goofing...

This week we saved the life of a tiny, probably over-heated, spiny soft-shelled turtle. The kids stayed with Aunt Stephanie for the first time since she moved, so Trent and I got a night alone. We played in mud and rain, took a different path on every run, and played on the zip-line at mimi and papi's. (Trevor did it alone!) We also started painting the last two bedrooms. Both of them are going to take a while. I also started painting sparkles on Jewel's wall (I even made the stencil myself). So, even without recalling everything we had a fun week. And, it isn't over, Trent and I have none of the children again tonight, so we expect to get a lot accomplished. Oh, Trevor made the number four all by himself (out of Lincoln Logs) and Jewel can recognize some colors and most shapes now. So, here are some pictures from this week. Yes, she is using the pillowcase from that pillow as a sleeping bag! Brilliant!

trampoline time....

These are just some recent videos of the kids on the trampoline. Trevor is trying to flip, and in one video they are "calling" the imaginary monster on the other side of the fence. (They have watched Taylor call to the sandhill cranes back there too many times.)

tidbit about growing...

Tonight, Jewel got out of bed, took off her pull-up, used the potty, and put on panties! Last night, she woke up after a little accident, and took herself to the bathroom to finish. All by herself!! She is shocking me daily here lately. She has even begun to master the Toddler version of Reader Rabbit. But, she prefers to watch Trevor play his internet games. And don't get me started on all the things Trevor can do on the computer. Trevor is getting really fun too. I have video to post of him trying to do flips on the trampoline. (Yes, it scares me sometimes.) He is still captain curious and because we are studying so many cool things with Taylor, he is getting to see and ask about really neat stuff. For instance, we got a new book that shows the organs of a dinosaur and he was comparing it to what he knows about his own body! Amazing and so much fun. I am working on his game board and rules, and I hope to make some time everyday for his game after my classes and his daycare. I hope it works out that way, I am really facing an overflowing plate soon. Here's to diving right in!

summertime...

well, if i don't do it now, i expect that it won't be done. i will make myself sit here and talk about the vacation that recently ended. it really feels like it is ongoing because we are still doing the same thing most nights as we did through the vacation and because trent gets off a little earlier than most of the year right now. things have been stressed slightly with the recent changes and events (some of you know what I mean). however, because we are both now dealing with the issues at hand with all of our energy and focus, things are going pretty smoothly. because of the intense focus on painting, the changes, and healing we had a pretty pleasurable vacation. nothing stimulates good feelings like accomplishment. the house looks amazing, i will try to get some better pictures soon. we worked in a pretty steady routine; trent rolled, i edged, we painted low at night and around the top when the kids were awake, and every three days or so we would take the night off. there is a heck of a lot of painting to do in the place! we also had to watch the kids, so sometimes we took turns painting during the day. after taylor got home from summer camp we had to pull off some school. (i realize that i mentioned some of this in previous posts, sorry.) so, we did some electricity studies, that were pretty fun. i also asked taylor to draw a game board for the game for this year. this isn't the final board, luckily, b/c before he was even finished, trevor colored on it. it has some fantastic additions and great ideas, so next year looks to be fun. overall, the vacation was productive enough but, with a nice balance of "slow and easy" living. being at home has its benefits. so, while it wasn't a trip to the beach, it seems to have had a good effect on things. the painting also allowed us an excuse to do some of the other projects while the rooms were pulled apart and messed up. oh yes, we also potty trained the jellybean! she is getting really good at making it to the toilet. And, she counted two things several times just today. i was so surprised. she held up two lego hats and said, "two hats, mom, wook, two hats, two hats, two hats..." later she did the same thing with two shoes and the two baskets we use for produce. so smart! she is also becoming little miss independent, luckily trevor is getting better about "minding" a little bit. at least, sometimes. he can still attempt to get his way pretty convincingly though. we still have painting left, couple closets, and ours' and taylor's bedrooms, but we should get it finished up in the next two weeks. we are going to be so busy soon, that we are trying to allow time to enjoy our only chance for relaxation for the coming year. speaking of relaxation, i am going to bed.

