Hey all,
Here's a quick recap of the last several days ...
Over the weekend, we didn't do a whole lot out of the ordinary. Worked some in the bathrooms (more on that in a second) and hung out as a family. Sunday was the first KidWorld of the new school year (KidWorld is "Where kids bring their parents to learn"). It's the "mid week" (on a Sunday late afternoon) thing for kids. Anyway, Emma really likes it and Timmy is starting to more now that he understands a little better what is going on. Emma brought her friend Arianna who lived across the street (who is also in her kindergarten class). Cyndie took the kids while I stayed home and worked on the bathrooms (so that I could have all the cutting done before the kids went to bed). The end results of the weekend's (including last night) construction is that all the bathrooms (2 upstairs, master downstairs) are all done and usable, with the exception of the smaller upstairs bathroom still needing the toilet to be put back in. We're saving that one for Dad ... it's a long story, but that toilet is his pet project. We ended up basically totally redoing all the bathrooms ... down stairs we took everything out (sinks, tile, toilet) added a second sink, put in new tile, repainted a pale blue (much better than the old dark green), put in a new toilet, painted the old gold hardware (light fixture, shower door frames) silver. Then end result is very nice, much lighter, airier, and bigger feeling. The only thing we didn't get rid of is the shower itself. Upstairs, we painted both of the bathrooms a light yellow, put new vinyl flooring in (which looks great ... like real wood), painted the existing vanities, replaced to old, generic unframed mirrors with more custom looking framed mirrors, and added high baseboards. Overall the effect is very nice.
Today is Timmy's birthday (and Cathy's too ... happy birthday in Paris!). We gave him one present (a Peter Pan action figure set). He had to follow a treasure map to find it (while wearing a Daniel Boone type coonskin hat). Anyway, both the kids enjoyed that. Then for breakfast he requested bacon, chocolate chip pancakes, and cinamon rolls. We'll have the "official" party up the hill this weekend with the extended family.
So that's about it on our end!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Emma in the paper, part duex
For those who can't really see, Emma is getting her face painted in the picture. And I just checked, and for some reason, you can't click on that picture to see it larger. Oh well!
Emma in the paper ...
Emma was in the little Fountain Valley paper today with a picture that was taken during the Family Fun Fest a week or so ago ... here's the pic (don't forget you can click on it for a bigger version) ...
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Pix as promised ...
Surprising Grandma D at her house ... they didn't know we were coming!
Emma and her cousins Sarah and Kristi at the Crystal Lake beach.
It rained a lot, so the kids had fun playing outside in the rain and of course puddles!
This is the sand pile/pit near Dave and Amy's house ... great in the rain!
The kids read a lot with Grandma D. Their favorite book was "Gold Bug" (where you have to find the little golden bug).
Relaxing at the park
Emma and her cousins Sarah and Kristi at the Crystal Lake beach.
It rained a lot, so the kids had fun playing outside in the rain and of course puddles!
This is the sand pile/pit near Dave and Amy's house ... great in the rain!
The kids read a lot with Grandma D. Their favorite book was "Gold Bug" (where you have to find the little golden bug).
Between rain storms we went to a orchard/farm to feed the animals and pick apples and raspberries.
There were lots of fun play things for kids ...
It was very hot that day, so the kids made use of some of the garden wagons to get a ride.
The hillside next to Grandma and Grandpa D's house had lots of fun rivers to play in when it was rainy. We spent a lot of time helping the rivers to be deeper!
One day we had a parade, complete with hats and musical instruments.
On the way back on the plane (a direct flight!!!).
We got off the plane, dropped our stuff off at home, and went directly to the Family Fun Fest at church.
When it's been hot, we've spent quite a bit of time at the beach cooling off. The kids love the sand and the water.
Emma all excited by Auntie Laura's surprise in the mail.
Walked down to get Slurpies!
Emma, Andrew, and Timmy after going to see Ratatouille ... Timmy's first movie.
At the beach on Labor day ... with our castle ...
... and bath tub.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Been a while
Well, the blogging has been largely deficient for the last month, but there is no time like the present to jump in there and try to get back on track. I won't try to fill in any of the blanks from the last month, so you'll just have to make due with news from the weekend.
