It's Timmy's Birthday today ... the big 4 years old. We're having a small party (this is his year for a "family" party ... the big one will be next year) this afternoon. Timmy brought cookies for the snack at his school today and got to serve them to everyone. Big excitement for a pre-schooler! More later on the party and festivities when they happen.
The big excitement for yesterday was soaking in the jacuzzi. It works great. What a great way to wind down and spend the end of a day!
Tomorrow we leave at noon for our weekend home exchange up in Door County/Sturgeon Bay. It'll be a short trip, but hopefully a fun family get away.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Jacuzzi update
At last check, the jacuzzi is up to 95 degrees! Perfect for us and the kids to get in for 15 or 20 minutes before dinner tonight, and then a quick heat up to 100 for Cyndie and I go soak in after the kids go to bed! We're all very excited.
On the heater/AC front, it looks like we'll be getting the new one installed next Thursday.
On the heater/AC front, it looks like we'll be getting the new one installed next Thursday.
Back, and Bloggier than ever ...
Well, again I have become delinquent in my posting ... I'm going to chalk this gap up to a number of things ...
*Jacuzzi update. I think we really starting hitting it late last week. We dug out to level the ground between the existing deck and the new doors we put in. Laid rock, leveled it. Laid sand, leveled it. Laid the pavers. Moved the jacuzzi (man that thing is heavy!). Filled the jacuzzi (our outdoor faucets are straight from the well, untreated, so we ran a hose to the indoor faucet) ... that took about 3 or 4 hours. Ran electrical through the basement. Added a new exterior cut out switch with GFCI. Wired the jacuzzi. Added a new 50A breaker*** in the box. Made sure everything worked. Started the thing up. Whew ... that brings us to today. The jacuzzi is currently running and heating up!
**My arm has been hurting lately and I didn't know why until I played Guitar Hero with my Mom and Cyndie on Thursday. I think it's a combination of the strumming motion from that game (which I really haven't even been playing much lately), and from shovelling in the nasty clay soil that we have around here. My injury is to the tiny muscle that is on the thumb side of your arm, about two inches toward your elbow from your wrist on the top/back of the arm. Very strange. It's not even a place that you think about having a muscle! It swelled up noticeably a few days ago, and has been painful since then. I'm trying not to use it much, so hopefully it will heal!
***The only bummer about the new breaker I added is that we got one with the used jacuzzi we bought, but couldn't use it since it was a GFCI breaker, and the switch I added outside by the jacuzzi was also GFCI ... you can't put two on a circuit or they'll just keep tripping each other. Oh well, we only had to spend $15 on the new breaker ... $35 less than I expected to have to pay!
So the weekend was mostly just relaxing in the mornings, working on the jacuzzi in the afternoons, and a swim at Grandma and Grandpa's pool in the late afternoon to cool off. Emma continues to enjoy first grade ... Timmy had his second day of preschool and that went very well. We had some bad news on the heater and air conditioner front. I'm not going to go into the whole story right now, but the bottom line is that we probably have about a $4000 bill that we were not expecting at all. We're working on that, updates as they are available.
The big event for the rest of the week is Timmy's birthday party tomorrow. It'll be a small family affair, with one friend, Lucas from church. Friday around noon we leave for Door County for a long-ish weekend.
- A burst of work on getting the jacuzzi ready*
- My friend Chris getting me on to facebook.
- My Guitar Hero/Shovel arm syndrome**
*Jacuzzi update. I think we really starting hitting it late last week. We dug out to level the ground between the existing deck and the new doors we put in. Laid rock, leveled it. Laid sand, leveled it. Laid the pavers. Moved the jacuzzi (man that thing is heavy!). Filled the jacuzzi (our outdoor faucets are straight from the well, untreated, so we ran a hose to the indoor faucet) ... that took about 3 or 4 hours. Ran electrical through the basement. Added a new exterior cut out switch with GFCI. Wired the jacuzzi. Added a new 50A breaker*** in the box. Made sure everything worked. Started the thing up. Whew ... that brings us to today. The jacuzzi is currently running and heating up!
