Sunday--3/27/2011 and the week

Abby and friend Megan

Angelic...

I love this goofy crooked smile...


This week was a pretty ordinary week
But as with any week things happen that don't happen each week...
such as:
I celebrated my 52nd birthday
Lavor found out he was diabetic
Sam's ceiling sprung a leak
Above leak was fixed after a full's day work of LaVor and Sam
(the leak is repaired so now we need to fix the ceiling!)(always something!)
Sam went to his endocrine doctor and found out that he grew 1/3 inch and lost 8 lbs.
(dr doesn't like him to loose weight...so he increased his testosterone)
Sam is 6 feet 4 inches and weighs 177 lbs---kinda skinny
Chase found his DS that he has lost since before Christmas
(it was on a top shelf in the play room)
Lexi and I painted the linen closet and cabinet in the upstairs bathroom
(pictures next week)
Changed out the winter clothes for the summer clothes
(and of course today it is FREEZING!!)
Lexi ran a full 3 miles w/o stopping!!




Some ordinary things also happened:
We completed a full week of school
(first one after spring break---always a hard one)
Everytime we past McDonald's on the road Davis would exclaim, "Chicken Nuggets!!"
Lacey had 2 tons of homework and kept so busy trying to juggle work, school and kids.
(Alisha can relate I am sure!)
The house got dirty, the family got hungry, and the clothes needed laundring
(is what most of what my week consisted of)


All in all the week wash a good one
:)

Sunday--3/20/2011

It's the end of spring break
tomorrow we go back to the grind.

No one is excited to do such
but in a few short months
the school year will end
and it will be SUMMER!!!!

Spring Break Project



Since it was spring break we decided to remodel the girls bathroom.
This is the before picture.



Another view of the bathroom.
Don't mind the yellow water in the pot...
it's not pee...at least I don't think so.
One of the reason we are remodeling is because of a leak in the ceiling right above the toilet
and so I think the water in the pot is yellow
because of the leakage...
anyway we will say it is...not so gross.

The leaking ceiling...

The plumbing fixtures were also original with the house
and an update is really needed.
So the first step was to take out the sink and cabinet.

Then we took out the toilet and ripped up the floor.

Then the ceiling was torn down.

LaVor is so busy these days with house plans
that he doesn't really have time to do any remodeling...
so we assigned him the position of General Contractor
and we are the workers.
It goes sorta like this:
LaVor telling us what we need to do
us doing it
and then him telling us that we don't know what the heck we are doing...
and then he spends more time fixing what we screwed up!!
Haha
Not really...but almost.

Here I am getting ready to rip this cabinet out in the bath area
(which is separate from the toilet are)

We also ripped out the floor in this area.

It has become a little more than anticipated
but with the help of our GC
we might be able to have a working
bathroom in about 2 years...
haha
:)

Sunday--March 13, 2011

We are filling in the ditch in our front yard.

On Friday much to Davis' delight
a big dump truck delivered several loads of dirt

With each load Davis would run to the window and watch the truck
dump the dirt.
He would exclaim, "Big truck brings the dirt!" and then he would say,
"Papa broke the the fence!!"

The day before LaVor and DJ (our next door neighbor) pulled the fence posts out of the ground
by putting a chain around the post and pulling it out with Papa's truck.

It must have made quite an impression on him because
he told Papa a hundred times that he broke the fence!



The chief architect and his workers...



The wall isn't the prettiest
but it will be covered mostly by dirt
and so it will work.

Little boys LOVE dirt!

These two played in the dirt all day on Saturday.
I told LaVor and DJ that we need a load of dirt left just so the boys can play in it...

Davis' new monster boots...



Thank heavens little boys wash up!



Crafty I Am



A yarn wreath that I made for St. Patrick's day



St. Patrick's table cloth and centerpiece

Winter yarn wreath I made.

Carly got me hooked on making these wreaths.
They are straw wreaths wrapped with batting,
then yarn,
and embellished however you want.

Kinda fun...

:)

Mardis Gras and King's Cake

What is Mardis Gras and
why do people bake and eat King's Cake at Mardis Gras?

Papa gave us a history lesson last Monday on the traditions of Mardis Gras and King's Cake

Mardis Gras means "Fat Tuesday"
It's basically the big party before Lent
and part of this celebrating includes
baking and eating a King's Cake.
The King's cake represent the 3 kings that came to visit Christ at his birth.
And that is why you get the three colors of the cake
which also are the tradional colors of Mardis Gras
 (This cake is more like a big braided cinnamon roll or more culinary correct--brioche--than cake).
Nonetheless
I decided it would be fun to bake a King's Cake!

It is also customary to put a little plasitc baby
or if you don't have a plastic baby...which I didn't...
a bean.
Whoever gets the 'baby' in their slice of cake
gets to be QUEEN and in turn is the hostess for the next party and bakes the next King's Cake

Lexi is our Queen!!  She found the bean in her slice!!

Queen Lexi...she likes the sound of it!!

It was fun learning a little about Mardis Gras, King's Cake and Lent.

And the King's Cake was delicious!!

Spring has Sprung

A year ago Alisha and kids came for a visit
and for my birthday
my kids bought me 13 forsythia bushes.
And so now every spring around my birthday I get to enjoy
my birthday from my kids
:)

I love daffodils!
Daffodils and forsythias are the first flowers to bloom
in the spring
a sure sign that
the world will be beautiful soon
with all of nature's beauty!!

It also is a reminder
that I have a HUGE yard
to cultivate and tame!!

I look at it and get overwhelmed
but then remind myself to
take one thing at a time and that it
will not get all done this year!!

As for the home front,

we all are feeling better.

Davis ended up having strep

but after a course of antibiotics is doing much better.

The rest of us have the sniffles but hopefully after another week

that will subside also.