Finished!

Back in April we started painting the boys' room.  Dark green on one wall.  Light green on the opposite wall.  Striped dark and light green on the walls in-between.  We painted the 2 solid walls and the light stripes, and then just left it.

Occasionally Elijah would say, "Mom, could you finish painting my room now?"  I'm say sure and then not do it.  Lately he's been more insistent, and has sounded more emphatic about it, which is unusual for Elijah (Miciah's emphatic about everything.  Elijah, about almost nothing).  And since I've had a break from school for almost 2 weeks, I figured now was the time.

So here it is, their finished room:

Happily, you can still see a few stickers on the bedroom door.

Hurray for finishing a project!

In other boys' bedroom news, they got this hand-me-down dresser from Rob's sister:

(I know, it looks like I was taking a picture of those bins and the dresser just happened to be underneath.  It was a picture of a dresser, I figured it didn't matter much, so I didn't try to get the best angle.)

It was meant to be for Elijah, and then Tank would use the bins on top for his clothes (they were originally on the other side of the closet).  But Tank wasn't happy that his brother got a real dresser when he had see-through bins.  So they came up with a compromise:  Share the dresser.  They each have 1 of the big drawers, and they share the top little drawer.  I love that they're such good share-ers.

Something I Love

Today feels pretty rotten, and it's only just beginning.  Yesterday I discovered a massive mildew issue in our basement.  Most of it right now is isolated to our food storage room, which is good and bad.  Good that it's mainly only in 1 room, bad that the room happened to be where we store our food.

Thankfully (trying to be thankful), most of the food is fine.  The shelves are fine.

However, the whole room will need to be anti-mildew/keep-the-water-out painted so we can avoid the problem in the future, the stick-on floor tile is dead, some drawers are ruined (which totally sucks.  They were awesome), and we'll need to purchase a de-humidifier so we don't lose anything else.  In the next room over, the toy room, the wood paneling will need to be torn down.  Which isn't super sad.  It was water damaged already, from years back.  But still.  Just means more work.

What's funny about the whole thing, to me, is that it was just last week when I turned to Rob and said, "No more home projects.  We're done with them for at least a year."  Ha.  ...  Somewhere there's something to be thankful for.  Oh!  I'm thankful that we weren't mid-another-project when I discovered the mildew.  There.

Who knew that the central air that we chose not to replace was dehumidifying the basement, and that that one simple thing would be such a big deal.  Add to it that this spring has been the wettest on record, and that our basement isn't water-proof anyway, ...  Thankfulness is eluding me.  Uh, ... I'm grateful that there isn't standing water 3 inches deep in my basement?  I'm grateful that I live in a good house?  I'm grateful I'm healthy?  ...  It's not working.

But this is something that I love:

Check it out.  Love our garden.  Boysenberries, strawberries, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, kale, potatoes, garlic, watermelon, green beans, cucumber, and a carrot.  Already we've had fresh kale and fresh strawberries (not in the same dish).  Awesome.  We'll add one more garden box this fall and then that will be enough space for everything we want.

Also, I love this:

There's definitely enough to be thankful for.

Picture Pages, Picture Pages

Now that my Reader count is back in the single digits, it's time to move on to my next computer clean-up activity:  posting pictures on my blog.  So here are some pictures from the past month, with a little commentary.

It's a blurry picture, obviously.  (A 10-year-old took it.)  But it's Miciah decked out in an outfit that she thought made her look like a princess.  Super cute.

Blurry picture #2.  Tank, in a typical pose:  Laying on the floor with a few blankets, watching a movie from the library.  The balloon is funny, because Tank's friend Wyatt brought it over and Tank wouldn't have much to do with Wyatt or the balloon while Wyatt was here.  But once he was gone, the balloon was suddenly very cool.  It lasted for about a week and all the kids loved it.  Thanks, Wyatt's mom!

We've been painting, though none of our projects are done yet.  Here's the boys' room, at the start of the fun:

Trying out samples.  The room still isn't done, even though we started 3 weeks ago.  And still, unfinished, it looks better than it did before.  Oh.  We decided to go with the 2 green colors on the right.  2 walls striped, 1 wall the light green, and 1 wall the dark green.  I'll take more pictures when it's all done.

Our bedroom is close to being done.  All that's left is the trim, the outlets (which are being switched out), and putting back up curtain rods and curtains.  Here's what one of the walls looked like before:

And here's after:

My brother checked out the room and quoted a line from Curious George, "That's a lot of yellow for one man."  Love the color.  It's a nice change, too.

The kids participated in the Flying Pig Marathon again this year.  This year we let Elijah do it, too.  They do 25 miles in the months leading up to the marathon, and then they do the last mile at the race.  It's fun.

This is an older picture, but I think it's great.  Since we put in the Must Read Half an Hour to Play the Wii/Computer for Half an Hour rule, the kids have been reading a lot more.  It's great.  So this picture looks really sweet until you realize that they're reading for video game time. 

