bathroom makeover and weekend visitors.

well, it's been a while since i last posted! things have been busy, but we've been having a great fall so far. this past weekend my cousin amanda and her husband beau were in town visiting us from denver. before they came, joe and i got very ambitious and decided to redo the basement bathroom and get the guest bedroom ready (which was complete with hideous wallpaper).

the previously dark oak cabinets were painted white
and we replaced the old vinyl countertop with a new white marble one

joe installed new flooring (which is actually rubber and snaps together) over the old nasty linoleum.
we got the idea to use this flooring from a blog i follow here.

joe was able to get the walls painted, the new flooring completed, the new vanity top and toilet installed, and the cabinets painted in under a week. we didn't have time to get the trim installed, repair the walls where removing the old trim caused some damage, or get the cabinet doors sanded and painted. but i'd say it's come a LONG way.

between my mom and i, we were able to get all of the wallpaper stripped in the bedroom. unfortunately, we didn't get the bedroom painted before they came. i'm sure they enjoyed the gluey-wall ambiance... but hey, it's better than the half-stripped wallpaper ambiance.

amanda and beau flew in thursday night. we just chatted for a while when they got there and then all went to bed decently early. because my cousin is pregnant too (and due 3 weeks before me), we both savor our sleep! friday morning the boys got up early and went golfing with my dad. ben, amanda and i just lounged around at home.

this boy loves breakfast time

when ben took his morning nap we got ready and then headed to mall of america to meet the guys for lunch when ben woke up. after lunch, beau and joe took ben home for his afternoon nap and amanda and i did some serious power shopping all afternoon. we both had some success finding cute maternity clothes and enjoyed lots of chatting over pinkberry.

once we were all shopped out, we changed into our outfits for the evening and headed to rosa mexicano in minneapolis for dinner. we had some delicious guacamole made table-side and both loved our fish tacos.

from there, we walked a few blocks to the orpheum and saw wicked. we'd both seen it before, but loved it just as much this time! SO GOOD!

baby bumps! 16 and 19 weeks

while we were at wicked, the boys just hung out at our place and entertained (or were entertained by) bennett. they ate at paninos where i hear ben was quite the flirt with all the waitresses. silly boy.

saturday joe had to work most of the day. the rest of us enjoyed just laying around the house. we read lots of books with ben, watched tv, chatted, and of course all enjoyed afternoon naps.

beau and ben reading

that night after joe got home from work, jake and allison were nice enough to come hang with ben while joe and i went out with beau and amanda. we had dinner at amore victoria in uptown, which was really good! the people watching was even better, considering we saw a drag queen eating alone in his spaghetti strap dress. priceless. after dinner we walked through a little gift shop and grabbed sebastian joe's ice cream for dessert.

sunday morning we got up and went to church at 9. after church we ate a big breakfast at key's cafe and then headed home to watch football (again, amanda and i took our opportunity to sleep!). after the packers beat the ravens, we headed to pinetree apple orchard in white bear lake. jake and allison met us there and we had a great afternoon walking through the orchard and pumpkin patch, and of course enjoying lots of delicious apple treats. ben thought all the pumpkins were balls, so he had fun pointing at and hitting all the "baa"s. he also stole a huge piece of joe's apple donut when he wasn't looking. unfortunately for him, the sugar all over his face gave him away :)

that night we had chili at the house (which ben LOVED!) and then watched argo after ben went to bed. amanda and beau flew out monday morning and it was back to the grind for us. we had such a fun weekend with them and really wish they lived closer, especially now that we're going to have kiddos so close in age! i keep reminding myself that amanda and i have always been close despite never living in the same city. i'm hopeful our kids will be as well! i'm not sure if we'll get to see them again before the babes come, but i'm hoping i might be able to sneak out to denver this winter by myself to make it to one of amanda's showers!