puppet shows.

teacher books.

Important: This little project is a surprise for my kids! If you know my children... please don't mention this to them! 

Do you come here for ideas?
I'm sorry if you do.
I have lots of ideas, but I'm really bad at posting them in a timely fashion.
So here's a cute school idea... after school is out. You're welcome. =)

I saw this idea on Pinterest a couple years ago. There are so many cute ideas out there and so many things that I wish I would have started with the kids when they were younger. Sophie was already in 3rd grade when I saw this idea, but I knew we could still catch up.

The original idea said to use the Dr. Seuss book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go." You sneak it to teachers and other adults throughout your child's school years, they write little notes to your child and then you give it to them when they graduate. I love Dr. Seuss and I love that book, but I didn't want to use it. I'm not really sure why. I just wanted to be different. I found this book at Target and it was just too sweet.

I decided to save a spot in the front for a "someday" note from Corey and I. It's just an envelope glued to the inside. Sophie has notes from her K, 1st and 3rd (same teacher), 2nd, 4th and Jessi, our daycare provider for years.

I love how with both kids... some of the notes talk about God's plan for their lives.

They all make me smile. =)

A few pages from the book...

Gretchen was only 2 when I bought these books, but when I saw this one by the same author, I knew I had to get it for her. It makes me a little teary each time I read it.

She only has one note right now...

I really love this idea and am so excited to see these books as the years go on.

Remember... don't mention this to my children! It's a surprise! =)

farmhouse: doors and floors.

We finally found our hardwood floor... probably the hardest decision we've had to make so far. 

(Bathrooms and mudroom are tile... bedrooms, stairs and family room are carpeted... the rest is all hardwood. Most of the main floor.)

Wood floors are still a few weeks out, but we needed a color for the painters to stain all the woodwork. We love how the doors look! (The floors will be dark, but not the super dark, show-every-speck-of-dirt-and-dust-dark. Hopefully.)

They put a little jelly jar light in Gretchie's playhouse under the stairs. She's so full of smiles every time she gets in here.

Finally lights in here so I can get a decent picture. This room is nothing but storage and storm shelter. I'm pretty excited about it.

It's a pretty big room... 

Seriously. We started carrying this little potty chair in the back of the van. She didn't quite master the whole squat-in-the-grass-without-peeing-all-over-your-shoes concept. This is much easier.

I took the truck and two kids to town the other day to pick up the stone for the fireplace. It was an adventure, that's for sure. Navigation is not my strong suit. Somehow I manage to screw up even the simplest of directions. This day was no exception.

Doors are all stained and so, so pretty.

Tile guys were working most of the week and the living room looked like this...

Upstairs bathroom and the kid's bathroom tile... (probably should have gone with a darker grout, but they will seal this and it brightens things up a bit. And, it's grout. Not really that big of a deal.)

Master bath. My favorite.

Mudroom... (same story with the grout. And that pretty door is not permanent.)

Interior doors are all hung and look so nice... (this is our bedroom door)

All the doors in the house are stained, except for Sophie and Gretchen's closet doors.

We have a deck now! (At least a deck floor. No railings yet.)

The deck is on the east side of the house, so it's just perfect out here in the evenings when the sun is going down. Pretty sure we'll be spending a lot of time out here.

The kids have been loving this big pile of leftover sand. I'm hoping Corey will have time at some point to build a sandbox. This night, Lawson thought it would be fun to bury his flip flops in the sand. And then he could only find one. 

But it made me smile, remembering this Facebook status from years ago:
"Our morning routine doesn't run near as efficiently when Lawson puts handcuffs on himself."

random.

** Things are moving crazy fast at the house. At least it seems fast. Latest estimation right now is that we will be in the first full week in August. The week right before school starts. Of course.

** I have no idea how this would work if school were still in session. I do so many random house related errands nearly every day and make so many trips out there to meet with one person or another. I can't imagine if we were both working every day right now.

** Gretchen has started at a new daycare and is loving it. I love it, too. Katie is so sweet and absolutely someone I would be friends with. Gretchie goes 2 days a week to hold her spot for the school year. It took her a little while to start talking to Katie, but she's starting to see her personality now. And hearing someone say, "If I ever have a daughter, I want her to be just like Gretchen!" is a pretty nice compliment.

** I worked at school for a few hours this week. It felt so good to throw away some of the stuff I held on to last year, not knowing if it was something I would need/want. My storage space there is super limited, so it feels good to get rid of stuff!

