October

October was a busy month. On top of all of our daily sporting commitments, Trey and Kyra started Cotillion, we celebrated Tyson's 9th birthday and had fun with Halloween!

COTILLION
While Kyra is enjoying participating in cotillion with a couple of her new friends here in Laguna Hills, I think it just makes Trey miss his Hong Kong friends even more since that was a regular routine for him with so many of his friends last year.

TYSON'S BIRTHDAY
Tyson decided to have his birthday dinner at Dave & Buster's.  First birthday in a while that we weren't celebrating at Outback Steakhouse in Hong Kong.  That was our staple birthday restaurant so the majority of us could enjoy a nice steak!! 

HALLOWEEN
The kids were so excited to have a "normal" Halloween of walking the streets to get their candy door-to-door like back in Eden Prairie.  In Hong Kong, we walked up and down the flights of stairs in our apartment building and that was it.  You could feel the excitement in the air as we discussed who would stay home to hand out candy, who would go out trick-or-treating, do we dare all go out at the same time and leave a bowl of candy out? How long would it last?  Would one greedy kid dump the whole bowl in his bag?  Well, we took that chance and decided to go out as a family for our first Halloween back in the States after a few years. 

Let's just say...apparently our house is in a bit older community with not as many young kids...I'm pretty sure not one piece of candy was gone from our bowl on the front step even after being gone for 1-1/2 hours.  At one point, we were on a long residential street and we were the ONLY trick-or-treaters on the street the entire time we were on it.  And I think it would be generous to say that 4 out of 10 homes were giving out treats.  Hmmm....not exactly what the kids were hoping for...unless the neighborhood was really going with the theme of "ghost town"???  Oh well...at least they had fun carving their pumpkins!

Keely's Birthday (August 23)

Unfortunately for Keely, in August we really didn't know anybody and school hadn't started yet so she hadn't met any new friends so we tried to go all out in our celebration of her birthday with just the six of us. She remains our "princess" so that was the theme she decided upon.  She even decided to dress up for the "party" in one of her many princess dresses that we picked up while we were in Hong Kong.

Happy 5th Birthday, Keely!

School Project

In Trey's Algebra class this year, he had what was called a "Super Size Me" project where he had to use mathematics to enlarge an object a specific number of times.  They had to be able to recreate it with similar materials (needed to feel similar to the original object) and make it look as close to the original object as possible.  Parents were allowed to "help" but not to do the project.  Trey chose to do a Dots box.  He figured out the specific measurements in centimeters for the enlarged object spent hours and hours in the details of the box.  Have to share it...

Bathroom Renovation

Despite the fact that we have numerous boxes left to still unpack and several rooms that are not completely "moved in" to, I haven taken on a renovation project in our new home.  It started with the small fact that I wanted to change out the brass faucets and light fixtures in the main floor bathroom.  Well...let's just say the project got bigger.  Here are my "before" pictures...wishing I had taken more of them to compare to.  I am definitely in the "middle" of this project but have taken some pictures of the progress.

As I started the removal of the faucets and the light fixtures, I soon decided that the three-wall-mirrors also needed to go...which then led to the fact that the cabinet looked so dated.  I removed the doors and drawer fronts to the cabinet, sanded them down only to find out that they were made out of particle board.  Thankfully, the face frame of the cabinet was at least made out of pine.  I wanted to have the cabinet have a stained look so I purchased unfinished doors to replace the particle board doors.  I was very happy with the quality of what I ordered.  For custom doors and drawer fronts, the cost was $140...compared to replacing the whole cabinet at a MUCH greater cost.

I had another lovely surprise when I removed the mirrors from the walls.  There must have previously been a built in medicine cabinet for which the previous homeowners decided not to repair the hole of properly...Lovely!

In my removal of the shower/tub glass doors, I accidentally chipped a couple of tiles.  My first thought was that I'll put up a new shower curtain and nobody will notice the chips.  But, as Craig pointed out, I didn't love the tile that was there anyway so why not remove it and replace it with something we like better?  Sure, why not?  Well, I learned why not...see next photos for why not.  I soon learned that the previous homeowners put tile on top of backerboard, on top of another layer of backerboard, on top of sheetrock...so...the thickness of cement that I have had to pound through is backbreaking.  I was originally pounding with a regular hammer, but clearly that was too slow.  I tried the back end of an axe, which was working quite well until the blade flew off the handle.  I decided another trip to Home Depot was in order and got myself a SERIOUS hammer.  I am nearly done with demolition and hope to have my new layer of backerboard up within the next few days.

So, here is where I'm at today...I have to clear out all of my debris from the bathtub/shower demolition, but the other end of the bathroom is coming out nicely so far.  I wouldn't say my repair job of the hole left behind from the built in medicine cabinet is spectacular, but it's done.  Otherwise, things are progressing nicely.

"The OC" ... the beginning of a new chapter...

Well, I have been extremely lax on updating our blog and I guess the focus has changed since we have relocated once again. I wouldn't say that we are necessarily settled in California, but we are getting there. It is a process...boy oh boy, is that an understatement. I have to admit, I am missing having a basement - no place to stash all the boxes I don't want to unpack...ever! So, that has left me feeling unsettled as of yet. I will continue to update this blog for those of you who still want to know what the Sandness family is up to. Perhaps it does not have the "uniqueness" of our living in Hong Kong anymore, but I'm guessing we'll still have some adventures here in Southern California as well!

Since I am so behind, I'll be making up some time over the next few entries.

Our summer was ever so brief, but we were used to having a short summer for the past several years with school starting in early August in Hong Kong. This summer, we were relocating from Hong Kong to Laguna Hills, California, with a stop in Minnesota to see family and friends. We opted to get to California with a little bit of summer left in the hopes of getting a little acclimated before school started. It was the best decision we could have made. Although we would have loved to have spent more time with our family and friends in Minnesota, we knew the transition to another new community may be a tough one on the kids. Thankfully, they seem to be adjusting extremely well. A lot of prayers answered on that one.

The New Puppy
Ever since we made the choice to give up the chocolate lab puppy that we had gotten just before we found out we were moving to Hong Kong, the kids had been dreaming of when the family would have a dog of our own again. Thinking we were going to be in Hong Kong for a while longer, I made a commitment that we would get a new dog when we returned to the states. Little did I know that we would be moving back sooner than planned. So, then I had to do a little convincing that we should wait for just a little bit to get settled in our new house, new community, etc. before taking on the commitment of a new dog. I had the kids all on board, but I think Craig got so excited to follow through on this commitment that he started searching and found "the perfect dog" for our family and it was available RIGHT NOW! So, as a surprise to the kids, Craig had made arrangements to get the new addition to the Sandness family and had her in the car when he picked us up at the airport. Her name is Diesel...and I reluctantly admit that she has been a GREAT dog so far. She's still a puppy that likes to chew, but Keely can even walk her on a leash without her pulling her. She just can't get enough love from us. Hopefully, nothing will change my opinion of her. :)

More soon...