April 30, 2009

Well, it's the last day of the month. A most anticipated/dreaded/ busy/chaotic day when I was in the financial, working world. I've traded those days for attending Kendall's field trip to a local greenhouse , teaching Jacob how to play chess, and making Jello cups & other goodies for his little b-day party tomorrow! Speaking of which, the weather better dry out quick so the boys can play outside....keeping fingers crossed for that. It was certainly soggy today.

(Kendall is hidden in the crowd of children in this picture during the field trip.)

Oh, and Jacob has informed Kendall that this was the last day of April: No more "April Sools!" See post here to see what I mean!

April 29, 2009

Kendall and I picked up Jacob's birthday presents this morning....it was hard to not buy everything for him!! It's also hard to believe he will be 6 years old on Saturday! He is excited to have his friends over to play on Friday for a little birthday party (his first real party). I made 48 cupcakes this afternoon for his class and the party. We should have plenty left over! Yum!

Tonight was the neighborhood Ladies Night Out. We did a Creative Memories scrapbooking class. Now I know why I stick to digital....the "undo" command is priceless! I got a bit frustrated and gave up on the album we were to be making. I didn't seem to have enough paper, stuff kept getting lost in the shuffle...I'll just stick to digital! :)

Kendall has finally learned to write her name legibly in the last couple weeks. Here is a "picture" she drew today. She has almost perfected her last name, too!

April 28, 2009

The weather turned cooler and wetter, so I've caught up on the interior housework the last couple days. There's certainly not any exciting or witty tidbits to share! Jacob did finally have his first soccer practice tonight - he's been rained out the last couple weeks. We were also able to have a little cookout last night at a nearby park for a playgroup birthday.

Kendall was in a dancing mood, so I captured her on video tonight before bed:

April 26, 2009

Now, today was picture-perfect: 85 degrees, mild breeze. I moved my attention to the front flower beds this morning for almost 3 hours and got about 1/2 done. I am really hoping we get mulch this year. You see, Mark had decided not to get mulch for a few years because he wanted it to break down to soil, then put landscape stone in. Well, I have a feeling he's not going to want to pay for the landscape stone this year (with all the basement work we've done) and the weeds are really almost out of control. I don't think I can keep up with it another year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he sees the predicament and just get a load (or two) of mulch. We'll save the stone project on our list of "Things To Do in the Future."

Mark did finish the back of all the cabinets today and he nailed them in place. Now, we are to the point of staining them. Don't they look great? They are just going to be open shelves under the counter, with the exception of doors on the sink cabinet. There are more pics HERE (scroll to the bottom for recent pictures).

Jacob also had his second soccer game. Didn't I say it was a "picture-perfect day" at the beginning of this post. Well, it DOWNPOURED during the game and the ref's actually called the game off at 1/2 time. Of course, the sun was back out by the time we got home!

April 25, 2009

It was a summer-like day....temperatures reached 85 degrees. With such a hot day in April, there was surely lots of wind. Jacob had soccer practice, which was a make-up for cancelled practice when it was in the 40's and rainy earlier in the week! Then, we headed over to Lisa's house to meet their new kitten, Pico. Kendall, of course, played with the kitten the whole time...the kitten took her man-handling pretty well :). Then, we basically spent the entire day outside. I focused on getting the back flower beds weeded while the kids played the majority of the time in the sandbox. Mark worked, worked, worked on the cabinets in the basement and got the frame of the audio cabinet built.

The best part of my day was sitting on the back deck, after the kids were in bed, and reading (I'm still getting through "The Shack") with a cold brewski! It was really a pleasant forecast of the summer yet to come!

April 24, 2009

This morning was Jacob's field trip with his preschool class. We went to the 577 Foundation in Perrysburg (http://www.577foundation.org/). The preschool offers childcare for younger siblings during class field trips, which is nice and Kendall loves. Usually, there are one or two other classmates there from her 3 year old class. The field trip was interesting...Jacob liked watching the honey bees behind glass and touching a bear skin in an old log cabin.
(picture belowof Jacob with a few other boys in his class - Jacob B., Jon, and Carter)
It was such a beautiful day that I decided on a whim (well, after a neighbor called me on the cell to come join them) to take the kids to the zoo. I didn't pack lunch or a stroller...we were just winging it! Many other people must have had the same idea....I parked only 3 cars from the VERY end of the zoo parking lot. I've never had to park that far out. Kendall did good with all the walking. We were just about heading out when Mark called me. Here he decided to take a 1/2 day off work and wondered where in the world we were...it was about 1:40 by now.
(zoo photo below)

So, we headed home and we all went to a countertop shop who was advertising selling all their remnant pieces "Friday and Saturday only." They had a lot of inventory...even had enough to do the majority of the bar/snack bar. However, it was all quartz and granite....still much too expensive for our budget.

