The Great Outdoors

The boys enjoyed playing outside after preschool today.  I was working on the weather stripping, so I snapped some pictures of them too.

The grass is really coming in where I've put down a ton of sod.

Back corner with new sod.  This was all just dirt before.  I couldnt' get grass to grow.

Vegetable garden is still growing strong!  The beans are almost done.

The Crash of '11

I can't believe I forgot to blog about this!!!

Over Labor Day weekend, my in-laws came to visit.  We had plans for a nice, leisurly day with football.  Well, overnight, I had a huge crash in my room (just what you want when your husband is gone and in the middle of the night).  My first thought was Tiger getting into something, since the house alarm was on, but Tiger was passed out next to me.  So, I got up to check it out in the bathroom.  It wasn't the nice cabinets Edward and Jason, his brother, put up before we left (thank goodness), but it was the closet!  The whole left side of the master bedroom closet had come crashing down.  Apparently, the builder hadn't put the shelving into the studs, and I was the recepient of that nice jesture.  The people before us didn't live here much (although, as I said, house was kind of beat up), so I'm guessing they didn't have much hanging there, or it just finally gave out. Well, that was Edward's side, so there was just stuff everywhere from Army uniforms, to clothing, etc.  Ironically, I had wanted to reorganized the closet, as the layout wasn't working for me, and when we moved in, we just got stuff hung, BUT I didn't want to reorganize with a mess like this.  So, Saturday, my father-in-law, James, and I rebuilt the closet's left side.

So, I started by piling up Edward's clothing in the jetted tub.  There was so much stuff!  Eventually, all of the closet took over the bathroom, and it was hard to walk around in there.  It looked like Edward was moving out, haha.

Thanks to James, we bought some new brackets and are back in business.  It took most of the day to get things resettled.  We did take a few quick breaks to check out the football scores, but what a pain.  Here's the completed project. I actually switched sides (which is what I wanted to do). This is where Edward's stuff had been and now mine is.

From the doorway, Edward's stuff is now where my stuff was.  I can't explain why it works better, but it works much better for me.  Hope you like it, Edward  :)

Weather-stripping, storm doors, garage doors...let the fun continue!

Yes, I had an exciting morning. I know it sounds so boring to many, but hey, it's the little things, right?

So, our house is four years old. I have mentioned the people who lived here hadn't painted, and there were some things that were just either unfinished or rough around the edges. For example, the fornt and back doors need repainted because they had a dog. They aren't terrible, but they are scratched. Well, the weather-stripping on the back door was in bad shape too due to said dog. I have had it on my long list of repairs, and I just hadn't had a second to go to Lowes and figure it out. I was in the mood to talk doors today. I want to purchase a storm door (with retractable screen on it) for the back door so I can enjoy some of the cooler weather that will be coming soon. I also need to replace the entire lock set on our storm door on the front door because we were never given keys to it. So, off to Lowes I went to talk doors.

I was very excited to learn the weather stripping wasn't as bad as I thought. Some needs to be special ordered, but newer doors have a piece that just pops out! Yea. So, for $4.xx I was able to fix that problem, and I had it installed in less than five minutes. Above is the new weather stripping. Yes, I'm a dork. Thanks, Lowes for the help and for not treating me like I'm a dumb woman.  Some people do know what they are talking about and believe me, if I need help at a store like that, I will ask.

So, this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about.  This is the framing on the back door.  You can see they tried to patch this, but they didn't do a good job.  The dog scratched the junk out of this, and they tried to mud it (so it looks).  I'll have to sand it down, fix it, and repaint it.  Little annoying (yet fixable) things.  Oh, and people keep telling me, "Oh, I could never do that kind of stuff while my husband is away."  Well, what can I do?  Am I supposed to just live with problems and make some list for him when he comes home in a LONG time?  It's like Survivor, Home Improvement Style.

Okay, so I talked storm doors, and I'll order that soon. They install too (yea).

