Yes, I am excited over rocks

Yes, for real.  This is exciting stuff!

Whenever you can pull up to the house and see machines like this you know that something exciting is happening.  We are soooooooo ready for grass.  And we can't get grass until the rocks and other landscaping is done.  One step closer.

They started working on the boulder walls today and they are beautiful!  

 

They also sprayed the lines for the back wall (in the hill) to get cut out and the placement for the rocks off the patio.

Stool for 3

These kids have so much fun together.  They are like the Three Musketeers.

Tonight Jacob stayed over to have a treat with the girls.  Good thing they are all small and can still fit three of them on only two stools.

Goodbye Cabin, Hello Jacob!

Reggie was not too sure about leaving this weekend.  In fact, when Jennie was getting ready to do he sat in front of the door as if to say "Not happening."

 

The girls always hate leaving too but now that they have friends in the hood, it makes it a little easier.  They are a little more anxious to get home to see who is around to play with.

Tonight they were not even home for 5 minutes before they were grabbing their seats and running off to Jacob's to go swimming.

I am going to be appreciating these cabin weekends more and more the older they get.  At least I know then I will be able to spend some time with them.

Now THAT'S a stick!

he kids have gotten an absolute kick out of Reggie.  They learned this weekend that he loves sticks.

He prefers the ones that are just his size :-)

The girls were able to take the Barbie car out this weekend.

Hannah isn't fitting into too well anymore but Hailey does and she wastes NO time getting in and spending her days cruising around the yard.  She's even getting pretty good at parking.

Hannah and Reggie were buds this weekend.  Hannah would always make sure he had a stick or ice to chew on.

We even got to spend sometime in the water, getting Schmidty trained in.

 

Princess Day

Today is Prince and Princess Day at Adventures Plus for Hannah.
She was so excited to be able to wear her dress (which were actually Hailey's Cinderella jammies) and crown to school

When we walked into school her friends went nuts!  "Oh Hannah, look at you!  You look so pretty!"

 

Project Loft

One thing about having a new house is that everything is bare.  The walls are empty, the corners are empty, the shelves are empty.  I know with time I will be wishing those days back but for now, it makes things feel temporary.   I want so badly to have a house that feels like a home and I think by doing some decorating it will start to help feel like 'ours'.

I started to buy things for the loft, that and the office were the two 'easiest' rooms for me to think about.  I have collected enough stuff and it is finally time to start arranging.

The girls had painted a few canvases for the loft so I know that I wanted to get those up on the wall.  My new Pinterest trick of hanging a template first is so helpful.  I usually end up hanging the template on the wall and letting it sit there for a few days until I am sure that I like the layout.

The wall above the TV was pretty easy.  I knew I wanted the canvases there but now I have to tackle the couch wall.  The wall is huge and a little overwhelming.

I had picked up random things at Hobby Lobby and Gordmans and tried to lay them out on the floor to get a shape I liked and I just couldn't get there.  I guess that only means one thing.....I haven't found it yet.  Time to take stuff back to the store.

 

 

Sick?

Hailey wasn't feeling the greatest this morning when she woke up which is not like her but I had the opportunity to work from home today I decided not to chance it and I let her stay home with me.

She is pretty good about laying on the couch all day and watching TV only reaching out when she needs something.

Today I could feel a presence behind me and when I turned around I saw her like this, posing for me.

Nice shoes :-)

A night with Andy

 

This never gets old. 

Loriann and Molly joined me again for our 3rd evening with Andy (Loriann's 2nd).

Before the concert we grabbed some dinner at the Loring Pasta Bar where they have live music.

Apparently this couple is here to enjoy dinner and dancing every single Tuesday.  The waiter even made a comment about how sad it will be when they stop coming.

Andy put on a great show as always!

The venue was intimate and had good sound.

 

I love you THIS much

Hailey:  "Mama, I love you this much (holding her arms out, reaching just past her shoulders) and I love daddy this much (holding her arms out further)."

