House Makeover

Before:
Crummy asbestos siding- windows that won't open- drafts and all kinds of yuck

After:

new siding that matchs the neigbors instead of standing out- windows that are actually energy effficient and should help with the keeping the cool air in during the summer and out during the winter.

Work to do yet:

Paint Chimney

Paint wall

finish the blasted retaining wall

And.... and.... and....

The to do list of a fixer upper never ends!

Introducing Stella

While the kids were away- we decided to go for Dinner and a movie.


We've been Dying to go to this place called Cheeseburger in Paradise. http://www.cheeseburgerinparadise.com/ So we were going to a matinee of Momma Mia and then head out to grab us some grub at the Cheeseburger place.



But we decided since we were so early for the movie, that we were going to make a pit stop at a car dealer to check out some cars. Jim had been doing research online and we've been kinda looking for a while now- and just haven't found the right car for the right price.




I must admit. Going there I had my heart set on the Chrysler Pacifica http://www.chrysler.com/en/2008/pacifica/index.html?bid=1758115&adid=25568222&pid=12206054. I loved everything about that car- and then I sat inside one.



There was just no way we could fit all of us and our stuff in that car. When all three rows were being used you couldn't even fit a suitcase in the back. There was no way that was going to work.



And so we've come to the conclusion that we are going to be van people. And that was when we found it. A Town and County. 2006- in our price range, good mileage. It was one of those Internet specials that had just been uploaded and goes quickly. So we test drove it.



And then we signed our life away and bought it.


And so our dinner and a movie got a whole lot more expensive. Like selling your kids to the gypsies to pay the car note expensive (not that I would ever even threaten to do that *wink, wink* ) And, we missed the movie.

But we did get to Cheeseburger in paradise. We splurged and ordered an appetizer of fried pickles (which sounds disgusting, but was actually very good- as is most anything that is fried) Jim got his burger and I decided to eat something different and got a quesidilla. Yum yum Yummo.


So the kids finally got to see the new car when we picked them up from the week away.

They love it. They were so happy and I must say I do not miss the "Will you stop touching me" screaming that came from the back seat of the car. They each have their own seat and there is no touching. And Jim and I are so far away from them, their bickering isn't as bothersome, it's not directly behind us and giving us headaches.



And so, here she is. The moment you have all been waiting for. Our newest member of the family, Stella:

New portraits of the kids

While we were in DC we took the scenery as an opportunity to up
date our portraits for the kids. :)

Thought I'd share them with you all who won't be coming to our house to see them. :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

The kids are off for their first day of the new school year. It was a long a butterfly filled morning!

First things first was what to wear. Yesterday, Abby and her friend had a pow wow and discussed what each other was going to wear and accessorizing with hair and jewerly. She was set to go.

Lilly's had her first week of school outfits picked out since July- so she had no problems.

Caleb, well- fashion isn't his favorite thing and I had to help him out or he would have come down the steps in cut off and a stained Star wars shirt. (His shirt in the picture is not stained- it's wet from a teeth brushing incident)



I totally thought ahead on what to eat the first morning and so I made up about 4 batches of waffles and froze them. All we had to do was pop them in the toaster and Voila- a yummy back to school breakfast. Now that Jim is working nights we are going to have breakfasts together as a family. (at least until I find a job then, we might have to tweak that a little) (notice how the auto focus blurred the kids and focused on our new slider door?- Even the Cannon realizes how much better it looks now! LOL)

It was time to take Abby to the bus. Technically- she is in middle school and doesn't need mom and dad there, but she wasn't too embarassed and to tell you the truth, I think she was glad we were there. :)
She's off to 6th Grade. Her last year of middle school!
Caleb and Lilly have to wait a while till their bus comes. So they hung out and watched some cartoons.

It was finally time to scoot and so off we went to the bus stop.

Notice the running? They were so happy to go off to school!
The boy was on of the first ones on. He's sitting closer to the back this year with the other second graders. :)

And there goes my baby- off on the big yellow bus that she went nuts over as a baby.

And so begins a we officially turn a page and leave the pre-school years behind us and move on. I have to say, I'm happy. I love the age group they are in right now. They are independent, yet still need me. They can read- which is something I LOVE to do with them. And these are the years that they are going to remember and so I think that makes making memories with them even more fun than it was already.

And I'm out of here. I'm off to make my Mrs. Field's cookies for an afternoon snack. I'm doubling the recipe and freezing them like i Saw on http://www.freezehappy.com/2008/07/best-freeze-happy-recipe-evah.html I'm thinking that as the kids have a good day at school or even a bum day at school I can whip these puppies out and make it all better. :)


Ciao!

Home and missing the new baby lovins

I had so much fun while the kids were away this week. I would have been bored out of my mind being here by myself and with all the construction work going on I might have gone mad.

But I got some one on one time with The newest arrival. Elliot is a doll. And Sam and I had a blast hanging out together too. The boy loves to read and I think we read the same 5 books about a million times.






And now I'm home. Jim's working OT and I'm here with the construction crew and I miss my kids. But I'm working on a big project to keep me busy- and hopefull time will go a little faster because of it.

You can't go to grandma and grandpa's house without throwing stones in the creek. :) And so we did.

I'm surprised there are any stones left on the banks.

We came back muddy and yucky and they loved it. The camera didn't though. I'm not sure what the problem was. Perhaps we needed to use a different setting or the sun was just at a difficult spot. But this is as good as it gets for creek pictures.

Go climb a tree

I can say that at home and it would be a scarcastic remark. All of the trees around us are tall and pretty much no where near climbable.