April 23, 2009

Today was filled with a trip to the grocery store, canvasing nearby neighborhood garage sales, and bringing a pizza to share with Mom at the Neowash house.

I was driving Kendall, Jacob and Frankie home from preschool this morning and heard their conversation in the backseat...it was something about meeting Jesus in heaven (yes, the kids have pretty deep conversations!). I asked them what they thought Jesus looked like. Jacob replied quickly, "Like Qui-Gon." That is a character in the recent Star Wars movies. Yes, Jake does have Star Wars on the brain!! :)

Now, Kendall has been "April Fooling" us all month. Several times a day, she will say something wrong and then yell, "April Fools!" It goes something like this: "Mom, you have 3 arms.....APRIL FOOLS!" However, she has trouble pronouncing her "F's," so it sounds like APRIL SOOLS! Jacob keeps telling her April Fools Day is only on April 1st, but she doesn't care! She just has fun fooling us throughout the day. Here is a picture of her getting ready for bedtime stories tonight (full of giggles...even gave herself hiccups!)

OK - I found a picture of Qui-Gon (above). I guess he does look a little bit like Jesus with the hair, beard, and robe. And, I'm sure Jacob would think it is pretty cool if Jesus had a glowing, green stick, too! :)

April 22, 2009

The weather improved slightly today - just sprinkled a bit. Kendall played in the sandbox with her Hello Kitty winter hat on!

We met Mom and Aunt Bev at McDonald's today for lunch. Kendall ended up getting beat up by a boy on the indoor playset. Not fun.

Jacob addressed 5 birthday party invitations for his boy classmates. He is going to give them tomorrow and is super excited. I spent the remainder of the afternoon sorting and sorting clothes, toys, and miscellany for the garage sale.

Mark finished the skeleton of the bar cabinets tonight. The photos above are the proof!

Tomorrow is another day....

April 21, 2009

Another dreary, cold day here in NWOhio. Everytime I pack the winter coats away, I need to pull them out again - and today was one of those days.
I putzed around the house and got meat at the Andersons while the kids were in school this morning. After lunch, we went to grandma and grandpa P.'s house to drop off Kennedy's gift. They are taking it with them to visit Kim, Joe and kids for a long weekend. When we got home, a message was waiting for us that Jacob's soccer practice was cancelled for this evening. (thank goodness...I wasn't looking forward to sitting through it in the cold drizzle!)

I did notice that my daffodils are about ready to bloom. The only reason why this is blog-worthy is because they have not bloomed for at least 2 years. I was going to dig the bulbs up last fall, but had forgotten where they were planted. Things that make you go, "hmmm." I'm just looking forward to their little splash of color.

April 20, 2009

The electrician called this morning to see if he could come over and finish up the job (he was waiting on a few things on order). He was to come over in an hour, but 3 hours later he finally showed (after I cancelled out of playgroup, of course). Too bad we like the guy so much. He is very meticulous in his work and Mark has enjoyed talking about classic cars with him.

It was a rainy day and we again had water in the same spot in the basement. We need to bite the bullet and call someone in to repair it.

Kendall and I baked some bread this morning. We all went to Target this afternoon and picked up Star Wars invitations for the 5 boys in Jacob's class. We are going to have them over for a little birthday party after school on May 1. That should be fun...

I purged the attic in anticipation of our upcoming neighborhood garage sale. I just need to go through it all, sorting and pricing. Last year about 50 homes participated in the neighborhood.

Mark is working on the cabinets for the bar area. They are coming along great!

April 19, 2009

With the screen and projector set up now, Jacob asked to watch Star Wars in the basement this morning. He was enthralled and could hardly break for lunch. After lunch, he hunkered down to finish the movie while Mark worked on building the cabinets for the bar area down there. Kendall and I spent the afternoon SHOPPING. She is such a good shopper (like mother, like daughter!). Our main mission was to find Kennedy a birthday present. We went to Target, Toys R Us, Party City, and the mall. Kendall loved walking through the mall - gosh, we haven't been there since Christmas time! As a special treat along the way, we drove through McDonald's for a sweet tea (me) and a kid-size Coke (Kendall). She thought that was the best. She loves pop, but only gets it on special occasions. We finally got home around 5:30 - just in time to fix some dinner. It was a good shopping day.

Oh, speaking of sweet tea, at the soccer game yesterday, another mom shared her mints with me: SWEET TEA mints - boy, they were good. They are part of the Ice Breaker brand that come in disk-shaped containers. I will definitely have to find them.

