Stair Railings in the House

This is how our stairs have looked for the past ten months - a little grove of pine trees guarding one side, some large (and heavy) paint can guarding the other, and a few smaller paint cans guarding the edges of the treads going down.

Yes, it's completely safe for little people!  (Which is why my sister can't relax when she's here with her one year old!)

We have wrought iron spindles and oak tracks, newel posts and railings.  Rich is measuring the first spindle to see what length to cut it to. 

We've had all the parts to assemble these railings since last fall, but it was a little more complicated than that.  We bought our spindles in the states - so much cheaper down there.  But we bought our oak in Canada.  So when Rich went to start assembling them last year, he realized that the measurements were off.  The spindles were about a millimetre too wide for the tracks in the oak.  So that just complicated things a little, and mentally stalled Richie for months!  Besides cutting every piece, he had to grind the metal down to make it fit in the track.  Cutting metal really stinks and sends sparks flying everywhere - another reason why it had to wait til nice weather so it could be done outside.  And those sparks are hot - one landed on my foot!

The metal saw is on the left and the wood saw is on the right - it's for cutting the tiny oak pieces that get placed in the track between each spindle.

And look in the yard - some new piles of dirt!

There is a pattern to these railings - can you see it?

I actually helped too.  My job was to rip off masking tape to hold the little oak pieces in place in the tracks while the wood glue dried.  Let me tell you that I sure had some aching muscles the next day!

Those little base pieces nicely hide the part where you screw the spindle in to the base.  (Oh, and I was just kidding about the sore muscles!)

First side is finished - awesome work team!

See that yellow metal thing floating in mid-air?  It's a magnetic level - how cool is that!

You can see the pattern better here in the spindles.  The team only mixed up the spindles once.  Luckily I noticed before they had gone too far and only had to remove two spindles to correct the pattern.

That's the closest Kenzie's ever been to the edge!

Now for the final section - a little more challenging because all the cuts have to be on an angle now and the measurements were all different.

Halfway done!

Only one spindle left to do!  Everyone is gathering for the Grand Finale!!!

Yahoo - they're finished!!!  And don't worry, the little bases on the stair treads will be easy to lift up on that day when we might actually get carpet on the stairs!

Look at the girls rejoicing with the newest home improvement!!!

Aren't they beautiful?  (I'm talking about the railings of course!!!)

Dear Daughters: may you always be like these railings - steadfast and immoveable.  And may you always hold to the rod, the iron rod, just like Kenzie. 

We've had all our girls living at home for the past year.  But now change is in the air . . . Jas just found an apartment and will be moving out Sept 1 to attend college.  And Chelle will probably be leaving a few months after that.  I'll miss these kinds of little moments with all my beauties.  But we'll face our changes with courage because we know it's all part of the big plan.  And we will carry on and be just like . . . stair railings!!!

School Awards Nights

We had our annual Blue & Gold Night (Sports Awards) at the end of the school year.  Rich and I were there with three of our daughters.  They recognize the kids who played on each team, and then three special awards are given to each team for various things.

Carlee (in red) being recognized for playing Grade 8 Volleyball.

Jordyn (in fuschia) with the Grade 9 Volleyball team.

Jas (in brown) with the Varsity Volleyball team.  She received the Volleyball Leadership Award.

Carlee with the Grade 8 Basketball team.

Jasmine and the Varsity Basketball team.

Jasmine as part of the High School Track and Field team.

The Track Teams combined points earned enough for them to win the banner for the fourth year in a row.  Jas and two others were the top contributors with 10 points each.  She had the option of going to Provincials to compete in the 3000m, but chose not to as she had already missed a lot of school due to track meets and softball.  Preparing for her final Diploma exams was more important to her than driving 6 hours one way to compete in a race.

Jasmine and Russell hanging the banner.  These were the two Seniors with the most points.  Jas also competed in 1500m and Triple Jump.

And then they were stuck up in the Genie for a little while.  Rich yells out "Kiss her!" and her basketball coach who was sitting across from us said "Do you want us to bring you your Biology notes?" (Jas was studying between awards!).  It was funny!

Jordyn being recognized for playing on the High School Softball team.

Jas was on the Softball team as well and received the Offensive MVP Award.

