Bathroom & Landscaping Pics

Since I've been asked for pics of the new bathroom, I thought I'd share a few before it's completely finished. Going by a comment Doug made when we realized the first counter top wouldn't fit on the vanity, I thought it might be awhile before he got to the shelf and pictures. He said, "It really won't bother me that there isn't a sink in the bathroom for three more weeks. I can just wash my hands somewhere else." Obviously, he's only home for about 5 waking hours while I'm home all day with kids that need their hands washed constantly. There is still a shelf and a few pictures to put up. As well as curtains, but it really doesn't seem to matter since its just acres and acres of farmland behind us. So, I guess I might be lucky if the shelf gets put up by Christmas.

Old Bathroom

(Its the only picture I had from when we first bought the house, the bathroom isn't really something you take lots of pictures of when you buy a house! lol!)

The New Bathroom

The empty wall will someday have a glass shelf & a couple of pictures!

Lillia was "helping" and calling for the dogs. She loves to climb up there and watch the dogs in the back yard.

The Front of the House Before we started redoing the landscape

(This was also in early spring before all the shrubs and perennials were coming up)

"During" the Re-landscaping

The Whole Front

The South Side

The North Side - with my new weeping Cherry Tree

The new lamp post and flowerbed

Let the Fun Begin

Tonight was the second time I was up at the 4-H fairgrounds this week, and it won't be my last. This week is all the Pre-fair activities. Even though we don't have kids in 4-H yet, we are leaders of our township's club, therefore we are asked to help with all the fun goings-ons before & after the fair. Doug & I were just going over our schedule for the next week and a half, and I don't think I'll have time to sit down at all until next Friday.

So far, I've helped with the Expo Hall set up, Non-Animal Project check in, and I was suppose to help with Foods Judging (I had a horrible headache Monday night and had to call in). All of this from a girl who had never been to an actual 4-H Fair until 5 years ago when I got married, and really had no clue about what 4-H is all about until 3 years ago when Doug & I became leaders. This is really Doug's doing, since he was a 10 year member, won Senior Showmanship, and had helped with another club before we got married. I, however, am the organization behind the club. This year has felt very disorganized, and I cannot wait until its over. We have a good little club, but there has just been so much else going on that I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off the day of meetings and trying to get things turned in at the last minute. Tomorrow I have a day of no 4-H!! Then it's on to the heart of fair on Friday - livestock check-in, parade on Saturday, helping the kids run the dunk tank both Sunday & Monday nights, livestock shows starting Sunday, and eating fair food all week. Oh, and our niece and nephews all show animals, so we make sure we get to watch them.

It should be interesting this next week. Lillia isn't too sure about the bigger animals - pigs and cows. Last night while she was at my brother in law & sister in law's house had an experience with one of the kids' pigs. She was all excited about the trampoline and made a beeline for it as soon as she was outside. Gary, my bro-in-law, was helping the older kids get their pigs out and washed and walked, and the biggest pig got away from him. It took off at a dead run (and pigs actually can move pretty fast) towards the trampoline. Lillia froze, and when the pig got close to her, screamed, dropped to her knees and wailed. Luckily, Gary was right behind the pig and turned it before it got to her. But she would not let go of her Aunt Staci when they were outside. She even refused to be put down - after all the animals were put safely back in their pens. Its also a good thing that I wasn't there, because I would have freaked out, and that pig would not have been alive to see livestock check in on Friday. With a 260+ pound pig running in the direction of your child - what would you do? I rest my case. Since we will spend a considerable amount of time in the barns, I really hope this incident hasn't scarred her for life. Oh, and also because we have 3 pigs out in our barn with baby pigs due in August. I don't think it'll be too easy to keep her away from pigs.

The fair is always a good spot for fun pictures, so be on the lookout for my adorable kiddos enjoying all the fair activities and food (mostly thanks to the numerous uncles and aunts that love to buy them elephant ears or ice cream cones at 9 pm).

Kenzie's Recital & Zoo Pics

Ok, so it took a little bit to get the pictures up, but here are pictures from Kenzie's recital and our trip to the zoo.

Kenzie took a tumbling class this year. She had a blast! Class was only once a week for half hour at a time. But she used up alot of energy - especially during the winter when she was cooped up inside all day! There were only 5 kids in her class, and they did such a cute job little show at the recital. Overall, the dance school had 15 classes last year, with everything from tumbling, tap, ballet, to jazz and hip hop. The recital was fun to watch - both for Kenzie to see all the different types of dance - she was in awe of the ballet classes - and for us to see. And of course, she was a little ham - all the way thru the finale she had a huge grin on her face and was dancing away! Sign up for next year is this Saturday, so we have to decide if she'll take tumbling again or go on to Pre-Tap/Ballet.