Also, Elijah has been reading a TON more now that he owns the entire Junie B. Jones collection.  He wants to take the books everywhere with him.  It's great.

I am personally most excited to introduce you to our amazing lilac bushes.  Why is this so exciting?  Well, for one, I love gardening (I'm sure I've mentioned this a few times).  And for two, this is what the bushes looked like last year:

What is that, 5 blooms per bush, if that?  Pathetic.  I feel like this year they've finally started growing and blooming and looking strong and gorgeous.  Hopefully next year they double in size again!

Snow Days

Today's the second snow day for the week, but the fourth day this week that my kids have off school.  Monday was a holiday.  Tuesday was teacher in-service.  ... So Wednesday was apparently my one day of sanity.  I wish I had known that at the time.  I would have taken greater advantage of it.

To console myself, I'm posting about some fun home projects that we've finished (or will have finished by tomorrow).

Finished Project #1:
Painted the hallway / finished painting the dining room.  So, 4 years ago we painted the dining room.  We left 1 wall unpainted because ... because that's what we do.  Finally it bugged me, so we painted it on Saturday.  I keep walking by it and saying, "Look at that white wall!"  Amazing.

We also noticed, once the wall was actually white instead of nasty off-white, that the ceiling, for about a 3 foot by 8 foot section, only had 1 coat of paint.  Who does that?  Who leaves a section of their ceiling with only 1 paint of coat?  Awesome people like us, that's who!

Finished Project #2:
Remember when I posted all about us remodeling our kitchen?  It was a huge to-do around here.  It was declared "finished" in August 2009.  Except there was this one small section that needed grouting around some tile work.  While we were doing Project #1, I mentioned to Rob that I don't think he intended to ever finish that section.  A little reverse psychology, maybe?  Whatever it was, it worked, because on Monday he finished that section.  So now the kitchen is OFFICIALLY finished.

Oh, and I guess we've also put up shelves in the kitchen.
Before:

After:

Finished Project #3:
Installed new shower doors, new light fixtures, bath fixtures, and towel hooks.  When my parents came with the van and the computer, they also brought new shower doors.  It's kind of a long story, but the short of it is that they've had these great doors sitting around their house for a year, so they thought we might appreciate them.  Our old shower doors were, well, old and rusty (I explained to them that they matched everything else in our house:  old, rusty, but functional), so we were happy to upgrade.  Thank you, Mom and Dad!  My brother, Keith, who now lives in Dayton, came and helped Rob install it.  Thank you, Keith!

The light fixtures have needed replaced for, I dunno, probably since we bought the house.  So 5 years ago.  We're replacing them tomorrow.  And the hooks are being installed because the new shower doors don't have a handle on them.  That's where we hung our towels before, so we needed a new solution.

Oh!  And as part of phase 2, a few months from now, we'll put a shelf or two above the toilet.  You know, for towels and stuff.  I'll probably put a plant there, too.  Any ideas for a low-light-tolerant, humidity-loving plant to go in my bathroom?  I'm open to ideas.  (Hint to Justin.)

Home Projects to Do Soon:
I need to re-arrange the pictures in my living room.  I got a 16x20 print of our family, from the great photo shoot in Key West, and it's framed and everything, just sitting behind my couch.  I would put it up, but I think there's just a better arrangement for ALL the pictures hanging up.  So I'm waiting for inspiration and/or advice from someone with a better eye than me.  (Hint to RB.)  Maybe this is why projects take so long around here:  I'm always waiting for inspiration.  Let's be honest, I'm only "inspired" about once a year.

Actually put the van in my name and then insure it.  I was going to do it on Thursday and then the snow came.  Nevermind.  I guess next week will work.  And I know you're all dying to see a picture of our van and hear more of the story.  That's for next week, too.  But here's a picture of it covered in snow!:

So there.  That makes this week seem less pointless.  We have actually accomplished things!  I can go on living now.

Momentous Occasions!

We've had several Momentous Occasions around here.  A partial list:

1. Home Projects
Spring Cleaning on steroids.  It's been a wonderful process.

As part of the process we purchased this dining table from ikea:

I know, I know.  ikea.  But we like the look of the table; it's small, so it fits our space better; and it was affordable.  The other table is now an AWESOME laundry table.

2. Rob's Teenage Daughter
(I could write about Miciah getting older, but we won't even think about that.)

I'm used to hearing about how young I look.  I hear it all the time from people who are older than me.  Some are just barely older (5 - 10 years older), and some are MUCH older.  I've always thought that these people have simply lost touch with what a teenage girl actually looks like. 

Having said that, I often identify with teenager girls' body sizes.  I wear Junior sizes, and could trade clothes with most 14-year-olds that I know.  I'm not trying to brag.  I'm just saying that being a petite person definitely helps the perception that I'm younger than I really am.

