More Randomness

The house is coming along. We had serious water damage over the weekend and much frustration. Water was running in from 3 light fixtures and in every room except one. The basement had water pouring in from the duct work. Once they re-tarped the roof the leaking slowed and we had no more water coming in even with heavy rain and winds. The ceilings will now need to be replaced (which was partially in the plans but not to the extent now needed.) And the house has the lovely smell of wet plaster and insulation. Yum!

The two gable ends and the back wall are up. It towers over the home next to us which feels and looks weird.

On to the day to day stuff-

Meryl and Finley are learning to hug and kiss each other. Often it includes the smashing of heads and teeth on skin. Such fun.

Avery made this drawing in Logan's closet. It says "Milk Chocolate Dark Chocolate" I don't know where she gets it from. Honestly!

This has been such a hit.

The peppers and tomatillos are in. I have 3 plastic grocery bags full of tomatillos that I picked today and at least another 5 bags worth still growing on the 3 plants. (The 2 plants on the rental plot. The garden at home has one plant that has, maybe, 6 tiny tomatillos on it.) I'm not sure how to eat so many at one time. If I had the time I would make a ton of raw green salsa because I can eat that quickly. But making it is so time consuming. I may just make a huge batch of cooked green sauce to save for enchiladas over the coming winter.

Back yard view- No Roof. Day 1
End of Day 3. The "roof" is now the under flooring of the upstairs. It looks like a great big dance floor up there.
This is our living room ceiling where a guy fell through the first day.
This is our hallway ceiling. For 2 days it just looked out to sky.
We have about a googol of these in every room!

The rain is coming tomorrow so I'm getting buckets ready now.

I'll keep the babies in life jackets. Actually we are surviving but we've had our moments. We had a gas leak scare and it was 47 degrees in the house one morning which is cold if you won't wear pants (Logan and Avery). But with the floor now on we can be in the house safely, but noisily. The babies napped in their cribs this morning, which was good.

And Some Days Are Like This

Our wishes for everyone- Peace, Love, Happiness and More Space.



Yes, we are the trailer trash neighbors. Kids run around dirty and half dressed. We drink our morning Schlitz on the steps. We train our kids in the fine art of tagging. But we have fun doing it.

(Don't worry Mom- We don't really drink out Schlitz on the steps. We keep it in a paper bag out back!)

The yard is full of lumber. The (crab)grass is on the way out. We have 4 more nights to sleep under our (rotting, leaky) roof. The attic is empty. The numbers, and thermometers and bird feeders are mostly removed. We've freecycled some of the shrubs.

Some Days Are Just Like That

Did I mention that we have 5 days to empty out attic, clear anything unneeded out of our house, empty the yard of plastic crap, clear the deck of everything, move the trampoline and find activities that will keep us out our house from 6:30 am until 4pm 5 days a week for 3 or so months?

Can you say PANIC? Oh yeah, and Finley isn't really enjoying her new found climbing skills. Up is a lot easier than down! Click to enlarge the photo and see what her face really looks like.

Gender Funneling

I've been accused of always dressing the babies like boys. Which is not true at all. I just try to dress them so they can move easily and be comfortable. So after one rather testy "Finley is so handsome today." comment from Cathy I went all out and dressed them in these silly get ups. So ridiculous.
Why babies shouldn't wear skirts.

I love this picture of Avery. She does care about how she appears to others. So when I can catch her moving she seems more like herself. I don't care that half her head was chopped off. It's nice to see her smile. Don't worry- She'll grow into that nose! ;)

Randomness

I'm not sure what happened to the color scheme. I'm sure Meryl was involved.

The rabbits are back. We hadn't seen any since the flooding until today.

Finley can now climb up on chairs. But can't get down.

Logan is playing little league.

Avery does talk in school. She even raises her hand. But she didn't call out when Mrs. didn't call her name. Even though Avery really wanted to tell her that we have the same fancy scissors at home.

We are all too tired. The neighborhood has been playing manhunt almost every night this week. (Basically it involves parents standing around with alcohol while the kids play a boy vs girl tag game over the span of several blocks. Lots of running, screaming and general mayhem. All in the dark.)

The babies have both been waking between 6 and 8 times a night. EACH!

Cathy flew the couch today from 4 am until 2pm. Boring.

We ate breakfast for all 3 meals today. Waffles for breakfast. Eggs for lunch. And blueberry pancakes with (local, yummy Honeypot) peaches on top. Can't get any better than that.

One Hurdle Cleared.....

many more to come!

We got approval from the town for our building permit. Whew. We were concerned they might question the number of rooms being called bedrooms, which would require a new septic system. At about $20K to replace we are beyond thrilled.

Now I need to get my attic cleared out and remove any plants I want saved from the front before they get ruined in the lumber yard it is about to become. Anyone looking for a mature holly bush?

Also any advice/experience with a heating unit placed in the attic? Everyone I know is doing it but I've been reading that it is a big no-no due to moisture and creating ice dams.

8 is Gr8!

Yes, we did celebrate in our own way.

The face of eight.

A round of mini golf.

Fine dining at the Grist Mill.

Okay. A quick gobble of pizza followed by vigorous running, wading, and climbing. A favorite activity here is searching for coins in the waterways.

Sometime I hand over the camera. Sometimes Meryl lets me see.

Home for ice cream cake.

And the most perfect gift of all. MONEY!!!

School is In!

Today Avery started kindergarten and Logan began 2nd Grade. Avery was very anxious and I wasn't sure how it would all work out. She didn't want to talk about it since she wasn't going to go at all, so no need to talk about it! But the morning prep went great! We were at the bus stop early (and it was late, so we waited for 50 minutes!)


Waiting, Waiting, Waiting. There are 17 kids at our stop.

This is Avery's 3rd grade friend. We had made plans for them to sit together. Avery started to get "wet eyes" when the bus came but she knew she just had to get on the bus and look for him. When she got home she said it really helped. She is willing to go back tomorrow.