Mini Golf

We have 2 Mini Golf places in town and Johnsie has been begging to go ever since we moved here. Finally, we made time to go.

We were having such a great time.

Everyone got 1 hole in one.

I swear this kid never looks at the camera. It is so hard to get a picture with him actually looking at me. Of course, it doesn't help that I am constantly taking pictures. He gets bored of me.

Ok, so he is looking at me here. Finally! He is such a sweet boy.

He was having such a wonderful time.

And then, it was time to go. He should have been super happy because Ryan's hole in one was on the last hole so, he won us a free game.

But, that was not making this guy happy. No way. He was truly bummed.

I am so horrible, taking pictures of a crying kid. I should have been consoling him. Nope, not me, I thought he was too cute not to capture the moment.

I even got it on video. Mean, mean mom.

Well, Well, Well

Our well is now dug.

It went down to 160 ft and it releases 7 gallons per minute.

I am learning SO much building this house. I have no clue about wells or septic systems.

I do know that this little bugger is now sitting on my front lawn and I have been advised to cover him with a fake rock. See, learning IS taking place!

Our siding also started going up today.

Things are really moving along however, our front door still hasn't come in so, Phil just covered up the hole so we won't risk ruining our flooring.

Speaking of flooring, isn't the living room floor gorgeous. I was told it is anyway. Our guys covered it up right after they finished installing it. Preservation, I am told! Please do, because as soon as my big old dogs walk on it, it will get scratched. Oi!

The stairs that lead upstairs are now finished. This makes ME really happy. No more going up and down ladders. It was pretty creepy going up a ladder that was sitting on a false floor.

Next up is installing a railing right where I am standing. I am up on the 2nd floor by the boy's bedrooms.

The stairs leading to the basement were almost finished when I left today.

Plant Markers

I saw these on the The Crafty Crow this morning. Aren't they the greatest.

Currently, we have 50 seedlings sitting outside in 5 large pots. We purchased them from the county. We have 20 Douglas Fir, 10 Red Maple and then we purchased 2 of these ready made packs. Our Song Bird pack has 2 Witch Hazel, 2 Bittersweet, 2 American Cranberry, 2 Elderberry and 2 Sassafras. And our Nut Tree pack has 2 Red Oak, 2 White Oak, 2 American Filbert, 2 American Beech and 2 Black Walnut.

I am going to need these markers just to keep straight what we planted where.

And, just yesterday Johnsie and I were picking rocks that have been unearthed at the lot, to keep for gardening accents. I think we may have to go pick a few more today.

In goes the Floor

Yesterday, they started to lay the hardwood floor.

It looks so great. I can't wait till it is done.

I see lots of Tom Cruise slides on here.

We weren't sure if they were going to glue or nail the floor. We were told that nailing this type of bamboo can sometimes leave dimples in the wood but, so far so good.

This is what will go in our entryway. It is so hard to tell how big things are when I zoom in like this. This is 3ft x 3ft. So, it is pretty large. We liked one that had red tiles that were very similar to the color of the hardwood but, they only had those in a smaller size. The smaller one would have looked goofy. :(

These are super spendy but, we purchased ours at a discount building supply store. Yay for us!

This is the start of our stairs. It is kind of hard to understand this picture. On the left side there will be stairs attached that go up and on the right side there will be stairs that go down to where I am standing in the kitchen. When standing on the 2nd step, you see here, you can look over our closet into the entry. The window you see is the one above on front door.

We love the idea of how open this whole area is BUT, we are nervous because it will be very easy for two boys, who shall remain nameless, to climb on top of the front coat closet. No biggie but, on the other side there is an 8 ft drop to the entryway floor. The builder purposely made the top of the closet super sturdy because he is also foreseeing climbers.

Ryan and I discussed the idea of putting a railing up but, neither of us thinks that it will look good. We are first going to try to enforce NO CLIMBING. I guess time will tell.

