14 Things We Did This Weekend

What a weekend! It's hard for me to remember a three day weekend in which we had virtually nothing planned outside the house. We tackled project after project after project. And, had a lot of fun on the side!

So, here's what we did.

1. Partied!!! (Family style) Friday night was a party at the neighbors. Josie swam for a bit and then went out in the field with the music blasting and danced her little heart out. She was too far away to get a good video, but it was priceless. Tessa got in the pool at 5:30 and didn't get out until 10! She was playing with the middle school/high school girls and they happen to all be cheerleaders. They were putting her up in mounts and then tossing her. Needless to say, she was in Heaven.

2. Slept!!! Saturday morning, we all slept in until 10 and we had to wake Josie up at 11:20! I guess we all needed it! I slept in until 10 again on Monday morning and lounged in bed with coffee until 10:30 thanks to Tom. 

3. Painted!!! The whole deck needs stained, but we started with the porch floor. The kids helped and Tom and I supervised and touched up. I'm pretty happy with the results. Tom thinks its too gray. I think we just need a rug and we'll be all set! (The porch furniture was my Mother's Day gift except for the wicker looking stuff which we found at a garage sale.)

4. Planted!!! We picked up flowers at Home Depot for Tom to plant. My favorite annuals are Wave Petunias. They seem to just take over where you plant them. This year, we went with my favorite color too. They make me smile. Now, we just need some new mulch.

5. Visited!!! Our good friend from Ohio, Wayne, visited with his girlfriend on Saturday night. It was so nice to catch up and meet Debbie. Sometimes, you just have friends that you won't see for a long time and then get back together and it's like no time has even passed. Wayne is one of those friends. They ventured into the Snake Pit at the Indy 500 on Sunday and it was fun to hear their stories. We all went over to the neighbors to visit with their friends also in for the race. After hearing their stories, I'm finally ready to go to the race next year. 

6. Swam!!! The kids were able to get in the pool twice this weekend thanks to our neighbor's pool heater. It was not super warm outside but the kids didn't care one bit. Even Jack ventured into the pool. He found two high school girls to take him around on Sunday. I've never seen a happier kid.

7. Partied!!! (6-year old Style) Tessa turned 6 on Sunday! We hosted 7 five and six year olds for a party on Sunday. Everyone had fun and it was even nice enough to play outside for a bit. I was a little nervous as we had nothing planned, but the girls just played and played. I made our lives easier by having Tessa pick out a cake at Walmart instead of making one. It was definitely worth the $8. :) And, the theme was Monster High. Not a huge fan of the ghouly little dolls, but Tessa is in love with the dolls (I think there's a show too but they've never seen it) and I feel like the pretty little butterfly cake evened things out a bit. 

8. Hung!!! Tom hung two hammocks down below our deck. Not too bad for $12 at Big Lots! Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to nap in one this weekend, but that is on my list for summer!

9. Painted!!! Again!!! This time, Tom and kids painted/stained the wooden outdoor furniture that my parents gave us when we moved to Indiana. This stuff looks awesome when it's freshly stained! Not to mention, our table was pelted by hail and had to be sanded down to get rid of the polka dots. It all looks like a million bucks now!

10. Laundered!!! Love a photo of a clean bed even if it's missing the fancy pillows. I got all of the laundry washed, dried, folded and put away. This NEVER happens! This would have made a successful weekend in and of itself!

11. Purged!!! After finishing up laundry, I cleared out my closet and drawers. Not only did I switch out my winter clothes for summer clothes, but I got rid of a ton of stuff. Next to laundry, this was my most feel-good task of the weekend. Here's the Goodwill pile! And, that's just my stuff...

12. Decluttered!!! I didn't get as much done here as I would have hoped. But, I took a full laundry basket full of stuff out of our bedroom that did not belong there and a full trash bag full of stuff there too. I tackled the pile of stuff in the kitchen on Friday too. This may not look like much, but the little area between our dressers seems to just collect stuff. So does the tops of our dressers. Not anymore! (For now anyway...)

