It’s still true,
we’ve moved!
We have the upstairs/main
floor pretty much moved in AND decorated!
We don’t plan on painting, but the living room has pictures hung – even over
the stairs, where Stephen showed off his rock climbing skills. The basement will most likely continue to go untouched
for a few months, but there is a full bathroom, two bedrooms (a guest room and an
office), a small family room and a large unfinished room, which we hope to turn
into a Bavarian themed bar and home theater. While most of the drywall is
there, Stephen would like to wait until the surround sound and etc is wired
(smart man).
We moved all of
the kids toys over first, but can’t help but give them more… Stephen turned
one of the moving boxes into a rocket ship with Becca. The girls have been
playing with it for weeks and even though it is starting to fall apart, they
refuse to let me recycle the box.
In the midst of
moving, unpacking and making the house our home, I have become a victim of a
Craigslist-addiction. I am frequently checking the site to see if some of
our new home "wants" are available as slightly used and reasonably
priced. Our first (and so far only) great find was a Laffargue early 20th
century piano. The "gently" used studio piano had been in
storage and by looking through the piano bench I think it was owned by a nun in
the 70's. Becca is no nun, but she sure loves the piano! Her instructor
moved her into some more advanced lesson books and she is busily preparing for
the June concert, where she will be playing "The Mulberry
Bush." Lizzie has chosen "The Saints Go Marching In" for
her guitar performance debut. She has been practicing her scales and is more
comfortable playing now that she can use the music stand and piano bench.
Cinco de Mayo weekend was a
fun-filled three days! Friday night Stephen and I went to the Rainmaker
Marketing anniversary bash. It was SO great visiting with the creative team and
their family and friends! Nothing makes karaoke like martini's and Jeff
Keen music! Billie is talented, but she is also amazing at surrounding herself
with other fun and talented professionals!
Saturday we spent the day with Stephen's brother, Michael, whom the
girls absolutely adore. He came with us to watch Lizzie's soccer game. The
Supergirls played a team that was far more serious than any in the league (and
the opposing coach seemed to be motivating the children to be a little more
aggressive than kids this age should be), so it was great to have even one more
person there to support Lizzie and her team. After the game Michael took us to
the “Spo-Crap-Can International Challenge Cup,” also known as the chump car races. I cannot remember all the details, but the cars
can’t be worth over $500 and the 16 hour race was being run all in one day. It
was windy, but the girls really liked walking through the pits, seeing the cars
race around the track and watching the crews work close up. I gave the boys
some one-on-one time and treated the girls for some special hot cocoa at the
Moose Lodge. Sometimes they surprise me how sweet and fun they can be to talk
with when we are just spending time together with nothing to do. Sunday was the second time I’ve walked Bloomsday,
but first time walking it without a stroller of kids. Thanks to Kevin, Tammy and
Glenn for letting me walk it with you! It was so fun getting to talk with you
and I look forward to getting to know you more!
Oh, the chapter books! One of
my favorite things to do with my girls is READ! Luckily they enjoy the
quiet cuddle and listening just as much. However, I learned the hard way
that I need to read more than just the cover of the stories before I
start reading with them. We are now in book 4 of Ivy & Bean, which has been
an awesome series of books for both girls! But before we started Ivy &
Bean, Lizzie begged for me to read a book that turned out to have information a
little too old for them. I agreed to finish the story and now I'll never have
to explain why they cannot get a hamster.
Lesson learned.
Leaves, leaves and more
leaves! The previous owner of the house moved out January, but I suspect the
yard work had been neglected for several months prior. Three of the four
neighboring yards have tall spruce trees, which not only drop branches and
leaves all over the back yard, but also root up pretty much everywhere. The
fourth house is pretty well blocked by Arborvitaes, which I got to go behind to
start blowing out the leaves for our first step of yard cleanup. Luckily I
didn't get attacked by any giant Jen-eating-spiders, but I’m sure it was close.
When Stephen got home from work we bagged about a dozen large garden bags of
leaves from the backyard! It probably would have been more, but Stephen had a
great technique to making room for more leaves in the bags - made me laugh,
too. After we finished with the back yard, we had to give it a few days to
recover (and forget) before starting on the front. Even though it was less than
a quarter of the size, we still filled six bags! The hard part actually wasn’t the leaves, but
a giant shrub and trying to figure out the drip system sprinklers. We still have at least one pipe to repair
before we can schedule the sprinklers to run, but we found a hose hidden in all
the debris!
