Highlights of June

June was a busy month simply because Jason was working so much and I was picking rock out of the yard. Andrew helped out quite a bit and we got him this bag as a thank-you. it was so big Jacob could fit in it.

Even though the yard was full of rocks and could not be mowed, Jacob found a silver lining to it all... the daisy's that grew! the little snot came in the house with these and I saw him coming so I made up a vase for the flowers he picked for "mommy" I found he takes after Jason in this area as well. I asked him if those were for me and he said "no! these are my flowers! I want to play with them!" so I took a picture of them before they got trashed, and I was throwing all the little flower pieces out the door 20 minutes later!

The Days of Spring

So, here are some highlights of May I failed to blog.



Jacob got to see a double rainbow and learned about how God gave it to us as a reminder of his promise to never flood the earth again. you can't see it very well here, but at least one part of it is visible.

We spent a lot of time outside and the kids drove me nuts annoying each other, even though they were good from time to time.
Jacob spent a few days living in the shoes of spider man. He is still afraid of spiderwebs though.

Last fall our mower broke to the point of "useless to fix", so this spring we had to purchase a "new" one. Jacob got a kick out of it and loves every moment he spends with daddy on it, and Daddy loves to mow with the hydro-bla bla bla and the pull lever thinga-ma-doobie, and yada yada yada. He was able to hook up this garden trailer we got from a friend and give Jacob rides in it. This he LOVES and will sit here contently for hours.






Then we had the excavator come out and dump 25 loads of top soil on our lawn to smooth it all out... needless to say, we weren't mowing for a while.
But that didn't stop Jacob from taking full advantage of using his power wheel.

While the hills of dirt were still there he loved to dig in them and made us wish we had a sand box for him. Hopefully someday soon we can do that for him.


Jessica got the real sense of what it meant to "scoot" she could crawl if she wanted to, we just know it. at 9 months old this is the age Jacob really took his first movements to crawl, he was a pro by 10 mos. Doesn't this look painful?
Jacob Put his garden gloves on and helped me in the flower beds. Mostly looking for worms. he does complain later that his hands smell like worm and makes a special trip inside to wash them.
Jessica continues to master the art of "scooting" this time while sucking on her lips. I call this her "fish face" though I believe she is ham through and through.



I was also working part-time at the school trying to scoop up as many hours as I could, but at the same time was looking forward to the last day of school. Jason started working HVAC and putting in between 50 and 60 hours a week.

well, TTFN! Kids are crying and dinner needs to be made!

Jacob's a little man!

Here are some of the things we missed in April:

Jacob loves playing outside, even more when he has his four-wheeler!
This is a cute story! One day we (Jacob, Jessica and I) went to Wal-mart to get some groceries and Jacob announced he wanted a cake. I saw him looking at the deli are where the cakes are and I told him I could make a cake when we got home. He said "But I want a BLUE cake!" I told him I could make a blue cake. "I want a blue cake with COOKIES" I told him I could make a blue cake with cookies. "That would be GREAT!" he said. so we got home he forgot all about it, and the kids were put down for their naps, and I got to work. When he got up and saw the cake he jumped up and down and said "WHOOPEE! A blue cake with cookies!!" it was a good mommy moment.
Here is Jacob with the shop-vac helping daddy clean up the mess he made from doing the railing on the stairs. He loves to use the shop-vac and does a pretty good job!
Finally here is Jacob hanging his first sheet of drywall and using the screwdriver for the first time. He was so proud of himself! My little boy is growing into a little man!

The Stairs... Finally

so, I have a lot to catch up on, but first the long promised evolution of the stairs.

The opening to the right at the bottom of the stairs was a bit of a door for us for a while, I painted the walls, and Jason installed the lighting to the left.
as you can see there is no carpeting, but what a nice job Jason did with the drywall, texture and lights! and i like the color too... all me!
Yay! carpeting! To the right you can see Jason has done the trim, and it all looks great!
FINISHED! finally after way too much time! He does such nice work.
here is a closer look at the banister and railing that Jason hand crafted. He is pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Three weeks ago We were hit with a lot of rain. so much in fact that our sump pump could not keep up with all of the water, even after putting a second pump in the basin, it still could not keep up. yes we got water in the basement, yes it flooded over 3/4 of the newly finished basement and the carpeting, no insurance does not cover it. we spent the next two weeks shop vacuuming, fans running, pellet stove running, space heaters running, air conditioner running, and dehumidifiers running to get as much taken care of as humanly possible. I think it turned out okay, and i would rather pay the 260$ electric bill we had than to replace 1400 square feet of carpeting and padding! This is just 3 weeks of the past two months I have not blogged. so much more to tell! but right now I have to go outside to pick rock.

oh yea, we had an excavator come out and pull the top soil off of the field and dump it in problematic areas in the yard as well as the area we wanted to expand to. well he pulled off 25 dump truck loads and spread it all around leaving the big rocks behind of course. before we could seed it we have to drag it, pick the rock, seed, then roller it. but this happened before the flooding, so now we have to mow the weeds in the area we picked the rock before seeding it. we are almost done with the entire yard, picking rock that is. only about 1/2 acre left. and this is my job at the moment as Jason is working 50-60 hrs per week with a local heating and cooling place and i am the one with no job. (whoopee :p) Well, TTFN, more to come

The Rest of Easter

Finally! I can finish blogging about Easter!

This year we did the Easter thing at Pam n Dave's and the kids loved it even though they could not go outside. Jacob was loving getting all of the eggs, even the ones that were a little easier to find for Ethan. all of the kids dug into their baskets, yes, even Jessica. There was good food and Deviled eggs, which we found that Jacob LOVES. We never did get the chance to hide our own eggs. hopefully next year we will have nicer weather and both kids can enjoy the festivities.

Easter Weekend

Jacob had fun coloring eggs while Jessica looked on, she will have her messy fun next year! His first reaction was awe as I lifted a colored egg out of the water, then he was all about getting in there and making his own eggs! of course he wanted all of them to be blue and didn't like that I was having them other colors.
The next morning Jacob got to see his basket. The first thing he said to me was in the morning, (he went into the kitchen before waking up mommy and daddy) and that was "mommy! you got my Easter basket wrong! you put baby toys in it and baby candy in it!" he quickly learned it was not baby candy or toys and he wasted no time digging right in.
Even Jessica enjoyed her basket, though she will not be able to enjoy any of what it has to offer till next year. Until then mommy and daddy will have to take care of all that pesky candy for her.
Then it was time to get ready for church in our new church clothes. this year we visited grandma and grandpa's church and the kids behaved very well. Jessica pulled the ribbon off of her head before we even made it to the car, but she looked cute anyway.

Jacob was being a bit ornery, and I had a hard time getting him to take a good picture. Perhaps it was all of the candy. Well, that is all that I have for tonight, I will finish our Easter weekend tomorrow, if I don't get called into work.

TTFN!

Crazy Weekend-Sunday

Sunday we had Jessica's Baby dedication. Rich and Joan were able to make it to the service but had to go home before coming out to the house for the food. Travis was taken to the airport by dad since barb was sick and dad was able to join us at the house later for food. we all had a great time visiting and eating while Jessica slept! she did get up about the time everyone had to go and she was in a great mood. she looked so cute! (don't I always say that?) Jacob was still feeling a bit under the weather and also slept through the party. Ethan stayed home with Ryan because they were both ill, and the twins were on their own with Trevor to play with. but otherwise it was fun.