**My arm has been hurting lately and I didn't know why until I played Guitar Hero with my Mom and Cyndie on Thursday. I think it's a combination of the strumming motion from that game (which I really haven't even been playing much lately), and from shovelling in the nasty clay soil that we have around here. My injury is to the tiny muscle that is on the thumb side of your arm, about two inches toward your elbow from your wrist on the top/back of the arm. Very strange. It's not even a place that you think about having a muscle! It swelled up noticeably a few days ago, and has been painful since then. I'm trying not to use it much, so hopefully it will heal!
***The only bummer about the new breaker I added is that we got one with the used jacuzzi we bought, but couldn't use it since it was a GFCI breaker, and the switch I added outside by the jacuzzi was also GFCI ... you can't put two on a circuit or they'll just keep tripping each other. Oh well, we only had to spend $15 on the new breaker ... $35 less than I expected to have to pay!
So the weekend was mostly just relaxing in the mornings, working on the jacuzzi in the afternoons, and a swim at Grandma and Grandpa's pool in the late afternoon to cool off. Emma continues to enjoy first grade ... Timmy had his second day of preschool and that went very well. We had some bad news on the heater and air conditioner front. I'm not going to go into the whole story right now, but the bottom line is that we probably have about a $4000 bill that we were not expecting at all. We're working on that, updates as they are available.
The big event for the rest of the week is Timmy's birthday party tomorrow. It'll be a small family affair, with one friend, Lucas from church. Friday around noon we leave for Door County for a long-ish weekend.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Pre-school update
So I guess the first day of Timmy DeVries pre-school would be considered a success. Cyndie had to stay for a half hour with Timmy to get him to start participating. Apparently he didn't want to go in, then he'd go in, but only in one of the rooms were there were no kids (there are three joined rooms that they class uses). Finally he decided that he wanted to do a puzzle with Lucas, our pastor's kid that he's pretty good friends with. By the time Cyndie and I got there to pick him up he was having a good time and was very excited about school.
So as I said, we'll chalk this one up as a success.
So as I said, we'll chalk this one up as a success.
Rainy Thursday
It Thursday, which means Timmy's first day of school. He was a bit hesitant this morning, so Cyndie was kind of leading him along by telling him that it's really like nursery at MOPS and trying to help him understand that it would be a familiar place, etc. She's not back yet from dropping him off, so I'll try to post again later to give you the low down on how that went. When Cyndie get's back we're going to go run a few errands and hopefully pick out a birthday present for Tim ... he turns the big 4 a week from today.
As the title of the blog indicates, it's a rainy day today. It's been raining steadily since we got up at 6, and, if I remember correctly, it was raining in the night when I woke up too. That's good as we haven't had much rain for the last month or more.
We've had a good time with Gow, Laura, and Sally here. We've mostly been just hanging out and eating! Mom and Dad were over for dinner last night (for very yummy Beef Stroganoff, go Cyndie), and after the kids hit the sack, we had a little informal jam session with Mom on the bass and Gow and I doing the guitar thing. That was pretty fun.
It looks like we'll get our AC issues straightened out finally tomorrow. The problem with the blower motor going out will be free to fix due to our worry free plan ... that saves us $200 or more. The leaking condenser pan will cost us around $300, but that's better than replacing the whole unit! In the meantime, we've been blessed to have nice cool weather after the hot day on Tuesday.
As the title of the blog indicates, it's a rainy day today. It's been raining steadily since we got up at 6, and, if I remember correctly, it was raining in the night when I woke up too. That's good as we haven't had much rain for the last month or more.
We've had a good time with Gow, Laura, and Sally here. We've mostly been just hanging out and eating! Mom and Dad were over for dinner last night (for very yummy Beef Stroganoff, go Cyndie), and after the kids hit the sack, we had a little informal jam session with Mom on the bass and Gow and I doing the guitar thing. That was pretty fun.
It looks like we'll get our AC issues straightened out finally tomorrow. The problem with the blower motor going out will be free to fix due to our worry free plan ... that saves us $200 or more. The leaking condenser pan will cost us around $300, but that's better than replacing the whole unit! In the meantime, we've been blessed to have nice cool weather after the hot day on Tuesday.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
First Day, etc.
So Emma's first day of school went well. As usual, she was not horribly forthcoming with details. She was able to choose who she sat with and she sat with her "normal" friends Olivia, Hannah, and Emily. It was very hot and the school has no A/C, but she didn't really talk about that at all. When she got home she was kind of quiet, but I think mostly because she was pretty tired after a long day! This morning Emma rode the bus to school with her friends Cole (her grade) and Olivia (3rd grade). It was a bit of a trauma for her, but she made it.