But the Momentous Occasion in this instance is that someone MY AGE thought that Rob was my dad.  She said, "I looked at your family and thought, 'There's the small children.  There's the teenage daughter.  There's the dad.  But where's the mom?'"

Rob's used to hearing that I look like a teenager, but not that he looks old enough to be my dad.  That threw him a little.  I, of course, thought it was fantastic!

3.  Elijah Lost His First Tooth!

Finally.  It's been loose for a while, and the other tooth is already poking through.  It's coming up about a mile behind where it should be.  Seriously, it's lodged in his tonsils.  Okay, not seriously.  But it's definitely not where it should be.  Rob looked at me and said, "Let's just get used to the fact that all our kids will need braces."  hurray for us and our kids.

Oh, I asked Elijah why he was closing his eyes like that and he said, "Cause it looks cool."  Umm, okay.

4.  Numbers

After living here for 6 years, I finally have my bank account number memorized.  The last bank that I was with had 9-digit bank account numbers (I think).  This bank does 11 digits.  When we first started banking with them, I made it a goal to memorize my account number, because it's immensely helpful, but gave up after a few months when I could only solidly store away the first 5 digits.

As a side note, memorizing my library card number was much easier.  Took me a month or so of half-trying.  It's 8 digits long.

5.  Spring!

It's Spring and our family is healthy again.  Hurray!  Though the temperatures are in the 80's right now, and I have to say that I don't like it.  Spring is supposed to bring a steady supply of 60 and 70 degree weather.  Spring should get with the program.

But being healthy again is AWESOME.  I was sick for 7 weeks, off and on.  Being healthy is ... blissful.  Miciah is also over her Strep (of course), and Rob is over his lingering cold.  His hung around for about a month.  No fun for anyone.

6.  Dental Work

I found a dentist that specializes in treating people who are terrified of dentists.  It's amazing.  If you're a "normal" person who never has anything wrong with your teeth, don't bother.  But if you're scared to death of dentists, then Twin Dental is the place for you.  (It's Twin Dental because the two dentists are twins.  Fun, huh?  The dentist I was assigned is called Dr. Dave, because Dr. Rothan would be ... unhelpful.)

Though contemplating massive dental work is never fun (I have 3 cavities, "isolated" gum disease, and eventually I need a crown put in).  Still, it's momentous because I found the dentist that I will stick with for years.  Can you imagine?  A dentist's office, for adults, that's committed to making patients comfortable.  What an idea.

...

Okay, that's all I've got.  Less momentous things include the fact that Rob is just now starting his crazy-busy April, and already the stress levels are ... very high.  BUT, one can survive anything for a month, and we did sign up for this after all.  We're looking forward to a calmer May.

Oh, and Elijah wore his pajama pants to school today.  I think that's awesome, but Rob will probably be appalled.  Fun times in parenting.

Alright, Already! (an update), Part 1

Things are going good in Thackerland. (Ooh. I LIKE the sound of Thackerland.) Life is smooth for the most part, we're happy and healthy, our plants are growing, our house is standing, and our cars are running. What more do you need?

Money

Money. We need money. Do you know why money is the root of all evil? Because the minute you have a little money, things break. As follows:

The TV

I've already reported on the TV and it's inevitable demise. I have since decided, though, that we will wait for it to die completely until we buy a new one.

The Lawnmower

Our lawnmower broke. Again. It's a hand-me-down lawnmower that was a godsend when we got it over 3 years ago, and that has served us well enough since then. We have been grateful for it, of course, but it's been one step past dead for years. We've welded parts together, jerryrigged it into working, etc. Now the part that we welded has broken again. ... Luckily, lawnmowers aren't that expensive. At least not the kind we'd buy. In a month or two, $200 will make us the proud owners of another cheap mower.

Speaking of lawnmowers, we're thinking pretty seriously about buying an old fashioned mower. You know, the no gasoline required kind. Just you and the blades. If anyone has any expertise/knowledge/advice about these, pass it on, please!

Rob's Palm Pilot

You know what the Palm company doesn't make any more? Palm Pilots. Rob's Tungsten E2 broke on Monday. It's been dying for over a year, but we've been waiting for it to completely biff it. Which it did, of course, only days after the lawnmower died. What's with that?

Rob is lost without a PDA. I used to think it was a luxury to have one, but Rob is such a better person with something that has an alarm on it to remind him about mundane things that repeat on a weekly basis and so he really should remember it anyway because, Hello! Trash Night is ALWAYS on a Thursday!, that we instantly bought him a new one. $200.

You can't buy JUST a PDA any more, though. People don't want JUST a palm pilot. They want a phone/radio/camera/PDA/internet browser/waffle maker. What cracks me up is that Rob bought a multi-function phone that he will never use as a phone: the Centro Smartphone. And that's funny.

The phone arrived today. So Rob won't forget that Thursday is Trash Night.