Other than leaf removal, we
spent a few hours weeding and tilling the side garden before we planted
strawberries, tomatoes, green beans, watermelon, pumpkins, cantaloupe and sweet
basil. Our tomatoes and strawberries were the only plants and we already see
new growth! The rest were planted from
seed. While we cannot yet spot seedlings, one of my favorite parts of the
vegetable garden are my home made garden stakes! Etsy here I come (okay, probably not)!
So far, Mojo has been good
about staying out of the vegetable garden (he still has a pretty fair sized
yard to take over), however either birds or squirrels have gotten to at least
one of our cantaloupe mounds. If that is the worst they do I don’t mind the squirrels
one bit. In fact, I take great joy in watching them tease and play with Mojo
from the top of the fence! I have been
told that the previous owner used to leave food on the posts for them, which
might be why they seem comfortable enough coming all the way up to our deck. I
got some pretty close pictures of one eating the berries from our flowering
cherry tree, but at first glance I thought it was eating the flower seeds I had
just planted in the pot! I was in the kitchen and all the windows were open (this
was before we fixed the screens), so it was almost like I was standing right
next to it!
With the amazing
weather, I took the girls to Mirabeau Park to feed the ducks, but they had more
fun eating watermelon and seeing all the turtles. We scavenged out the eight
most perfect pinecones and the girls made birdfeeders for the backyard. I think
they were up for one whole day before the squirrels got to them. We still have
one hanging, but it is bare of the seeds and peanut butter.
Mother’s Day I
was woken (after sleeping in) by two super adorable and energetic little girls.
They were so excited to be serving me breakfast in bed. Then they gave me a beautiful
Azalea bush and a giant cookie jar filled with hand written sticky notes from
them and Stephen. I am truly blessed!
That same weekend
Stephen and I checked out this amazing yard sale up north of Spokane. I guess this is an annual event put on by a sales
rep for distributors marketing to large chain stores. It could be easy to get
carried away, but we kept our eyes on what we were there for: a new kitchen
sink and a front door knob set! Both were installed by the man of the house and
not only are they beautiful and functioning great, but they were a great steal!
While the house is perfect and we love it, with any home comes maintenance and upkeep. I think we both forgot what this entails while living in the apartments. So far, these are things we have had to fix and/or replace: almost all of the upstairs screens and the screen door, several sprinklers and piping, front doorknob and locks, garage door sensors and various-sized light bulbs. All that and the kitchen sink! We still have a pretty big to-do list, but that will all come in time.
While the house is perfect and we love it, with any home comes maintenance and upkeep. I think we both forgot what this entails while living in the apartments. So far, these are things we have had to fix and/or replace: almost all of the upstairs screens and the screen door, several sprinklers and piping, front doorknob and locks, garage door sensors and various-sized light bulbs. All that and the kitchen sink! We still have a pretty big to-do list, but that will all come in time.
The girl’s bedroom didn’t
really “need” work, but making that room feel like home for them was my number
one priority when we moved. We painted over a dark rust looking wall before
moving in their gads of toys and overwhelming amount of girly décor. Stephen
helped me hang some shelves, mirrors and curtains. We hung the needlepoint of
Noah’s Arc that my Granma made me when I was younger and we rubbed on the fairy
wall decals that Grammy gave the girls for Christmas. As if I didn’t have
enough to do, I started making them some decorative banners to hang across the
ceiling, but I am still only about half way done (on the first string). The
girls saw them one morning and are really eager to have me hang them when they
are done. Maybe writing about this will give me a little more motivation to
stay up and finish them.
A recent addition to their
room is a medium-sized aquarium, which Kathryn, Grace and Jeanette helped set
up. Along with the two (still un-named) African Dwarf Frogs, the tank has two glowing
pink fish, a pink castle, a white unicorn, a “girls rock” sign and a handful of
sparkling pink gems. Some of the frog names in the running are: Fred & Ted,
David & Goliath, Phineas & Ferb, Merry & Pippen, Bert & Ernie,
and Sponge Bob & Square Pants (fyi: one of the frogs is significantly
larger than the other). There will be a family vote or random drawing soon.
