Garage and Septic

Things are moving along at the house.  The septic went in Tuesday and Wednesday and today the painters calked the trim.  Tuesday night, Layla and Joe went to plant a tree in our front yard.  She was really excited that she'll be able to see the tree from her bedroom and was also very excited about the tag that comes with the tree that shows what it will look like when it blossoms.  She really likes flowers and learning about when they bloom and such.  Joe took this picture of her which I thought it was cute that in all the pictures he took of her, she was holding the tree tag up in every one:).  She also showed me that tag right away when they got home:). 

I did not know what it looks like to put a septic in.  Now I do:).  Here it is in progress...

And here it is complete and covered up...

 The kids love playing in all the dirt...should be a nice and muddy summer:).  Just what you want in a new house, ha!  Pretty sure they will be having lots of baths!

 We got the garage primed on Saturday.  Joe started, then the kids and I stopped by and saw how long it was taking, so I brought Greta home and came back with Gibs and Layla so that I could paint too.  Then Mike came and then my dad showed up.  It definitely goes a lot quicker with help!  The ceiling probably needs another coat of primer and we'll have to paint the walls, but for now it at least looks better than it did:). 

A Girl and Her Bike

I love this girl.  It has been so cute to see how proud of herself she is now riding without training wheels and how much fun she has doing it.  She was speeding down the hills in Gavin's backyard yesterday like she's been riding forever:).  I was surprised she wanted to, normally she is pretty reserved with things, but she wanted to go and down she went.  I admit, I was a little surprised when she coasted down successfully and then kept pedaling.  I noticed that she hadn't been putting her dolls in the back of her bike since taking her training wheels off--I think she was afraid that if her bike tipped, they'd fall out and get dirty/hurt.  Today she took them for lots of rides--she must be gaining confidence in her abilities:). 

Mother's Tea

During the end of Layla's preschool this morning, the moms were invited to come for a special "Mother's Tea".  It was very sweet.  They  each brought out their own tray with fruit kabobs that they had each prepared along with a necklace that they made for us--a heart shaped pendant with their finger print in the middle of the heart.  They also sang a song and we had some "book look" (reading books) time together.  I love having one on one time with my special almost kindergartener!!

Sentinel

Gavin, Harper and Gibs all got their pictures taken by the Sentinel last week while we scrubbed streets and were on their website...

I Like the Flowers

Layla had her first ever dress rehearsal tonight for her dance recital that she is in on Saturday.  I was thinking this would be our only year doing dance, but she really does seem to love it.

 All the little girlies were so cute to watch.  And the older girls were really good!  We stayed for quite a bit of the dress rehearsal so that Layla could watch the other dancers since on Saturday, the dancers are not allowed in the auditorium.

Here they are doing their "boom dee ah da"'s in the "I Like the Flowers" song.  I had never heard it before, but it's pretty catchy:-).  It even makes Harper and Greta start bobbing up and down:-).

 Watching the other performers...

Trim: Check!

The trimmers finished up on Friday, so that means that this week paint should start.  I can't wait to see that!

 Obviously, this is the kitchen:).  The panel that goes on the back of the penisula was scratched, that is why it's not on.

View from the living room...

 The trimmers were great.  Joe had a pretty precise drawing of what we wanted our posts to look like and they turned out just like his drawing! :)

We had really debated between cream or white cabinets and I am now really happy we went with white with a chocolate glaze.  I think they will fit great with the overall "feel" of our house. I am also really excited about this desk area.  We lacked that in our old kitchen and that led to a pile of paperwork on our counter that I could just not keep with with keeping cleared off.  So now I'll have a spot to hide my pile of paperwork:).  And hopefully it will help me to stay organized with the more stuff we become involved in as the kids age.

 Sibling love looking out the window in Gibs' room (Layla was in the car sleeping).  Joe had put Greta's socks on like that:).

 Playing in Greta's closet...

 Gibs and Grandpa...

 Left side of the laundry room...

 And the other side...

We are so excited to be this far along and can't wait to keep making progress!!

Mother's Day

 I had a nice Mother's Day today spent with family.  We went to church, then to Heidi and Steve's for lunch, I found a used dresser to fix up thanks to a Facebook online yard sale, and then Joe made dinner and we just relaxed at home tonight.  I am so blessed by my three kiddos.  They definitely try my patience at times and make me question my parenting techniques, yet I love them more than I could ever describe and love them more and more as time goes by. 

Being a mother makes me realize how much my own mother did for me and although she isn't here to see me raise my kids, I hope that she would be proud of the way I am working to bring them up.  I love these three little nuggets to pieces and know that she would too!  I am so thankful though that they have two very special grandmas here on earth, ones that love them very much and are also great mothers.  Happy Mother's Day!