Rob's Wedding Ring

It didn't break, he just lost it, as I've previously reported. I tried to convince him to hold off for a few years or something, but the idea appalled him. He NEEDED a ring. And that's cute, you know? The symbol of our union and all.

Anyways. We went to the mall where I bought my ring a year and a half ago. Went to the same store and asked if they had the same band, so that we could get Rob a matching band. They had one, but Rob would have to come in and get his finger sized before they ordered it. ... My ring was $350, before the price of gold shot up. So we figured his would be about $500. No: $700. Ouch. The guy told us they'd have that style probably through December, so we should watch the price of gold (right. We don't WATCH the price of gold!) and if it dipped, we should buy it on that day, cause it'd be about $20 cheaper, say, if the price fell from $900 to $600 an ounce. Woo hoo.

We moved on. I took him to another store that had similar bands that were beautiful, but he was determined to get the matching band. Fine by me. We've always wanted, but never had, matching bands. It'd be nice to have them finally. ... At the end of the night Rob was disheartened. $700 was more than we wanted to pay, for sure. And Rob HATES spending money on himself. I told him to look at one last store (I didn't even know it was there. Tucked back by the kids' play area) and guess what they had: the matching band, in Rob's size, for $450. We bought it on the spot and Rob wore it home. How's that for fate?

They also told us that if Rob found his ring within 30 days, he can return the ring for a full refund. For jewlery, that's an incredible return policy. Our 30 days is up May 1st or so. After that, if we find the ring, we'll pawn it. (Just kidding. I'm not sure what we'll do with it if we find it. But pawning it is an option. It has platinum in it.)

... I think that's the entire list of unplanned things to spend money on lately. Rob says we should pray that nothing else breaks. Amen, brother Rob!

We are fortunate, though. We've been working really hard regarding our finances, so we had money in the bank for all these purchases. In fact, we could go buy a lawnmower and TV right now, for cash. We just don't WANT to. We have better things to do with that money. Like get out of debt. (Still in love with Dave Ramsey.)

The Home Project

Ah, yes. That. Rob's mom and dad came down for 3 days and Rob and Vaughn tore into the project! Before they came down, Rob and I spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours tearing down wallpaper. Shouldn't have thought it would have taken so long. But it did. Here's Rob scraping the last of the paper off the walls:

Rob took some time off work while his parents were here so that they could do as much of the project as possible. They put up the frame. Worked really well and it looks great! Before, remember, it was just a piece of wood across my ceiling and that did not make me very happy. One of those: "If you think that's going to fly, think again." The frame gives the space a little depth. It's perfect.

They then tackled some of the smaller things, but the things that take some expertise or precision. Like putting in tile down a 2-inch space. Fixing another tile. Mudding. Lots of mudding. Caulking. Puttying.

On the 3rd day the options were to start on the floor or to finish up the little things here and there. Vaughn said that we wouldn't want to finish the floor till last, but they could replace the subfloor and leave it like that for a while. Umm, no. Mentally that would drive me NUTS! I have a particular psychosis revolving around floors, apparently. So they finished up the little things. Hurray!

They also finished stripping our cabinets, and put the new cabinets up. The new cabinets are a Home Depot basic set that a neighbor helped us adjust so it would work for our doors. We now have 4 excellent, brand new cabinet doors, if anyone wants them. Though, what would you do with doors and no cabinets? I don't know.

Vaughn, stripping a cabinet door:

Rob's mom kept saying, "I'm not being very helpful." But she was the person who kept me sane the whole time. It was a little frustrating to have our home multitasking as a construction zone, and Carolyn kept the kids entertained and provided me with someone to talk to while the guys were making a big mess. Here's some pictures of her playing with the kids and reading them books:

I am afraid that any home project picture will look like we've made a step backwards instead of a step forwards. The doors are all off the cabinets. Nothing's painted. And the frame they spent so much time on still needs painted, so it won't look right if I take a picture right now. ... But I guess if you can have a little vision, I'll post this picture of what it looks like now:

I'll have to continue this later. Elijah says it's his turn to play on the computer.

The Home Project Ruined My Life

Just kidding. But the Home Project has been RULING my life for a while now. I feel like I haven't had energy to think about many "extra" things--like reading, blogging, chatting, visiting with friends, etc.

I'll repent soon. And I'll post some pictures of how it's looking now. Rob and his dad got a lot done over 3 days, and all the work looks really good so far. I'm impressed. We've also had some stellar neighbors who have helped us along the way: letting us borrow tools, and helping us with the cabinets. Hurray for nice people!

And It's April (an update)

Elijah being adorable and spastic at the same time.

Springtime Musings

I've been wondering why Spring didn't HIT ME this year like it did last year. Last year I was writing odes to springtime in my head, and this year Spring is just nice, like normal. I finally figured it out by observing the magnolias.

