June/July at the House

We will remember the summer of 2011 as "The House Summer"!  

Rich hired Chelle for the summer (everyone else was slave labour!).  Here they are working on plumbing the master shower.

It's sweet - five feet long, has a seat, two fixed shower heads and a moveable one, and a light right inside!!!

Jas created a PacMan - oh the things we do to entertain ourselves while helping Dad!!!

Jenna has a tough job here . . .

. . . guarding the freshly poured cement from stray cats and dogs.  Unfortunately, she wasn't protecting it from a helpful Grandpa!!!  (No worries, the top had dried enough that his footsteps didn't leave a mark!)

Here's one of my projects:  the front door.

Just beginning the first coat of stain.  I ended up doing three coats of stain . . .

. . . and four coats of verathane.  And then we flipped the door over and I did it all again of the other side.  So it took over a week because we needed plenty of drying time between layers.

Rich, Kevin and girls installing ceiling drywall.

Makes me want to reach out and tickle them!!!

The garage painting project:

  My thoughts were, "Really, we have to spend time painting the garage?  It's a garage - you know, for cars.  Isn't drywall and taping enough for now?"  But my wise hubby responded that if we don't do it now, it will never get done and I know he's right (as I drive around town and look in open garage doors and see the unpainted walls!!!).  Besides, it was good practice for the girls before they started painting the house.

Rich and Chelle did the high parts.

As soon as we got the garage finished, we hauled all the tools, equipment and future house stuff (like doors)that were in the workshop, over to the garage.  The tools really appreciated the painted walls!!!  (Yeah, that was sarcasm!)  We had to empty out the workshop because that was going to be our house for the next month and a half (and it has painted walls too!)

Hooking up the water and sewer lines - what a mess that was!  Not to mention the fact that Rich dropped his cell phone in here (no, the phone's still not working, but the plumbing is!).

For the next little while we all had projects to work on:

Project Painting was mostly the job of Chelle, Jordyn and Carlee.

Here they go, in the kitchen/dining area . . .

. . . and the stairway. . .

. . . and the living room (all those boxes were my project!) . . .

. . . a bedroom (Jordyn chose the colour - Tobermory) . . .

. . . the laundry room (LOVE the light and the colour - Grey Morning).

Rich and Jasmine's project we'll call: 

Project Plumbing - a very necessary and highly appreciated project!

Mostly it just looked like they were sitting around a lot, doing puzzles (this piece goes here, this piece here, I need a 1 1/4 inch 45, run to the store and get me this, this piece goes here, I can't find this piece . . . and so on!)  Once in a while you'd hear a frantic yell for a bucket and towel!!!

The big basement bathroom.  The toilet in this room was our only piece of working plumbing for a few weeks - but more on that in future posts!!!  I'm sure you can't wait!

The final project at this time was Jenna and I.  We'll call it:

 Project Putting Cabinets Together.

We hung out here and sorted all these boxes (each cabinet had three boxes [base, sides, doors] so finding the right pieces for each cabinet was probably the biggest challenge!).

Once we had done a few, it was pretty easy because we knew the steps.

Jenna was an incredible helper - she knew exactly what we needed next and was really thinking ahead.

At our peak time, we could assemble a cabinet in twenty minutes (upper cabinets - lighter and easier to work with and no drawers!).  I did use power tools as well - wasn't all the hand screwdriver!

And we got a special helper on our Project:

Mackenzie knew exactly what to do!

Back to the front door . . .

Rich prepared the hole and is proud of his nicely arranged foamy stuff!  Looks great Richie!!!

Rich, Kevin, Jas and I ready to lift the door frame up onto the front entry area.

Moving it into place.  It was sure nice to get some "closure" on the house!

"Oh yeah!  Oh yeah!  Looks great!  Oh yeah!"

And we're still enjoying the pretty patterns the setting sun makes on our walls!

Interior shot of the door and Jordyn - what's she up to?

Staining the newel posts around the stairway.

Great room area.  All those cabinet boxes have now been replaced with cabinets - yay!

As I look back on these pictures and think about what my "delight" can be,  I would have to say:

I'm delighted that it's done!!!  I look at the pictures and remember all we did, and while we still have a lot to do, there is a lot less to do now than there was.  And that is delightful!!!

Twins, Twins!!!

In June we got the most delightful addition to our family!!!  Rich's youngest brother and his wife were blessed with beautiful twin girls.  They named them Adelyn and Julianna.  We were able to go and visit them when they were about ten days old.

The girls quickly flocked around their new little cousins, ohhing and ahhing in delight.  I mean, any baby is a wonderful miracle, but twins are just doubly miraculous.

I'm pretty certain that this is Adelyn.  Wow!  Look how big my baby is!!!  She's being so gentle.  Isn't it wonderful to watch those mothering and nurturing instincts come out in our little girls when they are so young.  They are meant to be mothers!

