TheCarpet Guys are here!!!

Woohoo!! New carpet! Can't post pictures yet...we are still moving things around for them, but they are pretty close to being done! I'll post pics later, for now, I must work.

Blizzard update

Jaydon left his tractor on the retaining wall in the backyard. I took the 1st picture at 9 a.m. with only a few inches of snow.

Picture 2 was taken at 10 a.m. with about 6 inches of snow. Picture 3 was at 11 a.m. with 9 inches of snow. We are under a blizzard warning until 6 a.m. tomorrow. The wind is starting to kick up and visibility is getting poor.

The carpet installers came at 10 and left at 12:30. They did get a lot of pad laid down, but decided to take the carpet back to the warehouse to cut the pieces, rather than get it wet in the garage. Hopefully they will be back tomorrow, if the snow doesn't get too deep!

3-26-09 Thursday

WOW!! Welcome spring?????? So much for 70 degree weather. We had at least 6 inches by 9 a.m. Schools are all canceled and we are supposed to have carpet installed today. I'm wondering if that will happen.

Jaydon ventured out in his P.J.'s, snow boots, and an upside-down coat. Oh, he also planned on riding his bike, so the helmet is a nice touch!

I don't think he got very far.

Wednesday 3-25-09

Jared made a diorama of a tropical rainforest for school. I got the supplies out for him and he did everything on his own. He would not even let me handle the hot glue gun. He did a really good job and is proud of his work. He is getting so independent.

3-21-09 to 3-24-09 Saturday to Tuesday

Saturday 3-21-09 Welcome home Papa Alan and Grandma Sandy. They just got back from Arizona and decided to spend the weekend in Denver. I guess they missed us as much as we missed them!

Sunday 3-22-09 Grandma and Papa brought lots of fresh fruit from Arizona; grapefruit, oranges, tomatoes, and even onions, peppers, and cucumbers. Wow, this should last us for a while!

Monday 3-23-09 We have been working on "project carpet" for a few days and tearing up carpet. Lots of other things need to be done while the carpet is up...like, painting trim, doors, ceiling, and rooms (Jaydons' and the spare room got new color). Corey took every tread off the stairs and "screwed and glued" them back down. Our stairs no longer squeek and creek. Tim, our neighbor, said we should leave one step squeeky so we can hear when the kids sneak out in a few years. They'll never do that...right???

Tuesday 3-24-09 All of the rooms look so much different with the blue carpet gone. The house is definately louder and seems colder. Can't wait for the NEW carpet!!!!!!

3-17-09 to 3-20-09 Tuesday to Friday

Tuesday 3-17-09 Happy St. Patrick's Day The boys all wore their green to school today. Josh brought home a cabbage plant. 3rd graders across the nation are in a contest to see who can grow these huge caggabe plants. So let's see how Josh does with feeding, watering, and checking on his cabbage plant (kind of like a new pet)! Jared brought home a tiny cup he set up in his classroom as a Leprechan trap...only the Leprechan shrunk his cup and left him a note saying he was too clever to be caught. Jaydon had a pocket full of (fake) gold coins he hunted for on the playground at school. Apparently, he was quite successful in his hunt, because he had a bunch!

Wednesday 3-18-09 After school, they kids and I made these colorful "eggs" to start decorateing for Easter. We blew up small balloons, soaked some rainbow colored yarn in Elmer's glue, and wrapped it around the balloon. When they were dry (the next day) we popped the balloon and colorful eggs!

Thursday 3-19-20 I've been making smoothies for the kids after school. What a great snack...fruit, yogurt, and a little flax seed meal for extra nutrition! Yummy!!!

Friday 3-20-09 Happy 1st Day of Spring I decided to take a picture of the front of our house on the day of each new season. I have tulips coming up and a lot of ground cover is already green. The grass has not started greening yet. It is so dry. I'm sure after a little rain (or snow) it will get green. The weather has been so nice we have all had spring fever.

3-16-09 Monday

Josh started piano lessons today!! I've been patiently waiting for one of them to show any interest, and now that Josh is learning the recorder at school, he is interested in music. I jumped on the opportunity and we started today. It is much easier to start a 3rd Grader and a 1st grader. I tried to start Jared last year (when he was in 1st) and it went OK for a while...but fizzles out. So I'm hoping Jared will catch the bug from Josh and they'll both have something to practice and work on this summer!!

3-15-09 Sunday

Spring is almost here (Friday, officially), but there are signs of it coming everywhere. I forgot I planted these tulips last fall! What a great surprise! It's been so dry this winter, I've been watering trees and flower gardens by hand. It's still too cold at night to hook up the sprayers and drip system. I do enjoy watering on these nice warm days. It gets me outside in the sun!

3-14-09 Saturday

Mission complete! Trim is up, painted & caulked, and the dining room is fabulous!

3-13-09 Friday

The hardwood is complete...just need to paint trim and put it up. That's gonna have to be tomorrow...we are beat!!

3-9-09 to 3-12-09 (Monday to Thursday)

Monday night, Josh and Daddy installed the 1st 3 rows of hardwood. You can either face nail (which you then have to fill with woodfiller and hope it matches) or predrill the tongue and groove and drive nails in through the side of the plank. We did the latter to keep the look of those 3 rows clean. So 3 rows are in and we will pick up the nailer tomorrow for the rest.

Tuesday: We drove to Boulder to rent a nailer from a person who had it listed on Craigs List, $10/day or $50/week. This is way cheap...a rental anywhere else is about $65/day. So we can take our time and do a little each night. We had a lot of help selecting board, knocking them into place, and even giving the nailer a whack! The boys are loving this project. Although, Jaydon thinks it's "too loud"!