This year the magnolias are gorgeous, and this week, they're the Spring flower to see. (I figured out through this that there's another kind of magnolia called a star magnolia with gorgeous star-like pure white flowers. SO beautiful. Makes the crab apple trees look dirty off-white by comparison.) A lot of the flowering trees that I anticipate every year haven't bloomed yet: weeping cherries, red buds, dogwoods. Some of them have bloomed, here and there across town, but most of them are waiting for the magnolias to be done hogging Spring's center stage.

Now, last year. Let's review, briefly, through pictures, what Spring was like last year.
This one is dated March 3, 2008:
And this one is March 10, 2008:Spring was starting, early March. The kids were eating lunch out on the back porch. And then, mid-March was a very unseasonal cold snap. Dumped a foot of snow. And Spring was screwed up. A lot of Spring flowers didn't get their moment to shine. Or, rather, when they got their moment to shine, so did every OTHER Spring flower. The early Spring flowers got shafted (sorry, daffodils and tulips), but everything else bloomed all at once. There was the cold snap and then BAM! it was Spring! Every time I'd drive around town, I was in awe at the explosion of Spring all around me. It was beautiful.

So this year, as I waited for Spring, I was expecting the same fireworks display of flowers. It was not to be, though. Not like last year. This year we get to drag Spring out over many weeks. So, I still am reacting the same way. Just piece by piece. As Spring normally comes.

Elijah

Elijah is now 5 years old! Hurray for him! We had a low-key birthday party (it's the only kind of party I know how to throw) for him. We invited 5 families and all the kids ran around like wild children and it was lovely.

Elijah licking the icing off a candle.

Elijah chose his cake and ice cream: dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate icing and Superman ice cream. What a brilliant combination!

Kid chaos during the party (and this isn't even all the kids that were there):
Elijah is a gem of a kid. The day before his birthday Rob was conducting at church and told a bunch of Elijah stories that I haven't posted on here yet, cause I'm a slacker. So here's a series of Elijah stories.

Up in the Attic

The day that Rob and his dad took out our wall, Rob had to go up in the attic for several hours. During that time Teancom asked me where Daddy was. I pointed towards the ceiling and said, "Up there." Teancom said, "He's in the sky?!" Elijah perked right up and said, "He's in the sky? He's up with Jesus!" I explained that Rob was not really up in the sky, he was in the attic. Shortly after that the kids heard Rob's voice but couldn't see him. I saw Elijah's eyes get really big and you could see all over his face that it was as if Rob's voice was coming down to us from heaven. I told Rob to stick his hand down through the gap in the ceiling, so the kids could see where he was. Rob waved to them and Elijah ran up and said, "It's okay, Dad! I know you're up with Jesus!"

Later Elijah wanted to know why it was taking Daddy so long. He said, "Why is Daddy still with Jesus?". I said, "I don't know. Maybe they had a lot to talk about." ... Afterwards I told Rob that next time he visits Jesus, he ought to invite me to come, too.

Walking on Water

I know I've said this before, but I am continually impressed with Elijah's faith. Here is another example:

We were reading a kids' version of some of the New Testament stories. We got to the page about Jesus walking on water and Elijah was very interested. We had talked about miracles a few days before and told the kids that miracles can happen where there is faith. So after I finished reading what the book said about Jesus walking on water, Elijah said, "Jesus could walk on water because he had enough hope, right?" "Yeah," I said. "Hope and faith." He thought for a minute and then said, "So, if I have enough hope and faith, I can walk on water?" ... I am not sure what the appropriate response to a question like that is. I hugged him tight. I'm not sure what I said. I wouldn't have told him no, so I probably told him yes. Because he CAN walk on water with enough faith. Only, there has to be something about the will of God in there and usually there's an element of need... But it's humbling, to me, that Elijah wants SO MUCH to be good so that our Heavenly Father can bless him.

Watching the Weather

The other day Elijah decided that he needed to check the weather to find out what he should wear. He turned on the TV by himself, changed it to the right channel, and then watched the weather for a good 15 minutes. The weather channel he picked is on a 2-minute repeat, so there was nothing new to learn after the first 2 minutes. ... I just thought it was hilarious and had to take a picture of it:
How cute is that?

We are grateful that Elijah is in our home. He is a sweet boy.

Teancom

At church the other day he said, "I have super powers! I kill these people!"

Teancom is all about super powers lately. For the last 3 weeks or so, he has been alternately the Red Transformer or the Red Power Ranger. He'll furrow his brow, get into his fighting stance and weave from side to side, like he's ready for an attack. It's hilarious.

I had to take this picture of Teancom.
The brown mark across his forehead is from the top of a mug filled with hot chocolate. He was mad at me while I was taking these pictures, but I got him to smile enough to get this shot (he was trying to make a face at me).

Teancom has continued his weird-names-for-toy-dogs tradition by naming his other favorite toy dog Tofa. Like sofa, but with a T. Yeah, I dunno, either. So his 2 dogs are named Twit and Tofa. ... I like to joke with him and call his dog Tofu instead. He doesn't think this is very funny.