For the lock, I have to get the serial number and then ordering the piece will put me back in business for that. I'll put that on when it comes. I had to put a new lock and deadbolt on the backdoor this past week for the same reason. That's done, and my doors are being taken care of. I'll be glad to finish up with those. I need to repaint the back door exterior next.

I then went to Sears to talk about a different kind of door...the garage doors. Edward's door clicker stopped working a couple weeks ago. I took it to Batteries Plus, and the guy there said it wasn't the battery; it must need to be reprogrammed (sensed the "dumb woman" attitude). So, I came home and reprogrammed it and nothing. I've messed with it a few times, and everytime nothing works. So, I went to Sears today to purchase a universal remote for the opener (didn't need help there...I had researched them online). I wanted one anyways because our doors are on two different clickers, and they are different doors, so if I want to open one, but I'm in the other car, it's annoying. Anyways, while there, I decided to buy a battery for it (since Batteries Plus guy showed me what battery it took) and try again with the battery. I got home, changed the battery, and what do you know? It had a DEAD BATTERY. I think I told Batteries Plus guy that last weekend (not a good way to do business if you don't sell batteries at a battery store). So, that is working, but I still wanted the double one to open both doors. In a matter of five minutes, I had both doors working on my NEW REMOTE. Yea! I've had plenty of "dud" days where nothing has gone right, but today, I finally had success at a lot of little, annoying home improvement projects.

The Hurricanes

Luke's soccer team is called the Hurricanes. They had their team pictures tonight, and I was actually able to get him to do a "normal" smile.  He has really loved playing soccer, and his coach has been perfect for him.  He scored a goal at his first game and was beyond happy. 

Madison practices on the field next to his at the same time, so that has been awesome for me. Alex and I put the beach blanket down and watch.  I'm sure you have an image of a nice, relaxed evening, but it's not that at all. Alex is obsessed with mauling me.  He can't stop throwing himself on me.  He's heavy!  No matter what toy/book/snack/activity I bring, he finds it more fun to just pounce on me.  The times we've tried to just walk around, he throws a fit and wants to be carried...ahh, two-year-olds.

Soccer is going pretty well, but it could start cooling off at any point now.  That, and the constant rain, have made it a bit of a challenge.  If it's not raining at practice, it's super muddy.  One thing we all miss is the super small soccer teams from YPG where we knew all the kids/parents, and it was just a great time to hang out with everyone and watch soccer.

Good Old Tiger

Tiger doesn't make the blog much, but he's still around.  At 10 years old, he's been part of our family for a long time.  He still likes to play, and he tolerates the kids most of the time.  He really likes Luke, and Luke likes him.  Last night, I walked into my bathroom to find that he'd battled the bathmat.  The bathmat, pictured below, was a mess, and he had picked at some of the threads.  I have to laugh because he's pretty quiet most of the time and then will do something crazy like this.

Time for Football

One thing our kids are learning about is college football.  We LOVE college football.  The kids are finally getting to an age where they are interested in it, so Saturday for our "movie" night, we watched the last quarter of the Clemson game.  I set it on the dvr so we could skip the commercials; I know my limitations with the kids.  Alex went to bed because he had boycotted a nap, and after making a huge bowl of popcorn, we sat down for our movie picnic.

 Luke's favorite part was learning about facemask penalties.  We saw one, and he thought it was awesome.  I told him we don't do that around our house.

We cheered on our Clemson Tigers to a victory over Florida State (yea!!).  Clemson is now 4-0.  Madison wanted to make sure Hannah made the picture in their matching nightgowns (thanks, Kohls).