Mom:  " Hmmmm.  Is that so?  I love you and Hannah the same but what if I told you that I love you this much (holding my arms out, reaching just past my shoulders) and I loved Hannah this much (holding my arms out further).

She thought about it for a second.

Hailey:  "Mama, I mean I love you this much (holding her arms out as far as she can- straining) and I love daddy T H I S much (now her arms are folding backwards almost touching behind her back).

So there.

Gavin Degraw

Tonight Loriann and I are going to see Gavin DeGraw and Matt Nathanson at the Myth!  

We both figured that Matt Nathanson would be opening for Gavin since neither of us could name more than 5 songs that he sings. Mary Murphy opened for both of them which was a surprise since we weren't expecting a third act.  She was entertaining.  

Next up- Gavin?!  What the?

He was very good. Super high energy, very personable and his voice sounded great.

Matt Nathanson was good, although- not my favorite.  It didn't help that I didn't know very many of his songs.  He was kinda goofy although the crowd loved him and it was clear that 80% of the people were there for him.  

If I ever get the chance to see Gavin again, I would.

Queen of the World!

Brian's parents, Joe, my dad, grandma and Bob came up to the lake today.

It was such a gorgeous day so we decided that a boat ride was a must!

We got grandma on the boat today and she really enjoyed herself.

Hailey loves to stand at the front of the boat and let the wind run through her hair.  She also loves when daddy hits a wave and she gets soaked. 

North for the weekend

We are heading north for the weekend!

We decided to stay home last night so the girls could play with their friends and since we had today off we figured we could get up to the lake early and still have the whole weekend left.

We spent the first part of the day cleaning.  Getting the place scrubbed down and clearing some of the clutter.  Brian spent most of the day working on the yard.

While we were unpacking we noticed this huge hole near the stairs leading into the cabin.  Later in the afternoon we looked inside and saw this guy staring back at us!

We enjoyed some time on the four wheeler and soon Kim joined us!

The girls treated us to a karoke show while we waited for the sun to go down.

Around 9:30 we headed out to catch the fireworks show in Braham.

When we are at the lake, this is our go to place.  It's a decent show considering it's a small town.

However, it never fails that once we get back to the cabin, the fireworks around the lake are going off all night.  One of these years, we need to skip the show in Braham and just head out to the middle of the lake to catch the local shows. 

Happy Independence Day!

Yong Yegs

I was in the house and heard blood curdling screams coming from the front porch.

I went running out the front door to see what was going on and found Hailey, Jacob, Hannah and Grace freaking out.   

Hailey "Mom!  It's a daddy.....NO- GRANDPA yong yegs!"

Thankfully he was 'expired' after a meeting with my sandal and just like that the playing resumed.

Ummm....gulp

Hannah wanted to get her haircut.  She has been talking about wanting to get it cut a little shorter than it is. "Like Hailey's".  So tonight I took her out to find a place that we could walk in for a cut. The first two places we tried were full so third time was a charm and we ended up at Ulta.

She had found a few shoulder length styles online that she really liked.

When we got there she showed the lady what she wanted to do, the girl seemed to understand and when she showed us how short it would be and how much she would be taking off we all agreed that we were on the same page. 

 About half way through the cut I started to get a little nervous.  There was hair all over the floor and she was giving no signs that she was close to being done.  She just kept cutting.

I was trying not to let Hannah see me freaking out and I was also trying to keep my cool and not appear super mad, which I was starting to get.  Finally she started blow drying and although we were about 3 inches shorter than we talked about, she wasn't bald- which for a minute I was nervous that she might be.

When she was done blowing and styling, she grabbed the mirror to show Hannah. I was nervous that she was going to freak out or cry since it was so short but she LOVED it.  She did look shocked but once she smiled about it, she never stopped.

Garage Sale

Lately the girls have been playing garage sale.  One will set up the room with the sale items and then wait for the other to come and shop. Hailey was extra cute today greeting her shoppers.  "Hello ma'am, what do you want to buy?  Everything cost one penny. And if you buy one thing you get anything for free."