Today's Progress

This is what our house looks like today. The foundation guys are finished for the day. Tomorrow they will be pouring the slab if the weather cooperates. Do you think I'm wasting God's time praying that the weather cooperates? I've been waiting so long (okay, I know, long is a relative term) for this addition I just want the construction part to go as quickly as possible. I'm grateful that we are able to do this, but I really want that space soon!

In other news..

Awwwwwww! Aren't they cute?!

Today is Block Day

There is one guy here today. He has been here since 6 am. It's only 9:30 and he has this much wall built.

Not much

There's not much to report today. They brought in a dumpster and made the giant pile of rubble a much smaller pile of rubble. There were a couple trucks involved, but nothing monumental. Tomorrow they will lay the cinder block and that will have to set for a day. I'm expecting Friday will be the next exciting day when they lay the slab.

A Boy's Dream

This is what the back of our house looked like Friday morning.
This is what it looked like Friday afternoon.

This morning the big trucks arrived.

That made Ryan so happy!

The big trucks provided this morning's entertainment as they demolished, dug and hauled away cement, rocks and dirt from our former porch.

Here is Ryan watching the cement truck filling the buggy with cement.
Here is my attempt at getting a picture of him running to the back of the house to beat the buggy there and watch it dump the cement in the big trench.

He won. Then he watched intently as the cement was dumped and graded. That is until it was time to run back to the front door and watch the buggy get filled up again.

It has been an exciting day for all. Ryan, Zach and Lily have been having a great time watching all the action. Mommy is just about giddy that the project has finally started and thinking about all the possibilities when it is done. The work seems to be moving along pretty quickly. I'm glad for that because I've been waiting for what seems like forever for it to start. I'll update with pictures as things happen.

****Update: Jay wanted pictures of the site, so I added some in the main part of this entry.

This is what's happening now. They are bringing in the cinder block.

This is what my backyard looks like courtesy of the big trucks that provided so much amusement his morning.

Life Seems So Busy

It's a good busy, but it definitely doesn't leave much time for blogging. I feel like there is so much to catch up on that I can't write anything. What I really should be doing right now is getting ready for my Creative Memories get together tomorrow. I've been putting this off because I'm not sure how to approach the whole thing. I think it's going to be mostly (all?) family. I'm not quite sure on that at this point. Not only is it all family, but all older family that I grew up looking up to, you know aunts, grandma, mom. It's going to be very strange if I try to give a formal presentation, but if I don't I'm afraid it will get way off track. There are a lot of very strong personalities in my family, so I may not have total control of the situation. I may not have any control of the situation. What I've kind of decided is to just ask them to pretend they don't know me for an hour and try to do my presentation like I would for anyone else. Of course there will be extra nerves because I hate to look stupid especially in front of people I will be seeing for the rest of my natural life. There are always nerves though, so I'll just do my best to keep things on track and if it all goes up in smoke at least we will have had a fun time hanging out together.

Happy Father's Day!

I just wanted to wish all the great dads in my life a Happy Father's Day. These good wished are especially for my dad and my husband, without those two wonderful dads I wouldn't be who I am today. So thanks for all you do and have done. I love you.

5 Years

Jay and I have been married five years. It seems like forever and at the same time I wonder how it could have been 5 years already. We celebrated by having a date. A real live date with just the two of us! We saw Pirates of the Caribbean III. Since we didn't see the second one we were both a bit lost for parts. I was entirely unsatisfied with the ending. I know they were just trying to be unpredictable, but I would have liked a different ending. I won't elaborate for those who have not seen it. After the movie we went to the Bayou Cafe. It was nice to sit down and talk uninterrupted, well except by the waiter who seemed to be very interested in how we were doing. The food was good, very spicy just like you'd expect at a Cajun restaurant. We even managed to have conversations that were not about the kids. In a true "it feels like I've known you forever" moment I asked Jay if he ate alligator when we were in Louisiana. Um, yea, I didn't know Jay when I went to Louisiana. He's never been there. Don't I feel sheepish. I was thinking if the time I went to visit my parents and we went to a Cajun restaurant. My dad was talking about eating alligator. It was my brother I was thinking of when I couldn't remember if he tried alligator. Knowing TJ I'm pretty sure he did not eat the alligator. He feels the same way I feel about seafood. And swamp food sounds worse. Jay did not end up trying the alligator last night either, but he did eat seafood. We got home before the kids were in bed as per the plan. Yes, we are old ;-P And no, I don't care. Okay, maybe I care a little bit, but I'm glad I'm right where I am. I wouldn't have it any other way. 5 Years together with great kids and having just had a very nice anniversary dinner. I love you honey, Happy anniversary!

