Playdates! And new countertops

Last week we got new countertops in our kitchen. We'd been planning on doing this for awhile, but we had some work that needed to be done before we could get them. We used to have a pass through from our kitchen to the dining room, but we decided that before we got new countertops we wanted to take out the top part of that wall and make it a peninsula. This is what is looked like 3 months ago (please excuse the mess, I took this picture so my Grandpa could see what needed to be done).The next thing we did was paint one of the walls of the kitchen to match the dining room. We continued the red across the whole length of the back of the house. Then we ordered our new countertops. We had been planning on getting Staron countertops, which are similar to Corian, but made by Samsung. By the time we finally got around to ordering them granite was actually cheaper than Staron, so we went with granite. I'm glad we did because it looks awesome.

This is the kitchen the day of installation, after the old countertops had been removed.
And here is our beautiful new kitchen!
Last weekend the girls and I had playdates on both Friday and Monday. One Friday we went to my friend, Liza's, house so the girls could play with her son, Franklin. Liza had another son last month, but she sent him to her mom's house so she could concentrate on Franklin and hanging out with me and the girls. There was a lot of playing, but not a lot of playing together.

Franklin has a big boy bed in his room and the girls had a great time climbing on that. Here's Virginia on Franklin's bed.
And Paige sitting on Franklin's bed with one of Franklin's Elmo toys.
Paige and Virginia laying on Franklin's bed playing with two Kermits.
At one point all three of them went over and looked out the window. They were checking out the neighbor's house. Here are Franklin, Paige and Virginia.
After playing at Liza and Franklin's house for awhile, we all went out to lunch. We went to Noodles and Company where we all ate very well. Then it was time for us to go home so that the girls could nap.

On Monday Auntie Beth came over and brought her baby, Kendall. This was the first time Paige and Virginia had met Kendall. At first they weren't too impressed, but they warmed up to her. I mean, she came with Auntie Beth, how bad could she be? I had a lot of fun holding Kendall and playing with her. I love holding and playing with little babies, and then being able to give them back to their mommy.

Here are Kendall, me and Paige.
At one point Beth set Kendall down on Paige and Virginia's couch. Kendall was happy to sit there, and the girls were intrigued. They decided to hang out on the couch and have a little "girl talk." Virginia and Paige were very interested in what Kendall had to say.
Paige and Kendall hanging out on the couch.
Virginia loves her new friend, Kendall!