Drywall and Chainsaws

What do those 2 things have in common? Well, that is what I have done last Sunday and then this Sunday. What a fun thing to do. Last week was helping dad with the drywall in my new half bath and then this week it was helping Dennis and Justin take down 2 trees in the back yard (not ours).
So we are in NC for the week at Justin's parents house. Glad to have a kitchen sink and a huge back yard with a sandbox and a playground for the kids! We got here yesterday and Will sat in the same spot in the playground for an hour (not kidding) playing with the old dump truck and diggers. It was amazing how long it all kept his attention.
THen Grandma and Grandpa kept all the old matchbox cars that Justin adn his brother had and the kids LOVE playing with them. Some of the cars and toys are in the kids room and that helped them stay in their room a little longer this morning which was nice for Justin and I.
Tomorrow we head to the zoo and I haven't been to the NC zoo since elementary school so I am almost as excited as the kids to be going. I don't think I will be able to post pictures this week but I will just have to see.

What to do with big boxes?

Paint a play tunnel of course!!!  It started out with Ashley and Juliet then we added 2 more neighbors. 

Things got a little messy you might say.  But the kids had a blast.

This is the definition of a devilish grin!

Two cuddle bugs!  They were trying to get warm.

There is one kid missing in this picture.  The boxes have made in through another day and I hope they survive the day tomorrow.  Big boxes are always lots of fun and the weather has been great for leaving them outside!

Almost there kitchen

Well here it is!  No counter top yet but they came today to do a template for it.  And with all things lining up just right the counter will be installed while we are on vacation and ready to go when we get back.  Yippee!!  no kitchen sink is really hard.  Justin threw a piece of cantaloupe in the place where the sink should be yesterday.

One of the best things that I can use right now is the microwave.  Our old one was Justin's in college and sat on top of the fridge.  So it is a much needed upgrade to have it over the stove.

What my house looks like

Here is my empty kitchen.  Behind me are all the boxes of cabinets.

And here is my old kitchen!  It is sitting on my deck right now waiting to leave.

This is my dining room/kitchen.  There is more on the floor behind he play kitchen and the mirror.  So far so good the kitchen looks awesome.  All the cabinet are almost in so I will take another picture tonight so you can see how great it looks.

Pictures from the fair

Can you tell that she had a great time?  Every picture that Justin took Caroline had a huge smile on her face.  She is still talking about all that she saw and did with her dad that day.

Emptying the kitchen

Alright my excuse this time is I taught 2 water classes Friday morning went and picked dad up from the airport then we went to Walter Reed to see Justin and show dad around and the main reason is I was up late watching the Olympics.  But Saturday night we had 9 adults and 4 kids for dinner at our house.  It was so much fun and the weather was great so we ended up on the back porch eating and talking.  Justin grilled ribs in the morning and then we put them in a big pan covered with BBQ sauce and let them sit for the rest of the day.  They were fantastic!

Well, right in the middle of my sentence earlier I got a phone call from the company that is putting in our new cabinets and counter top.  They were supposed to come on Thursday to start working but they had an opening for today.  Which is great news and the only hard part was emptying out my cabinets in an hour and a half!  I did and they are taking down the cabinets as I am typing.  If I can find my camera I will take some pictures.  

Will is still throwing up too which actually made it easier to empty the kitchen since he doesn't feel like getting off the couch.

God works in weird ways sometimes and in ways you don't even see.  Since Will was sick I couldn't go teach my class, but if I had been teaching this morning I would have missed the phone call to start the work earlier.  And since they working earlier it means that next week while we are in NC then the counter top can be made and we don't have to deal with not having a sink or counter top for a week.

Updates

Sorry I didn't post yesterday I was busy hanging dry wall! We are have a half bath installed on our 1st floor and to save on some costs I am going to try and do the dry walling my self with the help of my dad and Justin of course!
Will's chin is healing nicely and the glue has already come off after 2 days of being on there. I am hoping it won't leave to big of a scar.
Justin took the day off today to take Caroline to the Montgomery County Ag fair today. She was so excited that she couldn't make it to the bathroom this morning and instead got the steps of her bunk bed ladder wet! I made Justin take the camera even though he didn't want to and I will get pictures uploaded as soon as I get the chance. They have been at the fair for over 4 hours now so I am expecting a tired little girl to be coming home anytime now.
Will and I spent some quality time at the commissary this morning instead of going to the fair. Life's just not fair sometimes!

it's not that bad right?

Here is Will and his chin.  The glue is already close to coming off with all the drool that keeps it wet!