** If you ride a motorcycle without a helmet, my 3 year old will call. you. out. She spots 'em every time. "He's not wearing a helmet! He's gonna crack his head open!" The funniest was the other night when we turned the corner and saw a guy wearing one. A little voice yells from the backseat, "Good for him! He's wearing a helmet!" Sophie, Lawson and I couldn't stop laughing.

** I am so not looking forward to running across a snake at the farm someday. Seriously. I'm really not sure what I'll do. Corey and I were hunting through the old barn the other day, looking for wood to use for a fireplace mantle. I think I spent more time looking for snakes than I did searching for wood.

** I am trying to make my laptop more efficient by deleting some of the pictures off of iPhoto. I thought 34,000 might be a bit much. They are all saved on an external hard drive and I've been working on burning them to DVD's, as well. (I can't stand the thought of losing pictures!) Once they are saved in both places, I've started deleting. As of last night (or early this morning, actually...) I'm down to 16,789 photos. And I'm only 1/2 way through 2011.

** Lawson cannot hold anything lately without tossing it in the air and catching it. (Or dropping it, instead of catching it.) Doesn't matter what it is... water bottle, remote, apples, markers.

** I've heard before that 3rd grade boys can be really annoying. I'm starting to believe it.

** 5th grade girl drama can be really annoying, too. How is it possible that I have a 5th grader?!

** My main love language is Words of Affirmation. Corey doesn't really dig that. But he tries sometimes. Sunday morning he says, "Look how pretty you look with your hair like that. You never wear your hair in a ponytail anymore." Um... yeah. Actually, I do. Pretty much every single day. But hey, thanks for noticing.

** I hate shaving my legs. I'm tall, my legs are long, my shower stall is tiny. It's not a good combination. Don't ever look too closely at my legs if you are sitting next to me somewhere. Chances are, it won't be pretty.

** Our 6 foot freezer got left open a crack the other day. Our freezer with over 1/4 of beef in it. (We keep popsicles in there for the kids... who have now all been lectured about making SURE the door is shut all the way!) When Corey discovered it (I was out of town. Of course.) things were still cold and salvageable, but some of the meat had thawed enough to drip bloody yuck all over the shelves. Shelves that were covered in frost/ice because the freezer was working so hard to stay cold. We lost some frozen pizzas and cooked a couple roasts the next day, but it could have been a disaster. The freezer still has lovely chunks of bloody ice in it, but we figure we might as well wait until we move to defrost/clean it.

** If you visit my house sometime in the next month, don't look in the freezer.

** Corey is outside cleaning out the van. He just informed me that it is the last nice vehicle we will ever own. I forget what he told me I get next. Pretty sure it's not the driver's seat that he's complaining about, though. Darn kids.

** We're headed back here for a 4th of July party tonight. The kids are so excited to see their best friends. (Me, too!) I think they've been asking when the party is every hour for the past day and a half.

** Someone might be sulking because they don't have an outfit to wear to the party tonight. And this momma might have an idea for a cute shirt to make. But... because of someone's crabby attitude, this momma is having a hard time getting motivated to make it. Receiving gifts is her love language, though, so I'll find the motivation. I just may need to spend some time away from her first.

** Corey also just informed me that before we go to any party, we need a clean house. So... time to get busy.

machine pitch.

We're still glad for our decision to move Lawson up a league for baseball.  I think that Machine Pitch would have been fun for him, but he has definitely learned more in Mustangs. We realized, though, that moving straight from Coach Pitch to Mustangs, he missed out on that opportunity to get a "perfect pitch," every single time. Machine Pitch would have been a chance for him to really work on his batting. 

But... a couple guys we know had put together an 8 and under Machine Pitch team. They traveled around a bit and played against some nearby towns. They asked him to play with them on two of their last games one evening. He had never practiced with them and he had never hit off a pitching machine, but it ended up being a really good night for him. A nice little confidence boost to remind him that he actually CAN hit the ball! 

Our Mustangs season is ending soon. First game of the tournament was tonight. Another game Friday and we'll either be done or continue through the weekend. More pictures to come...

farmhouse: handprints.

This man was so nice to our kids. He put his own hand in the cement first, to show them what to do (and to show them that it's not that big of a deal)... he smoothed Lawson's first try and had him do it a second time, with help... walked away when he saw that Gretchen was getting scared/nervous. He was so patient and kind. I loved that.

The driveway will always make me smile. =)