I'm having one of those weeks where there is so much to blog about, pictures to post, etc. but I haven't had the time to sit down and really blog. And because there is so much to blog about, I'm feeling rather overwhelmed! So in a nutshell, this is what's been happening this past week.
Lacrosse Children's Museum:
We've been looking for things to do on the weekend now that I work every 4th weekend instead of every other weekend. One of the things we wanted to do over the 4th of July was to spend some time in Lacrosse. Unfortunately, with Amaya getting sick, we were only able to go the Children's Museum. But it was worth it! They had an area for kids under the age of 4, a clmibing wall, a make-believe Kwik Trip - seriously it was AWESOME! We can't wait to go back, so if anyone wants to go - let us know!
Ben's Birthday:
Last night we celebrated Ben's 11th Birthday! We went to Lydia's T-ball game, which unfortunately had to end short because of the rain. Amaya spent the whole time on the playground with Miles and Annika going up and down the slide. We went back to Grandma and Grandpa Gustafson's for pizza and dirt dessert! Sooo good! Amaya especially enjoyed the dirt dessert and probably should have been dunked in the tub or hosed down to get all the oreos off. Ben got a gift certificate to Dick's sporting goods for a new baseball glove, two Webkins, and ROOT BEER BARRELS!
Landscaping:
Groundbreaking begins on Wednesday (we think). Ground Pros will be coming to rip out everything and on Thursday, Creative Curb Appeal will be installing the concrete edging. Either Saturday or Monday, Ground Pros will come back out and install our plants, flowers, and trees. We meet with Creative Curb Appeal tomorrow to go over different colors and shapes of the concrete edging. We've also hired Community Lawn Care (a referral from Ground Pros), to do some major overhaul on our weed issue. What's great about Community Lawn Care is that 10% of our bill will go to a charity of our choice. We've chosen Christian Fellowship of Athletes and found out that the manager goes to our sister church in town. (I haven't had time to get "before" pictures, but that's on my To Do List this weekend.)
Projects:
Along with landscaping, Steve's been working very hard getting odds and end projects done around the house. He fixed the downstairs bathroom fan, glued down the kitchen countertop that had never been glued down, painted our basketball pole, hung up our new American flag, killed a whole bunch of bugs that one of the landscapers found, hung up some pictures for me, etc - Just to name a few! :-)
I've also been working on some projects. I've organized my kitchen cabinets, separated my floss for my cross-stitch project, caught up on old e-mails, finished 5 puzzles, read 12 books, weeded through Amaya's clothes (still in 12-18 month clothes to my dismay - I have so many cute 18-24 month summer outfits - maybe Hope or Baby Girl Hull can use them if they don't end up working for Amaya), got 3 cards made, copied all my recipes in my recipe binders, got the pictures hung of the Springer's and Amaya - 8 down, 2 to go!, sewed all of Steve's buttons on his shorts and mended some other clothes, and decided that we'll make the fourth bedroom a guest bedroom (when we have money)... whew! We're getting there - slowly but surely!
Amaya:
What can I say? This girl has got personality! Can two introverts really make an extrovert? She's been jabbering more and more and talks to everyone (just as long as she initiates the interaction.) Every day she picks up more words. A few days ago, she learned "eyebrow", although she says it, "eye-bow" and "airplane". Steve and I keep wondering where the time goes. She's no longer a baby and becomes more and more like an independent toddler. But, we're enjoying every minute! (Okay, okay - we enjoy MOST minutes!)
Vacation:
The Springer's are coming up from Nebraska on Monday! Steve will be working partial days and I'm off for 12 days! We're looking forward to go to MOA, the Olmsted County Fair (I hope you kids are wanting to go on some rides with me!), and Oxbow, swimming, etc. The time always goes so fast when they visit, but we sure pack in a lot of fun and memories!
That's about it... pictures coming soon.