And then Jasmine received another completely wonderful award.  She got the school Female Athlete of the Year Award!  We were thrilled for her because she really did work hard in all she did, and used her time so wisely to balance sports and studying.  The stats sheets didn't recognize how hard she worked, especially in basketball. Our principal once told her, "You are the unsung hero on the basketball court."

Male and Female Athletes of the Year - Kwade and Jasmine.  The large plaque stays in the school trophy case and they keep the smaller one.  And a nice bonus was a cheque that came along with this award.

We were proud of our girls and all their hard work through the year regarding sports.

The next night was the Fine Arts Awards night for the Band and Choir students.

They all received a participation pin and certificate.  Again, three awards were given to each grade and Carlee received the Grade 8 Band Citizenship Award.  Great job Carlee!



Jenna's Triathlon

Jenna chose to participate in the Grade 5 True Triathlon this year.  That means she does the whole thing herself, not as part of a team.  So for her that means five lengths of the pool, five laps of the track on a bike, and five laps running.  Only three kids from her grade chose to do the True.

In the pool and ready to begin.  They start in the shallow end so they can end in the deep end and have easier access to the exit.

Jenna did a lot better with the swimming than we thought she would (she hadn't really had any chance to practice because the pool only opened a few days before this event!).  Her and the other girl climbed out of the pool at the same time, with the boy about half a length ahead.

Modesty is important to Jenna and she didn't want to be running and biking in just her bathing suit.  She wanted to take the time to put her shirt on, even if it put her behind.  Proud of you for that Jenna!!!

Jordyn eating up the track with those big tires - exactly the reason she borrowed Jordyn's bike for this event.

The transition:  Daddy catching her bike and helping her get off and start running.  She tossed the helmet off as she ran.

Unfortunately Jenna got a cramp in her side as she started running.  Big sister Jas came to her rescue and helped her calm down and just walk for awhile til it went away.  Jas ran beside her on the grass the whole way (you can see her behind the girls). 

One thing that I love most about the triathlon is the support from their peers.  See these girls running along beside Jenna, just giving their support - it's awesome!  Other kids pass out cups of water and everyone cheers as they run past.

Jenna walked around for a while, looking pretty much dead.

Ah, she looks a better now - great job Jenna!!!

It takes a lot of courage to do an event like that - an even when you were hurting, you dug deep and kept going.  We're sure proud of you!  And in complete awe of you!



We've Got Closets!!!

We moved into our house last September, and now in June we finally got functioning closets.  We've just been using closet boxes - four of them shared between eight people!  Twas a real pain for putting away laundry!

Rich working on the closet in Jordyn and Katia's room.

She likes it!!!  Thanks Daddy - you're the best!

The other bedrooms got their closets done too - Jas can finally hang her clothes up, just in time for her to move out in a few months.

Here is the master bedroom closet before shot.

Actually the real before shot would have showed closetboxes, suitcases and other boxes piled up - not a pretty picture!

 

Here's a partway shot - a shelf going around the entire top portion of the closet.  Loving all that off-season storage space up there! 

But wait, what's that up on the shelf . . .

. . . let's take a closer look.

Yes indeed it is a bag of chocolate covered almonds! Rich has started my closet chocolate stash again for me.  I've been much too long without a closet for my secret stash!  Thanks love - you're the best!

Making lots of progress.

Well isn't this looking good - wow!  Someday we might even paint it, but right now I am just enjoying so much the ease of hanging clothes without having to shove them down into a box.

And as for the almonds, I'm not going to divulge exactly where I keep them hidden - do you think I'm crazy?  Alas, that bag is empty now - but luckily there was a new one to start!

Junior Softball

I helped organize Junior Co-Ed Softball again this year.  Carlee and Jenna played and Richelle and Jasmine coached.  Carlee designed the T-shirts again too.

Jenna playing backcatch and Carlee by the fence waiting for her turn to bat.

Carlee hits and is ready to run!

Jenna at bat and Jas trying to be in the picture too!

We were short players one week so Coach Richelle and . . .

. . . her boyfriend Logan went out in the field to help out.  As you can see, they're paying close attention to the game and catching many fly balls!

 

After everyone else left, we stuck around for a while and did some batting.  I even had my turn at bat and the girls were surprised that I could actually hit!  Did they think they got all their talents from their Daddy?

Chelle batting and Logan catching.

She's still got it!!!

Logan at the bat - he can hit too!!!

 

Lots of fun just playing around together!