Honestly, I know we will eventually have to put something up, temporarily at least. I, so know, that they are going to put a huge pile of pillows on the entry floor and try to jump down into them. Boys = Stinkers! Chickie would never have dreamed of doing that. Right lady?

What We're Reading

Click the button above to see what others are reading!

This was a really cute book about these 4 silly chickens that keep trying to get to from their coop to the farm house.

We are seeing caterpillars everywhere here these days. To be honest, it is kind of nasty. They are hanging from trees all over the place. I am assuming they are Gypsy moths. Ish!

Anyway, this book was super sweet. Clara, a cabbage butterfly, teaches the other butterflies that it is wonderful to be common and plain. This book has a ton of great C words- captivating, capered, carefree, colossal, clambered, curious, cautious, courageous and a ton more. We had a great vocab lesson reading this.

Cute book by John Lithgow, he was so great in Footloose. Sorry, anywho, Sue doesn't like being a kangaroo so, she pretends to be other marsupials. In the end, she decides that being a kangaroo is perfect.

A family of mice never can decide what to watch on TV. There aren't a ton of words in this book. But, we had fun going through the pictures of the television frames and interpreting what was happening during each show.

Happy Reading.

Blocks

I bought these blocks forever ago at a thrift store back in MN. They are made from chunks of a 2x4. The letters are a part of the wood, they are not just glued on. So, I think they were made by at home by someone who had one of those cool saws that can engrave. Ok, I sound like a boob, because I have no clue what kind of saw it is but, we just were watching a commercial on DIY where someone made a monogrammed fireplace mantel using one. -Hope they never plan on moving or plan to sell to someone with the same last initial-

Who cares anyway, I thought they were cute. I just didn't get why someone would have blocks spelling NASA?

Honestly, I think they probably said SANTA and the T got lost in Timbuktu.

Anyway, I took the little buggers outside and gave them a fresh coat of black spray paint.

This rock has been getting a lot of use lately.

After that, I cut a piece of thin cardboard the same size of the blocks. And then, because I am so cool nerdy, I took out this used birthday bag that I had been saving because I really liked the paper but, couldn't reuse as a bag because of a hole. I cut it a little bigger than my cardboard and folded and taped it to each piece of cardboard.

Ok, so earlier today, I went to the craft store and bought a whole bunch of these black letters. What I want to do is make removable fronts for the blocks that I can change out each month. I figured I would just velcro the cardboard onto the blocks.

So, I proceeded to buy like 6 O's and 5 E's, etc and then I got to thinking on the drive home. Duh, Cindy, just put velcro on the backs of the letters too and just reuse the letters.

Guess, I have to make a trip back to the craft store. I am really so sad and upset about that. Seriously, I loathe craft stores as much as I despise thrift stores. No, not really, because actually I am pretty OBSESSED. Honestly, I keep thinking about this little junk store we passed the other day when we went to Fillmore Glen State Park. I am just waiting until I have an hour to myself to go check it out. Seriously, this store invades my thoughts multiple times a day. I really need to get a life.

I do need some help with coming up with words for a few months though. Or more creative words for the ones I already have. So, please give me any ideas you might have. They can be 3 letter words too.

January-----SNOW
February----LOVE
March-------LUCK
April--------EGGS
May--------
June-------PLAY
July-------STAR
August----
Sept.------FALL
Oct.--------BOO
Nov.-------
Dec.-------NOEL

Chickie and I were just talking and we came up with GIVE for November.

CSN Product review.

I'm so excited! The nice folks at CSNStores.com asked me to do a product review. They have over 200+ websites, so there is much to look at.

I bounced around looking at some of their pretty things and ended up at their Racks and Stands store looking at Corner TV Stands. In the boys' old room we had a huge, ginormous book shelf. I actually think it was built in the room because we tried to get one just like it out of Chickie's room with no success.

So, currently the boys are left with no shelving in their rooms. I have been looking around for T.V. stands and shelves for over the past few months. CSNStores.com has so many to choose from it is so AWESOME!

Anyway, stay turned for the product review. I can hardly wait!