The long day of heat was pretty hard on Timmy. He doesn't do very well in the heat! He did spruce up at the end of the day when Grandma and Grandpa D stopped by for the first time all summer. They got back to Lake Geneva a bit earlier than they expected, so dropped by for a half hour or so on their way home. Timmy, especially, was very happy to see Grandpa D.
Today we're enjoying a bit of cooler weather. There was a bit of a thunderstorm and some rain already, and the temperature is still only in the 60s, so I think we're in for a much cooler day ... thankfully. We'll see Laura, Gow, and Sally later today and overnight for the next couple of nights. That plus Timmy's first day of school tomorrow should keep us busy!
The long day of heat was pretty hard on Timmy. He doesn't do very well in the heat! He did spruce up at the end of the day when Grandma and Grandpa D stopped by for the first time all summer. They got back to Lake Geneva a bit earlier than they expected, so dropped by for a half hour or so on their way home. Timmy, especially, was very happy to see Grandpa D.
Today we're enjoying a bit of cooler weather. There was a bit of a thunderstorm and some rain already, and the temperature is still only in the 60s, so I think we're in for a much cooler day ... thankfully. We'll see Laura, Gow, and Sally later today and overnight for the next couple of nights. That plus Timmy's first day of school tomorrow should keep us busy!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Back and Bloggin'
I guess it's been a few days since the last post ... so I better get back to it!
It was an extended family kind of weekend. After feeling a bit under the weather throughout the week (all of us at one point or another), I think we all were feeling back to normal by the weekend. Saturday the kids and I went down to Crystal Lake to go to a parade (lots of candy was gotten) and carnival (one ride each, plus some free crafts, hair painting, etc). In and around that was time spent playing with cousins and BBQing. It was nice to have all my sisters (and their families) there. Cyndie had to babysit for the pastor's kids in the morning, so she stayed home and then spent much of the afternoon running errands kid free, which was a bit of a break in and of itself.
Sunday was church, then more cousin hangout time as the Casparis and Gowans came up (Jane having spent the night with us Saturday night). Dale and Jeannine and their kids came over to BBQ around 3, so we spent plenty of time playing Cornhole and ping pong too.
Yesterday was a bit more low key. Laura, Gow, Sally, and Jane spent the night, and so we kind of just hung out in the morning, had a leisurely lunch and then they left around 2. The rest of the day we relaxed and readied ourselves for school starting today! (Which included a trip to the pool and a run to Home Depot for some jacuzzi related stuff). We all went this morning to drop Emma off. She was excited and nervous, but when Cyndie actually walked her to the door, she said Emma was ready to be off by herself and was gone! Her school day is 8:30 to 3:20 ... much longer than last year. It'll be interesting to hear her account of the day, that is if we can get her to say anything!
It was an extended family kind of weekend. After feeling a bit under the weather throughout the week (all of us at one point or another), I think we all were feeling back to normal by the weekend. Saturday the kids and I went down to Crystal Lake to go to a parade (lots of candy was gotten) and carnival (one ride each, plus some free crafts, hair painting, etc). In and around that was time spent playing with cousins and BBQing. It was nice to have all my sisters (and their families) there. Cyndie had to babysit for the pastor's kids in the morning, so she stayed home and then spent much of the afternoon running errands kid free, which was a bit of a break in and of itself.
Sunday was church, then more cousin hangout time as the Casparis and Gowans came up (Jane having spent the night with us Saturday night). Dale and Jeannine and their kids came over to BBQ around 3, so we spent plenty of time playing Cornhole and ping pong too.
Yesterday was a bit more low key. Laura, Gow, Sally, and Jane spent the night, and so we kind of just hung out in the morning, had a leisurely lunch and then they left around 2. The rest of the day we relaxed and readied ourselves for school starting today! (Which included a trip to the pool and a run to Home Depot for some jacuzzi related stuff). We all went this morning to drop Emma off. She was excited and nervous, but when Cyndie actually walked her to the door, she said Emma was ready to be off by herself and was gone! Her school day is 8:30 to 3:20 ... much longer than last year. It'll be interesting to hear her account of the day, that is if we can get her to say anything!
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