Tonight, during showers/teeth brushing, Jacob turns to me and very seriously asks if I can call him "Jedi" from now on...to which I replied, "Yes, young Jedi." :)

April 18, 2009

It was so nice outside today that the whole family got sunburned! I guess the sun caught us a little off-guard. We sure haven't seen weather in the 70's for quite a while.

It was a perfect day for Jacob's first soccer game of the season. He did exceptionally well (in my humble opinion!). His team may have only scored one or two goals, but he really kept up with the ball well and kept stealing it from the other team.

We then went straight from the soccer game to a birthday party at the YMCA pool. Jacob was hot & sweaty and Kendall was dirty from playing in the dirt during the soccer game, so the pool was a welcome sight. Kendall was non-stop grins in the water. However, all of Jacob's peers were in the water with no life preservers....I guess we'll need to work on swimming this summer.

Mark left from the soccer field to go golfing with his dad and father-in-law (hence, his sunburn). So, the kids and I ate dinner on the patio table and enjoyed the beautiful day while it lasted. I put the kids to bed by 7:30 because they were really dragging - but just like any other night I think they are really tired, I caught them both reading books in their rooms after "lights out."

Tomorrow is another day...

April 18, 2009

It was a beautiful day today. I was constructive, however, and cleaned inside the house in the morning. Jacob had a playdate after school with a classmate, so after I picked him up, the kids played outside for the remainder of the day while I did some weeding.

After bedtime tonight, Jacob came back downstairs with his third lost tooth in his hand. We put it in a little container the dentist gave us at our last visit and the tooth fairy left him $1, even on such short notice! :)

April 16, 2009

What a beautiful day! The sun was shining and warming up the temperatures. Frankie stayed a little longer after a picnic lunch to play with the kids outside. It just felt great to spend most of the day comfortably outside.

After Mark and Jacob hit balls at the local driving range tonight, Mark hung his projector and tuned in all the cable channels. We were watching CSI on the big screen! He still needs to calibrate the picture, but wants to watch a movie on it (on concrete?) tomorrow night.

Coincidently, a family friend "befriended" me on Facebook who happens to own a concrete business. I'm hoping to find a reasonable solution to the water in the basement one way or another. Wish us luck!!

April 15, 2009

We had some good things and bad things happen today. Good thing: Mark's video projector was delivered today...and luckily I was home to sign for it.

Bad thing: I was measuring the perimeter of all the rooms in the basement to determine the quantity and lengths of base boards and quarter round molding we need to pick up - it's on sale at Menards right now. Anyway, I found water seeping through the wall onto the floor (it has been raining for a couple days). OK - the basement has been dry for almost 8 years and this happens just weeks after we drywall!! On the bright side, at least we haven't put flooring down yet.

Another good thing - it was bunko night for me! :) Tomorrow is another day....

(...and the coloring continues today!)


(THE projector upon arrival)


(A mount Mark put up to hang the projector)

April 14, 2009

Both Jacob and Kendall were back in school this morning. They were excited to go back and see their friends after a 10 day break. I used the opportunity to get my hair cut....6+ inches were removed! Mark still recognized me when he got home and said he liked it. Whew!

Anna and Ashley, neighbor girls from across the street, are on spring break this week and came over to play with Jacob and Kendall for a while this afternoon. They just turned 10 last week.

Mark is continuing to build cabinets for the bar and snack bar areas in the basement. They are looking good....we just need to figure out how to stain them when he's done. He also finished hooking up all his speakers and was enjoying his music tonight!

Old Basement Photo

I just stumbled upon a photo of our "theater" in our house in Connecticut back in the day. Just thought I'd post it........memories!

April 13, 2009

Today was the last day of the kids' Easter break. We met playgroup at a nearby park and FROZE. It was a chilly 42 degrees and windy. We weren't there for very long. We came home and warmed up with some tomato soup and grilled cheese. This pan in the photo makes the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches. My mother-in-law gave it to me this past Christmas and it works great.

April 12, 2009

Happy Easter! We had a wonderful day....the kids woke up to their Easter baskets and an egg hunt. Then, everyone came over for dinner. What a nice time. See all the pictures here.

From Easter 2009

From Easter 2009

April 11, 2009

It was a busy and productive day today. Jacob and Kendall played at Sydney & Zack's house for a little while (even for lunch, how brave was that?!). My dad popped over looking for some tools for repairs at the Neowash house. Mark cut a couple tile at the neighbor's house and grouted the bathroom tile floor - it is done! Then, Mark's dad spent the afternoon here helping start the cabinets and shelves for the basement. I cooked, cleaned, went to the grocery store, met new neighbors across the street, and went for a bike ride with the kids.