We had a rare couple of days where it was just me & the girls. So, we took advantage of it and took off for the zoo with some friends. Last fall we had bought a zoo membership, so I decided it was a good time to put it to some use again! Ft. Wayne has an amazing children's zoo, and they just reopened the African part of it, complete with 2 new baby giraffes! Since we went on a weekday, they had stations set up throughout the zoo for kids to learn a little more about the zoo animals. At this station, they had cones set up to show how far a kangaroo could jump in a single leap.

Kenzie showing us her imitation of a kangaroo hop!

Lillia loved the drums in the African Journey

It was a hot day, and the girls got tired by early afternoon, so we didn't get to see everything, but that's what the pass is for - we can go back anytime! They really enjoyed it though!

Am I Crazy?

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Kenzie started swimming lessons last week, right after finishing tumbling. Her recital was absolutely adorable! All the girls in her class did a great job and it was fun to watch all the other dancers at the school. Kenzie decided that she wants to be a ballerina now. We'll see if she still feels that way next month when registration starts! We had a crazy week of Bible school 5 nights and then tumbling 3 nights. It was so fun we thought we'd try adding another week of Bible school and new swimming lessons 3 days last week! I must be crazy! Here I am running a 3 year old to swimming lessons, oh, and nothing is close by since we are in the middle of nowhere. So it takes approx 25 minutes to get to swimming. Then running her back to Bluffton (another 25 minutes) for Bible school. The poor girl ate at McDonalds 3 times last week. She didn't mind, but I was tired of it! But it was the only thing fast and close.

Oh, and in the middle of that running around. I get a text from a friend that drove past the house and sees that Kenzie's cat, who is (was) very pregnant, had gotten hit on the road. How do you tell your 3 year old that her cat is gone? Better yet, how do you tell a 3 year old who has just gotten over her screaming fear of any of her animals getting close to the road, since her other cat got hit, with her watching. Cats just don't seem to live very long around here. Surprisingly, when we finally told her about Sunny, she took it very well. Her first comment, "When can we get more cats?" I guess I felt worse than she did, and I don't particularly like cats. So on Sunday, a friend brought over a Mama kitty and her 3 babies. All seem to be related to the first cat we had last fall - Pokey, (who met her demise after only one week in the family under the wheel of my car. Pokey II, who came quickly to replace the kitten with bad luck, met Bo, our very playful dog, who does not like cats AT ALL!) These new kittens have an extra toe. Its actually kinda creepy, but at least Kenzie doesn't seem to mind!

Three more nights of swim lessons and then its back to normal - hopefully!?! What am I going to do when Kenzie and Lillia are both doing multiple activities and I'm driving from one end of the county to another? Am I crazy????

One of Those Days...

Today was just one of those days where I knew there was alot to be done, but didn't get much accomplished. We are still working on MANY projects around the house and yard - including the bathroom, the landscaping around the front of the house, the garden (which isn't even halfway done and its already June!), and my house seems to know its been neglected. This is also the first full week of summer vacation, which normally wouldn't mean a whole lot since my kids aren't in school, however, since I do babysit for three other kids, that means that this is the first week that Abi has been here all day. If the last two days are any indication of what the rest of the summer is going to be like, its going to be a very long summer! In between trying to empty the dishwasher, sweep the floor, and other very simple tasks, I spent the morning settling arguments and breaking up fights.

Luckily, naptime came easily for the little ones, and I was able to spend a little time outside working on the landscape blocks that will eventually become a border for the front flowerbed. However, naptime ended too early when my wonderful cousin drives by with a load of corn in the semi and forgets that between 1 and 4 pm, there is a "No Honking" Zone in front of my house. Oh, and it wasn't just one short pull of the horn, it was multiple long pulls on the horn, most likely because his 5 year old son was with him and was encouraging him. Needless to say, a peek inside the front door revealed Kenzie sitting up looking dazed and startled at the same time, which then led her to wake up Bradon, and yup, Lillia heard the horn too, so she was awake. There went my work time out in the yard.

Bedtime came really early for the girls tonight, which meant I should have taken advantage of my time and actually gotten something done. Well, I did. Sorta. I started a blog. A few things in the kitchen still need to be done, toys need to be picked up, and the floor needs to be swept. Maybe it'll wait until tomorrow.