a finished project

"All good things must come to an end"

...so they say...and I'm so thankful this "good thing" has come to an end. Our bathroom is FINALLY finished!! Yeah!

Do you remember this post from last summer? June 22, 2010. Almost a full year ago.

Little did I ever imagine that it would take 11 months to complete. But, as they say, "life happens." And we had many soccer games, school events, holidays, traveling, sickness, and other house emergencies that "happened" to us this year to slow us down.

In the process, we learned many skills that we've already put to use in other areas of the house. We couldn't have done the project without the help of our good friends Mike and Cindy. They taught me how to tile...and then I tiled our laundry room in November.

They taught Derrick how to cut sheetrock and he was able to hang our beadboard by himself. The Internet taught us how to cut molding, as skill we have already used in building our laundry room shelves.

I'm not sure we'll ever tackle another big bathroom project, but we certainly have the confidence to do weekend projects around the house.

Next up is to reorganize our basement workshop (Derrick did get to buy some new tools for the project) and paint interior doors. Hopefully that won't take a full year, but we'll be fine if it does.

Books!

I think we may have a problem. We have books EVERYWHERE!!

We have them in the living room here...


...and here...


The boys have plenty in their room (yes, Amanda often pulls EVERY one off of the shelf. I caught her early this time.)

Amanda has her own stash under her changing table...

And we have plenty piled beside my bed. (Most of these belong somewhere else, but are left after bedtime reading. About once a week, I gather all the books and return them to the correct shelves.)

What is a family to do with all of these books? Why, read them, of course!! And that is my goal for this summer. I want to read every book in our house. I'm not sure how realistic that goal is, but we are going to try. I'll keep you updated on our progress.

Milestones

One of the things I love the most about working is the sense of accomplishment that comes with a job well done. Whether it is planning an event or completing a project, I love the tangible results that you can count on your fingers and record in an annual report.

But, those tangible results don't come as often with parenting. I sometimes look back at the end of the day and wonder how the day passed so quickly with so little accomplished. I know I vacuumed, but you can't tell since the Legos are scattered again. I thought I washed three loads of laundry, but the hamper has clothes in it already. Did I tell Amanda 100 times not to do flips off of the couch? If so, why is she flipping again?

The kids grow and change gradually. People who aren't around every day can see progress, but it sometimes slips past without my noticing it. One day, I'll wonder, "When did Amanda's hair get so long?" or "When did Scott start reading two syllable words?" There's not as much satisfaction in realizing something after the fact.

It can get frustrating and make for long days and weeks. But sometimes there is a breakthrough with one of the kids that makes it all worthwhile. This week, we had two!!

Our first moment of satisfaction was Andrew learning how to pump himself on the swing. We have been working on it for six months. I can't tell you how many times I coached him with "pull"..."push"..."pull"..."push". He just couldn't figure out the rhythm. Then, last Thursday, it finally clicked. As he said, "My brain just figured out what to do and told my body what to do!" He was a little shaky on Thursday, better on Friday and by Saturday he looked like an old pro.

The other big milestone was Amanda finally figured out how to go potty!!! I am most excited. Again, this is something we have been working on for six months, with no results. It was frustrating to everyone. (The boys especially wanted the promised "potty treat.") Then on Wednesday, Amanda suddenly "got it." Again, it was like something clicked in her brain. She loves using her new skill (which also makes me really happy.)

Summer is Here!!

It's official...summer is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Thank you Scott for so many exclamation points.)

We marked the day with our first watermelon. I just love this stuff.

The kids aren't allowed to wear shirts or eat it inside the house. Don't they look excited!


This child loves it as much as I do.


Does this make you want to run out and get one for yourself?


Andrew's was so good, he ate part of the rind.
Yeah for summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shark

Do you remember the shark in this post? It grew!!

I really want my popcorn bowl back, so I've moved the shark outside to dry. It is supposed to shrink again to it's original size. It has been something that was well worth a dollar. Thanks Dollar Tree!!

Preschool Graduation

We are just racing toward summer. In fact, it has already come for Andrew. Yesterday was his last day of school and today was preschool graduation. It is hard to believe how much he has grown and learned this year.

Here he is in August.

...and in May.


This is Andrew's class.


The family picture.


Our graduate.


Andrew with Miss Lisa and Miss Chris...wonderful teachers.


The ceremony lasted about 45 minutes. The kids processed in and sat at the front. Then, each kid received a "diploma." They then performed about 6 or 7 songs. They had been working very hard on the songs. Andrew came home every day this spring singing.










Amanda watched from the floor. She was fascinated with the program.

A cake that was enjoyed by all.

A future seamstress?

Spring is passing quickly and summer is on the horizon. The temperatures are rising and my calendar is clearing. The bible study that I attend is over for the year. Andrew finishes pre-school this week and Scott only has 10 more days of school. I've been itching to sew some dresses for Amanda and decided to spend some of my extra time last week to attempt one for her. It is the first dress I've ever made for her and I thought I may be in over my head. But it really wasn't too bad.

Amanda was very excited. I pulled out several pieces of fabric and she selected what she wanted. Here she is measuring herself while I cut out the pattern.



She played with her counting bears while I sewed the dress.


And, found some scrap fabric to try on her baby while I tried the dress on her.




It was much easier to sew with these eager clients. Merry was excited to get a matching dress. As you can see, Ella Christine received the matching birthday dress that my Mom made, so it was Merry's turn to have a matching dress. Ella Christine was hanging out in hopes that I would measure wrong and make it too small. Merry is a bigger baby, so Ella Christine would get the "hand-me-down." And, she almost got it, but I pulled out a seam to make it fit over Merry's head and all was OK again.


Here is Merry modeling her new dress, with Amanda's draped over the chair. This was taken late on Wednesday night.



Amanda put on her dress first thing Thursday morning. She put it on over her jammies.





Amanda poses in her new dress with Andrew and his friend Bubba. Bubba is a friend from preschool that we are caring for this weekend. We will return him tomorrow, along with a journal entry about what he did this weekend.

Ants!

My brother and his family gave Scott an ant farm for his birthday and it has been one of the best and most interesting gifts we have ever received. We love watching the ants. We watch them every day to see what they are eating and what new tunnels they are building. I have never known how fascinating ants are.


Yes, they sit on our kitchen counter. Yes, I check on them every morning when I get up.


And, yes, I see great irony as I gaze at them and then smash a few sugar ants that scamper across the counter. I can handle them in the cage, but not free on the counter.


And we also have another experiment on the counter...a shark that is supposed to grow 600% in water. We'll see how much he grows, but my counter space is starting to get low.

Fernbank

Scott's birthday present from us this year was a membership to Fernbank Museum of Natural History. He was thrilled. We have already been twice and also been to the Discovery Place Museum in Charlotte. We plan to use it often this year.










































On our second visit, we just took Scott. He basked in the light of being an only child and really enjoyed seeing the museum at his own pace.

He took this picture of Derrick and me. I was impressed with the fact that it was centered and clear.