And I'm pretty certain that this is Julianna!  I know the big girl is Jenna.

Rich and Adelyn - love the hands.

You can't help but love them!

And you can't stop looking at them either!

Amazing!

Kenzie can't wait for them to grow up so she'll have some girl cousins to play with - she's surrounded by boys!

A few days after we visited Adelyn and Julianna, Julianna was rushed to hospital by ambulance because she stopped breathing.  They kept her in for a week but couldn't find anything wrong with her.

Now they are almost four months old and so much bigger, with the cutest little chubby legs, and still completely adorable!

I delight in babies, and seriously, who doesn't?



Amusement Park

We kicked off our summer vacation this year with a trip to the Amusement Park.  This was at the beginning of July for the Canada Day weekend.  (We knew that the latter part of the summer was going to be very busy with lots of hard work so we had to at least do one fun thing this year!)

Six of my seven girlies - the biggest one wasn't with us.  I always like them to wear bright shirts and I memorize the colours so they're easy to spot in the crowds of people.

We went with my sister Rebecca and her family - always more fun to go with someone else I think.  My big four girls went off together and the adults and little ones hung out together.

First ride is always . . .

. . . mini bumper cars!  That's Sami, Katia and Taylor.

And the boat ride!

The daddies hanging out with the littlest ones.  Kenzie doesn't look too impressed!

Airplane ride for Katia and Sami.

While we did these rides, the big girls had spent the hour or so wait in line for the Log Ride.  So we went over to watch their big splash.

Going up the first hill . . .

. . . and coming down the big hill.

Wait for it . . .

. . . here it comes . . .

. . . it's getting bigger . . .

. . . and bigger . . .

. . . and bigger!!!  That's gotta have gotten someone pretty wet!

Yup - they're a wee mite soggy!!!

(Jas, Jenna, Jordyn, Carlee)

Mackenzies first ride - she's not too happy about it!  Jas was able to distract her by looking at Carlee and Jordyn beside them . . .

. . . and she ended up enjoying it, especially when she'd pass by her frantically waving parents each lap!

Bec took the girls on this little pirate ship - pretty easy!

Later on they tried the big Pirate Ship and it really didn't go over too well!!!  Katia was freaking out and was shrinking down lower and lower.  Rich was ready to tell them to stop the ride but it was ending anyway.  It was pretty funny for those of us watching though!!!

Rich taking the little girls flying . . .

. . . wee!!! 

(See, this is exactly why I like going with other people - I don't have to take them on the rides and get myself all dizzy!!!)

Jenna and Carlee on the Scrambler.

Greg and Rebecca (with her mouth open like usual).  She's screaming already and the ride hasn't even started yet!!!

Jordyn and Jas on the same ride and looking much more calm than Aunt Rebecca!

Some of them went off to win a basketball (it's Tradition!!!) and Jordyn was the only one who came back with a ball.  Nice choice of ball Jordyn!!!

Josh liked the ball too and carried it around for the rest of the day.

Later on Rich went back and won himself a ball too.  He couldn't not have one!!!

Rich and Bec on big Bumper Cars.  That's not me in the middle - I was taking pictures!

Taylor looks very excited with this truck ride!

What???  Who put that in there - this is a family blog!!!

Rich and I stealing a moment in the backseat of the car that Katia was chauffeuring us around in. 

Jenna, Taylor and Katia on the last ride of the day - the ever stimulating Egg Ride!

It was a delightful day with a slight breeze.

It was delightful to spend time with family.

It was delightful to feel warm rays of sun on our white bodies!!!

And it was delightful to eat fresh mini-doughnuts!!!

Delightful!!!

 

Curls for Daddy

One Saturday night, Rich said to the girls, "Wouldn't it be cute if you all had curly hair for church tomorrow?"

I groaned, thinking to myself, "Sounds like lots of work for the momma."  (You must remember here that I am a white personality - motivated by peace, but lazy, unless it's something that I want to do!)

Anyway, the girls did all the work!  They rolled the younger girls' hair up in curlers, and used curling irons on the older hair.

They all looked so cute sitting there in church - all these blond curly heads sitting in our pew!

Katia . . .

. . . the exuberant six year old!

Jenna . . . 

. . . the graceful ten year old!

Carlee . . . 

. . . the mischievous twelve year old!

Jordyn . . . 

. . . the sweet fourteen year old!

Jasmine . . . 

. . . the happy sixteen year old (with naturally curly hair)!

"Daddy . . .

. . . my hair is too little to be curly.  I promise I'll curl it for you someday!"

"Now, can we play our game?" 

"Ahhhhh!"                     "Ahhhhhh!"

And then we all laugh!!!

We just enjoyed sitting around outside on a lovely Sunday afternoon, spending time together, laughing at nothing and everything.

I delight in Sunday evenings, because it's usually always family time in one way or another.

A time to be with those we love the most.

Is there anything more delightful?