new countertops

We decided that 2008 is going to be a year of home improvements for us. The first project we are doing is replacing our formica countertops with granite. Yesterday I picked out the exact slabs that will be used in our kitchen. I was a little overwhelmed at all of the choices but in the end chose the one that is pictured above. It is going to be installed on the 17th and I'm predicting that we will have pie and cut out sugar cookies on the 18th! :) I can't wait to roll out some dough on it!

The other major project we are going to be working on is finishing our basement. We are scrambling to get it all cleaned out and ready to go by the 12th when my dad gets here to start on it. It has been the catch all place for all of the leftover lumber, outdoor furniture and all the other junk we have so this is no small job!

family car wash, water fights, and basketball

Tonight while our ribs were on the barbeque we decided to pass the time with a family car wash. Ava even helped out! It was so cute. She found a rag that someone had left on the driveway, dipped it in the sudsy water and then took it to the vehicle and started scrubbing away all on her own. We got a good laugh out of it! Of course the car wash turned into a water fight with Mama in charge of the hose. :) That is always fun!

After the car wash we played some basketball. The hoop was lowered for awhile for the kids and then we put it back to regular height and Scott beat me bad in a game of knock out, best of 10 games. Then we played a game of horse and I won. I think he was just being sweet though! :)





I just love this picture. Look at those baby legs!

breakfast on the porch

yesterday in pictures

Yesterday was a good day. I got everything done that I had hoped to except washing the windows in the front entryway. That is on today's list now.

I love to watch a baby sleeping so peacefully like this. They're just so precious! This is Ava yesterday morning.

Good Morning Elle Marie!

Thomas has been wanting to learn to mow. Yesterday was his first try. He thought it was pretty fun. I look forward to the day when he can take that chore over for me. It will still be awhile though....the hill can be tricky to mow.

Ava and Daddy on the porch.

The Grill Master at work. :) The chicken turned out delish!

the boating season has officially begun

We took the boat out as a family for the first time this afternoon. We got a nice rain this morning and then it warmed up to around 80 degrees this afternoon. It was breezy but nice out.

Thomas and Elle were crazy enough to go swimming. They didn't stay in for long but jumped in a few times and then walked up to the shore to find shells. They said it was freezing cold! I remember trying to go tubing last Memorial weekend and the water being so cold it took your breath away. I will not be getting in the water for awhile yet!

Ava is going to be a challenge on the boat this year! She loved it while we were moving...she even fell asleep while we were just driving around but woke up and was into everything when we stopped. She's not used to wearing a hat either and kept taking it off. A couple of her hats do not have a chin strap so I am going to have to sew some ribbon to them so we can tie them under her chin to keep them on her. She was a happy camper again when we were driving home!

Now Scott and I are sitting on the porch with our laptops, ribs are on the grill, Thomas and Elle are watching Leave it To Beaver and Ava's napping. Life is good!

it's raining...(updated)

We are getting some much needed rain this afternoon. Even a little lightning and thunder! This is a good day for rainy weather. Elle hasn't been feeling well with a sick tummy and fever. I've had a mountain of laundry to do today so I've been plugging away at it. I still have a few loads to go. Elle gave me 3 extra loads to do this morning....bedding and blankets. Poor Girl!

Well, I think that I am going to go bake something. Rainy days always put me in the mood to bake. I found this recipe for scones a few months ago and have been wanting to make them but kept forgetting to pick up the few ingredients I didn't have on hand. I now have them in the pantry. Maybe it will be scones for dinner. After a bowl of cereal.....Scott's traveling this week.

Update: I made the scones and they were delicious! I followed the suggestions in one of the comments for the recipe and increased the butter to 1/3 cup, omitted the ginger and added lemon zest to the dough and was really happy with the results. Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.

my little fisherman

Well, he learned to take the fish off the hook by himself! I think this is how he's going to spend a lot of his afternoons this summer. :) The trick was to use a wet cloth to hold the fish while pulling the hook out. Yesterday he caught 20 fish and 3 this afternoon.....majority of them are sunfish.

fishing opener weekend

This is what my fridge will look like for the rest of the summer....a (tightly sealed!) container of worms side by side with the milk. The nearly empty gallon of milk is very appropriate for this picture as well.

