Making the world a better place since 1996....

Who wouldn't vote for this guy?? He's so handsome! We have turned posters in for approval. Not exactly sure when campaigning starts or when they vote. You get so little information at the middle school level.

Dirty picture......

....get your minds out of the gutter.  I just wanted to show you proof that I will do manual labor. We rented a chipper this  weekend....and made a dent--a dent--in the mounds of tree parts we have laying in our yard, that's been laying in our yard for a while.  Our neighbors must hate us.  Not only do we have an ugly dirt yard, we rented the chipper on a weekend they had a party on their dock. Niiiiice, huh?  Who knew?  We didn't do too much during their party, though.  They already don't like us, let's don't make it worse.  So, anyway, we got FiLtHy!  Filthy.  And it was a great oppotunity to show y'all that I am not above manual labor. That is a violent machine.  And LLOOUUDD!!  It chewed up trees, not limbs, T.R.E.E.S., like they were nothing.  It was amazing.  When it was chipping a really big tree, I couldn't not watch it.  It made you feel bad for cutting the tree down.  It spent all those years trying to grow into a beautiful tree and you just cut it down and chipped it all up in under two minutes.  But......., I have to have a better view of the lake.  It's all for a good cause. I'll plant some more in a better spot.  

John is going to California tomorrow.  He will be gone all week.  Bummer.  We'll miss ya dad.  

Soccer

John and Ethan are playing soccer this season.  They have not played soccer since they were very little.  4 or 5.  I think they are really enjoying it.  John plays defense and goalie.  Ethan plays defense and offense.  It is keeping us busy.  John has games Thursday and Saturday, Ethan has practice Wednesday and games on Saturday.  Emily is getting ready for recital so she is having her regular dance practice and extra practice on Sunday and Monday.  I'm lookin' forward to retirement.  Or at least until John can drive.  And that's really not that far away. 

We are making big plans for the summer.  Emily is going to theatre camp, Ethan is going to civil war camp and football camp, and John is going to football camp and 4H camp.  Busy, busy, busy. And I want to go on a big trip.  I want to go to New York.  We'll see.  And, of course, we will have to have some beach time too.  

Final Photos

Well, there you go.  Isn't it beautiful??  The shine!  I love it!  And we did it all ourselves!  Someone pat us on the back!  Do you see the compressor there?  The big red thing.  Oh...my.....word!  Did you hear it out there in California while we were putting the floor in?  Holy cow!  It was so loud.  I'm gonna need some hearing aids before I have a chance to get old.  So, 2 nail guns, 3000 nails, and a a whole bottle of ibuprofen later we are finished.....with the floor.  We still have to do the molding.  That will be this weekend.  

And I'm so behind on posting.  I still have to post John and Ethan's first soccer games and John's birthday.  He's a teenager now (say it like your crying).  I can't believe he's so big!  Going to junior high next year.  Does that mean I am getting old????  I'll tell you the answer is NOOO.  Say what you want behind my back, but when you talk to me tell me I still look like I'm in my 30s.  'K?

All that hard work and agony......

and it was agony at times....getting the staples out of the subfloor was torture. And if you will look you will notice in one picture we have a red nail gun and in the next picture we have a yellow one. That is because the first one did NoT work. And it took us a whole day to figure out that it was not operator error. What a waste of time! But here's the good news--John and I did not kill each other getting it done. We work pretty well together. The kids helped even. John used the chop saw, Emily laid the boards in place, Ethan hammered them in place, and dad nailed them in. It was quite a little sweatshop we had going. There were no injuries, thank goodness. We ate out until we were sick of it. Alrighty, I'm off to make cookies, this was the teaser.....I'll post final pictures.....later.

The First Donation Has Arrived

Many, many thanks to Grandpa Bill and Nana Ann for their generous donation.  You guys rock!  We laughed and laughed.  It's good to be loved!

So.......what's new?

I don't have any pictures, but let's see, surely something has been going on.  John and Ethan are playing soccer.  Emily is having extra dance practice for the recital coming up on May 8th.  Kathy Jo is looking forward to starting school in the fall.  Very ready for Spring Break.   We all are.  John is going to take the week off.  We are going to work really hard to get the hard wood flooring in so we can go somwhere fun later in the week.  So, I guess I will post the before, after, and in between pictures of the floor project when we get started.