To catch you up...

Well, we've had a busy week thus far! I am generally pretty organized, but this week has brought me to my planner frequently to stay on top of all that is buzzing.

Noodle is spending this week at our local camp. I have no doubt he is having great fun. Because the camp is right here in town I have been tempted more than once to "drive by" and just see if I can catch a glimpse of him, but have resisted thus far. This is his third week at summer camp... He went two years ago to the camp I grew up going to and then last year spent a week at his current digs. This year brings a trip to BOTH as next week he and Doodle will spend a week together at LLBC. I am thrilled for them as camp brought about spiritual bounds in my life. I pray God will use it in a big way in my children's' lives as well.

Doodle and I woke early with aspirations of strawberry picking, only to find a well-timed e-mail from a good friend letting us know the patch was closed for ripening. All is well. We may try for tomorrow, but the Lord knows my plate for today is brimming and aside from Doodle's initial disappointment (that lasted .2 seconds until he launched himself in bed with Daddy to cuddle), I am grateful for the extra hours to prepare for this busy day and the next. Dood and I are headed to a small waterpark today with good friends, and then Jake and I are headed to "The King and I"( in which a dear friend has the role of Anna) tonight. The production is being held at a charming little theater that is in an old barn- one of our favorite places to see a show. It's bound to be a good one!

Bella has been thoroughly enjoying Summer School the past two weeks. She loves her teacher and has new little friends. The other day she dramatically pronounced that the last day of class she was going to come home and "just cry and cry." Ahh, the gift of emotion in even young girls. Lord, help me! :)

Our addition (the itty-bitty moving one) is growing quickly! We are at 23 weeks now and if I get the courage I'll update you with a belly photo (please use caution and sunglasses when viewing- It's a glaring white monstrosity!). Babycenter tells me the wee one is around 11 inches and just over a pound! I have been trying to stay as active as possible, but I feel like the weight is compounding daily despite my efforts. I worry not about the baby's healthy birth weight. Any guesses? :)

Our bedroom addition is going well, too. I haven't shared photos the past couple days as the work is more subtle. Jake is finishing the internal framing and prepping for drywall. We are expecting (and hoping for) both the electrician and heating/cooling man today, so if all goes well we could have a final inspection tomorrow or Monday and then insulation and drywall will begin! It's fun to walk through it and has been fun to pick tile, flooring, doors, lights, etc. throughout the past week.

There... I think you are updated on our kids and lives. We love you all and look forward to being with extended family- on both sides- soon!

Memories...

We had a great time together in a mini vacation to Six Flags.

Our Goon-children hamming it up:

Said children devouring a hot fudge funnelcake sundae in .2 seconds:

Mmmm. Warms a mommy's heart:

Ya think they got MY chompers or what!? Geesh. Daddy's appetite, Mommy's teeth.

Life is Good!

"Did you like the waterslide, Bella?"

It's coming!

While we had our mini-get-away a friend came to shingle for us! Here is a view from the back with the bump-out walls up (the transom window is framed in) and shingles on!

And here are the interior walls, which are also framed in! Jake is standing in the shower... on the other side of the wall to the left of him (as we see it in the picture) will be the toilet and across from him will be the sink. I'll try to get better photos of this all!

Promised photos

Sometimes this whole internet/digital camera stuff still amazes me. I was outside two minutes ago, took these photos, and now I will have them online to be viewed around the globe in moments. Can you imagine sitting down with even a brilliant man of our past, say, Benjamin Franklin, and explaining that whole process to him?

Here are the photos!

Photos from Sunday

Well, I'm a bit behind on posting the progress, but this is what things looked like on Sunday afternoon. If it weren't 10:30pm I would be out there with photos from today, because man does it look different now!

Dawson and I took off for a couple hours Sunday with Daddy's truck and a baggie of change. Now what little boy raids their piggy bank to buy leeches? Mine. That's who. We got a dozen leeches and headed to the local dam to fish for a couple hours. Here are my favorite shots of the day. Eat your heart out... I could gobble him (and his cute little fingers) right up!

I'll post new photos tomorrow. I assure you there is a big difference! :)

Weekend update

You know you live in a small town when your lumberyard delivery comes tooling down the road on a fork lift!

Two walls up! (This is taken from the back of the addition... the wall to the left with one window is the east wall (our bedroom) and the wall in the center with two windows will face the street.)

All walls are up! You can see the bump-out in the back where our bed will sit(walls will be built when the roof trusses are up), as well as the door to the backyard (Deck/hot tub of the distant future!)

Roof trusses are up! I will go out and take photos to post later today!

Tearing down the walls

See? I told you it wasn't pretty! :)

We had final measurements done for the roof trusses on Tuesday. Jake mentioned he would like to work towards putting trusses up this weekend. The lumber-yard guy said, "Oh. Well, the truss plant is only a block away but they usually want two-weeks to fill an order. They have been known to do favors, though, so I'll see what I can do."

The trusses came an hour ago. :)
God is so good

My dad is up "visiting-" with Jake at least- as they rip the side of the house off. I will share photos... Just as soon as I find the camera under all this dust! I think that old houses get their smell from the nasty blown in dust(insulation) that is in the walls. Our house smells like a grandma house or an antique shop, or a dusty ol' attic right now. Mmm... You're jealous, aren't ya? :)

I am content feeding the masses with a fridge that has never been fuller. I invited friends over to play, and ya know... It's been such a blessing to me. They are playing outside on bikes, doing treasure hunts and all around just doing exactly what kids should do on summer vacation. It's a beautiful breezy, sunny day and God is good.

Have a great day... I'll share photos of our de-construction soon!

Our weekend in pictures

I was called off of work last night and we scooped up the opportunity for a family night. We started a campfire early enough to have hot dogs and s'mores for supper (nutritional information unavailable). We then had the kids all take baths as I ran out for a "surprise" and did a family movie night. Here are the boys thoroughly enjoying their dogs at the campfire:

(Yes, Noodle's hair is VERY shaggy. I am making an appointment with my hairdresser this week to have him "shaped up.")

And after a dry early spring, God has been blessing us with more rain than a builder cares for! Jake did finish the sheeting and got a majority of the floor trusses in place this weekend. He also started to put the floor sheeting on. The next step (unfortunately) is to cut into the house to finish the trusses.
The dust factor is on the rise, people!

And this last photo shows just how big and responsible our eldest is getting. He mowed the lawn for the first time yesterday and did a bang-up job! (We thought we'd break him in this year while half of the yard is dirt... His job will double next year!) For those of you alarmed at his lack of footwear- easy, easy. The mower is not on in this photo! I had him pull it out of the shed for a photo after his protective shoes and yes, even safety glasses were put away!

I will have one more photo of joy for you as soon as Doodle and Jaker return with their on-loan summer toy!