Orchard Time!

 

There's something about apple orchards and pumpkin selection that brings me peace and joy. I don't know if it's because I am a Midwest girl or what, but this morning was just heavenly with my little family. Here are some pictures of us enjoying the beautiful, warm fall.

Curb Appeal

So here are the before and after pictures of our façade.

 

1 - Here's our boring white front door. It had brass trim around the glass etchings that we didn't like. It also was hung incorrectly, so the deadbolt never really lined up with the door jamb well. In the winter, we'd get a 1/2 inch gap between the jamb and the door that we would stuff towels in so the snow didn't blow in and melt on the wood entryway. One time the door even blew open during a blizzard! It really needed to be replaced.

2 - This picture is also perfect to show our hideous lamp post. The top was leaning and only balanced precariously - no screws - and one panel of glass was cracked. It's cross-beam was NEVER centered correctly, and the little white balls on the ends were dried out and cracked. You can't see it in this picture, but the base of the post was also all dented and scratched from the weed-wacker and lawn mower.

3 - And our blah shutters. Driving up to our home was so depressing. There was no focal point or energy. There was no contrast. We also live in a cookie-cutter neighborhood, so everyone else has the same white door and faded shutters.

 

4 - Yikes, that mail box! It was never cemented into the ground, and after 10 years of the mower bashing into it, it was very tipsy. The box was rusting at the screws, and the wood base was rotting so it always seemed like it might just fall off. It had lived its life for sure.

 

Okay, and now the moment you've all been waiting for...

 

Ta-Da! 

1 - New door: spray-painted with Krylon's Catalina Mist, fiberglass instead of steel, chrome accents instead of bronze, geometric window panes. Gorgeous.

2 - New shutters: designed and built by my engineer from rough-hewn cedar, stained dark brown. So much class. So much life. So awesome.

3 - New outside lights (best seen in front door pic above): lantern-style lights in a rubbed-bronze finish. Simple. Classy. Clean.

The lamp post's light needs its own story. Apparently you can't buy matching lamp post lights for every outside light you find. Dumb, huh? So my ever-awesome engineer made one! The outside lights we liked came in two sizes - small and medium. We bought three small ones for the porch and either side of the garage. Then we bought one medium-sized one for the lamp post. But all the electrical wiring and mounting was for the back instead of the bottom, right? So we bought another style of light (that didn't match but was made for a lamp post), and Ryan took it apart and mix-and-matched parts to get OUR unique lamp post light, which TOTALLY matches our house lights. Yeah, he rocks again!

4 - Fixed up lamp post: spray-painted with Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze. No more dents. No more off-centered cross-beam. No more cracked white balls.

5 - New mail box: post designed and built by Ryan, post stained to match the shutters, new numbers down the post, CEMENTED into the ground correctly, new oil rubbed bronze box.

 

6 - New flower bed: little mulched bed around the mailbox to prevent further lawn-mower damage.

 

There are a few more things on Ry's list, but I didn't want to wait any longer to share.

- Our current house numbers (seen next to the garage under one of our new lantern-lights) are currently bronze, and I think they needed to be sprayed with the oil rubbed bronze spray paint that he did the lamp post with.
- We need to do a little mulched-bed around the lamp post too. The mower is just going to trash this post too unless we protect it.

- The little round attic vents also need to be painted brown. Spring?

- The other thing we want to do is paint our garage door brown, but that'll have to wait until Spring for sure.

 

The list never ends, huh? Okay, well, for now, we're done! Doesn't it look so much more welcoming? We love our "new" house! Hope you enjoyed my photo montage...

Daddy Dates

Ryan has been spending lots of outdoor time with Collin and Brennan... and they are in kid-heaven! You wouldn't believe how much better their behavior is when they are earning "good choice" stickers for a date with Dad. They are also so good the days surrounding the activity. They just love their Daddy.

* * *

Last weekend was the Father-Kid Campout. Ryan was in charge, so he took off Friday from work and spent the morning shopping for all the breakfast goods. Then in the afternoon he set off in the truck with the kids. I was all alone by 3pm!

