CHAIRS!!!!!!!!

72 hours after putting the final coat of lacquer on the chairs (and a thin coat it was because I was scraping the bottom of the can), we have four finished wooden chairs for our kitchen table. To those of you who knew these chairs in a previous lifetime (when they were sticky green, when they belonged to my older sister or my mom), we are so happy to have these out of storage and in use. It only took 6 years to get them how we wanted.

That is another project crossed off my to-do list.

Visitors

My husband's parents and youngest sister (she's single, folks) came out for a weekend visit to see the new place and the new area. It was a lot of fun to have them here. My husband and his father replaced the small garage door that had a rotten frame. My mother- and sister-in-law helped me with some of the decorating issues (you'll see a partially finished wall behind them in the top picture--not the paint, but the pictures and placement).


Here is a picture of the family with the grandparents in front of the house. Daffodils will be going into the flower spot behind my feet. (And if you didn't know, yes, we are expecting #3. You can kind of tell from the picture.)

Swimming

Yesterday was chore day: there were no clean socks for certain professors to wear to school, so he borrowed a pair of mine; we were out of bread; we had projects that still needed completion (why is it that the last two coats of lacquer are the hardest to get on?) We retired to the basement to rotate laundry and play.

After I pulled the swimsuits out to fold, the youngest got excited. He was ready to go swimming. After I folded the swimsuits, he pulled them out of the pile and tried putting his trunks and shirt on by himself. After he had contorted himself in a few different ways to no avail (though he did get one foot and leg and his arms in), I gave in and helped him put his swimsuit over his clothes. The oldest jumped on board, putting on his trunks, and then they were off. They did laps, they jumped off several "diving boards," they had a ball "swimming" in the comfort of our basement. The only thing that disappointed them was that I didn't get dressed for the occasion.

Happy Birthday!

The oldest had his birthday this week. I invited the boy from his swimming lessons and the children from his Primary class over for cupcakes and ice cream, and we were lucky enough that friends from Georgia were visiting for a couple of days and arrived on his birthday.

When he woke up, his dad and I sang happy birthday, and he rushed to the kitchen, looked around, and the collapsed on the floor (we seem to be doing a lot of collapsing lately, but that is another story). I hadn't made his cake yet because I had no clue what shape of cake he wanted, and he seemed to think that meant he didn't get a birthday cake. After a few minutes of sadness, he told us that he wanted a train cake. So a train cake is what he got.


He also got to pick the menu: waffles, noodles, spaghetti and meatballs. His dad had new faculty orientation all day, but surprised him with his first bike when he got home. The oldest was all smiles. The youngest thought the bike might be for him to.

He got a few other gifts: everything to play store, a great bouncy ball, a sit-and-bounce, stickers. And he ate more cake and ice cream than he had All in all it was a great day! It is amazing how quickly he is growing up.

Here is a little collection of movies from the day.

Soil Beans

The boys and I drove down the freeway yesterday to go to a playgroup, and along the way the oldest pointed out the corn and "soil beans" on the side of the car. He distinguishes between them pretty well. (Not that the difference of towering corn stalks and cowering soybean plants isn't easy to miss.) It is fun to find fun words at his age.

We're not in Kansas anymore

Not that we have ever been in Kansas, but we are definitely in a different environment. On Friday we went to the county fair. Now, my only experience with county fairs were the fairs I went to in Colorado when I was about 12. My older (and very beautiful) sister and I were interested in the food, the rodeo (and what a rodeo it was!), and the amusement park portion. We didn't look at 4-H exhibits or the animals or anything like that.

The fair here we did differently. We went through the 4-H exhibits (there were kids who had restored antique tractors to pristine condition), then the commercial exhibits (wind energy, combines, etc.), and then to the barns (poultry, rabbits, horses, sheep, swine, cattle, goats). We finished up by walking through the whole fair, looking at all the different tractors on display and then the amusement park (where we didn't ride a thing).

The oldest was sad because the last of his ice cream slipped from his cone and melted on the sidewalk. My husband and I thought it was interesting to see a different side of our new area (can I say rednecks and still be polite?)

Here are a few pictures.

Just so you know, when the oldest would climb into a large vehicle, the first thing that he would do was buckle the seat belt and turn on all the switches he could, then, and only then, would he start driving. (You can see the seat belt buckled as he reaches for switches in the first picture.)

Who knows . . . maybe this is Kansas . . . or a cousin of hers. It sure isn't Georgia.

Settling in

Making a compost pile (an open one so far).

Playing with the rake.

Still playing with the rake.

We are here and getting settled. Aside from the four GIGANTIC spiders (one with a sac) we have found in the basement and the crazy things we keep finding around the house, all is well. We like the space and the yard. We have nice neighbors. The public transportation is convenient for us. All the roads around us are under construction (thanks to the federal stimulus package), but that means we'll have something to benefit us in the future. (If you want examples of weird things we didn't notice during the viewings in May, just let me know.)

The oldest is having a bit of a time adjusting. We have had nightly (or twice nightly) accidents for the past week and occasional ones during the day. It is bad enough that after the second accident last night, I had to put him to be naked--not a clean pair of underwear to be found. But this morning he said, "I love our house and our yard." He also loves the idea of swatting flies with a "wasp." He is in swimming lessons with another little boys his same age. Today, he put his face in the water to be a submarine. (WAHOO!)

The youngest is scared of Nursery, probably because there are so many children (and so many Senior-Nursery-aged children who are more aggressive) that he just doesn't feel safe. I did get to go to class for 10 minutes on Sunday, which is progress in a way. (The week before he screamed from under a stack of chairs until I got him and then was glued to my side in my classes--he wanted NOTHING to do with Nursery that week. He even screamed when he saw one of the Nursery workers in the hallway.)

My husband likes the school and likes the area. He's going golfing with the Elder's Quorum on Saturday morning, which should be a nice relaxing thing for him to do.

I'm going to work on getting a fall garden going . . . I just need to prepare the ground. Then this fall I'll plant berry bushes and fruit trees.

There is one big difference we are noticing. In Georgia, distance wasn't really that big of an issue (unless you were talking about something during rush hour). Here the distance of 10 or 15 minutes is sometimes overwhelming. We live "so far" from the church building (about 10 minutes) and since no other members live in our subdivision, we are sort of on our own. (At least that is what it seems like right now.)

We're hoping to find friends soon. I'm ready to start inviting people over for dinner and/or games. The boys and I miss our friends.