As most of you are probably aware, it's been pretty hot here in SoCal. We spent much of the weekend trying to plot ways to stay cool. That included eating out a couple of times (that is getting to be a much more fun family activity as the kids now enjoy it too). We went to the movies on Sunday afternoon with Youndy and Andrew (to see Ratatoiulle). That was Timmy's first movie. He did okay for the first 40 minutes or so, but then got a bit bored. The movie was very good, but I think the kitchen in a restaurant and the politics there is a few steps past Tim's attention level! Emma liked it though. In and around those things there was church (with Timmy and Emma both being "promoted" to the next class up). Emma was very excited since several of her friends (like Macy and Maddi) are already in the "upstairs" class. The several days before church all she could talk about was "going upstairs". Emma and I also took a shopping trip to Target to get her some shoes and a first day of school out fit. She loves shopping, and especially trying on clothes and I enjoy taking her and helping her find cute things to wear. She gets so excited in the changing room, dancing around in front of the mirror and turning around. I have to calm her down so that I can get a look and determine if the stuff actually fits! We ended up getting some cute shoes and a skirt and t-shirt that she put on the moment we got home and didn't take off for the next two days! We ended up taking another trip to Target (in large part to cool off) to get end of summer swim suits on sale (one for now, one for next year). We did that yesterday afternoon and went over to Pat and Sandee's for dinner immediately after ... which meant that Emma had to go swimming in the jacuzzi at 7 am this morning! Yesterday morning (Labor Day) we went to the beach at 9 am. It was already very full and the whole time we were there (2 1/2 hours or so), there were more and more people just piling in. We all had a really good time. It was pretty cool, and we spent the whole time at the water's edge, first making a series of sand castles, and then a bath tub!
The big break through for Timmy is that he seems set to start pooping in the toilet ... yeah Timmy! That would be great if he were to do so!
Friday evening was when the class assignments were posted for kindergarten. Cyndie went over after the kids went to bed and Emma wasn't on the list! It turns out that she doesn't have all the right shots yet. We thought that was very strange (and kind of negligent) that the school didn't let us know that. Oh well, things turned out okay in the end as Cyndie went over right when they opened today and got things straightened out. Emma knows 5 or 6 of the kids in her class (including Arianna across the street and Mavric from church). Cyndie and the kids scootered over there today to look around. It's about a 20 minute ride.
I'm working from home today, and it is noticibly cooler, although still pretty warm. I think the weather said something about thunderstorms to cool things off later this week. We could use both the rain and the cooler weather.
That's about it on our front. We took a bunch of pix off the camera a few days ago, so I'll try to post some soon.
Neal
As most of you are probably aware, it's been pretty hot here in SoCal. We spent much of the weekend trying to plot ways to stay cool. That included eating out a couple of times (that is getting to be a much more fun family activity as the kids now enjoy it too). We went to the movies on Sunday afternoon with Youndy and Andrew (to see Ratatoiulle). That was Timmy's first movie. He did okay for the first 40 minutes or so, but then got a bit bored. The movie was very good, but I think the kitchen in a restaurant and the politics there is a few steps past Tim's attention level! Emma liked it though. In and around those things there was church (with Timmy and Emma both being "promoted" to the next class up). Emma was very excited since several of her friends (like Macy and Maddi) are already in the "upstairs" class. The several days before church all she could talk about was "going upstairs". Emma and I also took a shopping trip to Target to get her some shoes and a first day of school out fit. She loves shopping, and especially trying on clothes and I enjoy taking her and helping her find cute things to wear. She gets so excited in the changing room, dancing around in front of the mirror and turning around. I have to calm her down so that I can get a look and determine if the stuff actually fits! We ended up getting some cute shoes and a skirt and t-shirt that she put on the moment we got home and didn't take off for the next two days! We ended up taking another trip to Target (in large part to cool off) to get end of summer swim suits on sale (one for now, one for next year). We did that yesterday afternoon and went over to Pat and Sandee's for dinner immediately after ... which meant that Emma had to go swimming in the jacuzzi at 7 am this morning! Yesterday morning (Labor Day) we went to the beach at 9 am. It was already very full and the whole time we were there (2 1/2 hours or so), there were more and more people just piling in. We all had a really good time. It was pretty cool, and we spent the whole time at the water's edge, first making a series of sand castles, and then a bath tub!
The big break through for Timmy is that he seems set to start pooping in the toilet ... yeah Timmy! That would be great if he were to do so!
