New Bed

Mackenzie has reached a new milestone in her life:  she no longer sleeps in a cage.  This means that she can get out of bed whenever she wants to (not always a good thing!).  She has had some interesting sleeping arrangements in her short life.  Let's review . . .

Her first bed was a bassinet in my room - babies need to be close to their mommas.  Then we got her a travel crib because we knew that we'd be living in transition and a regular crib would be too big to set up.  So her travel bed went right here where her bassinet was (couldn't find any pictures of that set up).

Then we moved . . .

. . . and her bed was right beside mine.  This was in Gramma and Grampas bedroom while we lived in their house while they were on their third mission.

They came home and we moved again . . .

. . . into the workshop.  Can you see the corner of her bed there at the end of our bed?  You can see that a regular crib just wouldn't have worked out too well.  (Notice that queen size bedding does not fit king size bed very well!)  Once we put her at the foot of our bed rather than beside me, she started finally sleeping through the night.  Oh was that ever nice - because she was almost two by then.  That's a lot of years of interrupted sleep.

Now Kenzie finally has her own little room - which is actually an alcove off the master bedroom - but we have a new problem . . .

. . . she's too big for her bed!

So I packed up the travel crib and put it away for future grandkids who come to visit!!!

Not only was she too big for her bed, but daddy did a foolish thing!  He taught her how to climb out, and then he put her back in and she did it on her own.  So now that she knew how to escape, it was more dangerous to leave her in this bed and have her risk falling as she scaled the edges. 
(What was he thinking?)

I hauled out the crib mattress and tossed around a few ideas and finally decided on . . .

. . . a mattress on the floor!  With furniture for guard rails!  I figured that while she learns how to sleep in a bed, a six inch drop to the floor if she falls out is better than a higher bed.  And the lambs wool mat is right there to soften the fall.  And besides, when two big sisters move away from home in coming months, we'll be doing bedroom reshuffling anyway.


I made up her bed and was all ready to show it to her, when I discovered her asleep on the living room floor.  So I picked her up and put her in her new bed.

See the red smudge on her cheek from sleeping on the floor?  I was downstairs when she woke up and it was strange to hear the pitter patter of little feet as she woke up and realized that she could get out of bed on her own now.  And I must say that I miss getting her up from her naps - she was always so happy to see me.  Now she gets up and goes and finds the toothpaste or something before I even realize she up.  Sometimes I would go and get her from her nap and ask her if she wanted to get up and she'd say, "Not yet!  I wanna finish my book."

But at bedtime that night, we were able to excitedly show her her new bed.  For the most part it's working out just fine.  On occasion she decides she's not sleepy and will get up and put a movie on.  Crazy little thing!  And on mornings when she comes and wakes me up before scripture time, I must admit that I wish she was still in a cage!!!

As a momma I find it takes courage to let my little ones grow up.  They're certainly ready for it, but I find I just like to cling to those last moments of babyhood.  Though two and a half certainly isn't a baby anymore.  She's my hunus bunus (don't ask me where that name came from!).

Easter and Spring Break

Easter!  What a wonderful spring holiday to celebrate new life.

A few of this years Easter decorations.

And the treat cupboard! 

Luckily Mackenzie didn't notice the treats in this cupboard until they were almost all gone, so we didn't have to deal with her climbing onto the counter to reach the cupboard much.

On Good Friday Rich and some of the girls started building our deck.

They worked Friday, Saturday and Monday (read the deck post!).

I made the rainbow jello and took pictures of them through the window.

This was part of our Easter Dinner at Gramma and Grampa's house - yum!!!  Was it ever a delicious meal - the ham was fabulous, as well as all the other fixings like funeral potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, salad, jello, buns . . . dessert!!!  Great food and great company!

Mackenzie was rather fascinated with these little creatures . . .

. . . cousin Adelyn and . . .

. . . cousin Julianna.  The twins were almost ten months old and so cute!!!

Some of the family still sitting around visiting.

 

My beautiful baby!!!  Big sister taught you this!

Easter was at the start of our Spring Break.  We got a few other projects done this week besides the deck . . .

. . . I tackled the cold storage room and got it as organized as possible without having any shelves built in it yet.

Rich and the girls tackled the garage.  I wish I had taken a before shot because it was a completely cluttered mess - everywhere!  We had two pathways through the tools and construction stuff and boxes to the two doors.  They mostly loaded all the tools into the cargo trailer there, to be transported to the workshop.  We had moved them from the workshop into this garage because we were living in the workshop - remember way back then?  Now that took courage!!!  So now the tools are going back to their rightful place in the workshop, and soon we might even be able to park in the garage!!!

The other noteworthy thing that we accomplished during Spring Break was taking Jasmine shopping and finding the perfect grad shoes for her!!!  But no sneak peaks - gotta wait til grad!!!