Last weekend was full of excitement! It started on Friday with the Kindergarten Family BBQ with: the book fair, face painting, Bingo and math games, family pictures and lots of smiling kindergarteners. They even had Clifford the Big Red Dog! I got to hold Mrs. Grummon’s sweet baby boy and watch Lizzie interact with a lot of her classmates and friends. She seems to be friends with everyone and I think she had a good time showing us around her school. As if that wasn’t enough excitement, the girls woke up and took turns riding the tandem bike with Stephen. He said Becca didn’t ask to stop or slow down once on the twenty minute ride! I think she prefers the tandem to her little bicycle. That night was the Lilac Parade, which starts at dusk and runs through downtown Spokane. The girls were ecstatic! We took Grace and setup camp next to the KHQ6 News stage. Steph thought this would be a great idea, because of the crew’s lights, but neither of us anticipated the girls sitting on the back of the stage behind the news crew on a news anchor’s lap throughout the second half of the parade. I am still hopeful I can see the footage of Leslie Lowe interviewing the girls - live and without notice. Lizzie has added “news lady” to her already long list of things she wants to be when she grows up. Becca just says she likes horses when they are painted (sometimes I wish I could keep her four forever). We made it through the entire parade and all of us were still awake when we got home after 10:30pm! You would think they would sleep in a little the next morning, but the excitement of Silverwood Theme Park had them jumping at dawn (or at least it felt like it). For over six hours the girls ran from ride to ride. They even rode on Tremors! Although I doubt Lizzie will be entertaining the idea of riding it again anytime in the near future.
Last weekend was full of excitement! It started on Friday with the Kindergarten Family BBQ with: the book fair, face painting, Bingo and math games, family pictures and lots of smiling kindergarteners. They even had Clifford the Big Red Dog! I got to hold Mrs. Grummon’s sweet baby boy and watch Lizzie interact with a lot of her classmates and friends. She seems to be friends with everyone and I think she had a good time showing us around her school. As if that wasn’t enough excitement, the girls woke up and took turns riding the tandem bike with Stephen. He said Becca didn’t ask to stop or slow down once on the twenty minute ride! I think she prefers the tandem to her little bicycle. That night was the Lilac Parade, which starts at dusk and runs through downtown Spokane. The girls were ecstatic! We took Grace and setup camp next to the KHQ6 News stage. Steph thought this would be a great idea, because of the crew’s lights, but neither of us anticipated the girls sitting on the back of the stage behind the news crew on a news anchor’s lap throughout the second half of the parade. I am still hopeful I can see the footage of Leslie Lowe interviewing the girls - live and without notice. Lizzie has added “news lady” to her already long list of things she wants to be when she grows up. Becca just says she likes horses when they are painted (sometimes I wish I could keep her four forever). We made it through the entire parade and all of us were still awake when we got home after 10:30pm! You would think they would sleep in a little the next morning, but the excitement of Silverwood Theme Park had them jumping at dawn (or at least it felt like it). For over six hours the girls ran from ride to ride. They even rode on Tremors! Although I doubt Lizzie will be entertaining the idea of riding it again anytime in the near future.
Which brings me to Memorial Day Weekend. It started Thursday night with Kathryn and Grace having a sleepover with the girls - complete with staying up way too late and “sneaking” in cookies after the parents were “already asleep.” Living next to Jeanette is awesome! She didn’t stay too late, but long enough for me to kick her butt in a few rounds of Kazink. Want a rematch Jeanette?
Friday night Stephen's parents, sister, Alexis, and nephew, Sebastian, who is almost four, arrived from Portland for the three day weekend! We were so lucky to get to spend so much time with such a big-hearted group of family!! Saturday morning we took the girls to a free tennis clinic at the new Rocky Hill Park courts. Becca tapped out about 30 minutes in, but Lizzie did great and has been asking when we can go back! Then (like father, like son) the Holcomb men cleaned out their cars. That night we had a barbeque with the Nall family and Jeanette brought over a mouth watering tri-tip! Needless to say, there were no leftovers (partially due to me underestimating how much food I should have made - oops!). The kids played together and the bigger kids played cards and laughed way too much! It wasn't all fun though, we had a short intermission to learn some new sign language from youtube. ;) Sunday we spent most of the day in downtown Spokane at Riverfront Park. The kids rode the carrousel, played on the playgrounds and big red wagon and we walk around the park. They were so tired, the girls crashed almost immediately when we got home. In fact, all of us kind-of went into relaxation mode. That was probably a good thing, because I got up early the next morning and left for the Rotary Memorial Day Breakfast, where I photographed the event. The rest of the family joined me at Pavillion Park for breakfast and to play at the playground until I was done and we could walk home. Stephen and his mom, Inge (or Oma to the kids), went on a short trip to Home Depot for a pot for the Lilac plant that she brought for us. It was a great thing they planted it together or it might still be waiting to be transplanted, as are many of our other to-dos are. I am looking forward to seeing the blooms, but not as much as Stephen. The Holcomb family made it home safely that night and they are already missed!
I hope you remembered those we have lost and gave thanks to those who have served. Many of us take for granted the freedom we have, because we are fortunate enough to know nothing different, so I hope you had a great Memorial Day!
May 2012 Pictures
May 2012 Pictures