. It was fun walking a mile through the city on my own. I stopped in Rittenhouse Square to snap a quick picture of my journey.

For Christmas we flew to Philadelphia to celebrate with Andy's parents and his brother's family.  

We had a nice early flight out of San Diego.

All of our traveling that day went really smoothly, and we were all very happy to arrive in Philly. We took an Uber straight to Andy's parents' house.