Hot wheels are NOT heat resistant!

I have not taken the time to blog for a while because we have been in a bit of an uproar with our "little" remodeling project. Tonight, however, I decided to make brownies for dessert and reached over and switched the oven on to pre-heat. A few minutes later, I noticed that the oven was smelling funny and so I opened the door to find ...

Apparently Joshua has found a really cool place to hide Ben's cars. Speaking of Ben, he has not been having a great couple of weeks. First, Mommy tried to do the potty training thing. I put him on the potty and then just forgot about him! Honestly, neither Robert nor Joshua would have sat that long just playing with little cars. When next I looked around for Ben, this is what I found ...

Needless to say, I decided not to push the potty training until AFTER construction is over. Tonight I left my poor brother-in-law and his friend, Cesar, working on the new hallway while I drove down the hill (about 1 mile) to the church to pick up Robert from MIA. The babies were all in bed, so I just asked the guys to listen for any blood curdling screams and I would be right back. Apparently somebody decided to take me literally because when I got back Ben was on the couch with Cesar applying a cold compress to the nicest goosegg I have seen in a while. Josh told them Ben had hit his head on a wall, but since there was no loud thud (and it would have been a resounding thud if he hit the wall) and I found a flashlight under Josh's covers, I have a feeling that I could make a reasonably sound guess as to "who did it, in what room, with what weapon." Here is a before and after of Ben tonight - as you can see the adults were far more upset about the bump than Ben was.

In other news, the construction is going very well. We have a new heater - which is half the size and only turns on half the time and we have been twice as warm (even the bedrooms)! The new hallway and bedroom are framed and the electrical outlets have been run. On the outside, David did an outstanding job cutting off the asymmetrical part of the porch and setting the window. I have to say I felt real pain when I first saw the stucco falling off (we just painted!), but now I am excited to see it finished because I think it will look as if it was built that way originally! We have the paper/chicken wire on the wall now and the stucco will be put on after the guys are done pounding on that wall (sometime next week hopefully). Tomorrow the heater vents will be finished and the hotwater heater installed so that we can have our first inspection. Also tonight I have a "master suite" and a new hallway! We (meaning David and Cesar of course) cut a door into the master bedroom from the bathroom and walled up the old door. I didn't realize how nice it was to have my own bathroom. At lunch time today, Byron was inspecting the new doorway (they hadn't hung the new door yet). Josh came in with tears in his eyes and said, "Dad! Uncle David broke my house!" Now he thinks its pretty cool that he gets to go into Mommy's room to get to the potty.

Finally, here are my little cheeseballs tonight ... those smiles make every headache (and melted toy) worthwhile. I love being a Mommy!