In Houston...

with a heat index of 108 degrees! We are melting. Ainsley is not tolerating the heat very well and we are spending our time in air conditioned places. At my in-laws house we had an eventful, miserably hot visit to the zoo which I will post about another time. I have to add pictures and have quite the story to tell. Well, I hope you all are doing well and even though we are having fun, we miss Daddy, friends, home etc. Having a good time, but can't wait to get back. I miss my bloggy friends as well! More later my tater tots!

Headed out today!

I am stressed and trying to get some last minute things done. My hubs has a friend coming this weekend and my house is not as clean as I would like it to be. I haven't had time to get into a routine of cleaning with both kids home. Actually a miracle happened yesterday and both kids cleaned up their rooms, playroom, and downstairs area. They did a beautiful job. I hope to check in time to time, but I am not sure how much access my in-laws will give me to a computer. We will see!

Joy Happiness and Crazy Faces...

What my children love most about warm, dry summer weather is the opportunity to eat lunch outside. Sometimes we pack up and head to a nearby park, but today since we had been out shopping and to the library already so we stayed home and lunched in the back yard.

Happiness abounds with a picnic blanket, peanut butter sandwich and lemonade. Enjoying the lovely warm weather before we head down south and turn into little puddles. No outdoor activites for us that don't involve water if I can help it. Air conditioning here we come!

Note from the Teacher

Yesterday was Aidan's last day of first grade. I did end up going to his awards. Mostly the 5th and 6th graders get the awards, but Aidan received one for attendance and recognition for his Outstanding Student Award earlier in the year. Aidan had a very good school year academically. Socially was a bit more difficult, but I am hoping with some changes that have been put in place that next year will be better.

This week is going to be super busy getting ready for our trip. Right now however, I need a nap so I am off. Aidan will have some reading/play time and Ainsley and I will get to sleep. I am so tired of waking in the middle of the night and then not get back to sleep. Hopefully tonight will be better. I will try to post one more time this week before we are off, but if I don't get the chance I would really appreciate your prayers. Mostly for safe travel and patience with the family. Thank you my friends!

The countdown officially begins...

Today is the last day of actual academics at school. The kids go back Monday because of a rescheduled snow day. Plus, it is their awards ceremony and fun day...school picnic. (Graduation was already scheduled for Friday afternoon and they did not want to reschedule that for another day. Hence the students have Friday off and go back Monday.) I won't be able to stay for the whole day as I have Ainsley and it would be nuts. I have other commitments at church as well, but I think I will stop by for the awards ceremony. I don't think that Aidan is getting anything, but I would be going just as an interested parent. I am so grateful that things will be wrapping up soon. I am so glad that my children enjoy school, but as a parent I get tired of all the running around that it sometimes involves. I will be glad for the summer break.


My in-laws apparently have a countdown going for our visit. Do you think they are the least bit excited? They haven't seen the kids since last summer since they haven't come to visit us here in almost 2 years. I am told however that they will be coming in July. I will believe it when I see them here. I told my husband that too. They have said several times that they were coming and then never made any plans to do so. Ah well the choices other people make are not always the choices that I would make and that is just how it is and I will accept it. It really just hurts my husbands feelings even if he won't say anything to them outright. I think if they do actually come up it will go a long way towards easing those hurts. Well, enough of a downer. School is almost done and we are thrilled!

Let the Sunshine!

Let the sunshine, let the sun shine in...is that how the song goes? Anyway, a much needed sunny day! We are having an end of the year afterschool picnic with the usual crew. Snacks and all. Most of my chores have been completed today and I am feeling pretty good. Actually I am exhausted. I have been so tired lately, just having a really hard time getting up in the morning. I went to bed early last night hoping that I would be less tired in the morning. No such luck, I woke up at 2:30 and was unable to fall asleep again until just before the hubs left for the plant this morning. You know how it is when you are tired and you are lying in bed just praying for sleep. Selfish of me I know, but I don't think clearly at that hour of the morning. Busy brain with things that needed to be done and calls that I needed to make. Hopefully tonight will be better. So now I am off to get a quick nap in before heading out to pick up kiddo. Hopefully I will have enough sense to take the camera with me this afternoon. What a lovely day!

I am a grouch!

After 3 days of rain, waking to more clouds this morning has put me in a sour mood. Where did my sunshine and warm weather from Friday go? Is it coming back because I need it desperately. Next week we head to Texas where we will have plenty of sunshine and the oppressive heat that goes with it. Is there no happy medium!

Anyway, my kitchen painting project is done for now. The walls and ceiling have all been painted. Hopefully, I won't have to paint ceilings again until I decide to get to work on Ainsley's room. My next task is to finish Aidan's closet doors and radiator covers and finish a few more window screens. All in the next week and a half! It is doable as long as I spend my free hour or so during the day/evening working on those things.

