Woo Hoo

The boys on the Scrambler, Avi on the Swings, Grandma, Hannah, & Audrey on Dee's porch (taken w/zoom lens), & Avi with Hannah and Audrey on the big slide.

 

 

 

 

My Galloping Girl

Avi's FAVORITE ride. You can see why this also looks a bit scary to the parent looking on...

 

 

 

 

Are you getting sick of carnival pics yet?

Jonah, Azriel, and Cyril on the deathtrap. Dee and her youngest, Elijah.

 

 

 

 

Rides

Az and cousin Cyril on the swings. Brother Shane and Cyprian. Avi and Grandpa Ron on the deathtrap of a Ferris Wheel! I mean, they were literally OILING it between rides and welding support beams and stuff. YIKES. My sister, Dee's house right next door the carnival. It started at the edge of her property. So cool. You could sit on her porch and see the whole thing. It was a great vantage point and perfect for me as I took a break when Liberty was napping on Dee's couch at one point. I sat out and munched on some food and got to see my kids and the neices and nephews riding rides.

 

 

 

 

Vintage Carnival and SLIDE!

All the carnival rides were vintage. A bit of a pucker factor for me, as I watched my kids on rides that looked like they could break at any moment. The scariest was the Ferris Wheel. I could hardly bare to watch them on that one. Figured one of them would plunge to their death. However, they all had fun and survived! The swings were cool...rusty, but the kids didn't care. It was a favorite. Avi LOVED the big slide. Grandpa Ron took her on all the rides. He was her carnival buddy!

 

 

 

 

Cowboy Hats and Cuteness

Liberty and her cousin, Elijah.

 

 

 

4th Of July.

Heading down to the carnival with Elijah and Liberty in the Radio Flyer wagon! I'm so glad I have that thing. Aren't they too cute in their cowboy hats?!

 

 

 

 

More 4th of July in Grangeville, ID

 

 

 

 

Cardboard Castles

 

 

 

 

Liberty and Condi. Buddies.

 

 

 

 

No Apologies. Just gonna pick up and go!

The last month has been especially eventful. I'll try to re-cap it as much as possible. We had a flood in our basement (due to outdoor hose fitting). I do mean a FLOOD too. It was completely wet to where you were sloshing deeply on the carpeted areas. Mark came home from work that day and spent the entire day pulling up carpet, pad, and taking the walls down. We found MOLD behind the drywall on the cement so it was obvious that there'd been some seepage problems all along and for a long time. We did make an insurance claim and after many inspections and experts they gave us enough for new carpet and pad and the dumpster we rented. Better than nothing. So, thus began our basement remodel project, among OTHER things. Other things would include finding out that our AC didn't work or was insufficient for our house. It actually DID, technincally, work so the joke of a home insurance program we bought into didn't pay a red cent. We ended up getting a whole new heat pump and ductwork and now things are wonderful. The HVAC guys actually JUST finished up yesterday. Now that they are done we can slowly begin to rebuild our basement. Going back a little, it was SO hot in our house with no AC and over 100 outside that, in total, we spent 5 nights at a hotel. It was literally THAT unbearable at our house. I had to find a temporary home for our guinea pig so he wouldn't die. All my indoor, aquarium fish died except the plecostomus (hardy things, I gather!). Fortunately the dog and cat are good at handling extreme weather because they're both alive still. :-) A good thing, as we'd miss them terribly if they dropped dead. Especially Condi. She's such a good dog and makes me feel so safe. Mark was able to get his friend from Renton, JEFF, to come over and help out for a few days. What a blessing Jeff was/is. He redid all our plumbing and most of our electrical. SO, we have all new plumbing. It's the new kind, flexible plastic. The name escapes me at the moment. We do need to hire a plumber to put in a couple drains though and tie them to the main. That will cost a lot and may not happen for a while. I went to the 4th of July shindig in Grangevill, ID at my sister's house. Most of the family was there and we had BIG fun. The kids went home with Grandma and Grandpa and the baby and I came back to our hot house. After a few days I drove to Seattle to spend a few nights and then bring the kids home. The HVAC guys were supposed to be done by the time I returned but I came home July 12th and they weren't officially done until July 22nd (yesterday). Let's see, the timeline is all messed up here but I'm trying to remember what all happened. Order is not even on my mind right now. OH, we hired cement cutters to cut two HUGE holes in our wall for new, LARGE, egress windows. The basement is going to be so light and lovely when it's all done. They also cut the floor in our new bathroom/laundry room (11X11!!!) so that we don't have to do that later when we get the drains put in. We hired the MOST excellent young man from our church to dig the other egress well for us and to help Mark with all the heavy lifting/demo stuff. He was such a blessing and had the highest of work ethics. Great kid! Anyhow, the basement is down to total concrete. Mark has framed in Azriel's new room, which will be the first thing we finish down there so we can move him into it. We plan to have the large bathroom/laundry, another room possibly and a little office nook for Mark. There will be a large open area with built in's and that will be my craft area as well. It will be a long time before it's all done but it's looking hopeful and will be WONDERFUL when it's finished. I think I'll end my long, run-on and on and on paragraph and start a new one.