13. Ran!!! I wanted to get in 7 miles, but only managed 4.5 yesterday. I'm blaming it on the heat and humidity. It really felt bad and I was very slow, but I'm not letting that get in my head. The Steamboat race is less than a week away and the forecast is looking awesome! It looks like it will be cool in the morning but nice during the days for sightseeing. 

14. Slept!!! Oh, did I mention this already? Well, I crawled in bed last night at 9PM hoping to read for a little while. I drifted off after about 2 minutes and just gave in. It wasn't even dark. Must have been a good weekend. :) 

If These Walls Could Talk - Part Two

OK - this is moving week! It's so exciting to be moving into our new house, but I wanted to take a minute and remember our house on 150 W. (Just like I did at our old house here.) Although it has had it's challenges, we also made lots of memories as well. It's been a relatively short 8 months in this home but full of activity nonetheless.

Moving in was somewhat of an adventure because it took FOREVER! This was the first time we hired professional movers so we thought it would be a breeze. I think they pretty severely underestimated the time it would take to do the full move. Anyway, we finally got in and settled.

The house has a little step down into the playroom. I remember the first time we visited with Jack, my aunt Trena was with us and she said Nicole had a little step like that too in their old house. She said Jack would have it mastered within a few short weeks and he certainly did! It's hard to believe he had just started walking when we moved into this house!

One of the first, significant event that happened in this house was on August 13th. We were actually at the lake this weekend, but returned home shortly after on Sunday. This was day of the tragic State Fair Stage Collapse. Our Sales Consultant, Andrea, was very seriously injured and in a coma for weeks. She is on her way to an awesome recovery now, but it was a life-changing event for many people. I miss her daily and the first few weeks at this house were cloaked in a range of emotions and prayer for her.

The very day after the accident, was the night before Josie's first day of kindergarden. While it was difficult to be happy and excited, I think we managed to put up a good front. Nicole was over too and we all helped Josie pick out the perfect outfit. The first day of school is always an event to be celebrated and it was extra special considering it was our first born's first day of public school. She had a great two weeks with Mrs. Hahn and then, due to scheduling changes at the school, she was moved to Mrs. Brown's class and has had a wonderful year!

Tessa's first day of school came next. Another year at Bradley! It's hard to believe that in two weeks, I'll be taking her in for Kindergarden Round-Up!

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I nursed Jack for the last time in the rocker in his room at this house too. It's always a bittersweet moment. I cherish the time I get to spend with each of my kids in those days because it always passes so quickly. But, it also brings a certain feeling of independence as well when that time is over.

Thanks to Pinterest, we've done a bunch of crafting in this house! I think I had extra free time since it was a smaller house and we didn't have as much to maintain. Either way, we surely had fun!

Josie had her first "scary" Halloween costume here too!

And, Jack learned to dance. :) He and his sisters had many dance parties in this house...

Josie also celebrated her 6th birthday in this house! She had her first true "friend" birthday party complete with goodie bags and a pinata!

On Thursday, we'll be moving on to a new chapter in our lives. We don't know how long we'll live in this house but I imagine we'll see plenty more firsts - first bus rides, more first days of school, first bike rides with no training wheels, first sleep-overs, and maybe even first boyfriends and first dates. Oh, what an adventure it will be!

Dancing Kids are Happy Kids!

Tom captured some great video on his phone this weekend. The kids are in a great phase of dancing up a storm in the toy room. I can't even figure out where to focus my eyes on these videos because they're all going a million miles a minute. (Welcome to my everyday life.) I love Tessa's handstands, Josie's disco moves and Jack's head down bulldozer. Such happy kids!



Instead of just posting the separate videos, I decided to put it into iMovie and whip up a little something fun. Today, Steve Jobs of Apple passed away. He has inspired so many wonderful products and I am thankful for them. I am thankful I can use technology to capture my kids in the everyday (all of these videos are from the iPhone4) and put them together in a fun way (iMovie on my Mac). And, I know my family and friends will watch this video on their Macs, iPhones and iPads. Thank you for bringing design and technology to the masses Mr. Jobs. May you rest in peace...