Well, I am off to get some housework done this morning while Ainsley watches Sesame. Later taters!

Stone Patios

When we moved into this 110 year old house, we knew it was going to take some work. The couple living here previously was divorcing and many things had been left neglected. One of those things was the backyard. In our time here so far we have removed dead/dying cedar trees (17 in all), removed some sort of vine with poisonous berries, replaced the fence and added some flower beds. We wanted to add a stone patio to be able to put our grill on and eventually get an outside table. The wooden porches we have are too small for such things. So we called some landscapers and had some estimates done. Because of last summer's $4 gas prices, the cost was astronomical. It was much more than we were able to spend considering we were in need of replacing the boiler unit for our much needed winter heating. Anyway, fast forward to earlier this week. B was digging around near the house and one of the porches as he was grilling our dinner. There have been these large stones there and I think he had in mind to remove them. As he continues digging he unearths more and more stones. Then he notices that they are in a sort of pattern. He does more digging and then realizes what he is looking at...a stone patio. Under lava rocks, grass and tons of dirt is a stone patio! It is going to take quite a bit of work to reclaim the area and not exactly the look for a patio that we had in mind, but I will take a free patio anyday over having to pay to install one or install one ourselves.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Escaping for a bit...

today is my rescheduled hair appointment. I am thrilled. A girlfriend of mine is watching Ainsley for me so I have a few hours of much needed freedom, and pampering.


Yesterday we had some difficulties at the school playground. We left much earlier than planned and both children were sent to time out at home. Because of their behavior yesterday, several restrictions have been placed on their play for this afternoon. I will let you know how it goes. Pray pray pray, we are going to need it!

Ainsley's Graduation Day...

My apologies! I skipped a bit ahead yesterday to inform everyone of Pilly's dramatic recovery. Back to last Thursday...Ainsley graduated from her 3 year old preschool. Some of my pictures did not turn out, fuzzy as usual. I won't post them here but this is Ainsley her little buddy C and her two teachers. I am going to say again how much I am going to miss this school next year. I have to work really hard to make the extra effort to teach bible stories as well as they did this year. It does help that our church sends bible lessons home with us to work on during the week. I have made an extra effort since the first of the year to work on these with the kiddos. I swear, Aidan memorizes scripture so easily. That one has the amazing memory I no longer seem to have. Pulled in too many directions I guess. Back to graduation...tons of artwork came home, they made Father's Day presents, received certificates, and had an indoor picnic. A good time was had by all. We presented the teachers with flower arrangements, each student contributed a flower to each, and some gift cards. Love those two ladies pictured above, in my eyes they were sent to me straight from heaven! What a blessing.

I heard a follow up from the school counselor today. Things between the Aidan and his "friend" have apparently improved significantly. I am wondering if some of their troubles, or at least Aidan's troubles, had something to do with the long winter. There are still bad days to their friendship, but I think since they are having more and more opportunity to play outside they are getting along better. I have the impression that Aidan able to get away from him a little better. I still don't like to hear Aidan say that this kid is making fun of him. Irks me to no end. I keep telling Aidan that when this starts up he needs to walk away and play with his other friends. He doesn't need to stay around if he is being given a hard time. On a few rare occasions I have even seen him do this. Hopefully, this situation will continue to improve especially considering the space that summer provides for us.


Today Ainsley went in for her first official dentist appointment. She has visited before, but this time they were able to do some actual cleaning. If only I could get her to sit still in the chair for more than 5 seconds! Too much for her too look at and touch. Hopefully, next time will be even easier. Well, that is it for now. I hope everyone has a sunshiny day!

Pilly is Home!

One happy little girl and one silly boy that had to get in on the camera action.

One happy little girl with her favorite doll. Pilly arrived home today dressed in a hospital gown and cap complete with Dr. instructions. Too cute.

I want to apologize or clarify some of my comments from earlier. Please don't get me wrong. I do love my in-laws, sometimes though too much togetherness is too much of a good thing. I don't want anyone to thing that I am ungrateful for their hospitality. I just am worried about feeling run over and resentful. Okay, enough about that. Hope everyone had a glorious day because things were pretty good over here.

Recovery Tuesday...

yesterday I was sidelined with a major headbanging migraine. I did minimal work yesterday and I am blessed with a super husband who took over with the kiddos after a hard day at work. I am not sure what set that one off other than 2 terrible nights sleep. Go figure! Much better today though.

Monday's have suddenly become decidedly less busy. Life in general is a bit less busy this week as we begin the end of the year wrap up. Ainsley finished preschool last week so all we have is to run Aidan to and from school daily and go to various dental appointments/hair appointments and doctor appointments before we head out of town in a few weeks.

