Like Father, like Son

I thought this was so cute. T was out mowing today and AT just thought that Daddy needed his help.
I would venture to say that 90% of the house has been reclaimed and we can now have guests over without me having to utter the words "Please excuse the mess." ;-) Can't wait to sit down and enjoy the fact it's done.

Enjoy your day!

And it continues . . .

Still in the reclaiming process. I have attacked the kitchen, the laundry room, AT's room, and the upstairs bathroom (the last two with AJ's help). (These weren't as much deep cleaning as yesterday's.) OH and my desk! ;-) Still have my room and the basement to go. The kids are responsible for their own rooms (ha ha ha roflol), unless I'm cleaning them out for a yard sale or something. It feels to good to get things cleaned up, but I get so frustrated because they are clean for like 2 seconds before someone destroys it.

Didn't get any quilting done last night and with our schedule for the next couple of days, I doubt I will until next week. It's kind of a bummer because I wanted to do some more while the free motion instructions were still in my head. Oh well. I did start a new book last night. Maybe I can finish it tonight when I sit down finally.

AJ is getting excited. Her braces come off Wed. This has been a long year and a half. I might even be more excited than her. There have been lots of trips to TC to get the wires replaced and stuff like that. Very exhausting to say the least.

AD is getting excited because when she sees Gma this weekend she is supposed to be getting her ears pierced. I'm not sure she's as ready as AJ was because she has a hard time with being responsible. AJ could handle it, but AD is not so eager to do her share when asked so keeping her ears healthy might be a bit of a challenge. Well, see how the next few days go.

Here's to great summer evenings and now I'm going to go enjoy mine!

Enjoy your day!

Reclamation in Progress (slow progress, but still considered progress)

Well, leave it to me. A sick kid turns into a house cleaning party. We've had a busy last few days and I'm not sure if AJ just was out in the sun too long or caught the 24 hr bug that was going around. Either way, I woke up in the middle of the night and didn't get much good sleep last night. What is it about that? Once that happens, you can't get back to a sound sleep because it's like one ear is listening for any more commotion. Some nights I'd like to be the dad (at least in my house, I don't know about yours). He just sleeps through it all. Well, that's not entirely true of last night. He did wake up the first time and then decided that I had it all under control so I didn't need any more assistance. I still remember one time when AJ was like 2, she woke up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder. Apparently she was having a night terror (I think that's what it was called). She was awake and screaming for Mommy, but wasn't awake because she didn't believe I was Mommy. Talk about scare the living anything out of you. Well, T slept through the whole thing! I couldn't believe it. Good thing nothing serious was happening. He's gotten a little better through the years, but it's frustrating to those of us who like our sleep, but have to get in line between three kids for it.

Well, that was not where I had intended to go with this post. Sorry about the rambling. Maybe the next will explain why I'm a little punchy.

As I started out saying, house cleaning (ugh!!!!!) Anyone who knows me knows that house cleaning is my absolute least favorite thing to do in the world. Those are the days when I wish I was the kid again and I could just go outside and play. Again, rambling, sorry. Anyway, due to AJ being sick, we did not make church (I sent T he he he), or the bbq or graduation party (again sent T) we were supposed to go to today. So what should have been a very busy day, turned into a nice quiet day (with no house water do to a blown fuse in the pump house and no irrigation water due to a broken irrigation pump) of CLEANING!!! Ugh. My reclamation project so far: the living room is back to normal and the dining room is pretty much too. And believe it or not, along with some laundry, that's as far as I could get. It took me all day for that! (There was some serious sorting and organizing going on, too, not just dusting and vacuuming.) Needless to say this is the first chance all day I've sat down. That's why I'm a little rambly tonight. (Is rambly even a word?)

T did get the irrigation going again (yeah for the garden, sod, and flowers!) and Gpa got the house water going (the whole block was out). The kids are all watching a movie before bed, I'm going to go jump in the shower (yeah, I know ewww, but why get cleaned up to clean?) and then put my feet up. I should go down and quilt.

Speaking of quilts, Thurs night, my friend MK, taught a class on free motion quilting. Was it a blast! I learned so much. She does beautiful work and has quilted some of our quilts we've raffled off for Beta. It was fun to learn because I've been doing hand quilting, but I wouldn't mind something a little faster sometimes. Thanks MK! It's amazing how the older I get, the more I wish I would have paid attention to those things that my Gmas and Aunt A (and you too, Mom) wanted to teach me. (My mom is reading this part and the words "I told you so" are popping into her head as she reads. Love ya, Ma!)

Okay, that's enough rambling for one evening, right? Maybe I'll skip the quilting tonight. My stitches probably won't be straight because my brain is wandering so much, I won't be able to stitch a straight line. ;-) Maybe I will go put my feet up and enjoy a Mike's Float just for the heck of it.

Enjoy your day!!

Wow!

I know, I know two posts per day for the last two days, what's up? Don't go into shock. I've just had a little more time (ha ha ha).

We had such a good time swimming today. Can't say thank you, thank you, thank you enough to our good friend, MK, for inviting us to swim with everyone today. My kids will sleep good tonight! (In fact, AT fell asleep about 5:30 or so!)

