Summer Bucket List Follow-Up

Tomorrow is the day that Russell's and Meghan's world will be changed. They are going back to just having mom at home. And, I'm not nearly as nice as Ben is. I figured I better give an accounting for our bucket list items we were hoping to achieve this summer.

Ben
1. Check to all of those house things except al the trim. We still have to put trim in the kitchen, but there is a lot we want to do there, so we worked on other things not listed in that list.
2.He came back mostly unscathed from High Adventure!! The only thing that got him was the sun and mosquitoes.
3. There is no LLC.

Joanna
1. I survived high adventure week.
2. I survived the longest road trip ever. Both kids were pretty good.
3. I did not lose any weight, but did not gain any weight, either. My new goal is to get of this weight loss plateau.

Russell
1. He can get himself dressed though he frequently tells us it is too hard for him. But, he does like to pick out his clothes.
2. He is day potty trained. We need to start on night time training, but his diaper is always SO soaked in the morning that I don't know how to do that.
3. He doesn't know all his letters and numbers, but he learned some new ones. He also has been very happy to write the letter 'p' for us.

Meghan
1. She can use a spoon and fork, but is still much more efficient at the grab and shove method of eating.
2. Her hair started growing pretty fast at the start of the summer, but it has tapered off and doesn't appear to be growing at all.
3. She is now tall enough that she has to duck to get under the table.

Well, there you have. We mostly met our goals, but are definitely going to be working on those we didn't accomplish. It will be good to have a set schedule so that we can keep ourselves motivated to work on our goals.

Help!!!!!

I recently received a new calling in the Primary Presidency. I'm kind of bummed about it. I really liked doing the music. But, at least it wasn't into the Relief Society Presidency. Sorry, Sas!

Anyway, I was asked to come up with the primary program since I did the music so far this year. Fine with me. But, I'd like to come up with something unique, and I have had no ideas!

What do you think would be a good idea for a primary program that is a little out of the ordinary?

One year of our house

I realized today that one year ago today is the day we closed on the house. It has been such an incredibly long and painstaking year, and we are happy with the progress that has been made. We can't wait to get the rest finished up for many reasons: to not have tools laying around everywhere, to hopefully get rid of some more of the smell that lingers, to have a little more storage space, etc.

Here is a quick peek at what has happened so far. And, don't mind the mess. I'm pretty sure it won't look put together until there is no one with a single digit age living in the house.

The view from the front door. We are planning on painting it this upcoming week. That will allow us to install a little mantle piece/shelf over the couch. Plus, I need to figure something out with the curtains because I originally didn't plan on them being almost the same color as the wall paint. I'm going to try dyeing them and seeing what happens.

The downstairs bathroom. It is the most finished room in the house. We just need to do some paint touch-up on the crown molding and screw a little door stopper in, and we will be done!

The view from the dining room. The dining room is also almost finished. Once again some paint touch-up on the crown molding and then staining the two beams and we'll be done with the dining room.

Looking into the kitchen. This was the biggest change in the whole house. I love it becasue now I am not secluded in the kitchen, though some days I wish I was.

The kitchen. It has the dumb 4 doorways that make it hard for any counter space, but changing the location of the doorway to the dining room made it possible to get a tiny bit more counter space.

The stairs. The whole house was covered in disgusting tar residue from smokers, and the stairway was one of the worst areas. If you look closely you can see the discoloration and drip marks. Blech! We are hoping to get this area painted before school starts up again. Then I plan on having an awesome gallery wall.

The upstairs bathroom. This was another room with a huge change. Everything is new, including the walls. And, the outlet because there wasn't one in the bathroom.

Our bedroom. It's the least of our concerns right now since we can manage with it being in a slight state of disarray.

The kids room. The area is huge compared to what the apartment had.

Notice how short it is? We didn't change that.

Peek-a-boo!

Now after looking at these pictures, I feel like I really need to declutter. I promise it isn't nearly as messy now at 9:00pm since the kids are in bed and not messing things up.

Sleeping Baby

Olmsted County Fair

Instead of going to the Great Minnesota Get Together this year, we decided we would just go to the county fair instead. It worked out that we were actually in town for the first time since we moved here, it is free to get in, and we could just walk down the street half a mile. Plus, we only needed several hours one afternoon instead of it being a whole day affair.

Things I liked:

He's always in heaven when he can get in a tractor.

Petting the bunnies!!!

Russell was SO excited to see the bunnies. Bill's bunnies must have left an impact.

Practice milking the cow.

Meghan

He is a fair ride lover!

Plus, the commercial exhibitors had awesome things to give away, but I didn't want a Planned Parenthood shirt or bag. There were not very many entrants in the home good competitions so I am hoping to be around here next fair time to enter some of my own. And, the food we ate was delicious.

 Things I didn't like:

Ben taking a picture of me by the cheese curds.

It's path was directly over our house all evening long.

It was windy on the ferris wheel and I've gotten wimpy in my old age.

Russell talked Ben into another ride.

We also saw lots of Ben's students. I guess if you grow up in farm country then the fair is the place to be.