Wednesday: I gave Josh the camera and Jared continued to help installing boards. We made it past the doorway to the kitchen tonight, so we're about 1/4 the way done.

Thursday: I think we are getting really efficient at this. We are roughly 2/3 done and plan on finishing Friday! I'm really enjoying this project. It's easier and cleaner then tiling and the results are amazing. LOVE the hardwood...wish I had done the entire room like I had originally planned. This Acacia (Asian walnut) is extremely hard and a very good choice for our household (with 3 crazy boys). I also painted the spare room while the boys were in school. Sylvia helped and we managed to almost complete the project. Only a few touch-ups for Friday! I'll shoot a pic as soon as it's complete! I definately get more done (efficiently) when I have a lot to do. Crazy logic!!!

March 9 (Monday)

Sneek Peek! Here's what the wood looks like.

March 5 to March 8 (Thursday to Sunday)

I spent the day painting Jaydon's room. The light blue has just brightened his space. I'm still going to paint the green white like the rest of the trim. I plan on putting some train pictures on the wall and a train valance on the window.

Jared helped Daddy lay down the felt paper (which is just tar paper). They spent some good quality time together and worked hard.

Saturday morning at our house is a comfy couch and cartoons!

So now the hardwood is sitting in the dining room...aclimating. Corey will lay down the first few boards on Tuesday night. Stay tuned for more pictures.

March 1 to March 4 Sunday to Wednesday

After church, we decided to tear into the carpet. Hear you see the carpet pulled back with the pad showing. We rolled the carpet and plan on putting it in the basement.

Josh received an award at school for "Excellence in Citizenship". He has demonstrated excellent skills and behaviors that support learning. Way to go Joshy!!

Jared also received an award for "Super Reading Skills, Comprehension and Decoding". He has really come a long way since January when we started him with a reading tutor. We meet with her once a week and then he has homework to do during the week. He has been working SO hard and we are SO proud of him.

The previous owners added 4 foot to the end of the dining room and where the subfloors meeting, there was an 1/8 inch lip with patch covering it. So Corey worked on leveling the floor so the hardwood would lay flat.

2-25-09 Wednesday to 2-28-09 Saturday

Sylvia's birthday is today. I made her another frame with a picture of us at mom & dad's. I also made her supper and a lemon birthday cake (her favorite). I'm so blessed to have such a great friend, and she lives right next door.

Jaydon has been perfecting his make-up applying skills. You can see how nice his eyebrows look. Although, I think he used mascara instead of a brow pencil. He likes to shave his legs in the bathtub and wear my high-heels around the house. Maybe he spends too much time with mommy.

Tim & Narda had birthdays in January and Ray, Suzanne and Sylvia in February. So we decided to celebrate by having a Mardi Gras themed party at our house. Drink: Hurricanes (2 gallons...completely finished)

Food: Shrimp gumbo, Jambalaya, Catfish, lettuce wedge

Dessert: Creme puffs and birthday cake Of course, the kids were mostly interested in blowing out candles and eating birthday cake!

2-21-09 Saturday to 2-24-09 Tuesday

We had fresh snow this morning on the hill, but by this afternoon it had melted. That didn't stop Jaydon from sledding anyway. He just climbs the hill and hops on his little orange sled and slides down the grass and dirt. Oh, well! He sure has a good time!

Today we had Jared's birthday party. (left to right: Gavyn, Riley, Jared, Cade, Josh, Jaydon, Cassie, Christian, Andrew, Dalton, Lily) We had a Wii bowling tournament and played Mario Cart. The kids played basketball outside and broke a cowboy hat piniata. Each kid left with a trophy, medal, and a bag full of candy! I think everyone had fun!!

Josh is perfecting his lay-up. He and Jared are really improving their shooting skills. They play basketball every chance they get.

I made this "choo choo" train frame for Sylvia for her birthday. She and Jaydon are at the railroad musem on a train in the picture.

2-17-09 Tuesday to 2-20-09 Friday

Happy 8th Birthday Jared!!!! He helped me make his birthday cake and frost it.

Cade and the boys are playing Bakugan and acting silly.

Kami, Cade and Cassie helped Jared celebrate his birthday by coming up for supper.

Jaydon likes to help make breakfast, only he eats the pancake batter while we are cooking. Crazy kid.

2-13-09 Friday to 2-16-09 Monday

Family Movie Night: The 3 Amigos, Hot Wings, and...POP! Corey and I remember watching this movie in junior high. The boys thought it was hilarious.

I woke up to flowers and a wonderful Valentine's card. Josh made each member of the family a Valentine's that said what he loves about them. How sweet is that??

An up-close shot of Drago...a Bakugan. Even Cade is into these things. He stayed the night with us on Sunday and Monday (the kids didn't have school) and the boys played Bakugan for hours.

2-9-09 Monday to 2-12-09 Thursday

Daddy even gets into the Wii Fishing. I guess when it's too cold to fish, they might as well get a fix inside where it's nice and cozy.Bakugan is the latest craze in our house. They are a mixture of Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh cards with points and transformer toys. Of course, there is also a cartoon to watch and learn more about these crazy little tranforming balls. Even Jaydon is getting into it.

Jaydon has been working on the dry erase board at home. He can now write his name and spell mom and dad. He is very proud of himself. My baby is learning and growing so fast!

Josh was fascinated with the science unit on electrical circuits. He built a battery tested that looks like a firefly. You simply touch 2 wires to each end of a battery and if the firefly lights up, the battery is good. He so proud to make a tool that Mom can use every day. I desperately needed a battery tester! Thank you Joshy!