Verbatim

Yesterday we were out for a walk around 5ish and Landon said...
"It's too lighty out here, we should go inside."

This morning at breakfast he said...
"Do school buses not have seat belts like my seat? Yeah, but the driver wears a seat belt."
How does he know about this? Not sure, but it's cute he is already concerned about his safety.

Floors, Floors, Floors

It's like the never ending job in my mind so it must not be that much more fun for Craig either since he got stuck doing the bulk of the work.

In the end, it's totally worth it. The floors look amazing and they only had 2 coats of poly on them last time I saw them, 10:00 this morning.

Here are some pictures of the process and what Craig has been up to for the past 5 days.

Sorry the pictures wouldn't rotate.

This is the patch job from one of the floor vents from one of the old furnaces. I didn't get there in time to take a picture of the grate still in place. This is at the entry to the kitchen.

Here's the hallway vent.

I forgot to take a picture of the hallway patch. It looked just like the kitchen one, trust me.

Here are the before/after sanding pictures...

The living room

 Dining room

Master bedroom

I also missed taking a before of the den area, but here's the after sanding shot

This is a good contrast of the sanding. The edges hadn't been done yet.

And here are the after staining photos, no polyurethane applied to these floors yet.

The area at the bottom of the picture is where Craig patched with new wood. They appear darker because that spot was still wet when I took the picture. He had to stain those spots a little darker so they would match the rest of the floor.

I haven't been able to get to the other places in the house to take pictures yet because of drying.

 Last night we scooted around on hands and knees to collect any dust that had settled on the stained floors to prep for polyurethane and Ollie rode horsey on our backs. He was desperately trying to entertain to himself in a house full of un-touchable tools.

Craig is ambitious to put on 3 coats of poly today and possibly one on Thursday which will make for a total of 5 coats. He has put a lot of effort and time to finish the floors and he wants to protect them as much as he can. That first toy/sippy cup that falls on the floor will definitely make Craig's heart skip a beat. We are very happy with the results so far and extremely glad we did it now. 

We can walk on the floors after 24 hours so I'll take pictures and post when I can. 

A new house

The old owners have their Uhaul and are clearing out.
Craig picked up one of the keys last night to the new house!
Friday and Saturday will hopefully be spent sanding down hardwood floors!

Yipee!!!

Safe travels Charles and Hannah and good luck with your new adventure in Texas!

Cicada Outbreak 2011

 The noise was enough to make it obvious that the cicadas had emerged from their 13 year cycle. I didn't realize, however, that cicada nymphs burrow underground and then emerge 13 years later after completing most of their life stages.

The exoskeleton sheddings and holes have covered our yard!

Landon's View

That weekend after getting the new to Craig tools, Craig started a project that was given to him at least 3 years ago by his brother. It's a wooden snake clock. He has a lot of little pieces to cut out and assemble to make it a working clock. The band saw and drill press came in very handy!

Free Wood

Craig was informed by a friend that there was an ad in the local newspaper for free wood. Almost immediately Craig called the number then, we were on our way in Craig's truck to take a look and hopefully score some free lumber for a chicken coop.
The ad was correct about the lumber but most of it wasn't in good condition, except the stash practically no one had touched that was under the house. 3 people had been there that same day to load up there trucks.
The lady who was desperately trying to get rid of her husband's stash of wood had told us her husband was sick and unable to build "something" out of the lumber. The boards were from an old dairy barn he helped tear down. SCORE!
Now in the carport, where my car used to be able to park, lay some of the lumber from some man's dashed dreams. Sad times for both of us. I can't park my car in shade and he can't complete his project.

At least Craig will be able to start building a chicken coop for the chickens that Landon is so excited about getting. This story doesn't end too sadly.

And of course there just so happened to be a woodworking shop that the old man couldn't use anymore and hoping to get rid of some of the tools. So for what I hope was a good deal, Craig also walked away with a band saw, drill press and a table saw.

Bunk Beds

When we arrived back in the South, Craig had completed the bunk beds and had them set up in the bedroom. Landon, who was asleep when we got him out of the car, woke up when he saw the big surprise in his room, he was excited, understatement! I love to hear his newest "I'm so giddy with joy and can't speak voice/mutterings of sounds that can't be formed into words" He slept on the bottom bunk that night but ever since has bravely slept up top.

Oliver will MAYBE get to sleep on the bottom bunk when we move to the new house. I haven't decided if we should leave him in the crib or just make the switch with the move. All will become clear in about 2 weeks.
For now he enjoys playing on the bottom bunk and climbing the ladder.

Craig, you're amazing! Thanks for giving the boys something special and made from their Dad!

A new house

3 days after we got back from Ohio we closed on our first house! We move in at the end of May. The previous owners are still living there until they close on their next house and move to Texas, otherwise we would already be working on refinishing the hardwood floors.
Craig will have fun with the challenge of sanding and staining old hardwood floors. After that project is done and the floors are set enough for furniture to sit on them we will move in!

We can't wait to move in and finally have a place of our own.
I'll have pictures after we settle in.