April 10, 2009

Happy reading for you! I am finally updating the blog....it's hard to believe I let it go again for over a week. I think Spring Break interrupted my usual computer time. :) Since I've started this blog, I have definitely taken more pictures: Jan (100), Feb (171), Mar (136). I notice that I recharge my digital camera battery about 1x per week, rather than once every few months! It has been a fun project...

Today was a cleaning day! I was going to give the upstairs a quick clean and the downstairs a more thourogh clean....well, I went overboard upstairs and spent more time cleaning than intended. So, I didn't get much done downstairs besides moving the couches to vacuum behind/under them!- and lots of laundry was done. At least I know upstairs is spotless!!

In yesterday's mail was an Easter package from Pam, Wayne and kids. In it was a "Scene It" Disney game. We got it out this morning and played a round. The kids definitely have more movies to watch to be really good at it, but it was a lot of fun. Thanks, Pam!

Mark is borrowing my dad's pick-up truck this weekend and brought home some lumber to get started on more shelves and cabinets that he plans to build. Wish us lots of luck on that! :) One side of the garage is now his "woodworking shop."

April 9, 2009

We are hosting Easter dinner this year for my side of the family. I am really looking forward to it! Mom offered to watch the kids for me today while I ran errands. Of course, with no kids, I ran multiple errands for multiple reasons: bank, countertop shops, carpet shops, grocery stores, resale shops, etc. It's surprising how fast time goes AND how much ground you can cover on these days! Mark had his golf league "kick-off" meeting/dinner tonight, so when Mom dropped the kids off we all went out for pizza at Pizza Hut - yum!

When I went to bed tonight, this photo is how I found Kendall...no pajamas! Luckily, she had underwear on! :) I slipped her limp, sleeping body back into her pajamas and called it a night!

April 8, 2009

Today the kids and I ran out to Grandma and Grandpa P's house. They just had a new countertop installed, so we checked that out, as well as wished them well on their trip to see Kim, Joe and kids for Easter. We ended up staying through lunch: Jacob loves playing the wii (and beating his grandpa :) ) and Kendall was enjoying lots of play dough time with grandma.

Tonight, we "colored" Easter eggs. Actually we put wet tissue paper on them. The color is supposed to bleed through to the egg shell, but I don't have high hopes. They look just as pretty with the tissue paper on them. :)

April 7, 2009

(Happy Birthday, Dad!)

The kids are off school this week for Spring Break. The weather is quite chilly, so for fun this morning, we browsed Toys R Us. Since Jacob's birthday is coming up, I remembered that they do "wish lists" and thought Jacob would have fun "scanning" all the things he wanted for his birthday. He did scan a bunch of stuff, but didn't go overboard. I had visions of him just scanning everything he saw that he remotely liked. But, he took his time and "evaluated" each item to see if it was worthy of his list. Of course, there were a few very pricey things on his list...but he knows he won't get everything. It was fun.

Have I mentioned we have great neighbors?? I mentioned at playgroup yesterday that I wanted to get some painting done this week and Frankie's mom emailed later in the day to see if Jacob and Kendall would want to come to her house today so I could paint. Woo hoo! Little did she know that I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to repaint the basement staircase today! I told her about an hour and it ended up being closer to 3 hours! She *says* her kids and my kids played great and it wasn't a problem. I'm just grateful that I could get the whole job done at once with no interruptions. The staircase looks so much better! Here's some other misc. photos of the basement project (gotta love that toilet seat-grandma p would be proud!).

The kids and I ended up running to Menards, Home Depot, and Lowes tonight in search of someone to take pity on us and cut 2 measly floor tiles. No one would do it. Menards doesn't do such a thing and Home Depot and Lowes would if we had purchased the tile from them. Ugh.

April 6, 2009

What? There is snow today? I thought it was supposed to be springtime! Well, it didn't hinder our playgroup's Easter egg hunt. We just had it indoors at Darlene's. We put on a potluck lunch and had a nice, relaxing time while the kids played. Let's just hope for better weather on Easter day!

April 5, 2009

Lisa, Sydney & Zack came over for a playdate this morning and had lots of fun. Mark worked in the basement painting the lights and putting more leveling compound on the bathroom floor. Then, it was time to head to my parent's house to celebrate my dad's birthday. The kids love their Airdale, Harley, and I took a couple pictures of Kendall with him (they are best buds).