Goofy girls in the pool

Chilling out in the wading pool

What a great and tiring day!

Enjoy your day!

Wednesday

Today is supposed to be the hottest day we've had so far (although I thought we'd had a 90+ day back in April or May, but my memory isn't what it used to be). Yesterday was nice in the mid-80's and today is supposed to be mid 90's. Then back to mid-80's tomorrow. Weird, huh?

We made it through our third day of swim lessons and then we are headed over to a friend's this afternoon to swim. The kids are going to be all swam out by the end of the week! AJ had her first swim meet last night and didn't get home until midnight! She said she did really good for her first time. I know she was pretty tired and I certainly was from waiting up for her.

Now that the trees are planted and the sod is cut, my next job is to plan out flowers to plant. I would like to have perennials (so I don't have to replant every year) and I would love to have ones staggered so they bloom all summer long. I have a few ideas, but if any of my local friends have any suggestions I would certainly be open to them!

Well, I better go get the clothes off the line that are already dry (and it's not even 11:30 yet!) and get some more out there. With being so busy the last few weeks, I have yet to reclaim my house as my own. (Eck!)

Enjoy your day!

Yard Makeover

I had written that between school getting out and VBS, life was just keeping us busy. We have also added swim team, swim lessons, and these projects:

This is the new sod out front between the road in front of our house and the main highway. It's been a weed patch for the last 4 yrs and we finally have gotten motivated. We also planted some fast-growing trees out there so that we have a windbreak and some privacy. It will be nice to not have to see the road all the time.

However, if you are wondering where all that sod came from, here's a look at what we've been doing in the backyard.

We bought these trees a couple of years ago at a local nursery sale and just planted them in our old garden until we knew what we were doing with them. We finally figured it out. The above picture is along our west fence line. Can't wait for them to get big so we can have a little more shade.

This picture (is not the greatest) but is of the back fence to the north and more trees. My poor husband's (and mine a little) back has to be killing him from lugging the sod and digging holes.

However, our ultimate goal was to have a garden (and not the puny remnants you see of the old one below). We have a much larger garden and the kids had planted seeds in a starter box two weeks ago, so we had green growing things to get in the ground. (So poetic, aren't I?)

My husband's goal for the last two years is to have a more substantial garden and he is thrilled to say the least. It will be so good to have fresh veggies again!

(What's left of the old garden)

Well between all the other stuff that's been going on, these are some major yard projects we are crossing off our lists. I might be adding some more to mine. I was going to put rock down between all the trees (thanks for the tip on where to find it, MK) but in the spirit of my great-grandma and my father, I think my green thumb is kicking in. I'm thinking flowers (perennials of course) between all the trees would add some great color to the backyard. It might mean a year or two of weeding until they all take over, but might be worth it. Besides, if it doesn't work, I can always rip out the flowers and put rock in. It's much harder to go the other way.

Well, that was quite the rambling paragraph. Guess that must mean I'm getting tired. Here's to hoping I'm back on track for keeping everyone posted. (ha ha ha, how many times have I said that before!)

Enjoy your day!

Some Updates

Well, hopefully I'm getting myself back on track. Here's more visual updates. The first ones are the most recent (but these are still from the beginning of June and we are almost to the end of June!).

Hanging out the park with Gma!

A boy and his (possessed) dog?

(Apparently the red eye was working, but the glowing eyes wasn't?)

Xmas was a HSM event and it continued on to someone's birthday as well.

Got to have her books!

Hard to believe it's been 10 years already!

Where has time gone?

Enjoy your day!

it's almost time . . .

to relax. School got out (and that was crazy between playdays and in-services) and then I jumped right into VBS. There is also some yard work projects we've been working on that is keeping us busy. I'm hoping to be able to get back on track (updating this blog) soon! Hang in there folks; more to come!

Enjoy your day!

To Get You All Caught Up

Now that I got my camera cleared off, I can visually update you on the last few weeks. We'll start with the most recent.

AD's birthday was last Friday and while that day wasn't much of a birthday, she had her party on Sunday. That was when she really enjoyed herself.

Hard to believe she's 6 already! And of course, it had to be a Hannah Montana cake!

Still loves her Barbies though!

More HM

A microphone and an MP3 player. (Now to get some of those quiet headphones so she doesn't lose her hearing before she's 7!)

Loves flip-flops!


Last weekend, we spent Saturday at the State Baseball Tournament. We delivered the puppy and then headed to the game. A lot of people were thrilled (especially after some devastating losses the last two years) when the team (my BIL and nephew's) took home the State Champion trophy.


One excited team!

AT didn't make it through the game. We hid him under an umbrella because it was soooo hot!


When we went to baseball the weekend before AT decided he LOVES the water. (And his mother's heart hits the floor with fear!)

Some pix from Mother's Day weekend:

AT's present (baseball of course)

Gma, Gpa, and Foxy (the red one in the middle) came up for Mother's Day weekend. What a great looking bunch, huh?

Well, I guess I'm caught up. (Give me a few days, I'll be behind again!)

Enjoy your day!