Underway...

The permits have all been (finally) garnered and things are officially underway for our house addition. Wow, this is definitely more involved inside the house than I had thought...

In order to plumb our new bathroom and laundry room, they need to gain access to our water supply. This means digging up one of our existing bathrooms to gain access to the pipes in our concrete foundation. They have jack-hammered a trench through our bathroom, hallway and closet to reach the nearest outside wall.

Two days before Christmas and this is what my house looks like. Of course everything from our storage closet has been re-located to our bedroom, everything from the bathroom has been re-located to our other bathroom and the laundry has been moved to Lindsay's room. Needless to say, our whole house is pretty much a disaster right now...

We hope to have our second bathroom back next week sometime...

In the meantime, pray for us. (Pray for me actually, this is very hard for my controlling self! This is an exercise in letting go...)

Foundation work (for the new foundation) is scheduled to begin Monday.

For now, here is what we are living with (I will spare you the photos of our bedroom because, well, wow.)

Step 1: Pull back carpet - this is my hallway leading into our (master) bedroom. To the left is our storage closet and to the right is the bathroom.

This is the current view down the hall from our front entry.

The hall. The plastic is covering our bedroom door.

Our (poor) bathroom. The blue pipes are a temporary repair because when they cut through the concrete, they also cut through our hot & cold water lines. In most houses, the water lines are buried much deeper. In our houses, they were buried just under the floor. Praise the Lord, the plumbers were excellent and took quick action to contain the geyser that began spewing all over the bathroom and more. He said he took about 25 gallons of water out of the house...

Inside my storage closet.

Oh, and, I can't take a photo of this but, it stinks, bad! The smell is nasty. We're starting to get used to it now though.

Just for fun, here is what my hallway & bathroom should look like...

Be back soon with more photos of the next step plus some Christmas photos - we've been busy with both girls' Christmas musicals, Breakfast with Santa, gingerbread house creating, cooking & baking, decorating, gift making, etc.

Additions

I guess it's been awhile. We're still here and soaking in the news that our new addition will indeed be a baby boy. We are SO excited!

Speaking of additions, things here have been busy as we prepare to start a 1000 square foot addition to our house. We expect that the foundation will be poured in the next few weeks. Photos to come as things get underway...

I thought I would post these pics even though we got them taken back in June. They were taken shortly before I found out I was pregnant.

Little Politician

Dear Parents,

Your child had decided to participate in the "elections" and run for Student Council Rep for our class. ... Please help your child understand that only one child from the class can be chosen. This can be hard for them if they are not chosen.

This is an excerpt from a letter I received via Laura's backpack last month. I was a bit surprised as Laura tends to be on the shy side (usually) and I didn't picture her as the student council type - her dad and I certainly aren't!

Anyway, I spent most of the time before the election trying to help her prepare for the (what I thought was probably) possibility she might lose. We talked about it several times. In the meantime, she busied herself with making posters, goodie bags, and writing her speech with a little help from mom & dad.

Here is her speech:

"Hi. I am Laura and I want to be in student council. I would be a good student council rep because I am a good friend. I would make good decisions for the class, trying to make everyone happy. I listen to the teacher and do what's right. So vote for me."

Election day came and guess who came bounding off the bus yelling "Guess what mom? I won!!!" She never ceases to surprise me!

Here she is working on her poster:



I forgot to get a photo of the finished poster but it said "VOTE LAURA She never forgets her homework and she is a good friend" Lindsay helped her with that...

Here she is after her first meeting - her assignment was to create this poster for Sports Day:

And finally, just because, here is her 2nd grade school photo...

Fantastic FIVE!

Dear readers, I do apologize for my gross neglect of this enthralling blog. In my state of pregnancy-induced can't-remove-myself-from-the-couch fatigue, I have found it too much work of late to eject the CF card from the camera, insert it into my computer, select photos and post them here. I am feeling much better in recent days and am no longer napping to make it through the day SO...

Lindsay turned FIVE on the 27th of September. We met her Grandparents Perry (halfway between their house and ours) for lunch and some shopping on Saturday. Lindsay decided to spend her birthday money on a Fisher Price digital camera and some play-doh. She selected her favorite place to eat for lunch, Steak-N-Shake. Fun times!

On Sunday, after church, we dined on her choice of birthday meal with a little help from people who actually eat food (Mom & Dad). She wanted chicken nuggets (just about the only meat she'll eat), mac-n-cheese (not the real stuff, only Kraft will do) and green beans (the only green food she'll eat). We edited her menu with baked chicken instead. (She did eat some.) Yes, she is about as picky as they come. If only we were all as picky as her, we'd be skinny too. :)

She opened her presents (a baby doll that really cries and a kitty outfit) and we had cake & ice cream. It was a simple celebration but we enjoyed family times like these really are priceless. I love these times!

Her hair is getting SO long. We are going to donate it to "Locks of Love" in the near future but she needs a 10 inch ponytail. She has a 10 inch ponytail but it wouldn't leave her with much so we're waiting just a bit longer.

My first craft show is this Saturday and my whole card rack is filled except for two spots which I will be filling in the next few days. See, I haven't been sleeping all the time.

I'll be posting again soon about "The Little Politician", family pictures and Laura's school photo.

