House Update

More exciting developments on our house. The top picture is looking down the driveway from the road. The bottom picture is looking down the driveway from where the house will be. They also dug the trenches (I don't know what they are really called) and poured cement for the footers (whatever they are). I think they hold the house up. It will not be a slab foundation house. They don't do that up here. Anyway, it makes us very happy to see progress. It makes being patient so much easier. I was beginning to worry that they were never going to get started.

As for family news.....let's see.....Emily is going to be the star pig, Curly, in the first grade play tomorrow night. We are all very proud of her. Everyone is doing well in school.
Ethan had his first Market Day last week and earned $247 Scholar Dollars. Market Day is a yearlong project the 3rd graders do to help them learn about being producers and consumers. We had quite a little sweat shop here last week trying to get him ready. He could only sell things that he made. He sold flower necklaces, military dogtags, pictures that he drew, pictures that he colored, cannons, treasure chests, cookies, and his "big ticket" item was a medieval castle. We made a sign that listed his prices and at the bottom he told me to write "in big letters"......NO REFUNDS. I asked him if we could put Thanks, Come Again, instead. He thought about it for a minute and said, "nah". I laughed and laughed. Silly Boy!!
John is currently the star of 5th grade math. He made a 97 on the nine weeks math test, which was cumulative for the past nine weeks, half of which, he was not even here for. That was the highest grade in his class. We are so proud of him!!
As for John and I, we are doing the same old thing. I am getting settled in at my new job in the Emergency Department. It is very exciting and I really enjoy the people that I work with. John doesn't have any new news that I can think of. Just keeping at the daily grind. We are all trying to keep out from under each other's feet in this little apartment, but so far, everyone is getting along very well. Our love goes out to all of our family and friends.

Here is Emily and her best friend, Arianna, at the zoo. It was supposed to be a spring time field trip. We FROZE!! It was misty and overcast and COLD. But we toughed it out. We did have a good time. There are a lot of monkeys at this zoo. The giraffes will eat right out of your hand. That was fun. They have really long tounges. They act just like pets.

Emily had some sour candy in her lunch that she shared with her friend. It was very sour!! But after they finished this mouthful, they had more. Crazy girls!

JOHN"S BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to John
Happy Birthday to John....

What a day! We went out to eat at Cracker Barrell. We had cake. John got lots of presents. The BIG gift was a rifle. John, dad, and Ethan have big hunting plans for the fall. He also got a case to carry the gun in. I prefer it in the case, if you ask me. The other big item he got was lights for his gator. A VERY, VERY happy birthday.




That's John with his new gun in his new gun case. And that is my quilt in the background. I draped it over the couch to examine it and make sure I was quilting it right, but it made a great backdrop for John and his gun. I pieced it last summer. Hopefully, I will get it quilted by the end of this summer.


We didn't have enough wrapping paper for everything, so Ethan and Emily helped out by decorating the package from Nana Ann and Grandpa Bill. They are very proud of their artwork. Ethan's turning into a hippy. It's time for a haircut, boy!


















Monday is the last day of Spring Break here. They got an extra day because winter wasn't that bad here. So, we will get haircuts and do laundry tomorrow. Yeehaw! Let's send Spring Break out in style. It's too wet and cold to do anything else, anyway.

Our driveway goes back about 50 feet to where the clearing is for our house. The first picture is from the street looking down our driveway. The second picture is of the clearing for our house. The third picture is the view we will have from our back porch to the lake. It doesn't look like it in the picture but there is a slope down to the lake. And most of those trees will be cleared so our view of the lake will not be obstructed.

It was great to progress. Good for the soul. And fun to watch the dozer. It has rained all day today and so we probably won't see any more progress this week. Once they get started on the foundation, it takes about 30 days to get the foundation completed. And then after that, they say it goes really fast. Once again, I'm not holding my breath.

I finally took pictures of our lot, but my camera is in the car that John is driving today. The pictures aren't really that good anyway. It was too cold be outside when I took them. I wasn't aiming very carefully.

We had a great Easter. We went to a friend's house and had a big Easter egg hunt and ate until we couldn't move. And now we are going to have to put our children through the 12 steps of candy recovery. We had WAY too much. Every time I pass the candy bowl, I toss a handful into the garbage.

Our builder met with his excavator yesterday. So, this week should be a week of progress. If anything happens, I'll post pictures. We are going to meet with the builder sometime this week to go over the plans. I am having committment issues again. Has this happened to anyone else?? I just want to make sure it's my dream house. John says I should be committed......to an institution.

John, Ethan, and Emily are on spring break this week. We don't have anything special planned. It's too cold to go to the beach, which is what I really wanted to do. Since I can't go to the beach, I'm too mad to do anything else. Cutting my nose off to spite my face, I guess. The kids are still having fun. They get to play the PlayStation until their little fingers fall off.

They have all grown so much since we moved here. They are such good kids. John and I are very blessed. They have been living in one bedroom together and have not tried to kill each other yet. It hasn't been a picnic, but all in all, they are taking it very well. They will probably miss it for at least a day when they get their own rooms!

Since I can't go to the beach this week, I will post one of my favorite pictures of the beach from last summer. They are so cute! What's not to love??