Footings

Building a house means that I am learning LOTS of new things.  I had absolutely NO IDEA all of the things that went into it.  I thought that once the basement had been dug out they would just start setting the foam blocks in.

Boy was I wrong!  First they had to stake it all out again inside the hole and then trench part of it out, to make room for the basement footings.

What are basement footings?  Basically, it is like a ledge or a shelf that the blocks will sit on.  Three trucks came out on Monday morning and poured the footings.  I sent the camera with Jeremy since I had to go back to work.  He did a great job capturing this stage of the process.

NOW, the blocks can go in!  It might start looking like a real house...

The Man's Work Is Never Done

It's amazing; he has watched me do this enough times that he knows right where everything goes and if he can't reach it, he just puts it on the counter in front of the cabinet. SO CUTE!!

Of course, this is what my silverware drawer looks like when he is done!

Personalization

THE SCHOOL SUPPLIES ARE OUT!!

I know, I am 30 years old and that is not supposed to be a big deal to me.  BUT, that is when all the cute notebooks, binders, folders, etc are on the shelves.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I might have a small addiction to ADORABLE paper products!  I picked up a couple of cute notebooks the other day at Wal-mart.  They were cute enough on their own.

However, I knew that I could make them even MORE wonderful!  First of all, I took the larger one and drew grids on every 10th page to create a calendar.

It's not perfect, but it is going to be functional.  After trying planner upon planner, I finally realized EXACTLY what I need was basically a notebook with a calendar.  I am not a daily planner, but I like to see my month-at-a-glance.  I looked and looked for something cute out there, but nothing fit the bill.  I figured for $2.97 I could make this work!

I debated about making something up on the computer and  printing it out and gluing it to the paper, but I decided that perfection was not goal here, function was.  So, I sat down with my handy jar of colored Sharpies and a ruler and went to town making my calendars.  I also know that being a list maker, I wanted plenty of room to make lists and to plan events.  I have just that in my new planner.  I also added tabs to locate the months....'cause I am OCD like that!

Then as I sat looking at the polka dot cover I had a brilliant realization that my Silhouette machine could make an incredibly cute monogram for the front.  You know, just in case some other crazy woman had hacked a Wal-mart notebook into a planner JUST LIKE MINE, I would be able to distinguish mine!

Come on, this is CUTE!

I also have the smaller version of this notebook that I plan to take with me to school and use there.  Cambree Jane got a smaller one as well.  We added a couple of monograms to our notebooks and we are two ECSTATIC ladies!

So, don't settle for "off the shelf" when you can personalize it!

I am now thinking that these would make cute gifts {the notebook with the monogram...not all the crazy junk inside}!  What do you think?  Would you like getting a personalized notebook?

Quiet Time

Do you moms and dads {ha! like there are any of those reading this} ever have moments when you stop dead in your tracks and realize that it has been WAY TOO QUIET for WAY TOO LONG?

I hate it when that happens!  Especially when this is the result...

Yes, that is every SINGLE roll of toilet paper that was stored under the sink now on the bathroom floor.

Oh, but that isn't the best part.

EVERY.SINGLE. ROLL had been first put into the toilet and THEN thrown onto the floor!

AWESOME!

Go back up to that first picture....notice the little pieces of toilet paper that have been torn off the roll and are laying on the floor?  That is what DIDN'T make it into the toilet from the roll that was on the paper holder.  The rest of the paper....You guessed it, IN the toilet!

ARGH!  Will I never learn to tune into the silence a little sooner?

{Sidenote: I have to add to this story; once I saw what was happening in the bathroom I said the name of the little person responsible and then I walked away and I heard another little person say, "I bet she's going to get her camera!"  LOVE IT!}

When Life Gives You Lemons...

...make the "SOUR" face!!

I know it's a little fuzzy, but I just couldn't delete it!

It makes me smile every time I see it!

Why was she eating a lemon?  The big kids swear that they like them.  Actually, Preston does.  I think Cambree just eats them because he does!

I have been drinking A LOT of iced tea this summer and I started getting some lemons and cutting them into slices and keeping them in a small mason jar in the fridge so they could be added to my tea.  I don't know what it is about this little jar...

but it makes adding lemon so much more fun!

I was adding another lemon to the jar, when out of the woodwork the kids appeared begging me to let them have a piece.  So I cut one in half and grabbed the camera!

It was worth it to capture that face!

Big 'Ol Hole

The day finally arrived!

