2/10/13: H*bby L*bby find

my H*bby L*bby find :)  A new coat rack to free up some space in the closet and allow the kiddos to dress themselves. :)

7/28/12: Front porch bling

I got some new-to-me pots and planted some flowers to give my new front porch some pizzazz. :)

6/26/12: 5 yr old Dr visit; C words, construction

Yesterday, Elodie had her 5-year-old well visit.  She passed her vision and hearing tests with flying colors and was declared very healthy.  She was 43.9 inches tall (75th percentile) and weighed in at 42 pounds (50th percentile).  Her BMI was 15.3 (53rd percentile).  She was supposed to receive four shots but I thought that was a bit much in one visit so I postponed two of them for in a month, but she received the DTap in her left left and MMR in her left arm.  She was so brave but she cried because she said it really hurt.  I told her if she stopped crying that instant, I would take her to McDs because I couldn't handle both kids screaming/crying, since Callen had started crying before he even got his shots (DTap & HepA) and was still crying and continued to cry until after we were home!  So Elodie stopped that instant and she got her treat. :)

Waiting to do her vision test

Didn't stand still the entire vision test.

On to the hearing test.

I hear it!

Callen LOVES his trains!  Choo choo! (pre-haircut)

Callen got a haircut last night :)

Too cute!  I had to take a photo of the back of his shirt :)

"reading" a book (he likes to make you say what EVERYTHING is in the book)

Today, Elodie went to her second day of Sports Camp at Christchurch in Louisville.  She really enjoyed herself and earned a trophy for "Best Attitude."  We are very proud of her!  She said they did baseball and cheerleading, where she got to put on foot on each adult's hand and stand in the air!  She also did an art project of Shadrach, Meshach, and Obendigo and came home for the second day in a row soaking wet.  They said she was a little over zealous with running through the sprinklers.  Elodie, over zealous??  No! Never!! :)

Elodie & her little bowling pin and ball trophy

Doing warmups

We are on day 4 of the remodel project.  Ed mostly spent today with two helpers doing the second day of electrical so that we can have our rough electrical inspection tomorrow morning.  Then late this afternoon he tore out the front porch and cut the trex-like stuff for the new porch.

The new stuff just sitting on top so no one falls out the front door.

the old stuff in a pile off to the right

A fire started today in Boulder.  Here's a photo of all the smoke from our street:

Callen had his speech therapy today.  I feel like he's finally saying some more words.  He'll say "bye bye" spontaneously.  He'll repeat or tell if you if you ask what it is: ball (ba), up (uh), down (dah), more (mmm-oh), sister/sissy (sss-sss), go (ga!!!!).

6/23/12: Hiking, Ice Cream, Construction

This morning we went on a "Summer Hike at Mud Lake" put on by volunteer naturalists with the County.  The easy 2 mile hike explored the natural history of the area including bird life and behavior, wildflower identification, butterflies and other insects, and forest ecology.  They also talked a little bit about summer weather patterns and safety in the mountains.  The kids did pretty well, although next time we'll feed Elodie lunch first because she complained about being hungry the whole time, even after eating two granola bars.  Callen was covered in dust by the end and had fallen and re-opened his injured knee for the umpteenth time. One of the men commented that you could tell he was a boy because he had a scab on each knee. :)

On the way home, we stopped at C*ldstone's to use Elodie's birthday coupon.  Yum!  It definitely hit the spot on this 100F day.

What do you do when you are dairy-free and your parents take you to an ice cream shop?  Why, you clean the tables, of course! :)

belated birthday girl (I still can't believe she's FIVE!!!!)

The construction on our loft started yesterday.  Our contractor prepped the area and then took down the loft railing.  Today, he and his helper framed the loft.

Doesn't it look like we have a kill room? ;)  Anyhow, this is the view from the dining room of the sealed off living room.  That stripe is the zipper that we can walk through.

View from the living room.

View from the landing

The closet

Yesterday, we had a cute little bunny fall into our window well.  We tried to help the little guy out by putting 2x4s into the well to act as a ramp, but when that failed, we tried putting a tall upside-down laundry basket in there with food on it, thinking he'd hop to the food and then hop out.  Well, he did eat the grass that fell off the basket but he didn't hop out.  I felt so bad for the little guy when we went to bed last night and sure enough, the little guy was dead this morning. :(  So Dave fished him out immediately since it was already 95F at 9AM and we didn't want the whole house to stink by the time we got home.

the cute little guy BEFORE he died

4/27/12: more rabbit stench story & Colonial days

L was up at 6am talking in her room because she "was just so excited for Colonial Days!!" So I'd say that part of the day was a success...experiencing 1779 with a blacksmith, tanner, trapper, cooking, agriculture, basket weaving, weaving, brick making, music, bowling, etc. and finishing with the awesome Battle of Vincennes reenactment where the British surrendered to the Patriots.

