This Week...
...they excavated our lot. Yeehaw! Things are starting to roll! Jason and I took our morning run and made it down to the lot just as they were moving the dirt around. Then we rode down later with the kids so they could check it out.
...we went on more bike rides. We rode down to our new neighborhood so we could get an idea of what paint colors we like for exterior house colors. Sherwin Williams let us take one of their swatch booklets so we could match the colors better.
...we made some family goals for Family Home Evening. We also read the story Shining Example from the Friend Magazine and worked on our family calendar for the month.
...Whitney Chapman and I at the mother daughter activity days event. Showing our style! We had brunch and then did our nails. Emma's turned out so cute!
...the kids played at the Buchanan's. Lainey scraped her toe pretty good while riding her bike because she was wearing good shoes. But other than that, they had the best time ever! (Cousin Gracie with Carson, Sophie and neighbor girl)
...we took the kids out to buy some new shoes for school. They were all in need of some upgrades. They grow so dang fast! We also ventured to the mall with all of them. Phew! Now I remember why we don't do that very often!
...I took Emma clothes shopping. This poor girl has had practically nothing to wear all summer. It was time for her to get some new things to wear. We hit Maurices, Vanity, JC Penny's, and Down East, buying one or two things at each place.
...Costco got the jump, or crawl, on Halloween. Sorry, but spiders aren't my thing, overstuffed or otherwise.
...I needed some words of encouragement. Oh this speaks to my soul! It's the hard times that forge the beautiful ones that lie ahead.
...I almost put the keys in the microwave. That is my life, let me tell you! I'm always telling my kids to put on their coats when I mean shoes and putting the milk in the cupboard. Maybe you don't have those days, but I do! And sometimes it's four or five times a day!
...we found some faces. One was a happy face as we made selections at Craftsman's for the new house. A couple we found in the Lego box and one was on the back of the vacuum. The last one, the piggy face, we found when Emma and I stopped for ice cream at DQ.
...we laid a new floor at my mom's. We got a great deal on some rubber tiles from one of our friends. He had some extra boxes from when he did his floor and he sold them to us for a great price. The tile at my mom's is not a favorite, but we didn't want to do all the work it would require to take it out. So we just laid these rubber tiles over the top. It completely changes the look and feel of the floor/room.
...we had a plunger skateboard relay at Cub Scout Pack Meeting. It was a big hit. Don't worry! I did purchase new plungers for the game.
...Aunt Reecy got a new Honda Pilot! She brought it over for us to check it out!
...I canned pears! And I did it in one day...and night. My pears were looking perfect on Saturday. I knew that if I waited until Monday they'd be too soft. So I got everything ready and went to work. The kids had fun watching, helping, and eating. :) Notice the one of me working and Lainey eating in the background. Yep! They had fun with the eating part.
We were still working when the sun went down so there might be a few more missed peels this time around. I found a face in one of the pears that I was slicing. And, look at those hands after all my work! They always turn brown.
This Week...
...Jason's family was all together for the first time in about ten years. Todd and his new wife Erica were up for a visit. We were so excited to get to meet her and their baby Eva. We had a hard time getting everyone in the pictures, but eventually it worked out. Back Row: Travis Eugene (5), Lara Deanne (9), Kelvin Reid (3), Heidi Louise (6), Brett Adam (2), Shawnee Marie (4), Wade Howard (1) Front Row: Jason Miles (7), Janice Louise, Howard Lief, Todd Charles (8).
br: Peyton, Ethan, Benjamin, Claire, Grace, Emma, Addie, Warren fr: Lainey, Paul, Grandma, Eva, Grandpa, Quinn
Me with baby Eva. Such a cutie!
Emma and Addie having fun with Eva
...our friends left us a Good Morning surprise! Ryan and Amie and their kids, Tate, Miah, and Mallory, snuck over to our house at night an teepeed the front of our house. They even wrapped our van. What! That is the greatest trick ever! How are we going to top that?
...we sprayed my Mom's kitchen cupboards white. The prep work always takes the longest. I love the new zip wall that Jason uses to close off the area when we spray. It's minimal work to contain the area. Surprisingly, the smell wasn't too bad in the rest of the house. We kept the door open to vent house. We ate dinner in the family room and everyone stayed in there to play games. Taking down the plastic, tape, and paper is always the fun part because it reveals the finished product. They look amazing!
...we watched our friend's kids overnight. Penny, Henry, and Miles Hamilton came to play, and stay. Haha! We had a great time! We went to the park to play to get some fresh air and get out of the house.
...we had out first bike ride of the summer. All it took was a trip to Walmart for new tubes to fix the bikes that were out of commission. We had a huge hurdle to cross in regards to Lainey and her attitude about riding a two-wheeler bike. Once we got past that, it was all fun and games! That is until she got scraped by the pedal. At first, she was so excited and proud of herself. The other kids were giving her high fives and being so helpful. Getting hurt almost did her in until she saw that I had an owie too.
...They staked our lot. Dirt will be moving on Monday! We settled on a corner lot that's about 15,000+ sq ft. We were reluctant to go with this one in the beginning because it was $3,000 more than the other lots, and we had to pay roughly $4,500 to put the sidewalk in all the way around. But when it came down to it, getting a flat lot is worth that little extra cost. The rest of the lots had hills for back yards or grade issues that would have cost us twice the cost of the sidewalk, or even more. We're now trying to figure out selections for cupboards and counters and carpet. We've had a great time with Kelly at Craftsman's. There's also a lot of debris on our lot. It's been vacant for so long that other builders dump their extra cement, dirt, grass, and rock on the lot. It'll be a lot of cleanup before we even get started.
They're working on connecting Madison Ave down to our new neighborhood. We like to cut through the dirt to go see our new lot. Sometimes we stash the scooters and bikes on our side and walk. Sometimes we carry the scooters through with us so we can ride them down the hill on the other side. We almost always have to stop at the vacant AHO house to race down the driveway several times. We're cool like that.
...Emma got some major road rash. They were racing down our driveway on their scooters. She went down low to coast out into the street and wobbled to her road rash defeat.
...we had the adult meeting of Stake Conference. Jason and I were both able to attend together this time around. What great messages were shared. We sat in the very front and had the privilege of making eye contact with the speakers. That was a treat! They sure looked at us a lot.