After they set up camp and got situated, they ventured into the woods to set up the geo-cache for everyone else the next morning. They buried the treasure (a plastic dish full of plastic coins) in the dirt with a shovel to mark the spot. They also attached all the coordinate clues leading to the end.

They ate and partied until 11pm and arose early. After a breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage, everyone ventured out on the treasure hunt. At their destination they discovered their treasure had been dug up and carried away. We are assuming it was a raccoon, but what did he want with pieces of plastic? Stupid rodents.

Anyway, while they were all gone adventuring for almost 24 hours, I went to dinner with friends, read a book, and made a cushion for my rocking chair. It was a great, quiet evening and morning. I live for the Father-Kid Campout each year, but so do they so I guess it works out perfect.

* * *

This past Saturday was our stake Relief Society conference. Collin had earned "good choice" stickers for a hike with Dad, and Brennan had earned his stickers for ice cream with Dad.

It worked out for a perfect Saturday morning.

They all headed to the nature preserve and hiked first. Ryan wanted to play with the new camera, so Collin took this old dinosaur one. He was in heaven - our very own explorer.

They were real troopers, according to Ry. No whining, and it was quiet the celebration when they made it to the top. (This was no sissy hike either - The reason Coll was earning a hike was because I took them for a walk at the preserve this summer with playgroup, and I got too tired and couldn't make it as far as they wanted to go. For real.) These boys are really getting tough!

Here they are at the top celebrating. After their hike, they went to the park for a picnic and playing on the playground.

This park is affectionately called "the spider web." Collin has been wanting to tackle it all summer, but when lots of kids are there, it bounces a lot and scares him. Also, his cautious mother hasn't pushed him too hard - you know, the threat of broken arms and such. Anyway, Collin did it on Saturday! With some help from Dad, he totally made it to the top of the spider web! Glad I wasn't there to panic about him falling... I just saw the pics afterwards.

After some playing, it was time to try another geo-cache - seeing as the Father-Kid one didn't bear any treasure. Here they are finding the box. Super explorers!

On the way home, they hit Coldstone for some ice cream.

What kid wouldn't love Daddy Dates when they include dirt, exploring, treasures and ice cream!? Oh, and in case you are wondering, Dad loves these outings too. Is it any wonder why these boys prefer their daddy? He's pretty awesome, wouldn't you say?

Here's to Daddy Dates!

First Day of Preschool

This kid was dressed and ready for school at 6:45am. Unfortunately, school doesn't start until 12:15pm! Yeah, that made for a long morning for Mom.

Here's hoping his enthusiasm lasts many, many months.

Brennan starts next Monday, but he needed his picture this morning with his backpack too. What a clown.

We got to the school a few minutes early (I could only hold him back so long!), so I let them play on the playground for a bit.

Man, are these boys cute or what!?

PS: Some of these pics are a sneak peak at our recent remodel. We still have a few things left to do, so I'll wait with the full post, but get excited, get very excited. I know I am!

Summer in Review

As the summer ends, I am realizing that I hardly documented our outings at all. We did do a few things in addition to our trip to Maine, I promise.

* * *

My parents came for the 4th of July. For the first time since having kids, we attempted to take our little wussies to the fireworks. We found a playground on a hilltop miles above the riverfront, and though we could see a lot, we could hear nothing. It was perfect for my boys, but sad for the adults. Oh the sacrifices we make for our children, lol.

We also spent some time in the backyard with sparklers. Thanks to Pinterest, sparklers are now suitable for all ages!

* * *

Towards the end of July, my sister's husband had a business trip to Chicago. The whole family came along, and my parents picked up their girls and brought them down this way. It was rainy and cold, but we had fun at the $1 kids movie and playing around. If only my kids were better hosts - ie could share their toys and boss a lot less - then I think it would have been perfect.

Aren't they adorable all eating pizza together?