My $10 Find

Last time I was visiting my mom & sis, we happened upon a garage sale that had a rather haphazard looking card rack for sale. The seller wanted $10 for it but I wasn't sure - it was in need of a good cleaning and a new paint job, etc. She wouldn't take "no" for an answer and you know me, I of course, bought it whether I wanted it or not. (PUSHOVER.) Anyway, I brought it home and cleaned it up and Jeremy helped me by giving it a coat of spray paint. It actually looks pretty good. Not bad for $10.00.

I have decided to do at least one craft show this year. My goal is to get this rack FILLED with cards. It has 72 slots. So far I have made 18 differenet designs (which means I'm 1/4 done). I have until October 17th to finish the rest. My goal is to make at least one card design per day. Most days I've been making more than one design. I'll keep you posted on my progress...

(You can see Lindsay made some cards for my rack also.)

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Summer is officially over. Today was my sweet girl's first day of second grade. I just can't believe how fast she is growing up. I didn't get the best photos this morning because the bus came SIX minutes early. What is up with that??? We had to run up the street to her bus stop and then I didn't even have time to say good-bye. I was so sad , I had to come back home and cry. :(

Anyway, here's what I got...





Picture me running down the sidewalk, camera in hand, trying to take the photo below!



Lindsay and I counted down the hours 'til sissy came back home. She was missed so much! Daddy came home from work early to see her get off the bus - a yearly tradition on the first day of school. As soon as she got to the sidewalk, Lindsay gave her the hugest hug!



Laura said her new school was "awesome". I was relieved because she is attending a new school this year. The last two years she was in a K-1 building. Her new school is grades 2-5 (and not next door anymore).

We have another BIG change coming to our family. Coming in the form of a new baby. We expect to see our newest (and final) addition on or about April 3, 2010. The girls are thrilled. Jeremy is thrilled. I might be thrilled later. When I'm not sick. When I'm not so tired I have to take two naps a day. For now, I'm still kind of shocked and scared to be doing this again!

I think that's enough change for now. Later!

Horsin' Around

I've been a lame blogger lately. Sorry. Summer seems to get so crazy - lack of routines, spur-of-the-moment activities, weekend trips, busy home business!

Since school will be starting next week, I am hoping to return to a more normal schedule/routine. I thought I'd share some more photos of our summer before school. Laura says she is excited to start school. I, on the other hand, am not excited at all! I have LOVED having both of them home all day during the summer. We've had so much fun and I have truly savored hearing the sounds of their laughter and watching their creative escapades. We've rarely turned on the television this summer and it's been fun to watch them come up with so many fun activities to keep themselves occupied. I am absolutely going to miss this.

Laura attended "Horse Camp" during the last week of June/first week of July. She and her fellow campers performed a show for parents on the last day. Laura had the time of her life! She cannot get enough of horses. She is already looking forward to going again next year. Lindsay really wanted to go to horse camp too. (Next year she'll be old enough.) It was hard to drag her out of the barn each day after dropping Laura off. Bribery = parents' best friend.


My cat lover - she LOVES cats! I was worried it had fleas but if it did, we didn't catch any. :)

Be back soon with more photos!

"I Can't Believe It Mama!"

"I have had tons of parties before and this have never happened." -Laura

I'm pretty sure there is nothing Laura loves more in this world than throwing parties. Her dad and I are not sure where she got that gene from as neither of us is really a "party animal".

About once a week, she plans some sort of grand celebration - faux Christmas or other holdiay, stuffed animal or doll birthdays, any sort of occasion she can think of is a reason to party. We even had to have a Memorial Day party this year. She planned all sorts of activities for us to do including finger painting and her famous pinata. Last fall for one of her celebrations, she made a pinata from a small cardboard box, some colored paper and a bunch of tape. It has been used for most of her celebrations since then. I was going to post a photo of it but I can't find any photos. Shoot.

Anyway, today she planned a celebration for one of her doll's birthdays. She had everything set up and activities planned in the yard. L&L kept coming in and telling me to get outside for the party. I was working and made them wait a bit. Oftentimes, as in the case of today, she is also bugging me to make food - menus are important, you know. I declined her requests today. She wanted me to make rice & I didn't feel like it. I'm sure I will regret saying no to this request one day. Anyway...

I finally made my way outside to the party. First I had to sign in.

After getting the signing in formalities attended to and my party hat on, I was pleasantly pleased to see this:

The tables and chairs are ready. The children and babies are dressed in their finest party frocks. Let the festivities begin.

This is what I see next. A (mostly) pleasant game of Chutes and Ladders taking place.

By the way, if you feel you may have seen these fabulous party hats before, you may have. They are leftover from Jeremy's pirate birthday earlier this year.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it could be avoided no longer. The sky was getting dark and the clouds were looking menacing. Then it began to sprinkle, followed immediately by a major downpour which resulted in this:

And this:

In the downpour, Laura had to run out to rescue her hanging pinata from the tree house. Whew, all is well.

The downpour ended as quick as it had begun. The party animals decided to re-assemble their party in the yard. Party on!

Unfortunately, once the party was set back up and I was summoned back outside, it began sprinkling once again. Repeat previous steps.

It was decided that the party should move indoors. Eating commenced. The pinata (hanging from my refrigerator) was broken open.

The party was a rousing success.

Even though now I have a big wet mess all over the place, I love days like this. These two girls light up my life in ways I could never have imagined. How thankful I am that the Lord saw fit to allow me to be their mother.

What is summer

without watermelon???

Guess who...

is riding her bike at the age of 4 years & 9 months with NO training wheels?????

Ahhhhhh, my sweet baby is no baby! :(