Thursday, April 30, 2009

April 30, 2009

It rained again today . . .



but luckily we made it out to the bus, before the deluge hit . . .




I think the Irises are even trying to protect themselves from being drowned . . .



but on the bright side, just look at what all that rain does for the plants and trees. The brown is indeed starting to turn to green again!



After we came in from getting sissy off to school, Eli decided he needed to go to school too. So he pulled on one of Dave's socks, yanked his boots on, grabbed his backpack and headed for the door. I really have mixed feelings about this photo . . . I don't want to even think about my little man growing up and going off to school, and yet . . . the way he imitates his older sister is quite hysterical at times. Please don't grow TOO quickly, little one.

April 29, 2009

I was so busy doing laundry and cleaning house that I forgot to take pics until bedtime . . .


by then I had bedtime stories to read, and kids to get tucked in. Somewhere in the mix, I fell asleep without getting my pic for the day. But it was the first thing on my mind when I woke up the next morning . . . so I snapped a pic of my little guy's ceiling fan/night light and . . .



his Tonka truck. It logged many a mile on this date! So I'm using filler's for this date, and I'll do better tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

April 28, 2009

I ended up doing a lot of computer catch up this morning, and as soon as Eli laid down for his nap, I hit the housework. Three bathrooms, a kitchen and half a living room later, we headed out for Bayleigh's music concert . . .


my little rocker, stood up there with the rest of her class and belted out song after song . . .



and of course being five, she got a little side-tracked every now and again . . .

but it was well worth the trip! We got to stop by Mr. Ed's for ice-cream after the show!

Good times!



April 27, 2009

It rained steadily all night . . . and all day today.



I guess even God has to do some Spring "cleaning" . . .




but his results are MUCH more glorious than mine!




When the rains finally abated a bit . . . Dave took the kids out to play. And Eli just happened to have his "I MAKE DIRT LOOK GOOD!" shirt on . . .




I'm afraid you do, my boy! I'm afraid you do!


*(I played around with overexposing on those last two shots. I kind of like the softened effect. What do you think?)

April 26, 2009

Today we rested and renewed ourselves.


After we got home from church, I puttered around doing load after load of laundry, without really meaning to! I must have been bored.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

April 25, 2009

I finally made it to bed at 11:30 last night, after downloading a ton of photos to my external hard drive. Why is it such a chore for me? Maybe I should schedule a certain time each week to do this? I'm thinking that sounds like a good plan, and why didn't I think of doing it sooner . . .

Ah well . . .



Today I got up at the unreal hour of like 3:30, because I knew I was going to have to get up early to go city-wide garage saling with my mom and the kids. I didn't MEAN to get up this early, but the fear of over-sleeping won out . . .




Needless to say, I'm a little tired and I'm feeling a distinct pain in my brain . . .



But it was all worth it . . . I found the perfect piece of furniture for our little "sitting" room (Elvis has already made himself comfortable . . .), and a cute little 1959 Remington Portable Typewriter . . . just for fun!

April 24, 2009

I was completely exhausted for most of the day. Too tired to do much of anything. And then I caught my second wind about 3:00 p.m. . . .




I cleaned the kitchen, sorted more laundry, and dusted the dressers that I'd brought downstairs earlier in the week . . .

then I took the kids for a late afternoon walk. I found a little luck along the way. Who couldn't use a little luck now and again?!

Friday, April 24, 2009

April 23, 2009

As I was folding more laundry to put away, Eli grabbed up a pair of socks . . .




pulled them onto his hands like mittens . . .



and ran around chasing me, saying "Polka Dots, Polka Dots, Polka Dots". I'm wondering if this is some kind of new superhero thing . . . or maybe *gasp* an evil counterpart?



Imagination is a wonderful and amazing thing to behold!

April 22, 2009

Earth Day turned out to be a beautiful day! It started off a little cloudy, but in the afternoon there was nothing but blue skies. After tackling a half ton of laundry, I couldn't wait for my oldest to get home from school, so we could go outside and explore.



My little guy, picked flowers for mommy . . .




Mommy enjoyed the last remaining flowers on the red-bud . . .




and we all enjoyed traipsing through the tall grass and the forest in search of . . .




critters! We saw several of these little caterpillars, searching for food, and I'm sure it won't take them long to find our garden.


I can't help but think how very blessed I am! These two teach me new things every single day, and I don't know what I would do without them! Joy does indeed come in small packages!

It was a good day.

April 21, 2009

Seems like my days are just packed with busy-ness and getting things moved downstairs . . .



Luckily, I knew we were going to have a treat for supper time. Dave snuck out yesterday and went mushroom hunting. He found this nice little batch of morels, and I ended up trying a new recipe. I cut them in half long ways, dipped them in an egg batter, and then rolled them in VERY FINELY mashed saltine cracker crumbs. Then I fried them up in butter, instead of the regular cooking oil. OH MY! PURELY DELICIOUS! I'm glad he didn't find a HUGE batch, or we would have made ourselves sick!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

April 20, 2009

Today was laundry and trash day. I finally got most of my personal clothing sorted, washed and hung up in the new closet. WHEW! What a task! All that laundry and cleaning made me want to get out and enjoy the sunshine a little. So when Bayleigh got off the bus . . .




the kids and I went for a walk. We all took a few moments to enjoy the scent of the lilac bush in the front yard . . .



and run through the "weeds" on the way to grandma's house.




After a long, cold, colorless winter . . . God even blesses us with beautiful weeds.



Life is good and Springtime is amazing!

April 19, 2009

It was another rainy day . . . at least the garden got some much needed "natural" water.