Scott is fishing with the kids on the dock right now. Thomas is hoping to be able to learn to take a fish off the hook today. He wants to be able to fish during the day when Scott is at work since his mama doesn't touch fish! :)

Update - It was a successful fishing opener for Thomas and Elle. Thomas caught 9 fish this morning. Elle caught 12. Pretty exciting!

summer laundry

Summer laundry season is in full swing! Look at the stains on those shorts! And that is just one of many articles of clothing that look like this. I think I'm going to be going through a lot of pre-spot treater! Rocks (the most beautiful ones), sling shot marbles (he's still trying to get a squirrel so that he can get a pellet gun), crayons, acorns, and always a hotel key (treasures from Daddy's business trips) are what I've been finding in the pockets.

tulip troubles

This is the only tulip that is blooming in my garden right now. There are a couple others that are going to bloom but for the most part my tulips aren't doing so great this year. It snowed after they had started to come up so that could have something to do with it or I think the mulch may have got piled too thick over them last summer so that they are buried too deep now. I want to dig them up and move them to a different location for next year. Does anyone have any pointers for me on how to do this? When do I dig them up? Right after they are done blooming or do I wait till the end of summer?

It is so nice to see the grass greening up and leaves starting to come out on the trees. Last week I raked the yard and cleaned out the flower beds. Scott built the railing and a door for the playhouse. I got it all stained before he assembled and installed it. (Wish I would've done that when we did the railings on the house....so much easier!) Elle just loves her little house. I will post a picture of it when I get the porch floor and steps stained.

Last weekend we also put the boat in the water. It's fun to see it waiting on the lift knowing all the fun times we will have this summer! It's good motivation to get all of the work done now so that we can play when it's finally warm enough! :)

sunny sunday afternoon

Aaaahhh....this is me, blogging in the warm SUNSHINE! :) It is gorgeous out this afternoon. Hopefully that frozen lake in the background thaws this week! Thomas and Elle have been riding bikes, jumping rope, playing trucks and tractors in the dirt and now they are building a pond (which of course means they are getting good and dirty!).

It has been a pretty quiet, uneventful weekend around here. Ava Mae is getting a couple more teeth right now and is very fussy and has wanted to be held a lot. I remember hardly noticing when Thomas and Elle were teething but Ava gets real cranky and needs a little tylenol and orajel to make it better. Scott has had to work this weekend as there is so much going on at work right now. He also has to travel 3 of the next 4 weeks. It's been a couple of weeks since his last trip and it's been so nice to have him home! My mom and sisters are coming up this week though so it will go quickly.

Well, this warm sunshine is making me sleepy so I'm going to shut my laptop, close my eyes and listen to the birds sing and my children play. Love these kinds of moments...

more snow?

I took this picture of Ava after church yesterday. It's been fun to pick up a few spring things for the kids. She looked so sweet in this cute little yellow shirt and poofy skirt to match. I bought her a pair of sandals but she doesn't like them one bit. She cries when they are on and acts like they have her glued to the floor. It's pretty funny!

We'll have to keep the sandals in the drawer for a few more days anyway because a winter storm watch takes affect tonight through tomorrow evening. We might be getting 2 - 4 inches of snow. I read several blogs that are already posting pictures of blooming flowers and talking of warm weather. I'm jealous! The lakes are still covered with ice here, there are a few piles of snow in the shady areas yet, and the flowers are in hiding. Just a couple more weeks and I should see my tulips start peeking out!

another missing tooth

This morning at breakfast Elle was taking a drink of her milk and one of her top teeth fell out into her glass. We got a good laugh from it! She is now missing 5 teeth and there is no sign of the permanent teeth yet. Hopefully they come in soon because she has a big gap on the top and bottom only they are on opposite sides of her mouth so taking bites of things is becoming hard for her. We are cutting stuff up for now but eating tacos and pizza just isn't as fun with a fork!

saturday

Today has been a laundry day here. The kids have been playing outside a lot lately and everything is getting muddy. Makes for lots of stain treating and soaking! Thomas and Elle played baseball and in the treehouse most of the afternoon with a neighbor girl. We are loving this warm weather!

The pictures are of Ava modeling one of Elle's headbands and Thomas's snazzy haircut I gave him today. I wanted to do a before and after of the haircut but he said no. He was lookin pretty shaggy! I do not enjoy cutting hair at all and he really doesn't like getting it cut so we wait until it just can't be put off anymore. Doesn't he look handsome?! :)

dinner tonight

Grilled T-Bone Steaks (Thanks Dad and Mom!)
Grilled Potatoes Packets with Cheese
Grilled Asparagus

Scott couldn't have grilled them any better. Everything tasted so good! No, I did not eat all of this steak....just fyi! :)

My favorite thing about this kind of meal is that there is pretty much no clean-up. The potatoes and asparagus were both grilled in aluminum foil. Just throw the plates and silverware in the dishwasher and go sit on the couch to enjoy a movie!

the next photographer in the family?

