Fourth

HOLY SMOKES, these are old, but you get the picture.  Note the huge pile of carpet tiles?  It is nice to be done with those!

 

 

 

Final Preperations

Here is just a little bit of the business that went on when we were prepping to sell the house.

 

 

 

Celebrating

We are celebrating a rather large milestone at our house. I have accepted a job in the DC area.  We have been talking about leaving for a number of years.  Honestly, we have always talked about it.  I started to think that it would never happen.  I did not think we would ever leave Little Rock.  However, my work situation, and Mr. T.'s work situation was deteriating.  Both of us were ready to look for something new, and then, this really cool job came up.... and I qualified for it... and they wanted me!

It has been difficult getting everything in line.  The major thing we are worried about now is selling our house.  We got the house ready except for one window, which did not come in.  Then, our airconditioner broke.  It was hot, and we were hoping that no one wanted to see it.  Then, we got bed bugs.  That is right, we got bed bugs.  We are pretty sure we know how they came in, but we also know that we were not doing everything we needed to do assure it did not happen.  We were lucky in that they were confined to one room, our room.  And with lots of cleaning and self medicating, we were able to get through it.  But honestly, after living through that, I don't know that I am ready to be stressed our again anytime soon.  A lot of things are in the air for us right now, but to me, I am all "hey, at least we don't have bed bugs!"

So, we are celebrating.  We are looking forward to our new -bug free- adventure. 

Updating

Our master bathroom was badly in need of an update.  I spent a lot of vacation days giving it a facelift.  I got rid of as much gold as possible and removed the horrid wallpaper.  It is by no means perfect, but it is a whole lot better than it had been.

We had some issues with removing the faucet. The sink is old, so I had to get a non standard faucet. Also, the only way to really change the drain is to take the sink off, except you can't take the seat off because it is essentially glued to the wall. SO.... we were advised to demolish the sink and buy a new vanity. I almost started crying.

Luckily, Mr. T. could use his trusty sawsall and cut the faucet off. It looks a million times nicer, and it is very functional. I also replaced the light about the mirror and part of the toilet. I was pretty happy with the look of it. With the new window, we freshened the bathroom up a lot!

Lake Catherine

We have been running too much at our house lately.  I have been worser than worse about updating the blog, but that is fine.  We did manage to take a little bit of a break and visit one of the beautiful lakes we are lucky to live around.

This is a state park, so they had a concession stand an area to rent boats.  We rented a paddle boat but we returned it early when the back tore off of Mr. T.'s side.  He was not interested in turning bike peddals in a slow moving boat while the sun beat down on him, and he had to support himself.  I can't say I blame him.

We got there early enough that there were not many people.  Later in the morning, more of the locals showed up.  There were a lot of tattoos and string bikini's.  It was a real glimpse into being happy that I was able to get an education. 

I didn't get many pictures because my camera was locked up in the van most of the day.  I was able to snap a few with my phone. 

Teeth like a Shark!

Shark boy had his tooth extracted.  He was growing a double row of teeth, and the baby tooth did not want to fall out at all.  

I have to admit, this was must more dramatic than I thought it was going to be.  I don't know what my expectation was, but I was unprepared for my baby to be silly on laughing gas.  He did a good job.  I was really proud of him.  

As for me, I hope we never have to do that again.

Other Easter activities

This is my generic Easter post that has all of my other Easter activities in it.



As always, we colored eggs the day before.



This guy is the worst morning person.  However, his sister jumps out of bed ready to give the world a hug!



We did some Easter Egg hunting at home prior to heading to Church!





Trying to pose all of the kids is always impossible.



But sometimes, most of them look one way.

And the last soccer game...

I meant to bring my camera to BabyP's last soccer game.  Unfortunately, all I brought was my lens.  That was awesome.  You know, in a way that is not awesome.

But... I did manage to bring my camera to Peanut's game.

Special Delivery!

We had a bunch of mulch and soil delivered to our house!  The kids had a blast with it.

We used the soil and mulch to build a bed out in the back and for general maintenance of the yard.

This is what I saw after I asked her to water the plants.  I will be more specific next time.  She cracks me up.

Trip to KC for Spring Break

I traveled to Dallas for Fourth of July and Kansas City for spring break.  What is wrong with me?

My college room mate lives in Kansas City, and I have not visited her in KC for at least 10 years.  I figured over spring break would be a perfect time.

And it was...My friend has smaller children than me, so we did something in the morning, and the kids and I played in the afternoon.  It was really nice because we stayed for 5 days, and I was worried about overstaying our welcome.  I think we got out enough that we were not under their toes too much.

The kids had a blast!  Their favorite part was Max the dog.  The kids talk about the trip like Max the dog was the sole reason we went to KC.  They even refer to my friend's house as Max's house.

I love the Kansas City Art Museum.  We go to a lot of museums and I have always thought it was the one of the nicest I have been to.  They had a display on Japanese Art.  I don't remember what they were are called, but they are long scrolls that tell a story.  The kids were able to create their own art!

And of course, my two monkeys were goofing off and mimicking the statues.  

We also went to a display about the science of music.  We made videos and learned about how all of the equipment works.  They had instruments for the kids to play with and little tutorials on how to work the instruments.  

The whole trip was a blast, and it was GREAT to see my friend again.  She is one of those people who I do not speak with for years, but when we get together, it is like old times. 

but with a lot less drinking....

BabyP's last soccer Game

This was the most action I captured on the soccer field.  But I did manage to get some team shots.

Coach Joe leaving the picture.  

These kids were all so great.  It is essentially the same group as last time with 3 extra kids.

I enjoy them and their families so much.  I feel very lucky to be with such a great group.

Random cute shots

At field day, peanut made a bow from her lei.

I was going to complement him on how still he was sitting....

This was him ignoring me and not getting dressed.  I told him the Mother's Day goblin would steal him if he did not behave on Mother's Day.  It is true, you can not bullshit a bullshitter.

So excited at funland!  They laughed the whole time.  Sadly, they are now too big for funland.

I just love her so much.

They took my Phone!!

Umbrella fighting... With style!

Not playing soccer.