Hubby's Birthday

Another year older!

Bathroom - Almost Done!

The tiling is complete. We are just waiting for the grout to cure so that we can seal it. I also have to chose curtains. I had planned to use a safari one, but the bathroom is so pretty that I want to put a more grown-up one in there.
We kept the old vanity, medicine cabinet, lighting and linen closet. We just replaced the knobs, and hubby added a tiled backsplash. He's hugely disappointed that the old stuff takes away from the new look, but it saves a lot of money. (Besides, the vanity was the first thing he built for this house, and I'm sentimentally attached.) Oh, yeah, please admire my new toilet - so far, no plunging needed! I am a happy woman.

Summer Project Update

I did it. I asked him for a new toilet in the kids' bathroom. At some point in time, some toy or other object had gotten stuck in the toilet. Basically, I was tired of plunging. I also mentioned that maybe we should throw down some new linoleum since the glue under our current one was yellowing.

Yep... you guessed it - bathroom makeover time! Of course, he couldn't bear the idea of spending any time fixing the bathroom without "doing it right!" (I can't say that I lamented the loss of those shower tiles or the blue tub.) We all know that he really just wanted a project!

Hubby attempted one of those glazing kits to turn our tub white. After the 72 hour cure time, it chipped. I think hubby's venting his frustration in this picture! ;-)

Here's our brand new bathtub. I'm just hoping it can withstand the amount of dirt and sand that it will encounter!

Here's the lovely view of the outside of our house. Some people purchase garden accessories. Guess we just don't need them! (Think I could share some with my cousin at his housewarming party?)

Summer Updates

Since I've missed so much, here are some highlights.

Father's Day

Grandma's Birthday

First summer working full-time.

Playing with cousins and camping. (Unfortunately, I was negligent in picture-taking during our camping trips. This is the only event I managed to capture. I even missed fireworks on the fourth of July!)

SKUNKED!

Yup! You guessed it - Anni got sprayed last night! Ugh! We were letting her out before heading to bed, and I noticed her sneeze when she came inside (yes, INSIDE!). Then the stench hit like a brick. Luckily, she didn't make it onto any carpeting before I sent her right back outside, but the smell is still lingering despite multiple floor washings, disposal of area rugs, and open windows throughout the house. We bathed her last night, but the boys and I are going to bathe her a few more times today. Fun, fun, fun....

Problem Solving

My husband cracks me up. I find his quirky sense of humor funny in general, but I also find some of the things he does extremely amusing. He is by nature a problem-solver. Some of you know. The house was too small - add 800 square feet! He was tripping over the shoes in the entryway - add on to the front of the house to make a shoe closet! Not enough pantry space? Build another one! You get the idea. So... the cherry problem. We have several, BIG, TALL, beautiful cherry trees that are always loaded with delicious cherries that he longs to pick. Every year, he pulls down the bottom branches and picks as many as he can reach. This year, he came up with a better solution - the cherry-picker van!

Problem Solved!

(However, I think that he's really just picking the same branches that he picked a few years ago!)

Summer Reading

Another perk of homeschooling is extra "osmosis" learning. Neil-Te has been learning to read all year - practicing sight words, phonics... About a month ago, KiKi started begging to learn a letter every day. He learns his letter, practices writing it, then begs for a new one. The other day, He picked up this library book, What I See, and started to read it. It is one of those early reader books - highly repetitive; and I figured that he had just memorized it. You can just imagine my shock when he actually stopped here and there to sound out the words! Guess I had underestimated the power of osmosis!