Jogasaurus - I think I qualify

And the Renovations Continue

Dan's made major progress on the attic this weekend:

• Finished electrical outlets, switches - including moving a switch
• Finished plumbing - the laundry room is another step closer to being finished!
• Mud & tape
• Brought up some scaffolding & installed casters so he can slide the contraption around - In case you're wondering why he needs scaffolding in an attic...well, the ceiling is pretty high, so he's able to mud and tape those drywall joints over his head without climbing a ladder
• Moved a bunch of stuff and cleaned the area

While he's been up on the third level, I got inspired to do something about our master bath. We've lived here for five years now. Way back on week 2 after we moved in, I pulled off all the ugly wallpaper in the bathroom. And that was where I left that project. There was mold under that wallpaper and the mold didn't go away in five years! So, I tackled the walls. Primed, skimmed, sanded, primed again. I still have a few places to sand and skim again, prime again, etc. Hopefully, I'll be able to apply paint sometime this week! Also, I have to sand down the trim, which has a bunch of layers of alligator-like paint. I'll repaint the trim, too. This project is more time consuming than I ever thought it would be.

Mountain Dew

I thought this was kinda funny. This is probably only a month's worth (or less?) of the Mountain Dew that Dan's brother's family consumes. These are empties, of course.

Dan made the switch to Diet Mountain Dew a few years ago. I admit that it's an acquired taste. Do I see a case of Diet Dew in that stack?

I'm guessing the Root Beer may have been contributed by Dan's dad.

Not exactly sure what the hula-hoop is on the pile for.

Children of the Corn

Yesterday was a day devoted to corn. You cannot live in Iowa and not appreciate good corn! I'm just lucky enough to have a brother-in-law & sister-in-law who planted the best variety of sweetcorn ("Coon's Delight") in the state, not to mention, an enormous patch of corn... with sharing in mind! How generous!!!

The timing worked out well, because I had to bring neice Lydia back to the grandparents yesterday, and the girls all wanted to spend time with their other cousin, Rebekah, who was already at grandma's and grandpa's.

So, we headed up the truck and we mozied on over to Washington...Iowa, that is. Tall corn. Rolling hills.

"We're ready!"

Corn Picking 101

Aunt Carmen gives a lesson in finding ripe ears of corn and how to pick them.

I didn't take any pictures of us shucking the corn. It went really fast, because all five girls helped Carmen, Grandpa, Ryan and me. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Grandpa during that time. He asked a good question..."What will you be doing 10 years from now?"

From field to mouth! Mmmm!

Monday, Monday...sha la sha la la la

More tree limbs went down with this morning's huge storm that went through.




The girls and their cousin, Lydia, getting warmed up to go into the pool.

A Quick Recap of this Week

So this week has flown by again. Where DOES the time go?

Here is a recap of this week's activities...

On Wednesday, we had a homeschool picnic at Fuller Park. Here the girls with their friend, Erin, and no...that's not Case! That's Samuel, who is one year older than Case and just as cute.



Earlier this week, Monday I think, I officially called off school and announced, "It's Summer Vacation!"

Of course, the girls didn't know they were still learning from Dad. He was experimenting with a way to split hydrogen from H2O. It takes a bit of energy - a few drained batteries later - but the experiment was successful. Moriah and Brooke were very into it. Haley...not so much.



And probably the best result of calling off school was a very cool school-type activity that sort of just happened as a result of the girls' imagination and their constant reading of American Girl magazines. Below is a cover for their own American Girl magazine they hope to publish in November/December. As you can tell, they've set up the photo shoots quite well. They're writing articles for their edition, and working on photoshopping the cover. Quite funny. If I had suggested something like this for a school project, I'm sure I would have heard whining. Guess I need to call off school a little more often!


Finally, today, I made a successful attempt to "culture" the kids by taking them to a free family day at the Figge Art Museum in the Quad Cities. It was awesome. The best part for me came when we were walking back to the car. Brooke said, "Thank you, Mommy, for taking us here." That was followed by two more thank yous.