filling the wall space isn't easy...

Many folks assume that in my line o' work I have oodles of pictures of the kids.

It's true, I may have a few more than what may be the norm...I dunno. But I most certainly don't get as many "take-'em-out-'n-practice" pics of my girls as I'd maybe like to.

I scared (or is it scarred?...both are accurate) them the first year I got into this and they made their displeasure known (I really can't blame them). It got to the point that for practice, I didn't even make them smile anymore...

So, it wasn't too much to ask to take them out and grab our once-a-year "make a pretty Christmas card" pics. Or was it...

why yes...her eyes are still that wonderfully blue...

but no amount of photoshop will fix

the emotion coming out of her mouth...

we were out a whopping 10 minutes,

when Julia struck a yawn pose,

Sarah might be asking for a snack

and Lauren is doing her "best"...

here's the first attempt at

being directed to "be yourselves"...

here is the ultra-realistic "be yourselves"...

there comes a moment when you realize

the "shoot" is over...typically...it is when

you are ignored completely...

Fear not...We did accomplish the mission at hand and the girls were promptly rewarded.

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE :: It's done. We are happy. It's feeling more like home everyday. Pictures coming soon.

from a chapter in julia's book on getting what you want...

The other morning, with both of her sisters in school, Julia begged me to turn on the TV (or "TB" as she calls it) and I insisted it was play time instead. Here's how the conversation went ::

Julia : "I want to watch a show."

Me : "You can...at quiet time [in the afternoon]"

Julia, ignoring the response as she often will do : "How about Bolt? I will watch Bolt." (as she climbs on the couch to get comfy)

Me (as I sit down next to her) : "Ok, in a few hours at quiet time...I'll set up Bolt for you. Right now, we will play with toys."

Julia : "Now. I will watch Bolt now."

Me : "No."

Julia, with a huge smile : "I have money."

Me : "Ok. Do you want to play with the money in your piggy bank?" [we do this at times]

Julia : "No... I will give you money and you will turn on Bolt."

Oh....boy....

i'm speechless (or maybe i wish i could be)...

Like most kiddos, Sarah hasn't been entirely forthcoming with telling us what's happening at school. Everyday I ask and everyday she shrugs and says, "I dunno." As with Lauren, we do eventually get some tiny details that give us a glimpse of her day (it's usually a stall tactic at bedtime).

Today, I asked again and got the same response, followed by..."Why do I have to tell you what happened at my school anyway? Don't you remember what you did at your school?"

I explained, "You're gone from me all day and I miss you and I just want to know what you're doing when you're not with me."

That must have pulled at her heartstrings ever so slightly because she sighed, thought for a moment, turned to me and said ::

"If I tell you about my day at school, YOU are going to tell me how all us babies got out of your stomach."

Gulp. It was a tough deal to make, but at that point I didn't want to seem like her day wasn't worth the trade. There weren't many details provided...I mostly just clarified some misconceptions she had on the matter. In the end, I think she was somewhat satisfied with the explanation.

I'm a little concerned about how many questions she's got rolling around up there...but now I'm sure glad she only goes to school three days a week.

and she's off...

Sarah had her first official day of school today! Kindergarten is underway and so far she seems thrilled with what the next 13 years have in store for her.

Yesterday was visiting day, where we took some of these pictures. Below, she is standing by her locker. All of the school's students have lockers this year. We're relieved that this spares us from an entire year of "Why does Lauren have a locker and I don't?".

The classroom has this smart board dealio, where Sarah could drag and drop her name from the "absent" to "here" side of the list. It was pretty cool.

Here she is working on a little Pre Calc. Seemed a bit aggressive a task for visiting day, but Sarah managed just fine...

So, this morning kicked off the official start of school. Sarah was raring to go and the picture of cuteness in her self-picked-out outfit.

She, too, sported the flip flop look for footwear...

Nerves were up at the bus stop. She did not let her big sister out of sight. I guess being escorted by someone with one day of bus-riding experience, is better that going it alone...

Typically, one at a time fit up the bus steps. Sarah never left Lauren's side. It was pretty dang sweet.

So, it's just Julia and I three days a week now. Today was pretty quiet in the house...especially since Julia's been running a temp of 103 for three days! So, I do believe a doctor's visit will be in the works for tomorrow's plans. We don't do much thumb twiddling around here... We can always rip down another wall if boredom sets in, I guess. (we have walls now, by the way :-)...just drywall, but walls, nonetheless)

construction update...

I supposed I would be remiss to not give an update on our aforementioned, unscheduled remodel.

Here it is : There are still studs in my kitchen. And they are not of the nice-looking gentlemen variety. I can still see my roof from the dining room, but I can no longer see my bed from the kitchen sink. Progress is slow and somewhat steady. The good news is I have no good reason to clean the house. The bad news is precisely the same.

first day of school (summer had to end sometime)...

The dizzying blur of of a fast-moving summer came to a halt today as we woke Lauren up for her first day of third grade. This day had a few more butterflies than other first days as the girls start at a brand new school this year (new for them and new all together).