Miciah

Miciah made this for Rob:
It's hard to tell the shape, but it's shaped like a head, and you can see the face. She made it last night instead of going to bed on time. Before she made Rob's, she made one for me that said she loved me and on the back it said, "A long friendship." Miciah makes wonderful things and it warms our hearts. She can be very thoughtful.

(Speaking of that, if Justin and/or Katie are reading this, Miciah made you a card last week and I haven't mailed it yet. So, sorry about that. I'll remember to mail it soon.)

Soccer for Ciah

Well, indoor soccer is over for Miciah. She played in 2 sessions and the amount of improvement from the very beginning to the very end, ... INCREDIBLE. She learned to be more aggressive and go to the ball. She stopped whimpering about being tired and/or getting hurt by other players (as in: "She kicked the ball and it hit my leg"). All the players improved a ton by the end, and it makes me wonder if this age isn't just an age where there's a huge jump in physical skills. ... Miciah's team tied for 1st. They got 1st for their first session as well. The coach was really nice and gentle with the girls, and we told him that if he's going to be coaching again next year to give us a call. We can definitely sign up for that again.

Moving Blues

One of the biggest pieces of news for our family, but particularly for Miciah, is that our neighbors moved. They have 4 kids, lived across the backyard, and the kids were over like 12 hours a day. Miciah's "best friend" was one of them: Kaitlyn, who is in kindergarten. ... They weren't sure the house they were buying would close, so they didn't tell us they were moving until they were gone, pretty much. Miciah found out on Saturday that they were moving on Saturday. Kinda rough. Plus, it was Elijah's birthday party, so we didn't have time to help them move OR mourn with Miciah over the whole thing.

They moved to Indiana and they have 7 acres of land and horses and stuff. Very cool for them. Just a bummer for Miciah and the boys. Miciah has a good friend that she sits with on the bus, though. Her name is Olivia, and we had her over last night. She is delightful. Very easy-going and friendly and nice and happy. Miciah and Olivia play brilliantly together. So hopefully the playdate helped to transition Miciah from constant playmates to only her brothers and arranged intermittent playdates. And hopefully Olivia can come play lots. Cause we like Olivia!

Life in General

And that's life. We are making progress on the kitchen, but not enough to warrant another picture. We are currently taking down the wall paper and as soon as possible we will be mudding and then painting. We have picked out the flooring. It's a light tile with a blue accent in the middle, and the blue will match the blue we'll put on the walls. I think it'll look nice when it's done. We're still unsure of how the cabinets are going to go, but whatever. Who needs cabinets?

Because it's Spring

I gave Teancom a haircut. 3/8 of an inch.

Teancom HATES getting his hair washed. And when I say hate, I mean hate. He always has. We average washing his hair only about every 2 weeks or so, because he hates it that much.

But now it's warmer outside, and so I cut it. I wish I had taken a picture of how long it had become, because it was adorable. His hair grows just like Rob's: bushy at the sides. Yes, yet ANOTHER way that he's just like his father. And because it's warmer, we made our first fire of the season and ate tin foil dinners on our back deck. We would be doing smores over that fire, too, if it weren't threatening to rain at any moment and making good on that threat intermittently. Instead we are making smores inside, over the indoor smore maker that C gave us. Thanks, C!

The kids being goofy with their paper plates:
Home Project

And for those of you just DYING to know what our kitchen looks like now that we've had almost 3 weeks to work on it since the wall came down, I've taken a completely updated picture:

You will notice that SO MANY THINGS are different. For instance, the time of day that I took the picture. I think the dishes that are dirty are a different set than before. Miciah is in the foreground off to the side. ...

Here's a different angle:
This picture, I think, gives a better sense of the space that we've created.

Rob's dad just suggested that he come down for a few days over his Spring Break (he's a school administrator) to help with the project, and I wanted to cry! That would be fantastic! ... Mostly, we took the wall out, I got sick, Rob got sick, and we stared at the wall for 2 weeks. Then, after we were healthy and ready to go again, we stared at the wall thinking, "This wasn't part of our original plan." It's amazing what the small details will do to a project. But now we have a plan and it's a good plan and I am happy, but it will take time, of course. Because that's what Home Projects need: time. More and more and more time.

And now that it's lovely weather outside, who wants to give an indoor project all that time? Not me! I'd rather be outside getting my first sunburn of the season, thank you very much.

And you wanna hear something completely unrelated but sad and I want to say it?

Our TV is dying. Let me tell you how much I want to buy a new TV. ... Yep. About that much. ... The black is turning green. And now it does a really cool rainbow effect every time you turn it on and off. Which is cool, I'll admit, but not a good omen when it comes to the longetivity of our TV. And that's sad. Our water heater and furnace are hanging in there, though (thank you to whomever has been praying for those appliances of ours!), which means we do have money to buy a new TV if we have to. I just don't want to; I might have already said that.

