Thursday, September 9, 2010

I asked for a daughter


and was sent a princess.

I'm not kidding.

After two very precocious boys, I prayed and prayed for a girl.  A well behaved one.  I must have been in good graces with the Lord 8 years ago, because He sent me exactly what I asked for.


Hannah made life easy from the beginning...she arrived 45 short minutes after our arrival at the hospital, was sleeping eight hours a night by three weeks old and never really fussed unless she was hungry, tired or messy.





She is typically the life of the party and is a girly-girl through and through (something I am not).



However, she's never let that stop her from keeping up with the "Stinky Brothers!"

She's always (OK, almost always) willing to lend a hand...


...and is a great big sister.

She is generous with her love (and kisses), even when she may not be feeling her best...

                                                      
...yet can throw a pretty mean kick if needs be!


She's growing up to be a lovely young lady and I'm proud to be her mom.

Happy Birthday Cis!

Love,
Mom  xoxo

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

the end of summer

Usually, when it comes to 3-day weekends, Trevor and I don't plan very well.  We typically spend the weekend at home, cooped up with our 4 kids doing chores and breaking up fights.  We always say that we need to do something fun.  We just have a hard time of following through!

This past Friday night, Trevor and I were out to dinner (I can not believe that we can finally leave our kids home alone for a couple of hours!) when he looked at me and questioned (after letting out a big sigh), "What are we going to do tomorrow?"  I immediately began thinking of all the things that needed to be done around the house when he followed with, "Why don't we go canoeing?"  Good answer.

We got up the next morning, ate breakfast, packed some lunches and headed up to Fort Ancient to the canoe outfitters.  We (the boys and I--Trevor is the expert canoe-er) spent the next few hours bickering on how to steer a canoe and get it unstuck from the many shallow areas along the river.  The kids froze their toushies off after getting in the cold water and Rachel screamed every time we got stuck, thinking we were going to tip.  I got to listen to all my kids tell me how much better Dad is at steering the canoe (this was my first trip down a river, Trevor used to make a living at it) and that they would much rather ride with him.  I think next time I will go with Trevor and let the kids fend for themselves in their own canoe (and we will pay the extra 5 bucks for a plastic canoe that never seems to get stuck)!  :)



What am I going to do when that girl is 14?  HELP!


He looks happy now...


Are we having fun yet?!


Rachel isn't so sure she's up for another canoe trip any time soon!

Sure enough, after these 4 photos (and about 30 minutes into our day) the camera battery died.  Leave it to us to have a dead battery and no back up!


Monday morning rolls around and, once again, we are completely unprepared for the day.  I kept thinking about everything we didn't accomplish around the house on Saturday (I know, such a stick in the mud), when Trevor proclaimed, "We're going biking today!" to which Hannah exclaimed, "Wow!  Two fun things in a row!"  Are we really that pathetic as parents?  So, we packed up the kids' bikes and a backpack full of water and headed out the door.  Jonathan saw our "other" camera sitting on the desk and grabbed it for us.  Timothy yelled out, "Make sure to grab extra batteries!"


I managed to click this one shot before, you guessed it, the camera went dead.  That's what we get for not listening to Timothy!

We ended up riding 15 miles (Hannah rode the whole thing on a too-small bike) and the kids explored in the river for sometime.  We ended the day with lunch at The Works and Hawaiian shaved ice, after which Jonathan declared this 3-day weekend "the best ever!"  I would have to agree.

Thanks, Trevor, for "planning" such a great weekend.


Thursday, September 2, 2010

the result

"Isn't she lovely, isn't she wonderful..." Thank you, Stevie. I happen to think so.


Trevor and I are both thrilled about finally having double ovens. One for me, one for him.

See that little wall we built? It hides a desk (actually, a Costco plastic table until we get a desk) so that my countertops can remain junk-free (a woman can dream can't she?).

Notice the new windows (window treatments are still to come). One of my favorite things. Not only are they bigger, but gone are the sliders so they are one big piece of glass. Washing dishes with a nice view is much better than washing them without a view.

Sorry about how dark this one is. I can't get our lame camera to take it any differently. I recently told Trevor that I think we should get a better camera. It probably wasn't the best thing to say after just having finished this project!
And, finally, from the back. New deck, new windows (that don't scream, "Look at me!") and new siding.

I told you it was worth the wait.

Next up: landscaping!

P.S.  A shout out to Diane for helping me pick out everything!