After church, I fed the kids and then made Eli lay down with me for a nap. We napped for almost THREE hours! I must have been tired . . .



I made it outside to chore, right as the last rays of the sun were setting beyond the horizon. Ahhh . . . today was definitely a day of rest around my house!

April 18, 2009

Today was a very BUSY day! But we're officially all moved in downstairs . . .



I've still got to come up with some type of border for Eli's room . . .




and sort/PURGE/move the rest of the kid's plunder downstairs to their respective locations . . .




What I'm wondering, at this point, is how on Earth all this "STUFF" fit into this itty bitty space, and WHERE did it all come from?!




This may take a while . . .

Friday, April 17, 2009

April 17, 2009

I worked on sorting/washing/putting away more clothing today. And I also did some touch up painting in the kid's rooms. Both rooms had a nice touch up spot to touch up . . .



and I managed to get two coats on Bayleigh's room (which is now done!) . . .




and two coats on Eli's room. It's looking like I'm gonna need a third coat on the green . . .




but it's just gonna have to wait until tomorrow. I'm pooped!

After I washed and folded four loads of laundry, and washed hangers (part of my little OCD neuroses), I took the kids over to the neighbor's house to see all her bunny rabbits. She's got 35 rabbits and some are even running LOOSE! It's totally cute. Of course my oldest is wanting to get one. We'll just have to see . . . AFTER we get moved into the addition.

April 16, 2009

I'm a dork. I completely got busy today and forgot to take any photos of the progress I'm making (so I snapped a few photos the next morning for today's post). All I have left in Bayleigh's room is paint touch up, putting her closet system in, and then moving all her things down from her old room.



I finished washing walls in Eli's room today, washed Bayleigh's bed/mattress and put on her new Princess sheets. I also moved Eli's train table, and the Little Tykes kitchen downstairs, in preparation to get them moved into their respective locations after I touch up the paint tomorrow.




And I started sorting through more clothes. I'm washing everything . . . to either add to the yard sale pile, or put away in their new locations. I know I don't have to re-wash everything, but I'm just weird like that. My OCD is showing.


April 15, 2009

It was a busy day! I snapped a picture of this beautiful sunrise, first thing in the morning and then I was off and running!



My running list: Got Bayleigh ready for school, packed her lunch and got breakfast down both kids. Unloaded and loaded the dishwasher. Put Bayleigh on the bus. Took a shower with the little guy. Started a load of laundry. Folded a load of laundry. Picked up . . . and vacuumed the living room floor. Did a quick check of emails. Loaded 2 gallons of paint in the Jeep. Eli and I delivered the paint to my sister-in-law, and I took pictures of one of her puppies to email to someone who might be interested in taking her. Drove to the high school cafeteria (where my mom was working) and picked up 25 pounds of frozen chicken for her. Drove the backroads home and unloaded the chicken into my freezer (mom's was full). Sorted and purged all my scrapbooking scraps, and put them in their proper location. Put the clothes in the dryer, and started another load. Went through my closet and purged clothing. (Lots of stuff for a yard sale!) Lunch. Got Eli down for his nap. Washed the walls in Bayleigh's bedroom. Moved all the tools and misc. construction "stuff" from Eli's room, to shelves in our bedroom (which will be moved out as quickly as I can get finished on the house and organize the garage). Swept the floor in Eli's room in preparation for washing his walls. Got Bayleigh off the bus. Took the kids for a walk, down to my sister-in-laws, so Bayleigh could play with Kasey. Left Bayleigh to play and walked back home (uphill a mile) with Eli riding on my shoulders. Stopped at grandma's on the way back. Mom, Eli and I, went to the neighbors to pick up a twin sized mattress for Bayleigh's bed. Mom helped me unload the mattress, take the bed apart and put it back together correctly. Unloaded the dryer, and put the second load in. Folded more clothes. Popped in a frozen pizza for supper. (I always keep a back-up for when I'm too pooped to cook real food.) Fed the kids and myself. Bathed both kids. Braided Bayleigh's hair. Up to bed. Read three stories. And I was out like a light! All this added up to 11, 281 steps.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

April 14, 2009

I ended up sorting my patter paper and cardstock today. What a project! And after school, Kasey came over for a play date, and the girl's ended up dragging out Bayleigh's scrap stash and creating a few projects of their own.



And just so Eli didn't feel left out . . . after I walked Kasey home, Bayleigh and Eli brought out the watercolors. I just love to watch them create!



April 13, 2009

We've moved the bed and one dresser from our old bedroom, into our new master bedroom downstairs. My little dark cubby of a scrapbooking space, in the corner of our old bedroom can now be expanded into the whole bedroom! So I've started a sorting process of sorts . . .



and although it looks like a tornado has struck . . . I DO have a system going on here!




Tomorrow I plan on sorting all my pattern paper and cardstock . . . and seeing if I can get some more done on the addition, so I can move these dressers and clothing to their new locations.

As much as I hate posting these types of messy/bad housecleaning photos . . . it's just part of the process. I'm keepin' it real folks! And our old bedroom just happened to be my dumping grounds . . . can you tell?!

April 12, 2009 ~ Easter Sunday

The Easter Bunny came to visit us this morning . . .



and the recession apparently hasn't hit his budget yet. It looks like we'll be snacking on this haul until Halloween . . .




Luckily the rains held off until after the Easter Egg Hunt . . . but that didn't keep my little guy from wishing for the great outdoors.




We ended up watching "The Veggie Tales Easter Carol" after church . . .



and I think the kids had a very wonderful fun filled day! We ended up having two egg hunts, a fellowship meal after church, and a visit to grandma's. This "Easter Bunny" is officially worn out!