Susan, Where is Your Black Eye? (an update)

Home Project

For those of you wondering how the home project is coming along, you can refer yourself back to the picture I took last week. Cause it still looks exactly the same. We were hopeful to get more done on it this last week, and Saturday in particular, but life happened. As follows:

Strep Throat

I am Better! Starting Wednesday I was feeling quite a bit better, and by Thursday I was as much better as I could be without being 100% (so, if you're a math person, that would be like 99%. ). I debated soccer on Friday night, but I can't stay away from soccer unless I've got a really good reason, so I went and played well, which surpised me. I scored once, with a few assists. Played good defense and we won 6-5 after being down 5-2 at half! It was an exciting game. But it did wipe me out pretty good. Halfway through the game I was sitting on the bench (I never sit when I come out. Ever.) feeling my heart beat out of my chest, and thinking I might pass out at any time. And then I got subbed in and played another 12 minutes of soccer. Without falling over. :) Some people have an alcohol or drug addiction. I have a soccer addiction.

Rob stayed home from work on Thursday, feeling pretty crummy. Had pieces of the symptoms I had. Went to work on Friday since he was feeling better, and his co-worker sent him home at 2:00 because Rob was staring blankly at walls. On Saturday he was feeling much better, though, and by Sunday I could tell he was feeling a LOT better. Back to telling jokes and laughing. So whoever prayed that Rob wouldn't get deathly ill like I was, THANK YOU. Apparently it paid off.

Today the house will be all the way put back together. It's amazing that even though Rob was doing such a good job keeping the house running, there is still so much that doesn't get done when someone is sick. For us, it's been the dishes and laundry. Both have been a little out of control for about a week, and we take stabs at it, but it's like swimming upstream. Today, though, it should be possible to get it all done and have the house back to normal.

The First Pre-Spring Day

Rob said he could do stuff on the home project on Saturday, but we weren't altogether sure how he was REALLY feeling, so we held off. Plus, it was almost 75 degrees outside!! You can't do an indoor home project on the First Pre-Spring Day! We took the kids to the park and read books while we sat next to each other. Hurray for having kids old enough to play by themselves! We all went to Miciah's soccer game (she's in an indoor league). She's doing better every game, by the way. Figuring out that she can be aggressive. Though I still get frustrated when she's too wimpy for my tastes. I wanna say something like, "Be a man!" and then I remember, "Oh yeah. You're a 7-year-old girl." Anyways, we've been impressed with her progress.

Then, Rob did do a little with the home project. I should have taken pictures of the piles of trash bags and tile that were sitting on our back deck. I told Rob I'd help him move it all to the garage, but I didn't realize that each of those bags was easily 50 lbs. or more. So I went and borrowed R&C's wheelbarrow, and that was the most help I was. It took Rob probably almost an hour to move it all. So now I don't have to worry about the kids when they play outside. They've been really good so far, not touching all the nasty nails sticking out of beams, and such, but still, it's a hazard to have stuff like that out there. So now it's at least in the garage and we'll work slowly on getting it thrown away.

And I did something genius months ago, at the start of winter: I left my garden alone. I deliberately did nothing about the dying leaves, because I knew that on the First Pre-Spring Day I would be itching to play in my garden, but that I'd have nothing to do. So on Saturday I had a great time pulling off all the dead Lily of the Valley and Black-eyed Susan leaves. Enjoying the spring weather and applauding myself for being so genius.

We also walked around surveying the garden. The rose bushes with new growth just barely showing. The lilac bushes budding. The lamb's ear coming back. The spring bulbs we planted coming up. This is our first year having spring bulbs, and we're excited. Outside we have 2 itty bitty yellow flowers poking out of the ground. I don't even know what they are, but it's exciting! ... If you don't have a garden, or if you're not a garden person, then you'll just have to trust me that this is very cool.

We also listened to music all day, and in honor of the First Pre-Spring Day, I downloaded Garden Party by Ricky Nelson, that great oldies song, off iTunes.

Miciah

Yesterday Miciah was vacuuming the floor, and I had a moment where I thought, "She is so beautiful." I do this from time to time, and I'm not sure why it strikes me, but when it does, I'm floored by my gorgeous, capable, amazing daughter.

She did her hair herself, before church. It looked better AT church, of course, but this was hours later. She just looked so adult to me. So grown up. And I fell in love with my daughter again.

Elijah

Elijah is getting interested in learning, especially in learning church stuff. This is exciting for us because for so long we thought, "Hello, are you listening? Do you care?" and the answers to both of those, for him, was No and No. But now he's wanting to read scriptures and talk about church stories. He talks about the temple all the time, and says he wants to go there. It's a little far of a drive just so he can see the outside of the temple, but it's a good desire, so we'll arrange it soon.