I have been waiting MONTHS for our house to finally start and the first step was digging the basement.  We found out on Wednesday that they would be there early the next morning to start the digging.

I decided it would be fun to have something special for breakfast.  I mixed together some cinnamon rolls the night before so that all I would have to do on Thursday morning was bake them and then head out to the homestead.  Well, my grand plan didn't work quite the way I had hoped and I have to get creative in order for the rolls to rise!  Let's just say that I WILL NOT be using that "internet" tip any more!!

When we got out to the ranch the excavator was still on the trailer; it was very exciting & NOISY to watch it come down.  At one point, it even looked like it might just tip right over!

That excavator can MOVE though, we barely had time to snap the family photo below before he started digging.  In fact, Randy {the excavator operator} had to stop and wait for Rodney to get out of the way!!

Okay, maybe not our BEST family photo...but at least we got one!  {Just for the record I had a really great, cute idea in my head of what I thought would have been the perfect family photo, but it got shot down by the rest of the family...I got this one instead.}

We scampered out of the way and just moments later the first GIANT scoop of dirt was being moved!

As soon as the dirt starting flying, we ate our breakfast out of the back of the suburban and watched some more.

Westynn was looking UNDER the barb wire fence to see what was happening.  CRACKED me up!

It wasn't long before the kids were ready to head out "exploring."  Jeremy was happy to oblige them while I stayed back at the suburban to take more pictures and just soak in the experience.

Jeremy's dad, Rodney, came out to watch too. Or maybe it was to supervise, I am still unsure!!

There was a lot of in and out of the hole for Kelsey and his measuring stick. 

Jeremy even managed to pick up a shovel and do a little digging of his own!  HA!

It didn't take long for our little handyman to want in on the action.  He tried and tried to dig up this post, but the ground is just too dry and while he has some guns, it just wasn't enough!!

After about an hour and a half, it was getting pretty repetitive and less exciting so we decided to call it a day and head home to our a/c!  But before we left I wanted a pic of the kids sitting on one of the GIANT dirt piles.  Once again, lack of cooperation resulted in this picture.  I am officially throwing in the towel where family/sibling photos are concerned!

Here's the best shot I could get of the entire basement.  Since it is an odd shape it was hard to get a shot of the whole thing.  I climbed to the top of the dirt pile and tried, but it still wasn't high enough!  There is more of the basement off to the left.  It's like a big rectangle and a big square connected together.  Hard to explain in words...so I will quite trying now.

I have thought about what I would type in this post for several days and now that I am finally sitting down to write it, I have NO idea what to say.  There were a lot of emotions that day.  Excitement.  Nervousness.  Surreal.  Frightened.  Joyful.  Thankful.   I wanted to be able to express on my blog all the things that went through my mind.  But, here I am typing away and I've got nothing!

Maybe it's just the mood I'm in...the words aren't coming to me.  Hopefully all of my house posts don't end up being this boring!!

9 ft under

I am going to leave you with this for now.  I have MANY pictures to finish editing and then I will be back with the whole story!!

Recipe Binder

One of the things that has been on my "To-Do" list for quite some time is to get a cover and some divider pages made for my little recipe binder.  With my LOVE of the internet and Pinterest, I am gathering quite a collection of DELICIOUS eats and a growing "to try" file!  The only problem was that all those recipes were getting OUT of CONTROL!

Before school was out I spent about an hour one Saturday going through it all:
sorting it into categories
throwing away the things that just weren't going to happen
reprinting the recipes that had food on them
putting them all into page protectors {ah....one of my first true loves I think}

Then I just put it back in the cabinet with the thought that one day when it was peaceful and quiet I would sit down with my computer and make some adorable little dividers and a fancy schmancy cover.

Enter Summer Break 2011!  I need things to do to occupy my days and to keep from driving everyone around me NUTS while I wait and wait and wait for the house to actually start.  What better time to get crackin' on this Recipe Binder "to do"!

Here's my cover:

 I used the digital scrapbooking kit "Mom's Kitchen" by Crisdam Designs.  You can get it here.

I printed it out and put it in the front of my binder...here it is in my binder.

It sure makes me smile to pull this organized recipe binder out of the cabinet now.  Actually, it probably spends more time out being used than put away!