So when were were at Grandma's and Grandpa's the kids were looking a little bored and so I said "Go find a tree to climb" And they looked at me like I had two heads. They were probably thinking I was setting them up for some kind of joke.

So I pointed out a couple of really good climbing trees in the side yard and sent them on their way.

Besides the pool, the trees were a big hit for them. :)












Caleb is a natural money. In seconds he was at the top of the tree and you could barely see him.

Abby was a tad tree shy and it took a while for her to get over her fear of falling.

Lilly never did get over that fear of falling and was content to play in smaller closer to the ground tree.

THe kids are away and mom and dad can play!

Well, not really. All the downstair windows are installed. They are not completely done yet though- there is still some trim work that needs to be done. I'm having trouble dealing with the mess. THe house is torn apart and dust is everywhere and and and....

*take a deep breath*

So it's a good thing I'm leaving for a few days. Jim has to work and I'm going to get some new baby lovins from Wendi and Jim's newest arrival.

Hopefully, by the time I'm back, The inside work will be done and I can get the house back in shape before the kiddos come home.

Speaking of the kiddos: This is my favorite picture of them from the weekend we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house. :)



It's Wall worthy and so I had winkflash print out larger copies of it for just that. Speaking of Winkflash, they have .15 5x7's and .99 8x10 with coupon code NICEPRICE77. I just ordered a ton. 45 5x7's 6 8x10's and 45 4x6's and I didn't even spend $20 - and that includes shipping.

I Heart winkflash. It's one of my favorite online companies.


So enough packing procrastination- and I'm off. :) You won't miss me though. :) I've got lots of pictures to share.

Summer Band Institue part 4

This is my favorite song of the night. I was so happy when she brought the music home for this. :)

Enjoy!




And I realize that the macaroni march didn't upload correctly. I fixed the problem and you can get it on the website :) SOrry about that.

Summer Band Institue part 3

this was one of Abby's favorites. Although As a mom listening to her kid practice all the time, this song made much more sense when everyone played together. :)

Summer Band Institue part 2

Here's the 2nd song Abby's group did.

It's called Macaroni March. I bet you can figure out why when you play it. :)

Summer Band Institute

All summer long Abby has been practicing for summer band and on Wednesday night they had their Concert.

I was so impressed at how well they did. She really pushed herself to learn new and different things and her playing has improved so much over the summer. We are so proud.

So, enjoy the video. I'll be posting her songs one at a time- as I know you all have a life. :)

Enjoy.

I'm a happy girl

Lookie at what was delivered to our house today!!!




New siding


New windows and sliding glass door




And all the fixins to make it happen.


Woo- hoo. Our house is gonna get a face lift! :)

Arch Enemies- Fred and Gimli. Can a truce be reached?

Fred is our vaccum. We had him for about 3 monts before we adopted Gimli. And from the first moment we brought Fred out with Gimli around they have never got along.

Fred lives in the closet under the stairs. You walk by the closet and gimli perks his ears up. You open the closet and the pooch is on alert.

And heavens to Betsy, if you pull Fred out of the closet- THe pooch goes mad. He barks, he attacks Fred- he barks some more. The Fued between Fred and Gimli has gotten worse in the past few months- to the point where Gimli is nearly hysterical and so he goes outside while we vaccum.

Fred is highly misunderstood. He wants to help Gimli and clean up after Him and gimli wants nothing to do with it.

So today Fred has decided to be diplomatic about thier relationship. He's tired of the fighting and quiet frankly- he's going deaf from all the barking.

And so to help this pooch understand that Fred is a good guy- he decided to give Gimli a treat.





Gimli is a cautious pooch. He can't seem to understand why His rival would want to give him a present. Is it laced with poison? Is Fred trying to take him out on the sly?

And so he starts investigating. He sniffs around and doesn't smell anything suspicious. So now the only problem is- if he wants the treat he must go up to Fred and take it.

A feat that is easier said than done. After all, would Superman take a tasty donut from lex Luther? Would Batman be fooled by a cookie from the joker? Ha! He's a smarter pooch than that. He has enough will power that even though that yum-yummy treat is all his for the taking- he will not be fooled.

And so day one of the peace treaty negotitiations end with the pooch walking out on the meeting. And so the pooch heads outside as Fred cleans up the pieces of his broken heart- and as he sucks up Gimli's discarded fur her wonders if things will ever change between them.

And I'm a pepsi girl, really!

Ok, so it's kinda embarassing to admit this but we did not watch all of the opening ceramonies last night. I'd love to give some really good excuse as to why, but in reality- we were tired and much past 10 any more is our bed time.

So we didn't see past the Americans coming into the stadium. No worries though. We have it taped and will watch it sometime this week.

However, I must share my favorite commercial so far.



I'm not a Coke fan, I'm a pepsi girl all the way, but this commercial is so cute, cute, cute.

Enjoy the olympics everyone. We're on our way down to watch Michael Phelps win his first gold.

8/8/08

It's the day we've been waiting for all summer. :)

The Olympics start tonight. We are SO excited!

Other than that, not much esle is going on!

And yet more DC pictures

Most of our DC pictures were taken with a wide angle lens to get as much of the back ground in as possible. However, this shot and the next shot were taken with his Zoom lens. We were pretty far back. at this point and these were pretty much just him playing around while we were giving the kids a break.

On the steps of the lincoln Memorial

Lilly was having a melt down moment and so this was as close as we got to the white house
Taking a break after we walked about 3 or 4 miles
On one of the many shade rests

The kids with their T-shirts and souvineers
Me and Big D. The nice thing about having older kids is that they can take pictures for you and so there is actual proof you were there together. :)