The dust has settled...

I wish I could say this picture is of all the sand we tromped in from being at the beach. But, of course, that is so not true...especially in sunny Ohio! Kevin patched up all the drywall that was damaged from the wallpaper removal. Then, came the sanding. 2 very long days of sanding. My house was covered in dust and sand. Like Kevin said, the only room in the house that did not get dirty was the garage. So, Sunday evening was spent washing the floor, banister, kitchen counters, etc...if you could have taken a hose to the inside of our house, I would have so done it!

We at least have all the hard work behind us. Keegan and I now have the job of priming all the walls for the next two days. Kevin then will prime the upper walls on the 21' ladder.

The one interesting thing about this project is watching Keegan entertain himself. He frequently will climb up the stairs, crawl into his room and start paging through his books. He also likes to open up his drawers and throw out his clothes onto the floor. He really likes spending time playing in his room...and I am glad, because we spent so much time getting that room ready for him. It is really neat to see Keegan enjoying it...

Daugherty Family 1 : Foyer 0

There were so many ideas for the title of this blog. Like, "Why", "Are You Kidding", "Are We There Yet"! But, in the end, the wallpaper lost and we won! All the wallpaper is finally off of our foyer walls. For those who have seen our foyer, you understand what an undertaking this project was.
Of the four step process, the first, and hopefully the worst, is over! Only three more steps until our foyer is complete.

Kevin was the brave soul and spent most of the entire day on the 21 foot ladder! I spent the day handing him the items he needed and entertaining Keegan. Oh yeah, Keegan not only played but supervised dad when he was up on the ladder. Thank you Keegan!!

Do not worry though...Keegan did not work too hard. He thought climbing the pile of wallpaper was pretty cool!

Winter Project 2010

We, or should I say I, have decided to start yet another home renovation project. We have painted every room in our house, except for our 2 story foyer. Well, I for some reason had the urge to begin the long and tedious process of wallpaper removal this weekend. I searched high and low for the newest wallpaper removal gadgets, and found a really good product. Just this weekend we have removed about 40% of the wallpaper. Our goal is to have it all down in the next couple of weeks. Then comes the drywall repair, then the primer, then painting. Okay, why I am doing this?!?!?

Oh, the places you will go!!!

I recently saw the Ellen show and one of her guests was Paris Hilton. Paris was talking about all the party invites she had for New Years Eve...you know, Las Vegas, Paris, L.A.. I remember thinking..."Wow, I can not imagine that life!" Turns out...we got a lot of invites for the New Year and went to all of them. We went to 4 different cities during our 3 day holiday weekend. We traveled to see old friends, family friends, neighbors, and of course we traveled to see Keegan's girlfriend, Abby. Here is the happy couple:

Five months ago, we spent the Fourth of July with Abby and her family. Man...how things change over a 5 month period!

We could not think of a better way to ring in the 2010 year. We had so many blessings in 2009 and can not wait for even more wonderful times this year!

Christmas

Christmas has come and gone...it was great! Of course, Keegan was mystified about the opening up of presents...but he sure loved the toys inside of the boxes! His favorite toy he recieved was his new race car. He loves being pushed around the house on it. Since one of his favorite things to do lately is stand and play with toys, Santa gave him a toy walker. Here he is playing with all the buttons while it was still in the box.

Since Keegan did not get the hang of opening gifts, Kevin was right there to help him open all his presents. What a guy!

Probably the most fun part of this years Christmas was Keegans discovery of Scotch tape. He was not really sure on why the wrapping paper was sticking to his hand...actually, it made him kind of upset!!! Too funny!

So, yes...we had a great first Christmas with our little man. No need to show you what Kevin and I got for Christmas, because Keegan is the best gift we have ever recieved...

Sweet Family Traditions

Once Keegan was born I really started to think about all the traditions I wanted to begin as a family. So far, sleeping through the night is THE tradition we are currently working on!!! The one tradition Kevin and I had pre-Keegan was making our annual Christmas cookies. This will be our 5th year making the cookies for our friends. We will make 220 of these scrumptious morsels for this holiday season. Now let me back up a bit and tell you how these cookies came about. My Aunt Cheryl, who is known for her baking, would make these every year and bring them to our family's Christmas dinner. I think she calls them Twix cookies...well my friends call them "the bomb" cookies. They go nuts over them. They are just peanut butter, Ritz crackers, and chocolate!!! But, my friends think they are made of gold. I have even heard of spouses hiding the cookies from one another just so the can have more cookies for themselves. Madnesss! Well, tonight we made the cookies and put them in their respectful tins. Over the next few weeks we will deliver the cookies to our friend's homes. It is a great way to reconnect with friends and wish them a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year. The other "sweet" part of this tradition is that after we make the cookies, Kevin and I watch the movie, Love Actually. It is one of our favorite holiday movies. If you have not seen the movie, we suggest you rent the movie, kick back and eat some of our cookies...it will put a smile on your face!!

The Gift of Giving

Kevin is a giver. He as always cared about the welfare of his friends and family. Ask him to help you and he is there right away...no questions asked. I love that about him and I know that he will instill the same quality into our children.
One of Kevin's annual Christmas charities he gives to, is the local bike-a-thon at our local police department. They collect bikes and then distribute them to local children in need. I asked Kevin this year why he likes this charity. He responded by saying that bikes do not need batteries, they get kids to be physically active, and it gives back to the community in which he grew up in. This year he recruited Keegan to help assemble the bike. Keegan did a great job of supervising and the two had fun putting the bike together!