the painting so far...

this is what we have accomplished in two weeks.

living room circus...

what's up...

trent and i spent a romantic evening on the driveway with homemade whole wheat pizza returning the radiator to its appropriate position in the front of his truck. jewel and trevor broke in the newly painted on chalkboard in the classroom and let's just say it's a big hit. the chalk can be left out (because i can wipe it off if they color on things with it) so they can color at will, rather than when i am able to watch. trevor still insists on "marker time" and I have to monitor that. yesterday he made a beautiful picture with the hot pink marker and in the process colored the back of his knees completely pink. (the markers are washable, of course.) jewel has been talking up a storm, and she is showing her curiosity and intelligence more and more. we have had the usual crazy week broken honey jars, new acrobatic tricks, fun cooking, singing, tons of painting, built a generator (taylor) , played with electricity, watched some lectures (electricity, electromagnetism, etc.), learned about some battles (the Punic wars)and a few other topics, caught some fish (dad, four), made lots of art(trevor and jewel, in chalk), repaired the radiator (go trent!), and added more struggles to the "to do" list (some daycare errands/issues, new bills). things have been mostly good for us, though, so we won't complain. we are still loving our plans and enjoying the meantime. the house looks beautiful and we are about to paint the rest of the classroom. we do keep finding new nooks and crannies to paint and adding time consuming touches to the 'to paint' list and we can't ignore our other responsibilities and just paint, but we will eventually get to the end of this. as far as the many things that are currently "up in the air", they will eventually come down and we'll just have to worry about them when they do.

still painting...

we did manage to take a little break during the vacation, (just a few days at the beginning of last week) but we are back to the painting and finishing up trevor's room tonight. although i love going somewhere on vacation, i really love getting the house painted. and, it was nice to get a lot of the harder stuff finished while trent wasn't working because it is hard to paint and watch the babies. also, we were able to reduce the amount of time that the kid's rooms had to be disturbed by working together all night a few nights. we definitely got more creative this time and that added some time to the project. there are lots of lines that we are trying to get perfect and we are learning as we go, so.... also, the lines require lots of taping and waiting, but the last coat will go on tomorrow. we are starting to see one downside of a large house, lots of painting. each room takes more paint and time than our last place. but, the painting is giving us the chance to rearrange/reorganize some things and the fact that the house is so big is really helping us there. the kids are doing great, taylor is home again. they spent a night together at mimi and big daddy's this weekend, and jewel has gotten the routine down now. as soon as i told them they were going to stay with mimi, jewel said, "taywor, you want to go, we go swimmin'". trevor can now sing his abc's and jewel is pretty close, they both are not so good with signing it, but they are trying. they are both so funny as they grow up. they think taylor is just awesome and as soon as he stops playing with them, they copy whatever he was doing. jewel also copies trevor all the time. there have been a hundred things that i wanted to say about the kids over the last three weeks, but we have been so busy. and, we are going to be busy for a while, we still have two bedrooms, a classroom, a bathroom and the laundry room to paint. i will get some pictures up, soon. tonight, i sleep!

a little TED to bring us back from vacation...

few pics from this week...

It's been pretty fun even for the kids. The babies miss Taylor now, but having Dad home all day has been really great. We even fit in a little school before Taylor left for camp, some really fun lessons that I can't recall at the moment. There was some funny play with the little ones too, but I suppose I am too exhausted to describe it all now. The usual new words, trampoline skills, new sibling interactions, funny toddler tantrums, cute loving cuddling, and other normal wonderful family times plus painting and moving things and constant rearranging. The babies are just big enough to stay out of the way or be marginally helpful for 30 minutes or so at a time. This is much improved over the last few years, and we are enjoying it. We are also taking care of various errands right now. We have to do vehicle repairs, school forms, daycare registration (I think I found one), and other various applications and payments. So, not much in the way of vacation, well, except the little bit of fishing/video-ish games/summer camp/mildly relaxing time that we are squeezing in lately. So it has been a busy, fun, relaxing, and productive week off.