I know I've forgotten lots of the details but at least you have a general idea of what our last month has involved. Oh, we also pulled up the carpet in the dining area so that has to be finished as well. Lots to do. If you looked at our driveway and back patio you'd see a hundred boxes. Everything that used to be in the basement is just sitting out in boxes. Now that the HVAC guys are done we'll be moving the Christmas stuff back downstairs. The rest is stuff I'm going through. Planning a HUGE garage sale in a couple weeks. I have LOTS to sell. Hope we make plenty of cash so we can buy something for the basement. Many choices there! Maybe a new tub/shower combo!

I have a lot of pictures I want to share and will be adding those as I have time. Right now my time has run out since the baby needs me and I can no longer ignore the kids. Some trouble must be brewing since it's really really quiet right now. Talk to you all later!!!

A quick "goings on" post

First off, my apologies to all who check this that I haven't updated more regularly!

With the nicer weather that Spring and Summer have brought we've been out and about a lot more than normal lately. For some reason we've also been more tired at night than usual, which is usually when I find time to post here. Right now it's 3PM and the kids are all otherwise engaged so it is safe to post a little somethin' somethin'!

I forgot to mention earlier that we not only have a new member by the name of JACK (our wee kitten) but a couple months prior we also "adopted" a guinea pig into our family. He's one of those rough coated ones so he's extra cute. The kids named him Thunder. He lives in their room and has been doing very well. I think that I like him more than the kids do but that's OK. I'll have to post some photos of young Thunder soon. I'm SURE you're just dying to see him! :-)

Jack is doing well although we've thought we'd lost him on a couple of occasions. Both times we ended up finding him in the green craft cupboard. The first time I locked him in, no knowing he was in there snoozing. Yesterday's incident involved a little blonde girl of 4 and a half years who purposely locked him in there and then "forgot" about him. Seems our combing the neighborhood didn't jog her memory. We were not happy and neither was Jack when we found him. I think that will not be happening again.

Liberty is walking around quite well now and is becoming quick as lightning (although THUNDER might give her a run for the money! ha ha).

My monitor is on the blink, literally. Light source is going out and I'm lucky when I get a lit screen for a minute so I get in as much typing as I can. We found a cheap new one so we ordered it. Should arrive by next Wednesday which will be such a blessing after a week of this nearly dead monitor!

Azriel and Avigail are doing well. We went over to our friends this morning for a Bible study on one of the 10 Commandments. Appropriately today's was HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER... YES, VERY appropriate. With Father's Day in a couple days we did a craft of Father's Day cards. There was plenty of feathers, glitter, sequins, googly eyes, and glue in the air and on the floor. A lovely, messy craft and all the kids had big fun. I'm sure Papa will appreciate creative works of art the kids accomplished for him!

Speaking of Father's Day, we don't have anything officially planned as yet. Mark wants to just hang out at home working on projects. Maybe I'll take out some of our Thundering Hooves Rib Steaks and cook a special dinner of Steak and Corn on the Cob with a fresh salad consisting of greens from the CSA we belong to. I have so many greens right now it's just crazy. Enough for 2 salads a day practically! We might go on another little local hike. Last time I forgot my camera so I'm waiting on pics from my friend then I'll post them. It was a lot of fun and only a few minutes drive to get there. What a bonus considering the CRAZY price of gas.

All in all we're doing VERY well here. Happy, Healthy, and working on WISE (always). I've started a new hobby: culturing and fermenting. Ha ha. I have a few experiments on my counter and I've been enjoying the end results. Been making my own Kefir from raw milk for some time now and drink that daily in my green smoothie. I just started making Kombucha Tea and am on my third batch/brew. It is surprisingly WONDERFUL to drink. NOt only the health benefits it provides, but the taste is really quite good. I ENJOY it. I think I might be able to get Mark to drink some if he can get over the slime...which I strain out and which is actually just dead yeast cell strands, full of B vitamins. I think he thinks I'm pretty funny with all my "experiments" gracing our pantry and kitchen countertop. There are lots of other things I'd like to try as well but I'm sticking to these two for today. :-)

Well, I suppose I should sign off for now. I really need to pick up the house and plan dinner. I'm thinking a butterflied chicken on the grill sounds tasty. I bought a bunch of new marinades so I think I'll try one tonight. Sorry I don't have pics today. I will soon. LOVE to you all,
Kimmy

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