Week #43: A Finished Floor and theTrunk-or-Treat

This week...

...Lainey got all dressed up for our day at home. This girl loves swim suits. She'll sneak off just about every day to switch into a swim suit. Duh, mom. Here she's sporting Emma's tennis shoes holding her snack. Perfect!

...Ben and Claire made a trip to the dentist...to see Amber! Amber let Claire select her own toothbrush.

I don't think I was worried at all about Claire's sugar intake at breakfast. Powdered sugar on pancakes is the best!

...We finished up the flooring in the dining room corner. It's so nice to be nearing the completion of the floor. You take for granted the sure surface that you walk on ever day until it isn't there. Everything was so dirty and dusty without a finished floor.

Jason also stained and prepped the top of the bench for the office. Awesome!

...Lainey cut open the bag of Hi-Chews that we bought to give to the Elders. (They were on sale at Costco.) What that girl won't do for a Hi-Chew!

We quickly invited Elders Benson and Coleman over so that they could take their Hi-Chews home.

...we finished the floor. Hooray! We love the grey color and the hand scraped effect. We definitely took a risk, but it paid off. It totally changes the look of the house.

Four little backpacks waiting in a row, on their new floor...

...Paul ran for fun in the school Fun Run. We went to cheer him on and run a lap or two. I contributed one lap and Lainey did two to help his class. Wahoo! Paul is getting a rubber band to mark the lap he completed. It was a nifty system. The teacher would just collect the rubberbands from each child and count them up for the total number of laps for the class.

...we visited Zae to take a look at her cemetery and magic nut gathering tool. The kids loved the cemetery. I couldn't get them to stay still. They wanted to be Zombies and dead people and running children more than they wanted to hold still. ;)

Now, the nut gatherer really is a bit of magic. We could pick up walnuts without killing our backs and in half the time as just using our hands. You know we bought one for my mom. She loved it!

...someone snapped a photo of me, probably Lainey. Well, her goes a day in the life of...Looks like a banana bread muffin kind of day. I'm wearing my work out and ceaing clothes. Got the drinking cups set out for the kids and my Samsung jambox playing some tunes. Let me tell you, that little guy is our best friend. We link it up to our phones and play music wherever we are throughout the house. We use it in lessons at church to amplify the sound when we use the laptop or tablet. Love it!

...we went to the trunk-or-treat. They held it during the day because there was a General Fireside that night. I loved it because we could actually see during the Trunk-or-Treat part. 
     This year's costumes were great. We had another Goodwill miracle where I found what I needed and got it for a good deal, considering I have five little costumes to produce. When I went into the store I had a list of what they wanted to be. I found the costumes to fit the list; I did not fit the list to the costumes. Except for Lainey's. I found a super cute witch's dress and hat, so I changed her mind. (Besides, there was no way I was going to find a pink Power Ranger suit at Goodwill. Ha!) I bought Benjamin's Ninja Turtle costume at Walmart because I couldn't find anything close and those are popular this year. Not a good chance of finding one at Goodwill. I found Claire's vampire dress and cape at Good will. That is exactly what she wanted to be. Emma decided to make her Lego block, more power to her. It turned out great! I found Paul's zombie pants and flannel/thermal at Goodwill. That is what h wanted to be. Score one for mom!

They loved the cake walk

This is why Jason doesn't have command of the camera very often.

Dad and Lainey passed out candy.

Brother Hale and Noreen help Emma get some candy in her bag. She couldn't move her arms very far.

Oh yeah! He got the good stuff.

Ben's happy!

Claire's on a mission. More candy!

Week #42: A New Floor and A Fridge With A Happy Face

This week...

...we all know about Benjamin's aversion to pictures by now. I take every one that I can get.

We were in Mattawa on Sunday the 12th for Jordan's mission report. The kids were having fun with Uncle Kirk's corn de-kernaling machine (totally made up word) after lunch.

...you can never have too many pictures of our country's flag. I was on my mission in Washington D.C. when 9-11 happened. At first, we didn't know anything had happened. It was our p-day and my companion, Hermana Albano, and I were washing our car. Elder Jones, the Senior Elder in charge, took our car cleanliness very seriously. The Senior couples were listening to and watching the news and once they told us of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center, I remembering telling Hermana Albano, who was from Chile, "This is big." We of course didn't see any footage to know just how big and tried to carry on with our night. We missed the phone call to stay at home that night and tried to knock a few doors. We could tell people were at home because their tv's were blaring and we could hear a lot of voices. But no one would come to the door. We ended up at a member's home for a little while and then went home. It was an interesting experience being on a mission when such an event as that occurred. It was a major upset in the world, but sheltered as we were from the media and focused as we were on the work of the Lord, we could testify that the things of God are constant in our lives when circumstances and events are not. If we stay true to the plan and the path, Heavenly Father will strengthen us in times of upheaval. Our flag reminds me of serving in our nation's capital, of brave men and women who went before us securing our freedoms, who fight abroad maintaining peace, and who fight at home in our communities to keep us safe.

This is our new flag on Jason's beautiful new flag pole.

...this is Lainey's Winco shopping footwear. Don't think those band aids aren't accessories. They totally are!

...we begin the process of putting down the floor. Tyson and Whitney came to help us get started. We were so grateful for their help.

We got the office done pretty quickly.

By the front door...

Down the hall...

A new fridge with a happy face...I'm happy. No more water leaking down the inside of the freezer causing ice build up everywhere. No more ice dispenser that crushes ice no matter what setting it's on and spits pieces of ice all over the floor. No more ice on the floor melting into puddles. Yes, we're glad for a new freezer.

Our continued progress...I caught Ben in this picture trying to sneak something from the cupboard.

Oh, wonderful chaos progress!

Week #41: Painting & a Cast

This week...

...we painted in the office. We had the desk, the cupboard shelf, and the built-in. We were finishing up right up until the very minute that I needed to go to a stake meeting. I was even a few minutes late, but we got it done. It looks great!

Before

This is our painting face. When you're using lacquer, you have to have the mask.

The beautiful desk with newly refurbished, stained top...

Painting cupboard doors again...

Jason installing his pride and joy of the office built-in...his one-of-a-kind, hand crafted vent cover.

...we had a patrol car emergency. Jason was wrapping the Adams County Sheriff's car with vinyl. Long story short, a much needed screw dropped down to the inside of the door. Jason called our friend Ryan of Mathews Auto Body for help. He told us that we could bring the car down and he would take a look at it. We were so grateful that he was willing to give of his time and resources at the shop to help us out. His employees were super nice and helped us in taking the door/handle apart and putting them back together again. The sick feeling in our stomach subsided and it was pizza delivered for everyone at the shop. They really helped us out of a tough bind. Jason was able to finish the wrap job and get it back to our friends at the Adams County.

...Benjamin got a cast. He was such a brave boy. I'm sure having unlimited, uninterrupted time on the tablet helped keep him occupied.

Orange was the cast color of choice without hesitation.

You can see the fracture line just below the wrist, slanting down from the left side into the bone.

He doesn't like to smile for pictures or for me to take a lot of pictures of him. So I had to include these because they show a lot of his personality. He was trying hard not to show his smile, but it came out anyway because we were having fun.

...this friendly face greeted me as I was helping in Emma's classroom at school.

...Emma rode her bike to a babysitting job. She babysat for the Riners and this was her first really long job. She took her babysitting kit and some brownies to make for the kids. It was so fun to see her excited and being so grown up.