It was a great week!  Got things done but also had our relaxing time.  I love my family!

Let the Deck Begin

Spring Break arrived and that seemed like the perfect time to build the deck.  The cement footings (or whatever you call them) had been poured just before winter set in.

But now that the weather was warming up and the ground was dry, it was deck time (and the fact that our trusty crew of workers had a week off school!)

 These three girls . . .

 . . . would haul all the wood over to Jas . . .

. . . who would put them in place for Rich . . . 

. . . to nail in place with his nail gun.

The lower level of deck is all framed and sheeted now, at the end of day one.  This door leads into the back of the garage.  There will be stairs from this level going to the ground.

I like this picture - my handsome guy deep in thought.





 These two goof-balls, Carlee and Jenna, found a balance beam to play on.



It was pretty funny to watch them.



Day two was building the first section of the upper deck.

Jas, Rich and Jordyn figuring things out.  They're building the big supporting beam and they required my muscles to help lift it into place.

 And the beam is in place - let the joist hanging begin.  That door is between the kitchen and dining room.

Rich and Jas hanging the floor joists.

Jas and Jordy screwing the plywood down.  It will all be covered in Duradeck and be completely waterproof and dry underneath.

 There's Rich way in the back by the truck.  So this shows the two levels of deck - and we will have real stairs there someday, not just a sawhorse.  This is how it looked at the end of day two.  It sure was nice to start going in and out the kitchen door!!!  And weird too from the inside to suddenly see a person where we weren't used to seeing people!

Day three - the final day for this part of the deck - was the back portion.

 This part covers the basement entry too - nice to have that sheltered!

 Grampa showed up to help!  Kenzie and I like this warm view from the inside.

Inspector Katia looking pretty impressed with things.  They're ready to start sheeting the back section.

Jas and Jordy screwing plywood down again - such good helpers!

 And there's Jas getting it all vaccuumed off.  I'm standing in the very corner past where the basement stairs go down.  Where I'm standing there will be stairs from the deck to the ground.  The piece over where the basement stairs go down (where the plank is) will have a raised built-in piece, like a tiered table, so people going down to the basement will have plenty of head room.

This big window is the dining room window - again, it's weird to see people walking past a space that used to be open air! 

This shows the two levels nicely.  It's a lovely deck - sticks out twelve feet from the house.  Can't wait to bring up the patio furniture!

It's on the east side of the house so it gets the morning sun.  On those warm summer evenings it will be nice and shady, and somewhat sheltered from the west wind.

Oh, there you can see the basement entrance. 

What a lovely big yard, and what a lovely big dirt pile.  And we've got some girls thinking that a slide going off the deck would be a pretty neat idea!!!



Clogging Recital

We had three girls clogging this year.

It was Katia's first year of clogging and she LOVED it!!!

 

Carlee and Jordyn have been at it for about 8 and 9 years (since they were in grade 1) so they've got some pretty sweet moves now.  Their dances can get pretty intricate.

They're in the oldest group and here they're dancing to "Footloose".  They had to pair up - a white shirt with a plaid shirt.  My girls were partners for doing some steps together - kinda jive-like only with clogging steps.

They ended with a leap-frog type thing and Carlee didn't make it over Jordyn's back and went off to the side - that's why she's laughing in this picture (front, second from left).

Katia danced with her little group to "I Just Can't Wait to be King" from Lion King.  They had a really cute roar at the end.

 

Her other number was "Forget You".

Katia is a happy and exuberant clogger.  She didn't seem nervous at all about her very first recital and dancing in front of a whole gym of people.  (She's the one at the end.)

 

The older group again dancing to Micheal Jackson's "Smooth Criminal".  Jordyn is front right and Carlee is back left somewhere.

Jordyn

Carlee

 

Carlee waiting to go on stage for their final number "Donkey Riding".  Jordyn didn't learn this dance as she could only clog one semester - it interfered with her volleyball earlier in the season.

They've enjoyed clogging but it might be about time to hang up the clogging shoes - we'll see how the schedules look in the fall, but grade 9 and 10 get pretty busy, especially when sports are involved.

Katia on stage for the big Finale.

It takes courage to perform in front of people.  For some it's a piece of cake, and others really struggle with it.  It's been great to watch the evolution of Jordyn - the girl who was scared stiff to perform, but she always mustered up her courage and was able to do it just fine (even if it meant shutting her eyes so she couldn't see the people).  It still rattles her nerves a bit but she's sure come a long way.  Carlee and Katia don't seem to have nerves, which makes it easier on me!  When I know my kidlet is nervous about something, I get nervous for them.  But that's when I have to boost them up and help their confidence and help them be strong and of a good courage!