 

* * *

The same week that my sister's girls were visiting, Ryan found a lofted bed on Craig's List. It was just what we were looking for, and the price was right! So Collin and Brennan have been sharing the "Big Boy Room" for about a month now. B is a chatty little monkey, and Coll usually falls asleep while Brenn is still chatting away. I'd say they usually have one really bad night per week, which is much better than I expected. I think they are each having some adjustment struggles to having less to call their "own," but I guess that's just part of being in a family, right?

* * *

Ryan has spent several Friday nights outside camping with Collin. Brennan finally survived a full night outside about two weeks ago. (That was the requirement to earn going to the Father-Son Campout, which is next weekend.)

I always venture inside to the fancy mattress and flushing toilet at bedtime. Can't blame me for that, right?

The boys love their Daddy ...and smores, banana boats, toasted pies, etc. It's been fun to have our own "campground" just out our back door. I'm glad Ryan loves it as much as they do.

 

* * * 

This summer was also marked by making our final goodbyes to my parents, who arrived in the Philippines this week. We were able to go to St Louis the weekend they spoke in their sacrament meeting and hear their testimonies in Tagalog. We sure are going to miss them.

 

* * *

We also spent a random Tuesday doing Nauvoo. (Ryan has all this vacation time left still to use this year, and we found out a few weeks ago that he has to take two weeks off in Oct & Nov for lay-off - a strange method Caterpillar uses to supposedly save money when sales are lagging. So he has been sprinkling in days off here and there the last few weeks and will continue to do so through the rest of the year.) Anyway, our Relief Society presidency arranged to babysit kids in Nauvoo so the sisters could go to the temple, and Ryan took the day off and came too. We were able to attend the temple together, pick up the boys at the Stake Center, have a little picnic in the park, and tour the town. Brennan is getting old enough (and is generally a pretty happy camper if his dad is around) that he skipped his nap, and we learned about brick-making, cooking over a fire, horseshoe-making, rope-making, candle-dipping... you know, all the fun Nauvoo things. Anyway, we didn't take the camera, but it was a thoroughly-awesome day together as a family. I would say it was my favorite single day of the summer.

 

* * * 

Last week was probably the most exciting thing of the summer for the boys though - They got a giant trampoline. Nana and Papa sent us an early Christmas present, and they love it! Right after we got it set up, it got really hot. In fact, this week's heat indexes have been over 100, so we put the sprinkler underneath. Good times.

Part slip n slide + Part trampoline = Happy little boys

And now on to the fall...

Now that B has almost officially surrendered the baby's room, I am gearing up to spruce up our boy nursery one more time. I need to go through the bin of newborn clothes and sort out the stained and/or worn. We did get our Amazon delivery of itsy, bitsy diapers today though. Scary that he'll be here to fill those soon enough...

For Labor Day weekend, we are heading to Iowa to visit my uncle and his family. He is quite a bit younger than my mom, so some of my cousins - his kids - are still at home and even in elementary school. It is sure to be a great time... and they have dirt bikes, four-wheelers and property. :-)

Collin is starting preschool next week. I've put him into an afternoon class that meets three times per week. I love the teachers so far, and the curriculum is all science-y and project-based. It is right up Collin's alley. We went this week together for the first day, and he ended up picking apart a sunflower with plastic tweezers and extracting a bunch of seeds. His teacher asked if it would be okay for her to bring a pot and some dirt so they could plant the seeds and see what would happen. If you know Collin, he could hardly contain his excitement!

Brennan is going to do a co-op preschool with some kids and their moms from the ward. He'll just be meeting one day per week, but I think he's excited to have something to call his own. We got him a backpack when we bought all Collin's supplies, and he wore it around the store the rest of the trip. He is my social butterfly, and I think he'll love all the time to play with other kids.

We bought my mother-in-law's plane ticket last night for her stay when Boy #3 debuts. It is really starting to feel real now. I am big, but actually feeling quite comfortable this week. I have finally been able to give up my afternoon nap (yep, only took me until 32 weeks to start feeling some energy...). I always feel the best at the end.

