Are we done yet?

Not quite.

First we ran out of the glue/sealant.

We had to go purchase 3 more buckets.

As we got into the living room, we ran out of flooring!

Todd had to pick up 4 more boxes of flooring.

It has to acclimate for a week.

I hope we can finish it this weekend!

But the walls are painted.

All the ding holes are filled.

The baseboard is sitting in my family room waiting to be painted.

And the cabinets will be ordered soon.

(Wouldn't that be a great Valentine's Day present?)

Why I haven't been posting

We've been busy at our house.

The Monday after Christmas we took all our Christmas stuff down

and the carpet started coming up.....

I got the job of pulling up all the carpet tack.

We also had to pull up the parque flooring in the foyer.

Todd rented a buffer to buff all the cement flooring to remove the glue residue.

Hopefully this is the last of the dust mess.

My entire downstairs has been in a state of dust since we started this project.

It doesn't seem to matter how much I dust,

there is always something else to do that adds more dust.

This is what the new floor looks like.

Please ignore the multi-colored wall underneath the microwave.

Todd assures me that I don't need to paint it as it will all be behind

backsplash and cabinets.

Snow Days

My kids returned to school today after 3 snow days.

I know some of you are wondering why my kids were out of school for 3 days because of the snow. We got 4 inches of snow on Sunday night/Monday morning. Here in Tennessee even that amount of snow leaves some roads dangerous to drive on.

For the first 2 days, my kids dressed up in snow gear and went outside and played.

We even got the youngest ones bundled up to go out.

On one of those days I put a pair of sweat pants

under Spencer's blue jeans for added warmth.

He left them under his pants the rest of the day.

When I asked if he wanted to take them off, he said, "It's fine, Mom.".

This morning I was helping Spencer get into the shower.

(it's his new favorite thing to do: shower by himself).

When he got to his underwear he announced that he had 2 pair of underwear on.

When I asked him why, he answered,

"Cuz 2 underwears keep me warm in the snow.".

What a character.

No Happy Halloween

Dear Friends and Family,

I regret to inform you that there will be no Halloween pictures posted on this blog of my cute costume clad kids this year.

I was on the Trunk or Treat committee this year and didn't get pictures taken in my rush to make it to the church early and with all necessary items.

When I texted my husband that I forgot the camera, I assumed he would take pictures before he brought the crew. He brought the camera with the crew. It stayed securely stationed in the back of the car all night. I thought he had already gotten pictures, so i didn't get it out.

Alas, no cute Halloween pictures of my kiddos this year.

Sincerely,
Me

P.S. I guess I could dress them all up again and get those pictures.
I'll consider it.

P.P.S. Hannah dressed as Jesse from Toy Story.

Spencer wore the elephant costume I made a few years ago.

Christian decided last minute to be a magician.
I taped an unsharpened pencil with black electrical tape.
Janelle asked one of her friends on the Colorguard weapon line
for some white electrical tape for the tip of the wand.
He wore the circus lion tamer vest and the top hat from the circus collection.

Russell created his own Prince of Persia costume.
I had a tunic leftover from a wax museum costume.
He wore that, 2 of his Dad's leather belts criss-crossed on his chest and I
found 2 plastic swords at the grocery store for $1 a piece.
( I made that purchase about an hour before I was suppose to be at the church.).

Julie went as a gypsy. Costume came from our circus costume collection.

Dry Erase Walls

Spencer used a dry erase marker to color on the Living Room wall the other day.

I found out that dry erase markers DO NOT erase off the wall.

Even with the power of a Magic Eraser.

Life in the Car

My husband gives me a hard time about doing nothing at home on the days that I don't have to go anywhere.

But it's days like last Thursday that make me appreciate the days when I have "nothing" to do.

8am- Julie, Hannah and Spencer are loaded in the car.

• We stop at the post office to drop off a package for Rachel. I had tried to mail this same package the day before but was informed when I reached the counter after waiting 10 minutes that the post office only carries tape for express and priority mail. My package was neither.

• We stop to pick up a dress at the dry cleaners. (I later forgot to load this dress back in the car so I could return it to the person we borrowed it from.)

• We drop Julie off at school.

• We then head to the bank for a withdrawal.

8:45am

• We head for preschool.
• Drop Hannah & Spencer off at preschool.

You would think at this point that it would be time to go home. Well, you would be wrong.

• I stop at Wal-mart to do some of the grocery shopping.

• Head home long enough to unload the groceries from the car and put away the things that belong in the fridge/freezer.

• Off to Kroger for the 2nd round of grocery shopping.

• Come back home to unload those groceries and repeat putting away what goes in the fridge/freezer.

• Off to the library to pick up a book for Janelle's English class.

1:00pm

• Time for pick-up at preschool.

• Head to Todd's work to trade vehicles.

• From there we go to the High School to pick up Rachel's orchestra dress.

• We head to the elementary school to pick up Russ and Chris for dentist appointments.

• Stop by at home to drop off school bags, put away those groceries that are still sitting on the floor, and take a potty break.

2:50pm

• Piled everyone back into the car to head to the dentist.

3-4:30pm

• Every school-aged child has a visit with the dentist.

• From the dentist's office, we swing by home to drop Rachel, Chris, Hannah, and Spencer off so I can take Julie and Russell to piano lessons.

5-6pm

• Get an hour of peace while I wait for kids in lessons. (Actually cleaned the mess Spencer had made in the car while at the dentist's office.)

• Swing by the High School again. This time to pick up Janelle from colorguard practice.

• Made it home in time to supervise putting potatoes on to cook, scarf down leftovers for myself, and then headed to a HOA meeting at 7pm.

• Pulled in at 9:30pm from the meeting and was so exhausted, all I wanted to do was go to bed.

I really enjoy the days when there isn't anywhere to go.


ps: The story within this story goes like this.... Hannah & Spencer had taken a trip to the potty while the kids were in the dentist's chair. They wanted to open their new toothbrushes. I told them they could when we got in the car. So then they wanted to go to the car. I took them to the car, undid the toothbrushes and waited for Rachel to finish in the chair. She came out and traded places with me so I could talk to the dentist about Julie's mouth. I wasn't back in the office for 5 mintues before Rachel came in and said Spencer had wet his pants. (I had told her he had already used the bathroom and wouldn't need to use it again until we got home- so she didn't bring him in to use the bathroom). Julie finished and we went to the car, only to find that Spencer had sat on the bench in the car and wet his pants a second time!!

This is where you look back and laugh but at the time I was ready for tears.

In a Flash

I took my babies with me yesterday to the fabric store.

I have learned that with Spencer in tow, trips to the fabric store need to be an in and out ordeal.

He ends up screaming his protests if I actually get him in a cart but most of the time just flat refusing to ride in a cart. So then he spends his time running ahead and hiding behind the racks of fabric.

So we quickly got the interfacing we came in for, did a quick look at the decorating fabric and headed for the check stand.

Luckily it was a quick wait. Our fabric store is notorious for long lines at the checkout. You can wait longer in line to checkout than you do to get your fabric cut and do the rest of your shopping.

So as I'm standing at the register, paying the cashier, I feel movement on the back of my legs.
High on the back of my legs.

I was wearing a knit skirt and Spencer had been playing with it.

I'm sure the people standing in line behind me got a great view of what was under my skirt as Spencer flashed my backside to them!

He thought my horrified response was soooo funny that he tried to repeat his performance.

We quickly left the store.