When we went to fly the kites the other day (a failure) Elliot and I went for a little walk while they were still trying... when we got to the bridge this is what we saw, he only walked a little way away from us adn then just stopped and sat there for quite a while! I think E finally scared him into the water though, but he was very excited to see ducks!
One of my latest projects at the house... can you guess what I'm doing now? (No fair guessing if you already know...)
The mural in the front living room. I'm so excited to put the black furniture in there, I think it will look SOOO cool! I got a call today that our couch that we ordered is in (not the black, that we already have, but it's a brown couch for the back family room)... it wasn't supposed to be in until September so that's a welcome suprise, unfortunately we can't get it until we move in, I'm so excited to get all of our new furniture!

Elliot and I have a "tradition" of putting on lotion in my bed after his baths, sometimes it's the only way to get him out of the tub, by promising lotion! He is so cute and I love this little tradition we have together! It's only a short amount of time, but he's always so happy when we do it!

Sundays...

I LOVE sundays... we get to spend some great family time together! It's a wonderful day when Matt doesn't go work on the house... although today was my turn. I really don't like to do a lot on Sunday's normally, but sometimes there is no other time. I really wanted EJ to help me paint a mural on the wall in the living room, but since she is soon going to be relocating much farther East it had to be today. What a girl, with all the packing she has to do she took some time to paint for me, and I CAN NOT WAIT to show you what she/we did (mostly she). I am to lazy to upload pictures right now from my camera, but trust me it's very very cool! (Pictures soon).

After I was done at the house I came home to a dinner that Matt cooked (the best kind) and then we all went for a bike ride. Our first time getting the adult bikes out this year... is that sad or what? E didn't even know what a bike ride was. He wasn't sure what to do in the buggy, but he seemed to like it ok, we may even ride to the park in the morning to meet Becky! Not sure I'm that ambitios yet though. We also tried to fly kites, but that was not meant to be... the wind was non-existent unfortunatly, but soon we will try again! Much to the delight of little E we did get to get up close and personal with some ducks though, so that made it all better I guess! (Pics of that soon too).

Off to bed now, sad that the weekend is almost over, but all good things must come to an end!

Insane...

That's the number of pictures that are in this post... an INSANE number! We had a super busy day... last night Landon had two friends spend the night and Bailey spent the night at her friend Riley's house (they got to see a High School Musical Play and go out for dinner and dessert, lucky little girls). The boys didn't go to bed until after 2am and I hear the girls fell asleep reading books around midnight, so we had a few tired kids today, but that didn't slow down the action at all. I picked up Bailey & Riley this morning, we were going to go to the beach or swimming or something, but it was sprinkling this morning and didn't look all that nice out so we decided to stay home (not to mention the fact that I thought there was going to be a baseball game tonight, but I guess I should have known better and assumed that is was going to be delayed until tomorow... that's another story for another day). We had water fights and did obstacle courses and just played in the water, the kids all had a great time adn I had a great time snapping some GREAT pictures (if I do say so myself). I caught some GREAT expressions on thier faces... those are following, but first...
My favorite ALL STAR...
More House colors...
Looking from front living room (lime green) into the dining room (orange)
The family room, three of the walls are tan/cream, the fireplace will be tiled and the top of it will have our tv adn will be painted blue
The office
Our bedroom (picture black furniture, silver bedspread), it's a super light blue, almost white
ETA:***Oops... I was looking at this closer and I think this is actually the laundry room/half bath, the blue is SOOO not accurate, it's more of a turquoise/spa type blue... does that make sense?***
Water fight pictures... Dimitri had the BEST expressions and he wanted to be sprayed with the hose...

Elliot slept through most of the fun, but as soon as he woke up he was like a magnet to the water and the girls couldn't help themselves and had to style his hair
The girls filled up a tub with warm water (which I noticed later came from many many dripping wet trips to my kitchen sink... oh well they had fun doing it)

The Obstacle Course
The boys team
The girl team
The second time around we made it a bit harder and had the kids lock arms/hold hands for half of the race
First obstacle: Shoot one basket
Second Obstacle: Dunk head in tub of water
(the girls were still shooting after the boys dunked heads)
Third obstacle: (not pictured) bounce ball on tennis racket ten times w/o dropping it
Fourth obstacle: go down the slide (oops, Bailey had a little fall)
Fifth obstacle: run around the chairs three times
Sixth obstacle: get all four beanbags in the hole, one shot at a time, all taking turns and throwing
Seventh obstacle: hit croquet ball (taking turns hitting the ball with all people on your team) through three "pins"
First person through all three "pins" is the WINNER! (I love Landon's expression here)