The Pink and Purple Rule

Apparently I need to dress Lily in massive amounts of pink or purple every day to avoid the annoyance of people thinking she is a boy. The other day she was in a white polo with a small pink apple and khaki shorts(girl short, not long like boy shorts). Jay came home and told me she was dressed like a boy. In the parking lot at a store this older lady said, "What a cute little fellow." When Ryan got out of the car she said, "Oh you have two. They are so cute." So I know she was talking about Lily with that fellow comment. She was wearing a white floppy hat with a pink rim and a light pink shirt. I guess this is one of the perils of having a baldy baby. Though I'm sure the benefits (no major brushing, no need for hair cuts until she can understand, etc.) outweigh the downfalls it's still very annoying to hear people call your beautiful toddler girl a boy. It was one thing when the nurse at the hospital said Ryan was too beautiful to be a boy. He was just born. Lily is 14 months and starting to understand language. Hopefully she will develop longer locks soon and I will be able to dress her in a larger variety of colors. Don't get me wrong, I do like the pink and purple. I just would like more options. My mom just gave her a green one piece dress with flowers that should help. I guess for now we are limited to dresses and girlie colors.

Joyous and Helpful Child

Lily is such a joyous girl. She finds great happiness in little things. Right now she is laughing hysterically at the "pop" sound her toy milk container makes when she opens it. She can't even hear music without swaying with a big smile on her face. There are always big smiles when she is proud of herself for accomplishing something new or doing something difficult. She laughs with delight when Daddy or her brothers play chase with her or tickle her. Her laughter is very contagious and once someone laughs with her it makes her laugh even harder. There are frequent "weeee"s when she slides or swings. She has so much fun outside on the playground or anywhere else. She just loves so much of life. I just love to see her joy and celebrate life with her every day.

Today she started really helping me with things. Sometimes she will hand me her shoes or socks when she wants to put them on to go outside or try to feed me her goldfish, but it's always something she wants to do. Today she and Ryan loaded the washing machine for me. I handed them clothes and they would put them in the basin. It was a lot easier for Ryan, but Lily did a great job. It took me a bit by surprise. I don't know why, she is very coordinated and loves putting things into containers. She is filling a water bottle with toys as I type this. Now Ryan is "helping" her. I'd better go make sure this doesn't turn ugly.

Out of the Mouth of Ryan

leaving Dutch Wonderland...
Mommy: What would you guys like for dinner?
Zach: There's a Pizza Hut. Can we have pizza?
Mommy: Ryan, how about you?
Ryan: I would prefer a ketchup cheeseburger.

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Mommy, why is Chicks Kahicks not nice? (Chick Hicks is a character in the movie Cars)

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I can do it with my strong muscles.
or
Mommy, look what I can do with my strong muscles!
He performs his his feat of strength, like opening the jelly jar, then he does this...

Incidentally, if he ever does this to you you are supposed to say, "Look at those strong muscles!"

Family Day at Dutch Wonderland

Jay and I decided on Friday that we needed to spend a family day since we have been so busy lately and have not spent much time all together. We decided to take a day trip to Dutch Wonderland. We really like Dutch Wonderland because it has something for everyone. It's a little heavier on the kiddie rides than a lot of places, so it's perfect for us. Any time Zach and Jay went on a bigger ride we just found a kiddie ride nearby so we wouldn't have to wait around for them or have a hard time finding each other later. Another reason it's good for us is it's only and hour and a half away, so we don't have to stay over night. Here are some highlights from the trip.
We started the day by riding one of the few rides we've never ridden before. It was kind of lame, but Ryan had fun "driving" the boat and saving us from the alligator. Then we let Ryan choose a ride. He chose the train which is a pretty good ride to do first because you get a look at a lot of the stuff there is to ride later. Then Zach chose the space shuttle, so I took Ryan over to the whip ride across the way and Lily and I checked out the ginger bread house right next to it. We went back over to watch Ryan for the last part of the ride. Then we all met up and headed over to the carousel for Lily. Lily loves the carousel. Maybe it's the lights and music or the smooth ride. I'm not sure, but she loves it. The rest of the day was similar in style with each kid choosing rides. Lily was content to run around the grassy areas and check out statues when the bigger kids rode rides we all couldn't go on together.