Our last week

Craig finally arrived in Ohio for our last week of vacation. I wish had been there to see Ollie's reaction to seeing Craig but I'm told he wouldn't let go of him. I love seeing their smiles after seeing their Dad, even after Craig has just being gone for a days work.
The last week was a lot of entertaining the cousins while their belongings were packed and moved. Trips out to Grandpa Don's shop to watch him put back together Eric's lawnmower and also Grandpa's tractor. Oliver couldn't find either Craig, Landon or Grandpa one day and the first place he wanted to go look for them was out in the shop. He kept saying Papap and looked all around the shop.
We also drove around on the golf cart through the muddy fields and maybe even through some pig manure. Gross!
Another place that is always a huge hit is to the sheep and chicken barns. The kids love to find the freshly laid eggs.

They even got to get the feed to give to the sheep.

Landon got to help Craig grind the feed for the pigs one day.

Grandma made playdough for the kids one day and was entertainment for days.

Craig and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary in Ohio and luckily had babysitters! We went to dinner at the same place we had dinner for our senior prom and then had ice cream at one of the local dariettes. Craig got the biggest root beer float as he used to do in high school.
Happy 5 years Craig! We've been incredibly busy for the first 5, we should definitely slow it down for the next 5!

Bachelorette Party

Another reason we went to Ohio was to help host a bachelorette party. My best friend is getting married in October and 2 of the 4 bridesmaids are pregnant, we had to have it sometime in the middle of our pregnancies so we could somewhat enjoy ourselves with the other girls! My other best friend, Amanda, and I are co-matron of honors, we had fun planning and shopping! Thanks for the excuse to spend time with Amanda!
We surprised Lisa with the locations of the day. First we went to a local winery and sampled their list and by we I mean everyone else. The winery allows you to bring in your own food so we took a bunch of yummy food. Black-eyed pea and artichoke dip, pepperoni pinwheels, phallic shaped pasta salad, and chocolate covered strawberries. We gave Lisa a sachet of quarters to have her endless supply of wine tastings until she found the one she could drink a full glass of.
It was a fun and relaxed time.
This wasn't all that we did but I wanted to leave it G rated. 
No strippers were involved in the making of this party.

Happy Bachelorette Party Lisa! Looking forward to the wedding with lots of anticipation and hoping I'll actually be there for you on your big day. Hopefully I won't be as big as your day!
My due date October 11, her wedding day, October 15. Anyone want to place a bet?

Ring Sling

I've been putting off making a ring sling for myself but when a friend of my younger sisters asked me to make one for her, it was a great time to finally get to work on mine also. This is the sling I made for my sister's friend. It's made of linen so it's super breathable and has a pocket in the tail.

My sling is 90% done, I couldn't decide on an accent fabric, but it is usable and came in handy with a sick Ollie waiting to get a chest x-ray done. I have a feeling it's going to get a lot of use in about 6 months!
It was one of the easiest things I've made. It took about 40 minutes to make the second one, it was so simple. What would cost $80 online or in stores cost me less than $20!
Thank you Mom for teaching me to sew!

Easter

Ollie was in much better spirits for Easter. He flirted with everyone at church and decided not to take a nap the whole day.
It rained on Easter so the kids had an egg hunt inside. Landon had a meltdown because he didn't want Emma to find the eggs that he had hidden. It was obvious he was TIRED!

Here's Landon pre-meltdown with chocolate in his mouth.

Here's Emma looking super cute in her dress Katie made for her! Nice job Kate!

After Easter with my family we went to Craig's parents for more Easter fun. Oliver joined right in and didn't take time to warm up to everyone like he normally does away from home. The ate jello eggs and pig farm ham! We missed having Craig with us but enjoyed seeing his family and getting rowdy with the other boys.

Birdhouse

Landon asked my Dad one day what he was making in his woodshop, so they went down and made a birdhouse and later painted it.

Later this day I took Ollie to the doctor after running a fever for the 4th day. After a short visit with the doctor she was sure he had pneumonia and sent us to the hospital for an x-ray to confirm her suspicion. (Chest x-rays with children are NO fun! Have you ever seen the contraption they have to sit in!?) She was right, he also had a double ear infection. Fortunately he didn't have to be hospitalized. A shot of antibiotics in the leg and a 10 day course of augmentin. Luckily Oliver was a changed boy the day after his shot of antibiotics because it was Easter.

Easter Prep

My sister's kids had off school for Good Friday so they spent Thursday night at my Mom's house with us. Landon was pumped up about a sleepover with Caroline. Caroline, I'm not so sure she was excited. Landon kept talking and keeping her awake. He only lasted until 11 pm with her. He said it was too noisy downstairs. Oliver also didn't want to be left out and wanted to cuddle with Caroline.

For Good Friday the kids made an Easter craft and then dyed eggs.

This was my favorite of 5 takes. It's absolutely impossible to get a good picture of these 5!

Payton's new house

Craig's sister and her family moved into their new house while we were in Ohio. We helped out by keeping their 3 girls entertained in a house with no furniture. Only their toys had made the move. 

Landon helped out by holding Baby Corrine.

Oliver found one of the only comfy seats in the house