Concrete

And suddenly we're 10 days from moving into our house. I think after so many delays, it was starting to feel like moving time would never get here. But that's when the concrete counters showed up. Below is my island waiting to be installed.

Powder Room Counter.

Installation Process

The edge of the island has a river rock aggregate for interest.

Kitchen Sink

Master Bath Counter (the lighting makes it look darker than it is)

Installed!

Love Me Like You Do

I had a dry-erase board in my childhood bedroom. In 1988, I wrote the entire lyrics to Sinaid O'Connor 'Nothing Compares 2 U' on that whiteboard. Therefore, it should have been no surprise when Maisie started researching song lyrics to practice singing. The song she chose was "Love Me Like You Do". Only then did I realize the song is from the '50 Shades of Grey' soundtrack. Once again, I'm disqualified from Mother of the Year Award. While we watched 'Glee' on Netflix Tuesday evening (which I'm obsessed with), Maisie was busy writing the "Love Me Like You Do' lyrics onto paper for a concert she would later perform. Little did I know the concert would be held on the courthouse steps Wednesday morning with Molly and I. Wednesday morning rolled around and Maisie's lip gloss had been applied. It was concert time. Ross wasn't thrilled, but was willing to come along as the photographer. I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story.

The courthouse steps... just one of the places in Winterset I'll forever treasure.

Hodge Podge

Whew, It's been a while! I don't even know where to begin, therefore this post will be a hodge-podgy one. The house building process is in its final lap. Our finish trim carpenter finished-up Monday morning and we await countertops Thursday morning and floors next Monday. GG and Papa visited over the weekend and worked like mules through the heat and manual labor of getting this house done. Grandpa and Papa Boyd supplied showers, food, beverages and childcare services.

The July heat is in full-swing and the kids have begun fighting like cats and dogs. I was on the phone with the Home Depot Rebate Customer Service man (who was difficult to interpret anyway), when Maisie began bawling about Ross throwing something. I made a quick escape to the basement where I could hide behind the dryer. Before long, I was discovered and had to make another attempt at hiding in the yard. Lets just say the Home Depot Behr Paint rebate had a few snags in it. I managed to jump through the hoops regardless. I can only wonder what the customer service man must have thought of my whispering. Not only does the heat have the kids attacking each other, but they eat like hungry lions. Maisie's had a hankering for hamburgers lately. I'm not about to fire up the grill for each craving, therefore I discovered a shortcut. Our ground beef comes frozen in log shapes. I barely defrost the meat enough to slice a 'burger patty' (think slice-n-bake cookies), fry it on the skillet, cut sandwich bread with a cookie cutter and top with ketchup. Just call me Ronald McDonald.

We went to the mall to ride the rides. My kids don't have an appreciation for amusement parks, but show them an escalator and you'd think they were at Disneyland. Go figure.

If this heat wave doesn't end soon, there's no telling what my next post may bring.

4th Of July 2015

Girls On Dock

What a 4th!

 

 

Stay tuned for weekend photos!

Sunny and Dukes

Tuesday morning I drug the kids away from 'Good Luck Charlie' on Netflix (The summer chore chart only lasts so long) and told them we were going to the park. 

I figured the playground would be empty and the kids needed some fresh air which ironically seems to be clouding-up the atmosphere these days. 

 

While at the park, the kids wandered down to Ross' hideout while I read a book on a bench.  The hideout's a huge bush Ross climbs into and becomes surrounded with shrubbery. 

Apparently, that's fun for kids.

 

I suddenly heard the kids screaming something about Kratt. 

I sighed, closed my book and walked down toward the hideout.  Sure enough, the kids found a kitten.  Again.  However, this one was orange and looked just like Kratt but prettier.  It was a girl kitten and appeared to be very friendly and extremely thin.

 

The girls were squealing with excitement as Ross began talking a mile-a-minute trying to determine what we were going to do.  I couldn't leave her in the bush to die, so I told the kids to get her in the minivan. 

 

I drove her home and we watched her eat like she's never been fed.  We played with her, held her, Ross named her Sunny and I could tell he was hoping I'd let him keep her.  But, once again, the timing just wasn't right.  I called Street Tails where a woman from our church came to pick her up and will have her spade, vaccinated, micro-chipped and adopted. 

 

Although it was hard for Ross to say goodbye to Sunny, he also knew we saved her. 

 

 

 

 

Once Sunny left, I took the kids to the pool.  I wasn't terribly concerned about sunburn as the sun is practically invisible these days.  We swam about 45 minutes before the pool was evacuated.  Apparently, it had been evacuated earlier in the afternoon as well.  The cause? 

Loose Turds floating in the water.

The pool has to be evacuated for 30 minutes when someone takes a duke in the pool.  I had no interest in jumping back in after 30 minutes, so we left.

 

And with that... it's been a day.

 

Fathers Day 2015

Fathers Day 2015 will forever stand out as an adventurous one.  We took a kayak trip from Pammel Park to Middle River, as a family.  It's a 10 mile trip and figured we'd have a good couple hours of quality family time.  5 people, 3 kakaks.  We can do this.  Below is what I hope to remember about the day.

 

Mike 'rocking' the kayak when he had Maisie on his kayak to help wiggle them off rocks, tree trunks and sand which they would get stuck on.  Maisie then crying that she wanted to go home; or just ride with mommy.  She got her way and got to ride in my kayak while Molly went to Mikes.

  

Subconsciously yelling, "Grab Your Daughter!" as I watched Mikes kayak flip over and Molly fly out into the rapids. 

 

Watching Mike grab Molly and feeling overcome with relief knowing she was o.k.... just scared and ready to be done with this crazy sport.

 

Ross yelling downstream:

Slow-down guys I'm trying to enjoy myself. 

Why won't anyone wait for me? 

I like to take my time and enjoy things, why is everyone in a hurry? 

I've got a boner. 

Why are the girls constantly bawling?

I'm just gonna stand on top of my kayak and take a piss.

I found a skull.

My fingers are blistered from the paddle.  Will the water infect it because it's starting to burn.

 

Passing under the first bridge which said we had gone 1.8 miles and thinking we should have been nearing the end.  We had 8.2 miles to go and based on the position of the sun, it was noon.

 

Singing every Barbie song, library preschool song and Girl Scout song I could think of to help distract the girls.

 

Maisie asking me if I've 'met the voices inside my head yet'?

 

Finishing the 3-hour kayak trip (in fast rapids) and dragging the kayak to the side of the river to keep Maisie from drifting down the river in the kayak as the current pulled me down onto the sharp river rock and feeling a stabbing pain in my shin. 

 

Getting the kids and kayaks out of the water and realizing I left the car keys we needed in my purse inside the van (which was parked where we started).

 

Feeling like a cross between Clark Griswald in Wally World and a poorly dressed triathlete when I decided to 'run' back into town (between 1-2 miles on the highway) in my soaking wet clothes, sand and water filled sketchers, and bleeding shin to retrieve Mikes car from our house to pick up the van from Pammel Park.

 

Feeling Gods Grace upon us through the entire adventure and knowing we 'lived' on Sunday.

 

We witnessed Mother Natures breathtaking scenery, flew through rapids which craved respect and forced us through brush-filled roadblocks, grabbed our baby out of the rapids, watched the birds in the sky dance a dance made just for us, joked, sang and accomplished something we weren't sure we would.  Best of all, we did it together.

 

No pictures this time.  Can you even imagine if I'd had my camera?!