I must confess I am a bit nervous about my trip. I have travelled without Brian before so that is not the issue. I have serious reservations about staying with my in-laws for a week without Brian there. My FIL can be very over-bearing, demanding and difficult. I do not like to feel like I am being run over which happens often when I am with them. Grandpa was also a little rougher on Aidan than I care to tolerate last time we visited as well. Brian usually does well to act as a buffer so that everyone gets as much out of our visits as they need and for that I am most grateful. I am praying that I will be able to handle this without feeling like I am losing my mind or unable to enjoy our visit. I am planning on picking up some sort of devotional or bible study so I can have something to keep me in the Word while I am there, hopefully in an effort to keep my head and wits about me. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Painting Project 2---Kitchen

Since B had Tuesday off from work this week and both children were in school for the morning we decided to start our next painting project. The kitchen! I have dreaded the taking apart of such a central place in our home, but we painted and even managed to get dinner prepared without too much hassle. This is what we had to start with...a sort of taupe color with a ragging faux finish. Not something I cared for much with these colors. I have seen this done in other colors and liked it very much. These color choices did not appeal to me. My hubby may not be too happy with this picture of him in his "muscle" shirt.

We have achieved primer. Getting the primer on went pretty quickly. Paint was another matter. The color I chose was rather light so it required several coats for decent coverage.

This is what my color will look like. I have not completed this project yet as I am needing to do some touch up work as well as get the ceiling painted. I will work on this some more this weekend I hope. I just love this yellow and have convinced myself to paint the cabinets and trim a lighter color as well. Talk about taking apart my kitchen.

Next post: Ainsley graduates from 3 year old preschool!

Remembering our Soldiers, Memorial Day 2009

This photo sums Memorial Day up for me. The saddled horse with no rider. Why is it that remembering our soldiers always makes me weepy?

My little man was in the parade again this year. This time he marched with his new scout pack. Poor man was tired at the end.

Another rare and elusive photo of me. This one is actually not too bad. You can kind of even see the red my hair used to be in this lighting. I like it when Miss Ainsley looks like she is my daughter. I don't see much of me in her except for maybe her skin coloring, but my hair was much closer to her color when I was her age. I digress. She was scared of the noises some of the motorcycles were making so I think that is when my hubby snapped this one. I hope everyone else had a nice holiday weekend.

This week has been a busy one for us. First, I was totally thrown off my Monday being a holiday and that my hubs was also off on Tuesday. Second, Aidan had a big dentist appointment this week as he was having some sealant put on his molars. We were there waiting for him for almost 2 hours and they gave him some extra prizes for being a model patient. Third, Ainsley graduated from 3 year old preschool. What a big day! I have some cute pictures to share, but they are still on my camera. I will download those this weekend. B has inventory so it will be a late night and a working Saturday which stinks. Mostly because I had to cancel my hair appointment and I really wanted to get in before heading South. I will have to call tomorrow and see if I can reschedule my appointment before I leave. Our schedule will be slowing down a bit in the next few weeks I am going to be loving that! Have a great weekend everyone!

Ainsley's Last Field Trip

Even though we live in a fairly small town, we are very blessed to have a small local zoo. Best of all it is free! They do however accept donations so we donate when we can as we visit often in the summer. The kiddos ended up having a very nice day for their field trip and my Ainsley girl's favorite exhibit was the prairie dogs as seen below. They also got to listen to one of the zoo keepers who allowed them to pet many of the animals. Ainsley's favorite was a chinchila which is not yet in an exhibit. He had been someone's pet and was surrendered to the local humane society. Below, the kids are checking out the wolf exhibit.

By the time we reached the gazebo where the cranes are, all the children were getting tired and hungry.

Then, we headed over to the next portion of the field trip to visit the local Pizza Hut. The children were able to tour the kitchen to see where the pizzas are made and then, with the help of some very patient staff members, they had the chance to make their own pizza. Ainsley chose cheese only of course! It was a very nice tour and considering the early hour, about 10:30 in the morning, they had the restaurant to themselves. I have been so happy to get to chaperone so many of her field trips this year!

Painting Project---Aidan's Room

I have tons of pictures to post and things to tell you all about but I am going to try to go in some sort of chronological order. I have started some big projects around here in an effort to get some things worked on before the kids are out of school for the summer. I could have started these things ages ago, but I have been waiting for warmer weather so I can open windows while I am working. Painting has been taking me a long time since I can only devote an hour or two a day, but sometimes slow and steady wins the race. I decided to paint Aidan's room first as B had patched a wall that had some damage earlier this year. When I started removing switch plates and items of this nature I noticed how badly the previous paint job had been. I took the radiator cover off (easy to remove) and I see pink paint. This pink so bright to me it makes my head hurt. I can't imagine sleeping in a room painted this pink. Ainsley's room was previously this color as well. I have seen the evidence.