All Stars and Estates

I can breath easier and I know that sounds very cliche but I can't tell you how true it really is... I've had papers for finalizing my grandfathers estate staring me in the face for days, accounting stuff that I had to balance, but could not for the life of me figure out how in the world to do that... Slowly I was getting it, but after a quick conversation with the lawer today I got it finished, the papers are folded up and ready to be mailed! And then I'm ALMOST done, there are still some estate/house taxes that need to be paid, but for the most part the difficult part is done! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a baseball game tonight, Mary watched the two younger kids for me thankfully, it was an away game and you just don't know what the fields are going to look like... we were right on a road so it would have been a bit much with little E. I was under the false impression that if we lost a game we were done, mid game I found out that that wasn't the case, in reality if you lose a game you play a lot MORE games! We lost. 2-14. Now we get to have another game on Friday! I feel bad though, I've been a BIT negative on this whole experience, and I think I've taken it to far and am making Lanodn feel bad, so I'm trying to be more positive. We got out of there just in time (the game was in GR), the storm rolled in as we were leaving, there is no way the following game even got an inning in. On the way home I was going only 35mph on the highway, and I wasn't alone in that either. I was about to pull off and visit McDonalds (my favorite... read with MUCH sarcasm) to wait out the rain b/c it was SOOOO terrible, but just before I got to the exit it let up, a little at least... so we continued on and made it home safely!

a few house reveals...

I realize the color is bright and not for everyone, but I personlly LOVE it... you should see the front room, it's lime green and I LOVE that too!

The games go on...

I guess while we were finishing up our vacation Landon's team made it to the tournament level of All Stars...(no thanks to Landon, nothing new there though, you need a chance to play to be a contributor I guess). They played 2 games, Friday and Saturday, and apparently, they won. I got a call yesterday that we had a game tonight, luckily it was at home!

So tonights game, despite the fact that the boy didn't play more than the minimum, was good! They ended up winning 14-13, it was a CLOSE game, the final play was incredible! So, now we get to play again tomorow! YIPPEEEEEE!

ETA: I guess I sound a bit bitter, maybe I should get over that! Maybe...

More pics...

I have a TON of pictures, on Wednesday I downloaded 1060 pictures from camera to computer... here are a few more to share!

Other good news before I get to pictures... Matt is putting up the cabinets at our house today, love them! Thanks to Troy & Heather & Tom for doing some painting while we were gone, I LOVE my orange wall (Matt isn't sure yet, oh well). I picked up carpet samples today and we already made a decision! It's all coming together!

OK, enough delay, some more pics!

Our vacation in pictures...

What we've been up to...
Lot's of family time!
Tubing on a new and very BOUNCY tube!
Fishing (an obsession for Landon)
And lot's and lot's of beach time!
And a few naps too... House of Flavors is calling my name again tonight while Matt is fishing, some more beach time tomorow and then HOME!

Back on Vacation...

So we're back! Landon had another game last night which they won 12-5, again the kid only played one inning in the field and actually never touched the ball (it was another QUICK inning) and he actually batted twice, but I think that's only b/c it was twice in one inning and I don't think they can change the batting order during an inning. He had a good hit the first time and struck out the second. I guess his team has a game tonight again and then probably Friday and Saturday, but we won't be attending any of them, we will still be on vacation so that will be my reason!

PTT @ We Are Storytellers again...

Look at this great new stuff that you can get for only $11.96! There are 4 paper packs and 4 element packs/alphas. They are all created to help you tell your story in your scrap pages! And they are wonderful of course!

vacation from vacation

Yup, Landon, Elliot and I are home for a night. Landon had a baseball game tonight and another one tomorow night (and one on Wednesday, but we aren't going to go to that one), I would be ok skipping tomorow's game too and at this point I think Landon would too, you see, the rules are different for All-Stars than they are for regular season, the playing time requirement is MINIMAL to say the least. They are only required to play in the field for 3 outs (that's one inning) and have one at bat. I know Landon isn't the best player on the team, but he isn't bad. Guess how much he played... the absolute minimum. So, we are missing vacation for him to to play next to no time at all! Oh well, he is still "kinda" having fun he says. And there were other boys that played the minimum too!

Last night we had a TERRIBLE storm come through at the cottage. It was comparable to (although not quite as bad as) the storms we had when we were camping. The power ended up going out, Bailey ended up in bed with me, Matt and Landon slpet on the couches together, Elliot snored right on through the whole thing. Our power went out (meaning no fan/clock or light in an unfamiliar place), but came back on before we woke up. We tried to go shopping, but it ended up pouring on us, so I just decided to leave early for home. Good thing too, b/c there was TERRIBLE traffic on the way home. For 50 minutes my max speed was 5mph, a trip that should have taken me an hour and a half took mee 2 hours and 15 minuts. Very irritating. And Matt said almost immediately after I left the sky turned blue and it got HOT! Oh well!

So, here's a picture of Matt & E on the boat while we were waiting for fireworks to start...
And a layout to shar too, everything is from We Are Storytellers

There is also a great challenge going on over at We Are Storytellers right now...
click on blinkie to check it out!

Cosmopolitain

Well, we are on vacation. The mosquitos are "Lovely" to say the least (if you can't say soemthing nice don't say anything at all, right)!

