Daddy Daughter Dance and more

Last year Matt had seen that The Woodlands hosts a Daddy / Daughter dance. He had wanted to take Calyn last year but we found out about it too late. He had mentioned that when we get the e-mail this year he wanted to sign them up.
This year I caught the e-mail and forwarded it to him and asked if he was interested. About an hour later he called to say they were all signed up.
It is more than just a dance, there were photo booths, booths for pottery, Sweet and Sassy was there to fix hair and nail and of course the dancing and dinner. Neither of them knew what to expect which I think added to the fun.
While they were at the dance Max and I had a special date. I told him he could pick anywhere he wanted to go for dinner at first he chose McDonalds (gag!) luckily without him knowing what I was doing, I was able to sway him to Wings & More. The plan was then to go play black light putt putt but unfortunately the wait was 1 1/2 hours :( So we went for ice cream instead. We then went home and played some games and waited for the party goers to arrive home.
When they walked in the door I said how was it? Calyn's response was great, she said "I can't wait to do that again next year!" Their night was a success.
Here are some pictures of them before they left for the party.

On another note, the kids have started their spring sports. We froze our buns off watching Max's first t-ball game for the spring season on Saturday. He did a great job. His new coach is doing a great job teaching them the fundamentals and that not everyone runs after the ball when it is hit. They were very organized and the kids played great!

Calyn has been saying she wants to take golf lessons. There are some restrictions that came with her wanting to play though. She wanted to be by herself (not in a class) and she wanted her teacher to be a girl. Matt asked a lady he works with if her older daughter, by chance, knew anyone on the golf team. As it turns out one of Lexi's best friends, Carly, is on The Woodlands Golf team. Matt spoke with Carly's mom and set the lessons up. Carly spent close to an hour and a half at the Country Club on Sunday talking to Calyn about some of the fundamentals of golf, the grip, the stance etc... and hit some balls. Calyn really enjoyed her lesson and from the sounds of it Carly enjoyed it too!

Before and After

Here is a good view of some before and afters...

Before

After

 Before

After

 Another after at a different angle

 Before

After  

 Before

 After

Almost Done!!!

We are almost there! We just have a few more touch ups and it will be done!!

More Stair Remodel Pictures

The balusters are starting to go up. They have also added in some more trim pieces, fixed the base boards and touched up the paint on the walls from the old wall hand rail.


We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I told Matt I really hope that they are done by Friday, my day off, so that I can spend some time removing the 1” of dust that is covering everything right now.

This stair case is going to be beautiful!

The balcony baluster design

 A little closer up

 The begining stages of the balusters on the side rail.

One step forward 5 steps back and I literally mean 5 steps.

Sigh… let’s move back a few days when Roland stained our stairs Matt, with his eagle eyes (he notices EVERYTHING) noticed that there were tiny stripes in the stain, like tiger stripes. He asked Roland about it and we found out that when the stairs are manufactured and sent through the machine to be cut and sanded, the blade sometimes gets dull causing chop lines in the wood. The wood is smooth as can be but the chopping lines are there and cause an issue when the wood is stained. Roland told Matt that this was something that he had noticed and should have caught it earlier. According to him they never should have even left the manufacturer that way.

I was oblivious to the whole issue until Matt pointed it out. He even had to show me which steps were affected because I was having a hard time seeing the issue. To Matt though they were like a glaring red light shining in his face. Obviously remodeling stairs is not a cheap thing to do and we want to get what we are paying for. So...
The plan was to have Roland sand down one step, taking the stain off and trying to restain it. If it looked better, then, we were going to do the same to the other steps that were affected. If it was the same or worse, it would need to be replaced. When I got home yesterday there were 5 steps that had been sanded down. To this I say, let’s hope this sanding / restaining works because if it doesn’t that is 5 steps that are going to have to be completely replaced.
I have to say that despite approaching week 2 of this 5-7 day project, Roland has been great. He is a very standup guy that is there to make sure the project is done exactly how you want it. He even has gone the extra mile to make sure we remain happy.
An example of this, yesterday he informed Matt that the balusters that we ordered were actually $800 more than what he quoted them at. He admitted that he made a mistake on our quote page and is not charging us extra for the error. I like his honesty! He is also discounting the stairs for the issues we have had with the wood. We really like Roland. He is doing great, is easy to talk to and in the end these stairs are going to be beautiful!
Despite the recent set back, there has also been something new, our rails have now been stained and will soon be ready for installation. They look great! I will be so excited when there is something to hold onto coming down the stairs!
Sorry the pictures below aren’t that great. They were taken with my phone since I left my memory stick at work yesterday. You can still get the idea…

Our 5 naked stairs. You can also see the oval rosettes that will help hold the wall rail in place sitting on the steps.

 Railing

 and more railing

Day 6 Stair Remodel and Max Singing Take 2

Ok, I know it seems that I have skipped a few days of stair remodel but really there was nothing much new to see. A lot of sanding, staining, painting, trim etc. went on in day 4 and 5 and really there was not much progress to be seen. Our contractor does not work on weekends unless he has another job waiting for him when he finishes so there was zero progress over the weekend.
We are really starting to see the stairs take shape.
Our rail was backordered and was supposed to be in yesterday. I didn't talk to Roland (our contractor) or Matt so I don't know if it has arrived or not.

Yesterday they finished the trim piece that runs up along the side of the stairs, laid down the wood for the landing (same wood as our downstairs floor) and installed the newel posts. You will be able to see in the pictures that there is some more staining to be done on the newels. Matt also has a request in for them to fix some of the staining on the steps as well.

The bottom newel and a quick peak at the landing and the side trim that runs along side of the stairs. 

 A view of the stairs from the landing. We currently have that temporary rail at the top and then at night we put an ottoman to block the stair way to try and prevent anyone from turning the wrong way and falling down.

 A view of the landing and the bottom newel

 A shot from downstairs up to the top newel.

I was told that there was trouble viewing Max's video that I posted the other day so I am going to try it again. Here it is, let me know if this works.



Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Max singing, Kit Kat and Stairs

So much to post about today. First on with some cuteness. Last night Max wanted me to take a video of him singing. Of course it is too cute not to share so here it is.

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/4VRDlpmAsyI/mqdefault.jpg

If anyone has trouble opening this link let me know. I took the video on my phone and uploaded it to youtube. If you can't open it I will see if I can't get it on the blog through one true media.

Next item of cuteness....

Kit Kat is getting so big... well not really. I compared her to a 2 lb bag of brown sugar yesterday and they way about the same. She will be going to the vet today for her second round of shots, nail trim and discussions about microchipping, spaying and some other items. She has been a really good girl and we have had so much fun with her. Calyn and Max are so good with her.
Onto the stairs. Thursday we had some installation. I think today we will see even more progress but we at least go a glimpse as to what it is going to look like.

On to day 5...