I also made some dividers.  Here they are:

and in a page protector in my binder

And then, because I just couldn't stop myself, I went ahead and re-typed some of my favorite recipes that were just TOO tiny for me to read {I am getting old ya know!}.  Plus, these recipes are much more FUN to use now.  Here's one:

I was even a good girl and gave credit where credit was due on all of my "new" recipe pages!

So, there is one project marked "DONE" off the ol' "To Do" List!

And, I  must say, It Feels Pretty Darn Good!

Guess What We Just Did

Here's a few clues:
1. It was HOT out.

2.  Involved stakes, string, a measuring tape.

3.  Took A LOT longer than I anticipated.

4. Is making me have feelings that I cannot describe...mixed emotions maybe?

5.  Jeremy was there too.

6.  When we were finished, we pulled up all those stakes and wrapped all that string back up.

So, any guesses?

Question of the Day?

Telling the kids they can't go to the pool if they don't start behaving.

Who is really being punished in this situation?  Mom or kids?

Right now I am leaning toward MOM!!

Thoughts on Dating

The last Saturday in June we took the "big" kids to see Kung Fu Panda 2.

Cute movie...Can't wait for it to come out on DVD!  Definitely getting it.  LOVED IT!

On to the dating discussion.

The kids had to take baths before we went and I let Preston chose his own clothes to wear {I am trying to teach him more responsibility} and he picked an OU t-shirt, tucked into some hand-me-down jeans that he LOVES, belt, Broken Arrow ball cap and boots.  He looked MIGHTY handsome.

As usual, we had to wait on Jeremy to make it to the car.  We parked out front and sat in the A/C while Jeremy combed and primped one final time before joining us.  While we were waiting, Preston and I had the following conversation...one I want to ALWAYS remember!!

P: Mom, when I get old enough to go on a date this is what I am going to wear.
Mom: Well you look pretty nice.  I might consider not wearing the ball cap though.
P: Why not?  What's wrong with wearing a hat?
Mom: There is nothing wrong with it, but it's more respectful of the young lady you are on the date with if you don't wear a hat.
P: Oh.
Mom: So, where are you going to go on this date of yours?
P: Probably a movie.




P: Or Wal-mart. Girls like Wal-mart.

I laughed out loud.

P: What?  Girls do like Wal-mart.
Mom: You're right, we do!

LOVE this boy.  So irresponsible at times that I want to SCREAM, yet so smart!!

Food, Food, Fun and Freedom

There is NO better way to celebrate the 4th of July than with a family picnic, playin' in the sprinkler, some burgers hot off the grill and a good "dismount" from the tube at the lake!

We did all of that this holiday weekend!
Sunday we headed over to Jeremy's Grandma's house in Sublette to have a picnic with his Aunts and Uncles.  The kids were a little worried about not having anyone to play with since they were the only kids there, so we took their swimsuits and a couple of fun sprinkler toys and they had a BLAST!

This girl had some HILARIOUS faces with her goggles! Kept us adults laughing the whole time.

Preston refused to take his flip flops off and run in the grass...is that a sign that we haven't watered our yard enough when the kids think everyone's grass is "pokey"???

Westynn was already tired and getting grumpy at this point, but Grandma Janis is a softy and she ran through the sprinkler with him so he could cool off!  I warned her that the evidence might show up on the blog!!

 You wouldn't be able to tell from this next picture that he was OBVIOUSLY missing his nap time!  The smiles didn't last all afternoon though.  As soon as we got in the car to head home he CRASHED!

Preston wanted to take a picture of me running through the sprinkler...and since i am all about encouraging my kiddos to love photography and making memories I obliged.  PLUS, it was hot out and the sprinkler was beckoning me to run through it!  I was secretly hoping his first attempt wouldn't work out and I could do it again, LOL!


 On Monday, Jeremy built fence in the morning while it was nice and cool and the kids and I just hung out at the house...like any other summer day!  But, once he got home we grilled some more burgers, chowed down and headed out to the lake for a little cooling off.

I LOVE watching the kids ride the tube.  The last time we were it was a little windier and the water kept spraying us all in the face, so we {the kids} decided they needed goggles for the next time.  SO FUNNY!

Jeremy, Westynn and I even got in on the action.  Westynn loves the tube as much as the older two, and I think he would go just as fast as them if we would let him.  HOWEVER, for safety's sake, we keep it pretty slow and I have to admit that it is more RELAXING than it is FUN.  Good times for sure!

Welp, that's how we spent our weekend! 

Here's to America the Beautiful....HOME of the FREE and LAND of the BRAVE!