Cutting in! I am committed to completing now.

My finished product with most of Aidan's things in place. I am still working on the closet doors and radiator cover. The trim was previously beige or maybe it was white at one point. It is a little difficult to tell. Anyway, this weekend B had a few days off and was able to paint the ceiling for me as I already had it cut in. I haven't done the ceiling myself before and he was more than willing to help there. I love the green that Aidan and I picked. Very boyish and it matches his quilt nicely. I can also switch out to his heavy comforter without worries as well. He is happy and I am happy so all is good.

Coming up later this week...Ainsley's last school Field trip, and Memorial Day Parade! Later taters!

Great Nail Polish Incident of 2009

Yesterday as usual, I put Ainsley down for her nap. Lately, she doesn't always nap, but sometimes she does so I always put her to bed. She was so quiet yesterday I made the assumption that she was asleep. After getting my chores done, I laid down for a bit myself to do some reading and hopefully rest. As I am dozing, I hear Ainsley go to her door and say Mommy come see. I asked her to come to my room and she comes in with a handful of her dolls and a bottle of nail polish. She knows she is not supposed to have the bottle of nail polish, much less use it on her dolls, and her jeans and her bed spread etc. Hence the extra laundry yesterday. Even with non-acetone nail polish remover I have not been able to do anything but lessen the stains. At least the bedspread only had a small area of pink polish, so it is not something I need to replace. I originally made her put the dolls in the trash and then thought better of it and put them back as a reminder of what she is not supposed to do. She has been banned from having her nails painted again until she is much older and we did throw her bottle of polish into the trash. It is typically in the bathroom so I really have no idea when it ended up in her room. She wanted me to toss mine as well, but I did not as I told her I am responsible with my use of polish. What had me so heartbroken was that she painted the face of her favorite baby doll...her American Girl Bitty Baby, Pilly. Needless to say, she was sent away today to the doll hospital for repair because I just couldn't leave her like that. I love Pilly almost as much as Ainsley does. Anyway, that was the cause of my breakdown yesterday. After a long week of struggling with children who have not been using listening ears, I just feel to pieces because she knows better. My children are struggling with listening specifically to Mom these days and I know it will pass. Thanks for the prayers my friends.

On another note, my sweet hubby rented some movies so that he and I could have a date night at home tonight after the kids go to bed. Gotta love early bedtimes. Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone.

Rough week...

B has been out all week entertaining. Thankfully he is starting the holiday weekend early and has off tomorrow. He is planning on doing some work in the upstairs bathroom. I am not completely sure what that is going to entail really, but we will see. This weekend Aidan has off from soccer, but our new scout pack is participating in the Memorial Day parade in town on Monday. We also are headed up to a nearby campsite to meet up with some friends on Sunday. I think I am going to try to escape a bit tomorrow evening and sit in a coffee shop for a while. I may call a girlfriend of mine if it looks as if I may actually get to escape and hopefully have a chat. I don't even want to go into all of the reasons why this week has been so difficult because I fell apart a bit today and it is all too fresh. B says that this is something I will look back on and laugh. I hope so because today I am not laughing! I have lots of pictures I have taken from activities this week so hopefully I will get them up here this weekend. Well, I am off to shuffle a bit of extra laundry this week as a result of our incident earlier today. Now doesn't that leave you wondering what happened...

Pictures Finally

This is just a quik peek at what has been going on around here. Above is Ainsley's preschool program that was last night.

B finally bought Aidan an inexpensive set of golf clubs. Here he is breaking them in. The child is obsessed with golf really. I will try to post some more tomorrow, but tonight B took Aidan to soccer so I have been playing with Ainsley and trying to catch up on photos. I get so behind! Later guys!

I'm still here...

but I have been busy making my daily lists and sticking to them. Today's list is already partially complete, but looks like this...
-clean baths
-load of laundry
-dishes
-paint

I am still working on the trim. I should finish the primer today and get started on the actual paint. I am hoping I can work on this some tomorrow as well, but we wil see. Allergy season has kicked into high gear for me so I am a bit scratchy and have a bit of my low voice, but I am still getting things done. Yesterday afternoon was a busy one. Ainsley had her preschool end of the year program, and the 3 year old class (Ainsley's) sang all the songs they learned this year. The 4 year old class did a musical version of Little Red Hen. Hilarious I tell you! They videotaped it so all the parents will be getting copies by the end of school. I am going to miss her little school next year as we head into the public school arena with her as well. The non church member tuition is just a bit high for us especially considering we would have 2 students. I don't want to go into debt for private school, but I do appreciate that the option is there if we need it.

Tonight is soccer practice as well so another busy evening, maybe I can get B to take Aidan again. That way we are not in such a rush at bed time. Ahh well, I will get pictures up from last night later today hopefully. Later taters!