It is finished!

well, after almost 3 long months of working, our dining room is now finished. i have to say that i think it is the coolest room we've done so far and more over-the-top than the others, but that i have also been the most patient with it. i'm really glad to have it done, especially so i can have a break before we break into the basement! (it looks like nate's sis courtney is going to come live with us for a while, in which case we need to convert part of the basement into a bedroom and put a bathroom down there--things we were planning on doing anyways). here are some pics of how it turned out.

thanks to steve knese for doing the electrical and linda for letting me bounce off ideas!

yes, the table cloths and draperies were made by me. it's amazing what can be accomplished with a good sewing machine (thanks, mom!)

thanks to emily thomas for helping me put this bear of a sideboard together. oh, it was still worth it though!

in other news--things are just going along here. man, it is hot! i'm ready for fall to come. jeremy is still loving school and katya is still having a hard time with it. luckily, it seems i only need to do 10 min of school time with her to make up for it. maybe i'm not a very cool teacher, though. how in the world am i going to handle seth and liam when katya starts preschool? we just got finished with a bout of stomach bugs (throwing up and the like--only 3 of us got it), but now we are all back to normal. here's a fun pic of seth "playing" a horn that nate had decorated years ago in his floral design class. thank goodness it doesn't really work!