Ryan got to ride on his first real roller coaster. You can see his face in this picture. He loved it. That's mommy's boy!

After lunch we changed into our bathing suits and hit the water park area. Ryan and Zach enjoyed the fort area with all the big water slides. Lily LOVED the baby water slides in the other area, but I couldn't get a picture while I was helping her and when Jay was catching her I was busy with Ryan.

I did get some good pictures of Lily playing in the water. she really liked the springs that would come up and go down. I had to find one that didn't go as high because she kept getting sprayed in the face. When we found a little one she stayed there for a long time. She would laugh and poke at it every time it came up. Then it would stop and she'd poke at it some more. I finally picked her up and took her over to the slides again.

It happened to be Christian family weekend, so we got to meet Bob and Larry. That was fun.

We went back and rode more rides until the kicked us out at closing time. Okay, they didn't kick us out, but we did have to leave.

On the way out we got the see the princess, the knight and the dragon. They are the symbols of the park. They were really good with the kids stooping down to talk to each one and posing for pictures.

It was a great time. I'm so glad we went and made time for our family to spend together.

Curiosity got me

I don't usually pay attention to those ads on the side bars of web sights, but this one grabbed my attention.

Baby grabbing everything?
Try teething ring bling instead.

I had to see what it was about and I was suprised that the stuff is actually pretty cute.

Creative Memories- Business? **now with pictures**

Me thinks when you spend more money than you make your business is not such a good idea! I need some self control! I want everything I see. The good news is I've bought just about every tool there is, so I should start making more money because now all I need for myself is paper...oh, and stickers...and maybe some vellum titles. Well, it should still be a lot cheaper now:-) I'm loving this. I made some pages yesterday and it feels so good. It's fun and I feel accomplished. There is not too much concrete stuff I do as a stay-at-home mom that really makes me feel accomplished. I do the dishes and there are more five minutes later; laundry, well the clothes I'm wearing will have to go in even if I get to the bottom of the laundry mountain; pick up toys...yea right, that will last; make dinner, well at least people are fed for now...until they want dessert; vacuum...lunchtime, dinner time, snack time...did I really vacuum or was that in my imagination? Do you see where I'm going with this? Don't get me wrong because I LOVE staying home with my kids and over all I know it is an important thing to do. I love all the time I get to spend with them. I love taking them to gymnastics or the playground. I love doing projects with them. I love the "I love you"s I get all day. The thing I love about the scrapbooking is I can do something and there it is right there in front of me. It looks pretty or cute depending on what I've done and I can show it to people. It won't go away or get ruined within minutes (unless I leave it out for the kids to get into, but that's another story). It feels good and I enjoy the process of making the pages and I enjoy helping other people figure out what they want to do. I love that I can make my own schedule and my kids are always with daddy when they are not with me. I love to hear the stories of all the fun Jay had with them while I was gone. If this gets cheaper and less time consuming as I get more time under my belt I think everything will be good. I'm happy to have something to put my creative energy towards and something for me, something I think is important and meaningful.

***Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them.***

Here is a spread I did of Easter a few weeks ago.

This one is from our trip to Belgium. Notice my parents being all lovey dovey under that bridge. Aren't they cute? Well I think it's cute now.

I did this spread for a workshop I'm planning on how to use papers in layouts. I have not done all the journaling yet because I can't remember the name of the place. Mom, do you?

PS I'm so excited! I got my shipment today and it has my new wavy cutting tool(technically the 12" decorative trimmer). I can't wait to use it. I think I'll be doing some more pages tonight after the kids go to bed.