We attended the opening "ceremonies" last week...(below is the front of the school)

Here's the back of the school, where the ceremony took place. Behind me is the playground and field.

They had each family release a butterfly (inside the blue triangle)

We caught ours after it was released...
This is Sarah's classroom (not the full view...I know)

Lauren sitting at her desk...

Thankfully, visiting the school last week helped calm Lauren's nerves about the whole thing (can't say it did the same for Sarah). So, she was able to get a good night's sleep and be bright eyed and bushy tailed for today!

Despite her getting on in years, nothing changed on the pre-school breakfast menu for my little "the usual" gal. Waffles with Nutella once again!

Drum roll, please. Here is the First Day of School Outfit for Third Grade ::

She even sported a new backpack...loaded to the max. I'm surprised she didn't topple backwards with all the stuff in there!

Oh...the shoes (and a very last minute toe nail trimmin' and paint job!).

I'm so used to driving her to school and talking to her about the first day, so it was a little odd to send her away on a bus this morning! We all walked her to the bus stop (she ran).

Sarah even took her backpack (her first day is tomorrow) and poor Julia sat in her consolation prize. She's not going to school this year, so I bought a jogging stroller to run around with her. So, as she sees it, we'll run the day away until her sisters come home (I'm going to be in tip top shape apparently!).

I don't blame Lauren, but...sadly...she pulled an "I'm-too-cool-for-that" face when I asked her to pose by the school bus for a picture. So...this is all we will get of her send off to the school year...

Sarah's turn tomorrow...stay tuned...

home sweet home (some of the time anyway)...

Almost 4 months? Really? It's been that long? Well, now, that's just plain ridiculous. This is long overdue, I know.

In advance, I do feel badly for fast-forwarding you through the last very fun and exciting and crazy and busy and story-filled months in our lives...sorry!...Let's see...since April 29...our top two events were ::

• Packing our good ol' (newer) house
• Moving into our good ol' (old) new house (pictured below!)

we also trained for and ran in another 25K race, celebrated Lauren's 8th Birthday!!! (deserves far more pomp and circumstance than a tiny little italicized item), started renovating the new house a bit (wallpaper removal and new carpet on the second floor...and removing carpet from bathrooms...ewwwww....), and then a lot bit of renovating...(more on the "lot bit" later), said goodbye to pre-school for Sarah and second grade for Lauren, left for a week to Maryland, cleaned up from that trip, unpacked a few more boxes in the house, then packed and left for a week to the cottage,cleaned up from that trip, celebrated Julia's 3rd birthday!!! (we are blessed with such a sweet little lady with a mind of her very own!), unpacked a few more boxes in the house, then packed and left for a week to Grand Haven ("camping"), cleaned up from that trip, unpacked more, enjoyed the new neighborhood and began planning for a small scale kitchen remodel when....

The "lot bit" of renovating (mentioned above) began a week ago.

All we wanted to do was pull down some very annoying overhead cabinets that blocked our view of pretty much anything outside the kitchen. We also wanted to pull down some wallpaper. (see the "before" shot below...from when we walked through house)

So, this fun tale of mayhem begins as I'm ever so innocently meandering about the kitchen area one evening a little over a week ago, when I look up and see our ceiling looking droopy in the sad, got-water-in-me, kinda way. A few curse words began swirling about my head that I won't repeat here, but get creative and you'll think of a few.

That evening unfolded a week of insurance company hulabaloo and the superman-like swooping in of a building contractor. We discovered two things at fault for our saggy ceiling : master shower leak AND air conditioning condensate pump leak ('cause that device belonged in the attic above the dining room table...how brilliant of you, former homeowner!...).

Happily (but not so much for the contractor...who threw up three times when pulling down our wet ceiling and all the wet insulation), we also discovered the source of the "why-does-the-house-have-a-funny-smell?" issue, when it was obvious the pump perhaps had a slow leak for the entire five years it resided in the attic and made the insulation and drywall not only wet...but also rotten.

Picture below is of insulation mound in dining room...Yes, yummy... And the stuff in the air is a very lovely fine dust that seeps into every last corner of the house, even behind cabinets and inside drawers...

We also had to demolish our master shower, which had a tile that was apparently adheared to the wall and floor with some sort of 1945-era monster glue that desired to make it next to impossible for anyone to ever disagree with anyone's design choice. The strong-will and sharp chisel of our contractor removed all of it, but also created a very fine and oppressive dust.

Which brings our little unscheduled reno tale to today...when we came home to this :

In the picture above, the opening on the upper left next to the white brick is our demolished master shower, which happened last week. With the tear-down of a wall or two, we now have a fine view of our bed from the kitchen sink. Below, the girls are standing in our shower and I'm in the dining room, looking up...

Because we never want to be without dinner conversation at our table in the future, we obliged letting the girls jump out of the shower into the dining room. So that in the years to come, we can sit and look at the wall and smile when we think of this pain in the blip on our life-radar. Enjoy the video of their fun :

But, hey!...at least we got rid of those pesky upper cabinets along the way :

Bear with me and I'll do my best to wipe the dust off the computer and update a little more frequently on the this project and the other goings-on in our little lives.