Entryway Rennovation

After almost two weeks of being torn apart, our entryway is now functional and beautiful with new tile. Back in 2009, Jeremy and some friends redid our bathroom flooring which remains to this day one of the most dramatic and awesome updates we've made to the house.

Our entryway tile has been broken and needing some help for a while, but I think a few of the tiles shattering was the last straw. So when we hired a guy to come repair the huge hole in the drywall in the ceiling our downstairs bathroom (due to a leaky shower pipe just days after our crawl space flooded. Sheesh!)...he mentioned to Jer that he also did tile and could cut him a package deal.

Since this guy and his compatriots were doing this as a side job that means it took a long time to finish. A couple hours here, a couple hours there...not to mention some unexpected snags like black mold eating up the plywood underneath, that had gotten wet from a leaky door that we replaced years ago. Sheesh.

Oh and the reason for all the broken, cracked and shattered tiles? The backer-board underneath the old tile was a thin kind designed for linoleum floors and not tile.  Can I say sheesh again?

Man we sure are turning this McMansion into dream house if you ask me.


Anyway. I didn't take a before picture but I did some digging and found one. That's baby Tessa!...on the old tile which was glazed white marble.

When glazed white marble meet some moisture from someone's shoes it turns into an ice rink.It makes me think of the sign that Papaw used to have at the farm where the creek crosses over a piece of concrete path.. "Slick Ass Slab". Yes it was a slick ass slab.

So we went with something with more texture and also a rustic look that matches the rest of the house really nicely. I'm just not a shiny and fancy kinda gal, plus it's very similar to the bathroom tile too.

After days of the upheaval of not being able to walk through here and having the contents of our coat closet and such strewn about, it's such a pretty sight to see a finished project. Ah, much better!

Garden Picture Retrospective

5 Years Old

4 Years Old

3 Years Old

2 Year Old

1 Year Old

5 Year Old Pics in the Garden

First and Last

First day of Preschool, August 2011.

Last day of Preschool, May 2012

Last Day of Preschool 2012

Yesterday the kids had their last day of preschool for the year. And Tessa's last day forever...sniff sniff. Well not really because she will be going two mornings a week this summer for their "summer with a purpose" program. It's pretty darn cool. Part day camp, part VBS, lots of fun.

Anyway, the last day of OFFICIAL preschool is what I mean. They had a circus day and I got to go an volunteer.

According to Tessa this is our future son in law. That's a lot of tattoos for a 5 year old.

If you're wondering why I have no pictures of Charley it's because I had signed up to help Tessa's class. But I spied him in the jumpy castle, see!

Halfway through the day though Jeremy showed up and surprised him by joining his class. Surprised me too. I guess his meeting was cancelled.

There were snow cones!

At the end of the day the kids had their usual worship time but family was invited.

Here are all the classes saying one of their memory verses. Tessa is picking at her band aid instead.


And here they are singing one of my favorite songs. I'm not going to lie, I got a little verklempt even though they are beings so silly. Don't laugh, it was sweet! Good thing Jeremy didn't notice, so I can keep my reputation as the cold hearted lady who never cries.

May Lakin'

This weekend we headed up north for a super short trip to the lake. Just Fri-Sun, but still enough time for some fun and relaxation.

After several trips last summer we had planned to go up for a week in October (my favorite time of year at the lake) but somebody had to go and get titanium screws placed in their foot. Crazy clumsy person. Jeremy was this there a few weeks ago for 'opening weekend'...meaning the men of the family meet up there to open up for the season, put in the dock and boat and presumably drink some beer.

But for me it had been too long.

We drove up Friday and the kids were in the lake almost immediately. And by kids I mean Tessa....while Charley stood on the dock and refused to get wet. He's a sissy, it's a fact. But he's MY sissy.

Saturday we went to Gramaw's apartment to visit her.

If you think that an old lady's apartment is a boring place for kids, you'd be wrong. There's a big courtyard with exercise balls to play with...

Unlimited coffee, juice and cookies...

Apparently Teddy and Annie (photography by Charley)....

Mommy's camera...

Walker races!!!

Gramaw....

And a pool table....

I joked that we woke up the whole place since it was mid afternoon and possibly nap time. The kids screamed while playing in the courtyard and one old lady came out just to check and make sure somebody wasn't hurt. I don't think they do alot of random screaming there.

After we had woken that whole wing up we woke up the other wing with our walker races and I'm sure the folks who live near the pool table might not have appreciated our joviality either.

That's totally their fault though. I mean they do live right next door to a pool table.


Back at the lake we did the normal lake stuff.

Like rode the NEW boat, slept on the NEW mattresses and enjoyed the NEW fire pit!  Man this place is upgrading all the time.

The fire pit was fun. We moved dinner down there and hung out all evening, cooking burgers and s'mores. Although I got a little tired of saying.....Move back! Don't run! Don't touch! Jeremy stop yelling! Everybody just CALM DOWN! Stuff like that.

Sunday we evening we made the four hour drive home just in time for bed. 

Teacher Love

6 single carnation plants- $6.99

Convenient plastic basket for transporting to school- Free!

Pink tissue paper for wrapping- $2.99

6 little cards- around $6.00

 

Saying thanks to the Preschool teachers for an awesome year....worth every penny! 

(You thought I was going to say priceless didn't you?)

If you think I'm a suck up, you're wrong. At least mostly. I just come from a family full of hard working teachers. They all deserve some love now and then.

Shaking Things Up in Columbus

Friday (which is typically our day for fun adventures), we decided to try someplace new. We pass through Columbus on the way to visit our family in North Vernon, and I've been eying the Kids Commons for a while now.

We started like many adventure days with breakfast at Sophia's. That way everyone gets a big full belly and we don't have to worry about getting food when we get there.

It's probably a little more than 30 minutes away but totally worth the drive just for this badboy.....

It's a huge tower climbing structure. I know it looks dangerous but it's designed so they can't fall (or if they do they will just fall to the step below them).

When I was a kid this used to be the Commons mall and now it's no longer a mall, but they remodeled part of the building and use it for events and conferences and whatnot. The mall always did have what I thought was a cool indoor playground but when I was a kid it did not include this tower thing.

I didn't know what I was missing. 

Look at all the different designs of these types of 'climbers'. Some of them are so cool!

 (Note the Columbus courthouse in the background. Maybe I should send this pic to their board of tourism?)

Aside from the tower the rest of the playground is pretty cool too. In the hot summer months we are always looking for cool free places to blow off steam and play. This just made it to the top of the list.

I was content to stay in the playground are all day but had made the mistake of telling Tessa there was a children's museum across the street. She talked me into it.

We are pretty darn spoiled with our regular Children's Museum (the largest in the world!) so this place seemed pretty small and a little overpriced, but it was fun. After a large school group left we were the only ones there for a long time.

There was a bubble zone but the bubbles kept popping. I think they need to work on their bubble recipe.

The giant toilet slide was pretty darn cool. Yes you climb down in and it 'flushes' you into a slide that takes you down a story. Charley would NOT do it. I think he thought it was a real toilet. All the pleading in the world wouldn't make him change his mind.

There was a little athletic area up top with some games and equipment, where Tessa got buff.

I think the museum guide guy felt like he needed to entertain us since we were there all alone, so he shot off some alka seltzer rockets in film canisters in the alley. That was pretty fun but I didn't get any pictures. He kept trying to shoot them onto the roof, and succeeding. He told the kids to try it at home and I had to chime in and add that we don't OWN any film canisters, or film for that matter. Perhaps we can improvise.

All in all it was a great day down south and a good change of scenery.