Is it bad that I like to keep the baby in? They are so much easier when they don't have to be fed, changed, clothed, napped, held... Well, I am looking forward to the holding part. I hope C & B can let me do that once in a while. I like the end of pregnancy soooo much better than the rest. I love all the movement and the dancing tummy under my shirt. I think this part is fun, despite the hugeness. I figure if I'm not puking and can stand more than 10 minutes, then it's all good. Maybe I just like this part because I'm so miserable the rest of the time! lol

Have a happy fall. If this summer is any indicator of the future, I make no promises for the regularity of posts on this blog. :-)

Count Your Many Blessings

I have been mentally composing a blog post for two weeks now that was a numerical accounting of all the things that have been annoying this pregnancy (hives, food poisoning, constipation, varicose veins, low iron, herniated belly button, sprained ankle, excessive weight gain). I planned to post it this week.

Then it was high council Sunday. To be honest, it isn't usually my favorite week of sacrament meeting. But this month's topic was about obtaining peace. He spoke about how he is a worrier and oftentimes a pessimist. His words struck a cord with me. Then he shared the following quote from President Hinckley.

"Stop seeking out the storms, and enjoy more fully the sunlight."

Peace. Peace comes into our lives as we count our many blessings, not as we dwell on the passing trials. Worry, doubt and frustration enter only as we invite them by counting up all our woes.

I am so grateful for the gospel. I am grateful for peace. I am grateful to be a mother, even and especially to my three (soon enough, right?) boys. I love my husband more than words can express. Through the blessings of the priesthood, my family will be together forever... long after death could separate us. I am blessed beyond my wildest dreams with the sunlight of Christ.

Here's to 32 weeks!

MAINE - The Way Life Should Be

We had a wicked good trip to Maine this past week. Unfortunately, United Airlines tried their darndest to make us all miserable. I'll spare my blog-readership all the gorey details, but suffice it to say, that both directions involved us all being in an airport at 4am. Nobody likes hours like that.

But onto happier accounts of the trip...

SALEM, MA

Because of United's aforementioned awfulness, we ended up in a hotel in Salem, Massachusetts at 4am. The boys slept until about 10am, but before we started our drive to Maine, we decided to check out this history-filled town.

What a strange place! They have really capitalized on their "witch trials" past, and the town is full of odd shops for fortune tellers, tarot card reading, palm readings, and the like. There were ghost tours scheduled for each evening and odd mummy museums.

We enjoyed wandering down the cobble-stone streets to a little diner for breakfast and then to the waterfront to see the sailboats and yachts. The boys particularly liked the pirate things.

After about an hour, we hopped in our rental car and drove up to Portland. We were too tired for much.

SEBAGO LAKE, ME

Again referencing the travel nightmares, as soon as we arrived in Portland (one full day late), we had reservations for a cabin on the lake. We said hello for about an hour to Ryan's mom (who had been waiting for us for two days) and to the family we would stay with the rest of the trip and headed out again - first to Walmart for groceries and then to our cabin. All this on four hours of sleep!

Sebago Lake is beautiful though. We went straight to our cabin, and we all crashed by 8pm.

The next morning was chilly, so we bundled up to go explore. I got them to play on this little playground for a minute.

But as a mother of two (soon to be three) little boys, I should have known that as soon as they saw the sand, rocks and water that they wouldn't persuaded elsewhere, but I was still sleep-deprived, right?

Anyway, they got totally dirty and wet because their mom didn't have them in their swimsuits. They threw rocks to their hearts' content, and Daddy even went and bought a pail and two shovels. Boy-heaven!

That afternoon, while B and I napped, Coll and Dad built this beauty. Bren immediately kicked and sat on it when we arrived on the scene, so good thing they got these pics so I could see it in all its glory.

We took a hay ride with Stinky the Skunk (over-rated) that evening.

And then roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over our fire ring. I think this might have been my favorite part of the trip. It was so quiet and relaxing, and we were all alone with just our little family.

The next morning Ryan took the boys for more digging, while I showered and packed us up. They saw this cute family of ducks. B loved throwing sand instead of pretzels and goldfish in order to trick them. Does that give you an idea of his personality?

