First Day

 Yesterday we had a very excited 1st grader.

 Up at 6:30 and ready to go at least 30 minutes early.

 He wanted a picture with his dog.  He had an awesome first day.

 He was so tired when he got home.  I asked if he wanted to do the slip-n-slide today and he informed me he would be far too tired after a day at school.  All day is rough on the guy.

 His teacher seems awesome and he is making some new friends already.  Sadly, today he didn't finish his lunch, he was tired, and somebody didn't play with him at recess so he came home in tears.  Hopefully we have the kinks worked out and things go better tomorrow.

I can't believe he is in first grade already.  We miss him around here during the day.  It is very different, but Kyle and Grace are adjusting and I think it is going to be a fun year.

Miniature Golf

 We decided to pack as much fun as we could into our 2 free days between graduation and family arriving.  We should've taken more pictures.  We had a picnic, went to the beach, slept in the tent (in our living room since it was supposed to rain), went miniature golfing, and bowling.  Sadly this is all we took for pictures, but we had a blast.

 Getting ready.  It was their first time putt-putt golfing...and bowling.

 Grace caught on.  After a few holes she would just walk up and drop her ball in the hole while we were putting.

 Kyle used this chasing maneuver a lot.  I guess he figured it counts as less hits when you keep the club on it the whole time.

 Proof Brandon was there.

 So excited he made it!

Proof I was there too.  It really was an awesome 2 days!

More Projects

We are trying to make the most of our few weeks of nobody in school,.  This probably wouldn't bother most people, but since we plan on being here a good long while, I wanted to fix it.  Our fences were done by two different companies, so the sides have a board across and the back doesn't.

Now they match, and I like it better.

 Also, about the time of our one year home warranty check I noticed a few tiny spots on a piece of hardwood so we asked them to fix it.  Turns out it was a bigger problem than we realized.  Lucky for us it is under warranty and the water damage is minor.  We should find out next week what is causing it and then hopefully get it fixed quick.

Toy Projects

Somehow I didn't take a picture of the kitchen Grace got for her birthday.  We picked it up about a week before her birthday, and then we did a makeover on it.  We repainted the whole thing, took out the pegboard sliders on the top and put in new doors, and added molding to make it look a little more girly.  I wish I had a good before shot.  Brandon still has to make the burners for on top of the oven part, but with his finals it didn't happen in time.

Now that Brandon is done with school (as in completely done, he graduated!!!) we are trying to tackle some of the projects around the house.  Building shelves in the toy closet has been on the list since we moved in, and last night we got it done.  If you blow up the picture you will probably be able to see that I even labeled every bin with a picture so they know what is where, and they can clean it all up themselves.

Now to decide what project to tackle next.

Birthday Video

This will probably be long and boring to most of you, but Grandma and Papa, this is for you!

Birthday Girl

Grace recently started being interested in tv, particularly Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so Brandon created this birthday cake.  Grace loved it.  She calls everything related to the show "Hot Dog" because of the song they sing, and she just kept saying it over and over looking at her cake.

 We played pin the flower on Minnie.

She loved this too.  She cheated a bit and moved around everyone's flowers.  It didn't help her much since she moved her's too, and not any closer to the target.

 Then we did presents.  Can you tell her brothers were excited?

She was hilarious.  She said "wow" over everything, even before she could tell what it was.  She got some new clothes and every item was "so cute."  She even held everything up to show everyone.  I guess she enjoys the spotlight.

Then we did cake.  She loved everyone singing to her.

This is apparently how she was taught to eat ice cream.  Just pick the scoop up in your hand and enjoy.  She actually finished one scoop, requested another, and ate it the same way.  Whatever you want birthday girl!

Grace had an awesome party and was so fun.  She was probably our funniest 2 year old at a party.  I'm sure there is a lot more fun to come with this crazy girly!

Oh, and today she repeatedly sang Happy Birthday to herself.  She knows how to party.

Summer Update

It has been way too long since we updated, so here it is all at once. 

 

With the addition of the dog we became painfully aware of any and all dirt in our yard.  She likes to dig, and run through it wet and then track it into the house.

  There is about an 18 inch gap between the fence and the grass, which is also a problem with the neighbors dog digging under.

We turned it into this (don't mind the burn spots).  We added about 90 square feet of sod total, and one more raised bed to be used next year.  We are repairing the burn spots next week...we've finally figured out how to combat that.

It is amazing how much bigger the yard feels with just the extra 18 inches.  You probably can't tell in the picture though.

Our garden has gone a bit crazy.  The tomatoes, well one in particular, have actually grown taller than the fence.  We have some zucchini growing, the carrots are awesome, and we haven't had to buy lettuce in a long time.  Very fun.

Evan played tball/coach pitch.  He did great for his first season ever.  He even had an in the park home run one game.  I thought switching to coach pitch midseason would be rough, but Evan hit it off the pitch almost every time.  

 The kids buddies from down the street moved to Germany, but this past week we got our first pen pal letters from them which was very exciting.

 We found a gigantic beetle on a walk with Molly one night.  So nasty.

Just to prove Grace and I are still here.  She is hitting the terrible twos with real force, and she isn't even two yet.  Check out her super cute bow though.  Her cousin Lauren made it and in Grace's words it makes her "so pitty."