Children's Museum

Yesterday was the Smithsonian Museum Day, so many museums were giving out two free passes for the day.  I found out that the local children's museum was on the list.  Since it was a rainy day, it ended up being the perfet time to take the kids.  The had so much fun!  The museum isn't very big at all, but that was kind of perfect for three kids.  It was all interactive with different stations for different careers.  The kids enjoyed the post office, doctor's office, dentist's office, grocery store, weather desk (yes, they really had one!!!), fire station, soldier camp area, and probably a few I'm forgetting.  We went in the morning, right after they opened, and it wasn't too busy yet, so it was perfect for us.  The kids are already asking to go back.

Alex loves our play kitchen, so the grocery store was right up his alley.

 Luke loved being the check-out guy.

 Madison bought crab at the store.

 I thought this turkey was hilarious.

Luke liked the puppet area too.

 The Weather Desk!!!  Madison LOVED this, and even people there thought she was so funny.  She was giving very accurate weather forecasts for different parts of the country.  A couple of people asked me how she knew so much about the weather in different parts of the country.  I told them some of it was due to us traveling/moving around a lot, and some of it was just pure interest.  People laughed when she said San Diego would have a tsunami; North Carolina and Florida would have a hurricane; Oklahoma would have a tornado; and Maine and Alaska would have snow.  Oh, she said there would also be a sandstorm in Arizona, and rain in Tennessee and Ohio.  It was so funny, and I wish I could have gotten that on video.

 Doctor Madison

Luke on the fire pole.  Sorry this is blurry.  I tried to get a good shot several times, but Luke was so excited about sliding down the fire pole, and I couldn't get him to slow down ever.

I found more pictures!  I thought I had uploaded all of them off my phone, but I missed these.

Mornings with Alex

Monday mornings, Alex is the only kid home, as Madison is at school, and Luke is at preschool.  Alex goes to preschool as well, but the two-year-old class meets Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, whereas, Luke's class meets Monday-Thursday.  So, we have been enjoying our time together.  I'm normally going to be at Bible Study at our church for some of Monday morning, but this past Monday, we were home.  We spent the beautiful cooler morning outside working in the yard and planting some flowers.  It's still too warm for mums, in my opinion, but soon.  I'm glad we enjoyed the cooler weather while it lasted because it was up over 90 again today with HORRIBLE humidity. 

 Alex loves his scooter and played on it for awhile.

We got hungry and ventured inside.  While I made lunch, Alex played at his favorite spot in the house, the bottom stair.  He loves to sit here and play and usually hauls his blankets and kitty with him.  Often, I find him here.  I don't know why it's such a great place, but he loves it.  Maybe it's his quiet place. In Yuma, his favorite spot was the laundry basket in the corner of the laundry room.

The Last Room to Paint/Decorate-The Master Bedroom

I am finally almost done with our master bedroom.  I saved this room for last because it was huge, and it was a mess. I focused on unpacking/decorating the rest of the house first.  Finally, it's almost done.  I need a couple more pieces of artwort for the walls, but it's come a LONG way!

 Luke was hanging out with Tiger when I took the picture.

 View from corner...you can see the office area in the distance.  The luggage will be gone soon.  I need to put up shelving in the garage.  The door to the bath and closet is to the right, which is out of picture view.

 Office area, the chair matches the couch in the bedroom area.  Edward picked that out himself when he closed on the house. 

Office area.  The door to the hall is to the far left in the picture.  I love how huge this room is!  The room is shaped like an L with the lower part being the office, and then the longer part being the bedroom.

The Vegetable Garden Update

Wow, the vegetable garden is really taking off, especially the pumpkins that are supposed to take 90 days to grow.  Funny, how these full-sized pumpkins "popped up" the same day Grandma came to visit.  Luke checks on the garden four to five times a day, and he's going to flip when he sees this in the morning.  Report to follow...

Seriously, the garden is growing nicely.  The beans are almost done and with the cucumber, have taken over most of the garden.

Sunday Afternoon

After church on Sunday, we went to lunch, and then we went home. It was a beautiful day and much cooler, so the kids enjoyed playing outside all afternoon.  They were so excited to play outside in nice weather that they didn't even change out of their church clothes.