Now back to reality...the hubby is trying to remove all the contaminated dirt & rocks from the window well to get rid of the smell! So in Dave's removal of rocks tonight, after several shovels full of rock, he discovered two more bunnies. Did the big rabbit bury them?!! who knows but he removed them & some rock and then poured a gallon of bleach over the area again. Plus he spent the past two hours making a screen for the basement window so we can get some ventilation down there since none of the windows have screens in the basement and of course the one the dead rabbits were in is covered by house and then further covered by deck so that well isn't getting any air. well the finished part of the basement doesn't smell anymore (although it is 62 in the house this morning from all those windows open yesterday and the basement one open overnight) but the unfinished part where the stinky window well is still smells but hopefully will get better over time. I think Dave's thinking of making another screen window today so we can open the other window in that part to try to air that part out.

Yes, Elodie loved the Colonial Living History day. i'll look forward to taking Callen when he's older and not just running away from me or crying b/c I'm holding him. i hate to break it to L that she has to wait a whole year to go again b/c of course the September one is during Jenn's wedding...that and soccer... poor girl can't do pee wee soccer again in the fall because she'd only be there for two practices... and she has to start kindergarten in july to make up for the time gone in september. i'm guessing it will screw up dance and stuff too and i have to remember to give a 30 day written notice to cancel swim for the month and then pay to restart swim when we get back. i love my sister but i think she picked the absolute worse possible time of the year for us to be gone. also missing the first 3 weeks of BSF :( :(

4/26/12: the rabbit saga continues

it still STINKS. ugh. vinegar did not work. deodorizer spray did not work. air purifier w/hepa & charcoal filter did not work. baking soda did not work. bleach did not work. pout. :( :( :( can't quite seem to find the praise in this trial yet. can't end soon enough!! pretty sure my husband hasn't heard the end of this one yet, although God is kinda screaming in my ear to let it go! so it got hot in the house tonight so i broke down and turned on the AC and now it stinks again b/c of course the main source of the stench is next to the furnace so then it just pumps it through the whole house :( well the AC is turned off again and at least it's supposed to be "cooler" the next few days. and now i know it's possible for the house to not smell if you leave the AC off for 24 hrs.

on the bright side, we're going to be out of the house tomorrow at the Living Colonial History Days and L is super excited to be going. :) i hadn't opened the windows b/c we never open windows b/c of allergies but callen & I will just have to deal b/c it's much more pleasant without the smell in the house. now to figure out how to get rid of the actual smell and it in the basement. we might have to remove the rocks and dirt in the window well where it was. tricky though because the only access is from inside and i don't want any bugs or decomp smelling dirt dropping in my house!!

4/24/12: decomp STINKS

really have not nice words for the dead bunny in my window well that is stinking up my whole basement, backyard, and working its stench into my house!!! so dave (who i have a few choice words for b/c he could have removed it way before it smelled!!!!) came home from work after i failed to find a service to come remove it and he removed it. of course it is the well that the stupid builders built the house over and then there's deck around that so it's really inaccessible so he had to open the window and take it through the house. Good idea mom though for the mesh. we'll have to figure that out. now i'm stuck with the AWFUL decomp smell. SO nasty.

Sunday, 8/16/09...celing fans installation day...

Today was dedicated to installing ceiling fans (w/lights) in the guest room and L's room. D did a fabulous job but there were road blocks involved that were totally not his fault. I had the job of assistant & L entertainer. Let me tell you it's not that easy entertaining her & keeping her out of trouble when she wanted to be w/D where all the action was. We had to try to keep all the tools & parts that she couldn't play with or we didn't want her to loose out of her reach, all while trying to accomplish the goal. We even worked all through her naptime in the room next door, trying to be quiet.

D was all done installing the first fan in the guest room, when the motor didn't work. You could hear it come on, but the fan blades wouldn't turn, yet the lights turned on so we knew it had power. After double checking that it wasn't the remote (read unwiring remote and directly wiring fan), we determined it was a faulty fan (great! not!) so we used the fan we had bought for L's room in the guest room instead. That was ONLY a two hour delay! Then when we were done, D got started on the wiring in the attic, cutting a whole in the ceiling, and mounting the bracket thing that the fan attaches to, while I went to Lowes w/L to exchange the broken fan and pickup takeout for dinner. By the time we ate and finished the install, it was past 9pm so that's when L went to bed since we needed to finish the install & clean up all the drywall dust & insulation that had fallen out of the attic or hitched a ride on D before she could go to bed. End result...one really long day...one really tired D...and two nice ceiling fans & lights in the two rooms. The fan is a really nice feature for our guests (D assures me since he's spent many a nights in there) and both rooms had really poor lighting (only one sconce) so now they're really well lit!


finishing up the guest room ceiling fan


discovering daddy's tools...notice she's taken all of them and put them in a little pile in the tool box.


sucking on it. she also liked wearing them on her fingers like rings.


making noises w/her lips


L checking out the new fan in her room. she really wanted to climb the ladder & we told her she could when we were all done.

If you ask Elodie "why?", she'll reply, "cuz" or "cuz..."  When she's full, she'll say "enough" and hand you back the food.  She'll also take some crackers and say "enough."