It's gone!!

I am relieved to report that after sitting in our front yard for more than 6 months we are finally rid of the debris from last December's ice storm. We investigated many ways to get rid of the pile ourselves but in the end it always ended up costing way more than we could spend or, requiring equipment we didn't have (like towing capacity). Plus, the city has been promising since January to take care of it. Anyway, today it is done! Hooray!! If you click on the pictures you can see them better. I love how both boys are standing there with their hands behind their backs. As if to say, "I won't touch - I promise!"

School Projects

I know most of you are wrapping up your school year but we, thanks to some crooked politicians, still have an entire month left. The boys have both come home with major projects to do and here is the first of the two. Jacob was asked to choose a famous American and do some research about him. At school they made puppets of their person. Jacob chose Theodore Roosevelt because he was fascinated by all of his safaris and experiences with wild animals. The children made the puppets at school and then had an open house last Friday.

Happy Birthday!!

May is our birthday month. Joshua turned 9 on the 13th, Adam turned 33 on the 12th and Samuel turned 2 on the 22nd. By the time we got to Samuel we were sick of cake. So, we made homemade ice cream and topped it with sugared strawberries and chocolate covered pretzels, all things that Samuel will eat, most of the time.






The pretzel dippers. Apparently they had fun.

Mud puddles!

So, one thing led to another this afternoon. It started off as a simple run through the sprinkler and ended in mud from head to toe. Samuel was not pleased when it came to be cleaned with the water from the hose. Frigid is the best word to describe it. However, I must admit that I couldn't help but chuckle as I chased a naked 2 year old around our front yard with the hose.

So, the redoing of our bedroom led to a redo of our master bath. We originally thought we'd have to rip everything out but managed to use most of what was there and with a few minor changes (and some serious wood stripper) this is the end result. We added the shelves - that space was empty and useless. We painted, changed the mirrors, lights, hardware and faucets. We stripped the vanity and stained it the dark color it is now.

We finally got around to painting our room.

Money boxes the boys made with PopPop when we visited in March.

Andrew's Pirate Hat - I admit it, I am not above bribery when it comes to potty training.

This is Andrew's version of swimming - complete with goggles and no shirt.