The first time

Well, Sunday afternoon and early evening were not spent the way Justin and I would have liked for it to have been spent. We spent a few hours in an emergency care center seeing if Will needed stitches below his bottom lip. Thankfully he didn't and the doctor just glued him back together.
We had planned on going to a local lake and renting a boat and just paddling around for an hour or so but there were storms in the area and dark clouds so we decided just to go to the playground just out our door. Will was running through the tunnel up on the playground and fell out of it and hit a step with his chin. Lots of blood and tears, but he was OK. We decided that it needed to be looked at just in case his teeth had gone through his lip and he might need stitches. Caroline stayed with our neighbor and good friend Ellie while Justin and I took will to the dr. I was very glad they didn't have to put stitches in his cute little face! But many of you know how rough and tumble Will is and it is just about everyday that he is falling and hurting something that this is really no surprise. The surprise is that we haven't had to take him to the ER before! I am sure there will be more trips but I am hoping not anytime soon.

Oh, Justin has a picture on his phone so I will try and get him to send it to me so I can upload it tonight.

What an imagination

Anyone who talks with Caroline for any lenght of time realizes she doesn't talk like a 3 year old or almost 4 year old either.  I have at least 2-3 people a week ask me when is she going to start kindergarten.  Well, it isn't for a while.  But her memory is just fantastic.  As many of you know she can sing dozens of songs and knows the words to many stories that we read on a regular basis.  Just this past week she has been quoting stories or movies to me in appropriate times too.  Like before lunch on Thursday she was saying, "Mommy I'm hungry, I'm not tired, I'm just hungry."  Which is what Rolly says in 101 Dalmatians.  Then the kids were playing in the back yard and I was changing over the laundry and I glance outside and see Caroline laying perfectly still on her back.  Of course horrible thoughts go through my mind and I holler to her to see if she is alright.  She laughs and says, "Yes, mom, I was just playing dead."  Made my heart skip a beat but otherwise she was being like Joe in the story Don't Laugh, Joe by Keiko Kaza (i think I spelled it right).  Where the mother opossum is teaching her son how to play dead in order to get a bug pie.

It sure does make my life interesting and keeps me on my toes too!

The new beds

After the triathlon we raided Dad's attic much to his relief to get the This End Up bunk beds from my childhood.  Caroline has been asking for bunk beds for months and months so we finally decided that she could handle the ladder and being on the top bunk.  Or that Justin and I could handle her being that independent!  

I took these after nap today and Caroline wasn't too pleased that I was taking her picture.  This was one of the few were she was smiling.  Now the challenge is keeping Will from climbing the ladder.  He loves to be on the top bunk with Caroline and even though she is in his bed he is wanting to get to the top.

So far the the kids love the beds and they are working well.  Thanks Dad and Marie!

Daily devotional

This picture just makes me laugh!  (He is reading a devotional) I think it was 2 days ago maybe just yesterday, but I don't remember.  Will is wanting to use his little potty.  Caroline also reminds him that it is there saying something like, "hey Will, there's your potty do you want to use it?"  He was pretty successful the day he tried.  He ended up using it 3 times and thought he was big stuff.  Caroline and I we so proud and then when Justin got home Will had to show him and then Daddy was proud too.

It might help a lot if I could take a week and just stay home and not have to go teach at the gym or go get my allergy shot.  So my goal is to have him potty trained by Christmas.  Wish me luck!  

Pretending to be daddy

Will LOVES his daddy. But the past couple of mornings he has missed seeing Justin in the mornings because he has been sleeping later than usual, thank goodness! Well then after he gets up he goes straight to our room looking for Justin. At lunch when we talk to him on the phone Will says, "Daddy, home?" Then the past 2 nights Will has not wanted me at all and not even to read a story or rock him to sleep, it has to be Daddy.
Well yesterday afternoon after nap he was pretending to be his daddy. When Justin leaves in the morning we tell him have a good day and we will see you later. That is what he is saying in the video, have a good day. He would kiss me good bye and go to his bubble car. Then he would "come home" and give me a big hug and say, "I home!" It was such a cute way of pretending to be his dad. I am so glad the kids just love him and miss him so much when he is away at work. They get so excited to see him at the end of the day it is great.

Why the long blog silence?

Alright, I know it has been forever since I last made a post. But the reason was a good one. The kids were in Burlington so what was I to write about? I didn't want to bore you with stories of me cleaning the garage or de-hairing the house. The kids, Caroline with Dad and Marie and Will with Mom and Pete both had a great week of spoiling. My dad flew them back to MD Friday afternoon and it has been back to chaos ever since. It started Saturday morning when I got up early to go into DC to go on a 10 mile training walk for the 3 day breast cancer walk I am doing in October. Justin had kid duty all morning. Then Saturday after naps we went to a local park hoping to rent a boat but were too late for that and instead had fun at the playground. This morning was church and then we went to a local splash park which the kids totally loved. After dinner tonight we will walk to Bruster's with our friends to get some icecream.
I have had to get used to the noise level after it being super quiet last week and let go of my clean house dreams. My house was the cleanest it has been since we moved in, but not so anymore. Oh, well.
The week was a blessing so that I could get lots of work around the house done in preperation for the work on the half bath construction and new cabinets and countertop later this month. I could not have gooten all that I got acomplished with 2 little ones underfoot.
On the otherhand, I missed then so much and am so glad to have them back to get the hugs and kisses I missed. Even if it comes with not sleeping as well at night!