The other night he wanted a temple bedtime story. So I told him a very very brief account of the early Saints building the temple in Nauvoo and then they had to leave it behind and move to Utah, but that they soon starting building another temple. I told him the temple was so special because Heavenly Father blesses us there with power and gifts. He said, "Mom, I want to go to the temple soon, cause I want that power." His simple faith floors me. He is a good boy.

Teancom

Not much to say about Teancom. He's still addicting and I still shamelessly rave about him. We recently introduced him to the idea that his name is Robert Teancom, not just Teancom. He opposed it. So I've been torturing him by saying, "Can I call you Robbie?" to which he'll respond, "NO! I TANK!" It's not Teancom. It's not Tank-um. It's Tank. Cracks me up.

The other day I was teasing him about his name and I said, "I'll call you Robbie," and he said, "NO! I Tank-um. Say it: Tank," and then he paused very deliberately, so I could get it right, "Um!" I giggled and said, "Tank-um." And he said, "Thank you."

This got a laugh out of the family. Teancom is always picking his nose (like most 2-year-olds I know). The other night he was sitting on my lap, all chill like normal, when he reached up his finger and casually put a dried-up booger in my mouth!! As I was gagging and spitting and grossing out, Rob and the kids were laughing their heads off. At my expense. But, it was funny, and worth the laugh. Ick.

Rob

Things still go well with Rob and his career. He's met with several local colleges now, and he has a feel for what they would expect. They all told him that he needs to get teaching experience, and he's putting his resume out there.

It's been nice for him to meet with people, one cause it's given him direction and hope for an end in sight. But also, it's given him a realistic timeline for his post-doc. I think he's been thinking that he'd do a year and out (a year is over in August this year), but in terms of hiring and things like that, he isn't hire-able for another year or so. So he's back to looking at the original timeline of 2 - 3 years at his post-doc. And that's the way of things, I guess.

Rob is back to his old self: laughing and joking easily and teasing me all he can. It's Heaven.

Tamra

Over my brother's objections (I hardly EVER do things over his objections, so I must be getting braver), I have started another blog. The idea is to make this one the family blog, posting my updates and pictures and things related to family stuff. And the other blog is for all my other random comments and writings. It's an attempt to make this blog seem coherent, and to spare everyone my randomness, if you want to be spared. The other blog is: http://www.randomtamra.blogspot.com/

So far there's not much posted. And I won't be sending out e-mails for that blog like I do for this one. If you want to check it out, you can. If not, I won't be offended. It really is going to be the most random blog ever, but I'm looking forward to having fun with it.

And that's life. Life for us is so good right now. If I could make life stand still, I would. My boys wouldn't get any older. They'd always be running around the house killing bad guys. Things would be calm and everything would be handle-able. If only, eh?

Once There Was a Wall...

On Saturday the wall came down. We let Elijah and Teancom take it down while Rob and I, his mom and dad, all sat down on the couch and watched a movie.

They worked so fast we could hardly capture it on film!

They had the whole thing down in half an hour, and then Rob and his dad cleaned up, and we were good to go!

Just kidding.

The boys had a great time knocking holes in the wall to start us off, though. Teancom cried until Vaughn gave him the Big Hammer, which I thought was funny. Elijah thought it was AWESOME to put a hole in the wall and once he got going, he made a pretty substantial hole. Course, he also almost bashed his brother in the head with the hammer. Fun times with kids and construction! (Miciah put a hole in the wall the night before. She was at a sleepover in the morning.)

I had been wanting to help with the construction fun, but of course I was still super sick. I spent the day in bed while Rob's mom watched the kids (thank you SO MUCH!) and Rob and his dad took the wall down. It took from 9:30-ish until 2:15-ish to just get the wall down. Then Rob had to crawl in the attic for a few hours to secure the ceiling because not only was it not a weight-bearing wall, nothing was bearing IT up! Plus, he had to secure some electrical wires, etc. By the time he came down he had a huge headache, go figure.

This is the wall, down but still in progress. I meant to take lots of during shots, but like I said, I was in bed. It was funny, though, to say, "I'm going to go lay down, so if you could try to keep it down a little,..."

Rob and his dad, working hard:

Oh, wait. That was the explanation for the NEXT photo:

Rob's dad loves home projects and was like a kid in the candy store. We're already taking bets on how many weekends he'll be down to help. Cause although the wall is out, and the ceiling and floor are acceptable, it's not anywhere NEAR done.

For instance, I keep looking into my kitchen and thinking, "I don't really like it. Why don't I like it? Oh yeah! It's NOT a kitchen right now. It's a countertop." The kitchen looks so naked without those cabinets in. But without the wall in, the whole thing is open and brighter, and I like it. This is what it's like right now:

It's nice to be in the kitchen and talk to Rob who is sitting at the dining room table. And all the light it brings into the kitchen. And, and, and. ... It's also nice to imagine what it'll look like when it's all finished, 6 months from now. Cause that'll be REALLY nice! I mentally put all the elements in place, and, yeah, it'll be nice.