Benjamin Lee, T E N

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY, Benny!

We started the morning with chocolate and almond croissants. The yummy and easy ones from Trader Joe's that you just proof overnight and then bake. Benny opened gifts and then he was off to school.

Drumroll for the final gift..... deodorant!

We had a 1:30 dismissal for Parent Teacher Conferences. Benny had his friend, Maverick over to play for the afternoon. Wren & I baked Benny's chocolate cake that he requested. We headed to Lily & Ella's volleyball games at 4:30pm. After the games we grabbed pizza, from Italian Bistro, and headed home for a movie night.

Friday was a full day plus our new countertops were installed. So we finished icing Benny's cake on Saturday morning in between three trips to Lowe's for the correct PVC pipes for plumbing the new sink. Benny requested Chocolate Cake with cream cheese icing. He made a storm trooper face out of mini chocolate chips and red sugar.

Happy 10th Birthday, Benjamin Lee! 

We can not imagine the last 10 years without you. What a gift!

 

Update: Kitchen Renovation in ILM

We started our kitchen renovation in Wilmington back on August 10. We are moving right along and I decided I needed to post an update.

Week ONE: demo

Week TWO: rewiring of the electrical, adding more lighting, new insulation, also leveling the kitchen floor from underneath the house

Week THREE: remove popcorn ceiling, new drywall & mud

Week FOUR: Labor Day weekend in Surf City

We ordered cabinets from cabinets.com, same place we got the cabinets for the beach house. We were expecting them early to mid September but they came in early! The cabinets delivered on Friday, August 30. We decided to keep with our original plan and go enjoy Labor Day weekend in Surf City. This was our last weekend of the summer and we enjoyed the sun and surf. The kids caught so many waves and had a blast with all the neighborhood crew. Jake's been surfing a lot too. I also tried surfing for the first time. Very fun!

We came back to Wilmington and got to work. Unboxing cabinets. Installing upper cabinets. Taking up some of the damaged sub floor, leveling the interior floor and installing the cabinets. We have also painted KILZ on the old ceiling and new drywall. 

Tomorrow the last of the original cabinets comes out which means we will be without a kitchen sink and dishwasher until the countertops are installed. It will be an adventure!

Kitchen Renovation in ILM

 So this happened on Saturday...

We are renovating our kitchen and main living space in Wilmington. 

Back in the late winter we had the small water hose, that attaches to our ice maker, leak. Unfortunately once the floor dried, it buckled right by our island. The only way to fix this was to redo the kitchen flooring. 

As Jake & I discussed the options, we decided that we should go ahead and renovate the entire kitchen. We use this space so much. We eat 90% of our meals at home. Also the galley kitchen is not ideal for a family of 6. When we did the initial update back in 2012, we did our best with what we had and the budget we had. We are now opening up this entire space to make it work well for our family and also work better for hosting friends.

Removing 2 layers of paneling.

Cabinets out, soffitting out, wall in process.

Done for the day

Future Floor Plan

Do we still have a working kitchen? YES! We kept the sink and dishwasher installed in the original base cabinet.  That last cabinet will get demo-ed at the final hour. It would be very challenging to not have a sink or dishwasher for 6 weeks! 

This past week I did a lot of sorting, organizing, purging, donating & rearranging. I packed up half of our dishes along with other kitchen gear that we would not need in the coming weeks. We changed the direction of our dining table. Jake cutoff our previous island's overhang and we put that in corner of the dining room. This works as a prep space. The island has our silverware, pots, pans and storage containers in it. We also moved the fridge in to our dining room.

I kept out minimal dishes and they are in the blue buffet.  We are using the teal rolling cart for homework, art, and computers. After the clean up, we moved the stove back in to the kitchen area. It is against the long wall and plugged in, so we do have a working oven/stove. 

Stay tuned for more kitchen renovation progress!

First Day of School 2024-2025

 

Lily 9th (high school)

Ella 7th (middle school)

Benny 4th (lower school)

Wren 3rd (lower school)

We have kids in all 3 school levels but at ONE campus - thankful!

Notice the minimal height difference in the two older & the two younger.

Summer in Surf City

We have enjoyed many summer days in Surf City. So many family memories we are making. We have been there every weekend except for 2 (while in MN; and the weekend after the girls got back from camp). We especially loved our 11 consecutive days there over the 4th of July week, it was so wonderful. Here are a few summer highlights in photos.

Sunsets

Cast Fishing

Night Fishing with the neighbor kids.

Ella holding a Mullet

A Saturday visit with one of Jake's cousin & his wife.

One of the neighbors got a puppy. The girls have been walking Ridley in the evenings.

The Annual Cupcake Contest

Not pictured: A-L-L the surfing and A-L-L the boogie boarding, many walks on the beach, hundreds of sharks teeth we found, lots of family meals, plus the conversations and time spent with neighbors & friends. What a gift. We are thankful.

Fuge Camp

Sending them off on Monday!

This year both Lily & Ella had the opportunity to go to FUGE camp in Ridgecrest, NC. They had a great week making new friends, playing fun games but most importantly God was working in each of their hearts.

So thankful for the Bridge Students leaders who invest so much in our girls.

The Volleyball Team at Camp

And while Lily & Ella were away, we still had lots of fun at home. We had a couple of play dates with their friends. Swam a lot since it was crazy hot this week!

We used up a gift card and hit Flip N Fly!

Appetizer Party on Monday. Jake had a big day on Monday with launching a HUGE app update/integration. So we celebrated all his hard work!

Wednesday, the three of us took a day trip to Raleigh. We hit Pullen Park and the Museum of Natural Science. It was very fun!

Two Roosters Ice Cream before we drive home.

Baking Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

M I N N E S O T A 2024 trip

We flew to Minnesota on Thursday, June 20 for a week with family. We soaked up the time with our family and made many memories.

Older girls spent some time with Morgen on Sunday afternoon

Jake tackled a To Do list for Mom Tuttle

I always enjoy visiting the Burn Boot Camp in Maple Grove. Even better this year was that I worked out with my high school friend, Jillian. Now we are Burn Sisters!

Lake Minnetonka Boat Cruise with Tuttle's, Flaming's and Friends!

Late Evening soccer game for Carsten

Breakfast at The Original Pancake House with Grandpa & Grandma Flaming

Bonfire after Dinner

Soaking up all the cousin time