Thomas took this picture of Elle and I today. Maybe he will follow in his Grandpa and Grandma's footsteps?! :)

i love saturdays

Scott got home on Friday night and it is so good to have him home! We've had such a nice, relaxing weekend together. The weather has been gorgeous....in the mid to upper 40's! The snow is melting so the kids got their bikes out and have had fun riding through the puddles. They made several laps around the lake both on their bikes and on foot. Spring is in site!

Yesterday there was a big yarn sale at a shop in town just a few miles away so I stopped in and came home with these goodies! Can you tell I like the color brown?! :) The brown varigated skeins were 60% off so I bought all they had! I want to knit a shrug for myself with big needles and then see how much is left after that project. It would make a beautiful lap blanket or since it's wool I could felt with it too. The other yarn is a cotton yarn and I love to use it to knit washcloths and hot pads with fabric backs. I currently have a washcloth on the needles right now, a hotpad that is knitted but needs it's fabric back and my felted handbag needs new handles. I also have the fabric to line it now too, so as soon as these 3 projects are completed I will let myself get started on that shrug.

Yesterday afternoon I sewed this little smock for Elle. It has 2 pockets across the front for her to carry around her treasures, and she's got a lot of them! She's my child that doesn't like to throw things away and I'm the opposite! :) It has 2 ties in the back that make it very girly and sweet.

Since the weather was so great we grilled for the first time this year. We made blue cheese burgers, potato packets and roasted asparagus. It tasted so good! We call Scott our Master Griller! :) After dinner we watched the 6th episode of Star Wars which made the kids very, very happy. They absolutely love Star Wars now. They've saw episodes 4, 5, and 6. I think we will wait now though until they are a little older before we watch 1, 2, and 3. They are loving movie night so I am going to have to think back about what some of my favorite movies were as a kid and rent them so they can see them too. Leave me a comment if you think of a movie you think they would enjoy!

Well, I need to go make my family some lunch. I'll post a picture later this afternoon of my little Ava who is 11 months old today!!

weekend ramblings

This weekend flew by way too quickly. On Saturday I went to town by myself for a few hours and made all kinds of stops at places I've been wanting to go to without 3 children in tow. It was a much needed break! Three of the stops were to fabric stores. I came home with several fun fabrics! I am fortunate to have 2 great quilt shops in town along with a small Joann's. I also stopped at the paint store and picked up several colors sample cards for some painting I would like to get to this spring. The girls room being at the top of the list. Guess what color Elle wants her and Ava's room to be? Yes, Pink, of course! :)

When I got home Ava had just laid down for her afternoon nap so I played outside in the snow with Thomas and Elle for awhile. The sun was shining and it was so nice out! Scott had started to build a snow fort with them so we finished it up and then went for a walk around the lake. (By the way, we got another 10 inches of snow with this last snowstorm. The official count for the previous storm was 12 inches!)

After dinner and Ava was in bed again for the night (she misses out on all the fun!) we watched episode 5 of Star Wars with Thomas and Elle. A friend of ours is letting us borrow the first 3 Star Wars movies that were released so we have been watching them together as a family. The kids absolutley love them. Surprisingly, I am actually enjoying them too even though I usually don't care for science fiction.

Sunday morning we went to church and yesterday afternoon we just hung out around the house. Scott worked on some stuff for work, Thomas had a neighbor boy over to play for the afternoon, Elle played My Little Ponies and Barbies, I cut out a small handbag and started sewing it, and Ava got into everything she could get her hands on. :)

Scott left this morning on another business trip. This week he will be in Kansas City, Atlanta, and Alabama. He'll be back on Friday night and I already can't wait. I'll only get him home for 4 days before he has to leave again for an even longer trip to Las Vegas but I don't want to think about that right now.

Well, I've got a kitchen that needs tidied up and then children that need tucked in. After that I think I will get out my latest knitting project and watch a little 'What Not to Wear'.

look at what I found in my kitchen

it's a doughnut day

Today we read about Homer Price and the automatic doughnut machine. It made us hungry for some so we made a batch this afternoon. They were pretty tasty!