Finally...

Another post! So am I doing good if I post once a month??? No, I suppose that is not keeping the blog "caught up" at all.

I am amazed at how busy life can be with three children, especially when you are a homeschooling family! I really thought things would slow down once we made it through the big holidays, but apparently I was wrong. Between gymnastics, ballet, art classes, cub scouts and baseball, there is never a dull moment.

I am going to try to sum up some of the major events in this one post, so be prepared for a long one! I wish I'd learn that if I post regularly, I wouldn't have to spend so much time scripting one gigantic "catch-up" post! ;)

The New Playset

When we sold our old house and the buyers wanted to keep our playset, we promised the kids that if our new house didn't already have a playset, we'd build one for them. Right away. Well, "right away" didn't happen, but within about 6 or 7 months we did finally purchase one and Bill and my dad got the main playhouse section built. The beam for the swings still has to be added, but that will come in time. We're making the beam longer so the swings won't be so close together, and that means drilling our own holes and staining the wood to match. If not for that, it'd already be completed!

The Pinewood Derby

We got to experience our first cub scout derby race at the end of January. Each of the boys made their own cars, with just a little help from Daddy. They chose their own body styles and paint colors and had a great time building and painting their cool derby cars. On race day, Alex came in first place within his Tiger Den. And Nathan's car, though it didn't place, did fantastic in the general race. Both boys were so proud of their cars, and Bill and I were so proud of them! The first two pictures are of Alex's car racing; his is the green car with the blue stripe. The last picture shows Nathan's car, which is the yellow car with the blue stripe.

Kitchen Makeover

There are many remodeling projects that need to be tackled in our new home, but one of the smaller tasks I was anxious to complete was the redo of the kitchen walls. The wallpaper, though in decent condition, just didn't provide enough color in the kitchen. Light beige tiles, white counters, white cabinets and light beige walls was feeling pretty drab. And there were so many holes in the wallpaper where things had been hung or tacked on in past years. It was time for a change. So with some help from my wonderful mom, I removed all of the wallpaper from the walls. Then I had to use quite a bit of joint compound to repair where the drywall had been damaged. That had to be sanded, which was such a mess! And finally, Bill textured and primed the walls and I painted them a lovely shade of green. What an amazing update it provided the kitchen. It's gorgeous! Somewhere I feel certain I have some better pictures, but the following, showing the "in progress" stage and the final product, will have to do for now.

First Scouts Camping Trip

Bill, Alex and Nathan got to go camping with the scouts about a month ago. They had such a great time! They love to go camping, anyway, but it's even more fun with a whole bunch of boys around their age! Amy and I stayed home and had lots of girl time. I worked on a "minkee pet" and Amy and I went to a quilt shop to buy the final fabric for a quilt (see below). We also played bowling together on the Wii and enjoyed some quiet time just the two of us. We did join up with a great friend and her two youngest boys for a drive up to the campgrounds to attend the scouts Blue and Gold Banquet - we didn't want to miss that! The pictures below capture all the fun everyone had on their first scout camping experience!

Minkee Pet and Baby Quilt

For all of my curious quilting friends out there, I did finally finish the baby quilt you saw me piecing together. No doubt it was soft and sweet, but it might be awhile before I quilt with minkee again! It's lovely, but not easy to quilt with! Aside from some skewed blocks here in there, I think it turned out well.

The Zoo and a Special Anniversary

Bill took last Thursday and Friday off (as well as this Monday and Tuesday :) ) in celebration of our 10 year anniversary (which should have been a separate post all together - sorry, Sweetie!). We took the kids to the zoo that Thursday, which was super crowded. Piece of Advice: Never take the kids to the zoo during Spring Break! But we still enjoyed being out together... And we probably needed the exercise from what felt like a 5 mile walk to the parking garage! That Friday we took the kids to my brother and sister-in-law's where they got to spend a fun and exciting weekend with their cousins while Bill and I had some time to ourselves. We went out to eat on our anniversary, which was another Spring Break crowded experience. But it was nice just the same. We ate breakfast out the following morning and then ran errands... Yes, errands. It is so wonderful to run errands without children. I love spending time with my kids, but I don't like to take them with me shopping! Below are some pictures we took at the zoo:

One of our errands involved buying paint for the boys rooms. We didn't tell them our plans to paint their rooms while they were gone, but we did question them on what colors they'd like their rooms to be. So that was how we spent the majority of our time together without kids. We painted. It was fun, though, and I love how their rooms turned out. I don't have pictures of them yet (our camera cards are full!!!), but I'll take pictures as soon as I can and post them. I'm not sure I ever posted pictures of Amy's room either, so I'll post that, too.

I will continue to try and post more frequently... or at least stop giving endless excuses as to why I'm not keeping it up! :) I know there are those who read my blog to stay current on what is going on in our family's life, so it is important that I post regularly. But it's also important because when doing these lengthy updates, I can't elaborate as much as I'd like to about each individual event. And when something as special as our 10th wedding anniversary just gets mentioned like an after thought in the course of the long entry... Well, obviously I must do better!!!