Friday evening was when the class assignments were posted for kindergarten. Cyndie went over after the kids went to bed and Emma wasn't on the list! It turns out that she doesn't have all the right shots yet. We thought that was very strange (and kind of negligent) that the school didn't let us know that. Oh well, things turned out okay in the end as Cyndie went over right when they opened today and got things straightened out. Emma knows 5 or 6 of the kids in her class (including Arianna across the street and Mavric from church). Cyndie and the kids scootered over there today to look around. It's about a 20 minute ride.
I'm working from home today, and it is noticibly cooler, although still pretty warm. I think the weather said something about thunderstorms to cool things off later this week. We could use both the rain and the cooler weather.
That's about it on our front. We took a bunch of pix off the camera a few days ago, so I'll try to post some soon.
Neal
Monday, August 6, 2007
Latest happenings ...
Happy new week all (which, of course, means it's time for an update) ...
The weekend wasn't very restful, but it was productive. We totally redid the fireplace. It looks really good now. No more ugly red brick. We covered that with the slate tiles that are in the entryway and then I built a mantle that looks pretty good. We just have to grout it now.
We also mixed in some family time and helping some friends move. Paul and Cara are gone, so we've been using their pool almost everyday which is fun! Emma has really progressed a lot. She'll jump in where she goes under water and swim a bit with her face in the water. She'll also let me throw her up in the air. She's really cute when I throw her or especially when she jumps in because she does it with so much gusto, jumping high in the air and really enjoying it. We've been doing a little thing too where she gets on top of a boogey board, with almost her whole body out of the water, and then I push her and she goes all the way to the other end of the pool. She really likes that. That's how I've enticed her to push her self (I'll push you on the "surf board" if you jump in right there). Timmy is doing okay with swimming. He'll jump out a short distance to me and does fairly well kicking with a little bit of dog paddling, but definitely wants no part of getting his face wet. He's a very cautious boy! He also get's cold pretty quick so spends quite a bit of time playing outside the pool.
Other than that, I helped some folks from Emma's pre-school move on Sunday and we went to a picnic for Emma's VBS.
Adios for now,
Neal
The weekend wasn't very restful, but it was productive. We totally redid the fireplace. It looks really good now. No more ugly red brick. We covered that with the slate tiles that are in the entryway and then I built a mantle that looks pretty good. We just have to grout it now.
We also mixed in some family time and helping some friends move. Paul and Cara are gone, so we've been using their pool almost everyday which is fun! Emma has really progressed a lot. She'll jump in where she goes under water and swim a bit with her face in the water. She'll also let me throw her up in the air. She's really cute when I throw her or especially when she jumps in because she does it with so much gusto, jumping high in the air and really enjoying it. We've been doing a little thing too where she gets on top of a boogey board, with almost her whole body out of the water, and then I push her and she goes all the way to the other end of the pool. She really likes that. That's how I've enticed her to push her self (I'll push you on the "surf board" if you jump in right there). Timmy is doing okay with swimming. He'll jump out a short distance to me and does fairly well kicking with a little bit of dog paddling, but definitely wants no part of getting his face wet. He's a very cautious boy! He also get's cold pretty quick so spends quite a bit of time playing outside the pool.
Other than that, I helped some folks from Emma's pre-school move on Sunday and we went to a picnic for Emma's VBS.
Adios for now,
Neal
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Weekend Pix ...
Cyndie and Timmy out shopping for veggies at Henry's
Emma at show and tell at her pre-K class.
The family at the Aquarium of the Pacific, and outing with the pre-K class.
Emma bowling at Maddison Zone's birthday party.
Timmy bowling.
Timmy in his armor that he got for not having an accident all day.
sea lions that Cyndie and Emma saw on another pre-K class outing.
Brandon and the kids in the jacuzzi.
Papa took the family on a ride on the Balboa ferry.
The kids at the OC Fair (with a friend, Chris, from church).
Emma working on her fish helmet, a craft we made this weekend.
Another craft we made ... crowns! Presenting the royal family!
Prince Timmy
Princess Emma
We went to Emma's friend James' birthday party (this was the boy she "married" the first day of school this year that she was real buddies with). This was Timmy readying for the sack race.
Emma and Timmy ready for the 3-legged race (That's James next to Emma).
That's it for now ... Cyndie had a very nice time on her scrap booking trip (and got some very nice pages done for the family 2006 photo album). Timmy and Emma and I went to the beach Friday night, did some crafts, and did the birthday party.
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