April 4, 2009

Mark took today's photo of the kids at the computer.
Jacob sure can find his way around on it....we had to create a rule: only one print out a day! I also spent time on the computer assembling two eBay listings: Mark's Bose speakers and my 2GB mini SD card that is not compatible with my phone. However, with the Easter holiday coming, I will wait a week or so to post the listings.

The electrician came today and finished up the job - as much as he could. We still don't have a particular light, some trim pieces for a few mini-cans, and Mark has to spray paint the can lighting trim black before it is mounted in the black ceiling tile. It is really nice to be able to turn on lights down there.

April 3, 2009

The electrician couldn't come back out to the house today because they needed to order a few parts to finish the job. However, Mark ended up going out to the main electrician's house after work. They bonded! lol Butch, the electrician, has restored two 1960's Chevelle's and has another one in progress. Plus, he showed Mark his basement....it sounds like it is VERY nice.

Other events of the day: The kids and I did the grocery shopping (at Giant Eagle) and grandma & grandpa P. came over in the evening. Mark took a night off from the basement.

April 2, 2009

Let there be light! And, there's plenty of it! The electrician got all the white can lights hooked and powered up. Wow! We may have gone overboard with the lighting :). I asked Mark if we can put in lower wattage bulbs. Oh, and I now can see several new areas of paint needing touched up! The electrician will finish up tomorrow. Oh, and a few more basement pictures here.

At about 6am, both Mark & I heard pitter-patter of little feet and some rummaging around in the kitchen. We both assumed it was Kendall and neither of us got up. She's an early riser and typically makes herself at home downstairs...she knows how to operate the remote control to tune the TV into either PBS or the Disney Channel and is content with that when she wakes up so early. Well, a bit later in the morning, I was getting breakfast ready and asked Jacob what he wanted and he said, "Apple Cinnamon Cheerios." I thought that was strange because he doesn't like that cereal, but children's tastes can be fickle, so I went ahead and got it out. I poured the cereal in the bowl and out came Captain Crunch....and a whole bunch of giggles from Jacob. Here, he got up early (at 6am), switched all the cereal between the boxes we had open, put them back, and went back to bed. I guess yesterday's talk of "April Fool's Day" carried over. I still can't believe he did that!! :) It does make me smile, though.

It was a beautiful, 60+ degree day - the trees are just getting buds here. We played outside and had lots of visitors throughout the day: Frankie in the morning, the electrician, a neighbor to drop off garage sale $, a personal delivery for the electrician, another neighbor to ask for computer help, another neighbor to drop off cookies I ordered, and we watched cute little Sydney and Zack (also neighbors) for a while tonight. For not going anywhere or doing anything in particular, it was a good and busy day.

April 1, 2009

April Fool's Day! I drove the kids home from school a different way and they didn't know where we were going.....that was the extent of the foolishment here today!

The excitement was meeting a few cousins at Stella Blue in Archbold, OH. What a nice place, good food, and live music on a Wednesday night - what could be better?

Mark couldn't go to Stella Blue - because of the hole cutting in the basement ceiling tile. When I got home from Archbold, I helped clean up the basement and think through a few tricky hole placements until about 12:30 am. We are now ready for the electrician to come, bright and early, at 7:45am tomorrow.

Oh, here's an exciting video from the restaurant :):

March 31, 2009

Kendall's Spring school pictures came in today. Very cute with the bunny and chicks. Too bad Jacob was home and missed pictures a couple weeks ago.

Since Mark finished the ceiling tile, he called the electrician to schedule him to come out and, literally, "finish up the loose ends." The electrician is coming out on Thursday, however, he told Mark that he doesn't cut the holes for the can lighting. Sooooo, Mark created a template and begun to cut the 34 holes in the ceiling tile tonight. He got about half done and will finish them up tomorrow, just in time for the electricians.

I keep forgetting to mention here (maybe it's because I just want to forget) that we had a casualty the other night. In order to hang a ceiling tile, Mark was taking down the stained glass, 3ft. long, pool table light that used to be his parent's. Well, one end of the chain broke through and the light crashed onto the pool table. Ugh. It busted about 15 panes of glass - enough for us to think it would not be salvageable. We ended up getting a track light over the weekend to replace it, but it's just not the same. Very sad....

I picked up more of the main green paint used in the basement. We ran out of it when we initially painted and I wanted to paint the cold air return register and the two electrical box panels. Well, when I was at Sherwin-Williams today, I told them how horrible the staircase paint job turned out. I talked to the guy about possible reasons why and by the end of our conversation he *gave* me another gallon of paint to re-do it. I am very grateful for that because the uneven-ness of the paint bothers me everytime I go down to the basement. Now, I just have to re-tape and re-paint. Woo Hoo!