Happy Halloween Weekend!!

Well, the Giraffe and Harry Potter have had a great weekend so far, with a Church Carnival, Neighborhood Parade, and Pumpin Carving too!! The kids are super excited about trick-or-treating tonight.....lots of pictures to follow on that!

Gutting the pumpkins...Claire wanted a smiley face, and Jesse wanted Harry Potter (of course!!) Cool night pictures of the pumpkins to come soon!

Jesse casting some sort of spell at the Holy Rosary Halloween Carnival......

Lily Grace and her parents came with us to the carnival and loved going around to all the games with Claire and Jesse and cousin Keri! They were even brave enough to stand on the stage for the costume contest!!! They should've won...Lance thinks it was rigged.....

Claire trying her hand at a tossing game. Lots more pics to come soon!!!

Love, Gretchen

Remodel Update........

Well, Lance has worked his tail off the last several days, and we are now done painting the cabinets! We are still awaiting to glaze, which we are going to put on the edges and inlays of the cabinets. Maybe this weekend?????

The cabinets with the 1st coat of paint.

Well, the granite and sinks guys came yesterday and worked like crazy for 3 hours.....but did a great job!!!

My cabinets waiting for their new countertops....

Ah.....much better!!!!

Love my new deep 80/20 sink and faucet!! Now, we have to tackle uplights, underlights, and our subway tile backsplash......hopefully we will have these all accomplished by 2 weeks.....we shall see!!!

Jesse's 1st Flight!

Well, after all these years of Jesse being obsessed with everything airplane, he finally had his 1st flight today! Lance's sister works at a private airport and was able to get Jesse & Lance on a flight today. They were there and back in less the 1 1/2 hours! Short but due to the rain, it was a pretty choppy flight, so I think that was plenty!


Jesse loved checking out the hangar and being so close to the cockpit, where he was able to chat up the pilots and ask lots of questions! Poor pilots.......

With the rain and a super small prop plane like that, I'm glad I wasn't there....I would have to have been medicated....... Thanks to Aunt Tracey for giving Jesse this opportunity!!

The Great Hollingsworth Kitchen Remodel Begins......

Well, I usually post and blog all about the kids.....what they're up to, what's been going in in their lives, and so forth. Well, this time I have decided to blog about out kitchen remodel, which is now in full swing. I usually keep my house out of it, but I thought I'd like a record of this remodel to look back on one day and say...."I can't believe we tackled this on our own!" So, Lance & I have embarked on this remodel, and I plan on blogging the progress!


My outdated kitchen, before the remodel. We have been on our home for 9 years, and I was just ready for some updating of walls, countertops, appliances, and just ready to freshen it up in general!

Prepping took like 2 solid days.......just taking off hardware, sanding, woodfilling....Lance wouldn't let me take down his coffeemaker until the last possible minute!

Well, looks like I have an excuse to eat out for a few days......Thanks to Mr. Hollingsworth for helping Lance take out the old oven and microwave!



Here comes the primer! Lance & I spent all night applying primer....I think we're still a little giddy from all the harsh odors.......

Stay tuned for paint pics......currently painting today....we'll see how much gets done with 2 very energetic kids afoot! Will post again very soon!

Love, Gretchen