CHAMBER SINGERS - WINDHAM, ME

When we returned from Sebago Lake, all the reunion festivities began. Friday night was a reception for the former students and their wives. It was at a local steakhouse. There were lots of people and it was really loud and hot. I don't remember much.

Saturday was Windham's summer festival. Ryan had rehearsal all day (9am-5pm), so his mom spent two hours in the hot sun eating lunch and watching the parade with us. It was crazy hot, and I was delirious.

Saturday evening was the concert. It was amazing! I was super impressed. I had heard about his little town's choir winning an international contest in Austria in 1996, but I still thought it was mostly about loving where you grew up. But in all honesty, they were dang good!

This reunion choir was made up of graduates spanning the previous 25 years. They practiced all day and performed 12 pieces that night. It was fun to meet Mr Nick (aka Dr Nickerson), their teacher. He invited a few volunteers to share what Chamber Singers meant to them. Ryan shared about how music recharges his soul after work so he can come home to us. He did a great job, and everyone commented on it later.

The first half was a little boring for the boys (classical pieces and such), but after intermission, they did some really fun songs - a Broadway medley, a Stomp rendition, and a rainforest reenactment.

Brennan got a little rowdy/noisy a few times, but each time I started to take him out, he would beg me to let him stay. Now if only he wanted to be in sacrament meeting that bad!

Sunday was filled with church and a Chamber Singers BBQ. Once again, I met a ton of really nice people, and it was really hot. I can't remember much else.

PORTLAND HEAD LIGHT, ME

Monday we headed to see the most photographed lighthouse in America. And it really was breath-taking. I have seen a lot of lighthouses (we vacationed on the Outer Banks growing up), but the waves crashing against the rocks is really a site to see. No wonder people like to take pictures of it.

 

The boys did lots of climbing and exploring, but it was all I could do (it was over 90 with crazy humidity) to walk down the path.

Lori and I went from bench to bench. Sad huh?

That night was Lori's last night in town, so she let Ryan and I go out to a fancy dinner in Old Port while she put the boys to bed. I got some delicious steak tips with gorgonzola mashed potatoes, but Ryan was adventurous and got the lobster roll. It was super good! (We swapped some bites, lol.)

SCARBOROUGH BEACH, ME

Tuesday morning we headed to the beach. I love the ocean! Lakes are great and all, but I love the pull of the waves on your toes. Of course, the breeze off the icy water was super welcome as well. The boys enjoyed more exploring (lots of sea shells and even a sand dollar) and digging (another sand castle), while I stood in the water.

Brennan was terrified of the waves and didn't get wet at all, but Collin loves them as much as me. Aww, take me to the beach any day.

PEAK'S ISLAND, ME

We spent what we thought would be our last morning in Maine on Peak's Island. (United called as the ferry was departing to tell us our flight had been canceled and we'd been rebooked for FRIDAY - two days later!).

The real reason this stop was on our list was for the boat ride, and it was well-worth it. The boys loved getting to ride on a real boat, especially watching the cars drive on and off and watching it dock and undock.

The actual island was a bit of a disappointment, but we were all really bummed about the airline stuff, so that may have skewed our visit too. We may have just been plain tired too.

On the other hand, I loved all the architecture as we wandered the coast line. It was a quaint little place.

By far the silliest thing we did the whole trip was wander into this little doorway under the heading - Umbrella Cover Museum. Curious? It deserves its own post; you'll have to wait.

We had lunch (actually they were still serving only breakfast at 11:30 - love little relaxed places!) and then headed back to the boat.

CONCLUSION

Despite the horrendous traveling experience, Maine is a wicked awesome place. I can see why so many people want to vacation there. Their accents truly make me want to cringe, but it was beautiful and relaxing, and it was super fun to see all the places Ryan romped around growing up. We stayed with the wonderful Miele family, who made our stay perfectly comfortable, even when we left a full day late.

Hooray for Maine and vacations!