The everlasting project

We are still working hard on the rental house....

I guess things don't go quickly when you have this for help.

Biggest Project EVER

You might remember, nearly 2 years ago, our family started on a little project.  Well, we started out with a bang and then the project sat for a while....its a lot of work refurbishing an old house.  

But we've started hitting the project pretty hard over the last 2 months hoping to get it rented out some time this fall.  In true daddy style, he's taking on the tasks of doing the electrical work and the HVAC work.  

None of this work happens without some help.  We've spent the last two weekends in the house...we've come home exhausted and filthy dirty.  But we've done it together!

The First Swim Meet

On Monday night we had our first swim meet....the kids and I had NO IDEA what we were getting into.  All I knew is that my big kids enjoy swimming, so I thought this would be a fun opportunity for them.  

We've had practices since the first of May, but Monday night was different....they were racing against other kids.  

So we showed up at the meet and thank goodness we found some familiar faces.....Caroline (a girl from our church) swims also....and as you can see, she's older, so this wasn't her first rodeo.  She and her mom, Ms. Amy, took Josie and Wes under their wings and made sure they got to the blocks when it was their time to swim.  Me, I'm still trying to remember if Josie does breast stroke or butterfly stroke....I haven't quite figured out the difference between those two.  

But when it was their time, the kids would proudly get on the block and would swim their little hearts out.  Wes only did the 25 freestyle (basically just regular old swimming for one length of the pool).  Its hilarious to watch cause there is a frog dive off the blocks followed by swimming his heart out with the occassional turn of his head to make sure he's not in last place.

Josie's best event is the backstroke....this is her getting ready for the start.  She did excellent as well and kept up with kids that are much older than her.  Its neat to see her practicing her form so that she gets the most speed.

 Both of the kids love swimming and I'll be honest, the meet was pretty fun to watch.  I had the biggest smile on my face watching my kids swim the length of the pool beside kids that had done it for a couple of years already.  This might be our thing folks!  

Naps with Bags

Naps are always better when you have a cuddling partner.

Naps with Eli are no easy feat, so when he finally fell asleep, and I laid him on the chair to take his nap, I almost screamed when Bags jumped up there thinking it would wake Eli.  On the contrary, this was one of the best naps Eli has taken.  

Legos

Obsessed:  The description of Houston and Wes's recent infatuation with Legos.

At least they include Eli when they play.  

Dump Trucks

A trip to  Charleston and we come back with.....a dump truck.  Yep, I knew we were in trouble when we were leaving our original destination and Dave said, 'So what else do you have for sale?'

But I'm hoping it'll be yet another bonding experience for my husband and kiddos....cause he's so good about including them in restorations.

And who knows, maybe they'll actually use the dump truck to haul something one day.  

Daddy's Arms

There's nothing more powerful a man's arms can be used for....