We didn't do fireworks (besides the ones we set off and they were all legal, so not so much fun) on Friday night, so we promised the kids we would go out on the boat to watch the fireworks that they set off on Hamlin lake on Saturday night(Last night). All went well, we made it out there, watched the fireworks (after a long wait). Elliot stayed awake until we started the boat to head back. (Which is also when the trouble started)! There were HUNDREDS of boats in this little area, all needing to get out of this little area. Remember the I already have an irrational terrible fear of water/boats etc. I'm just not a big fan of rocking the boat, big or small waves, other boats and being in the dark in a boat. It is very hard to see on the water and some people are just STUPID! I tried very hard not to look at the HUGE waves as we were trying our best to get home, I tried very hard not to look around me at all the boats speeding by. I tried very hard not to remember that we had just had our rear light burn out, making us even harder to see from behind! Elliot was fast asleep in my arms, Bailey and her friend were fast asleep in the seat next to me, Landon was falling asleep in the passenger seat and Matt was very focused on the water! I tried looking up and was instantly calmed (a little at least, b/c I couldn't really fully give myself over to calmness) when I saw the amazing amount of stars in the sky! It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! GORGEOUS! I think that God did that for me so I would calm down a little! The only reason I wasn't crying hysterically (and hence the title of my post) was becasue on the way out to watch the fireworks I had a giant cosmopolitain! Nothing like liquor to calm your nerves, right?

On another note... I rarely drink, but in the past few days I've had a few drinks (like 4 in 4 days). When my kids ask if they can have a sip (of what looks like juice to them) I say that it's not something for kids, it has alcohol in it. Well, now I think my kids think I'm an alcoholic. Yesterday Bailey said, "What are you drinking". It's my drink, you can't have any, it's called a Cosmopolitain. Her response was "You always say that, you are always drinking stuff I can't have"! Nice! Truly, it's quite humerous, b/c I'm SOOOOOO far from being an alcoholic! Soooo very very far!

The guys just got back from thier first unsuccesful fishing trip! (Of many I'm sure!) And here I sit with my laptop, very minimal internet access and my starbucks (Which I was SOOO pleased to find that they had finally built one up here!)

Beautiful day expected, off to change into some shorts!

Happy 4th!

Work day for us! Matt's mom watched the kids while I helped paint at the new house in the afternoon. Matt had a few helpers in the morning too and they got a long way by themselves, but when I got there, WOW, did we make progress! (Just kidding)! Today the kitchen, part of the family room, part of the dining room (which is really just part of the kitchen), the hallway and the two upstairs bathrooms got painted! I have to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the whirlpool color along with the black trim, it looks sooo good! The "tan" that we picked is more of a cream with a "little" tan in it, but I think it will still look good, it's a great contrast to the black trim and will be with the dark cabinets too!

I picked up bedding for Elliot & Landon this afternoon too!
Elliots Bottom Bunk Elliot's Top Bunk
Landon's ever exciting set (It really is red, not pink as it looks on my screen!)

I picked out a B-R-I-G-H-T yellow for the office and I think we are close on Elliot's paint colors! I picked out paint for Bailey & Landon's room too, now we just need a bathroom color to go with the tile and a rec-room color!

We have a LOT of packing to do too, we leave for vacation tomorow sometime, luckily we don't have to pack to much b/c our week long vacation is being cut in half by baseball games!

Off to play a quick game of croquet and then pack some more! Fun times!

Updates - House and other

A few pics of our house update... only a few though!

First of all, I don't have a picture that I can share, but the black trim looks AWSOME! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
This is the color of the kitchen/laundry room/bathroom cabinets that sit in our garage right now... it's called "Cherry Bordeux" and we LOVE it!
This is the color of the bamboo laminate that will go in the front living room, kitchen/entryway hallway/dining room, hallway and office! We love it too!
This is the paint that will hopefully get on the walls this weekend (aka Friday)! There is orange, green, a BIG bucket of tan, blue, whirlpool blue and light blue! We like COLOR! I still need to pick a color for the office/spare room and Elliot's room!
The green samples I purchased (I LOVE that Lowes has $4 can's of paint that you can buy and test out b/c as you can see I don't made color decisions easily! We are going with the one on the far right, the first one that I tested!

Other updates... E is talking in sentances as of today! Like 3-4 word's at a time, consistently! It's crazy! We spent about an hour on the trampoline together just the two of us this evening and had so much fun! Up-Mommy-Peeeese...Bounce! ~or~ Rosy... Rosy... DOWN! (Translation would be... Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies, ashes ashes we all fall DOWN)!

And, another one for E... he is sleeping in a BIG bed... sometimes! We put Bailey's old toddler bed in his room and he wants to sleep in it for naps mostly, he still likes his crib for bedtime! We figure with both kids getting new beds for thier new rooms we will just put the bunk beds in his room right away so we don't have to store them and the mattresses anywhere, we will put his crib in thier too until he is ready for big beds all the time... I'm in NO hurry though, no crib means no more baby!

Scrappers...

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