What does it take to slow you down?

Oh, what plans we had for these weeks without the kids around! We would clean and organize, we would build things, we would re-do things! And what have we gotten done?
You saw the door. The door is still in the same condition, due to lack of more paint stripper and room to work. And neither one of those is easily resolved. You see, the van is nearing it's death, and it is not willing to go quietly. Last week I found it with a flat tire - so it spent a day in the shop getting a new one. Unfortunately we forgot (didn't think to) tell the shop not to open the driver's window - I had heard a familiar sound recently, the sound of the window's electric drive motor breaking. Thankfully the window was up, and I planned for it to stay that way until we traded it in for a new vehicle. But the tire shop didn't know that, and now the window is down, the van is parked in the garage, and there is no where to set up the door on sawhorses in order to strip the paint off the other side.
Our time is rapidly diminishing, and we haven't finished a single planned job. Oh well.

Summer 2009, project #1

The reason we won't be having guests in our home anytime soon:

It's time to work on the bathroom door! In previous years we have done the walls and the window. The door needed to be stripped (and so does the door jamb, and I'll plan to tackle that as soon as we buy more paint remover), and this seemed like the best time to do it.

Peel Away 6 is the product we used. As promised, it removed the paint - and our door had a lot of paint on it, including 2 coats of gloss or enamel. It didn't have an awful toxic smell (almost pleasant, really!), and I didn't have to wear gloves while working with it. I applied the remover Monday morning, and after 2 hours of removing hardware and scraping (not hard) on Tuesday afternoon most of the paint was gone. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Birthday wrap-up

We finally fulfilled a promise made to Jamie - today he got to use his birthday money at the new Lego store. He was thrilled by the store! I think he could've spent all day (and all our money!) there, but we managed to get out after only half an hour.
His purchase: Anakin Skywalker's ship, complete with R2-D2.

In older news, Jamie's pool party was wet, but not because the kids got to swim. Due to a bunch of rain moving through our area we had the party indoors, which was a bit of a disappointment to all the kids, but they had a good time playing together after all.

Jamie chose the birthday candle himself -a duck? a quail? It has been sitting on our shelf for awhile. He was quite adamant that it be used instead of regular birthday cake candles!

We adults had a good time, too, talking and relaxing together. No one had lifeguard duty!

Eventually it cleared up enough for the kids to play outside a little - but the trees kept "raining" on them as they played, so they didn't spend too much time outside.

A little whining about not swimming, a little cleaning up after the guests left, and we were able to relax the rest of the Saturday afternoon.

Six Years Ago

Six years old must be quite grown up. Jamie decided that he would get up on his own now, dress himself, and pour his own juice now that he is six. He did quite well. But six-year-olds may still need a nap, especially after a long day of playing with friends. I had to wake him up when Jim got home early - but there was no whining; presents could be opened!
And such lovely presents they were! Lego Batman! Indiana Jones game and musical toothbrush! Lego Star Wars shirt! Robot book! Money!!!
What fun it is to turn six!

Cheap summertime fun

We do not have a pool in our yard, we do not belong to the neighborhood pool, and there are no inexpensive city pools nearby. What to do when the day warms up? Slip-n-slide. At Wal-mart you can buy $5 instant fun.
Apparently, though, my kids need a little more homeschool for the year. They don't know how to slide! After a few times of being "thrown" down onto the mat, Jamie has gotten the idea. Dot still needs some practice. Go do your homework - 10 more slides!

Graduation and Memorial Day 2009

Our busy month of May is almost done. We have completed our traveling for awhile, and we are ready to be at home and back to normal. Well, as normal as summer break can be...
The graduation went well, and the work to set up and clean up wasn't too terribly taxing. "Many hands make light work" certainly proved true. The ceremony was a nice tribute not only to Amanda, but also to her mom and family. There were many friends and family members in attendance at the reception, and plenty of good food. It was good to see everyone!
In between preparations we were able to wash cars and do a little yard sale shopping. Amazingly, it was "The Great American Treasure Hunt" weekend in Norwalk, and we enjoyed looking over tables and tables of items in three blocks of downtown. Thankfully, we had a little extra room in the trunk of our car to stash away a few treasures.
On to Columbus, where we packed as much as possible into fewer than 24 hours. As always, Mom and Dad made us welcome, loved and comfortable, and Mike came over to help spoil our kids. Andy and his family came down for the holiday weekend, and Doug and Lori came over to visit for a little while as well. The kids were thrilled to be able to play with their cousins (and it helped them to run off a little extra energy before we got into the car for the long trip home!).
If you are interested, there are more photos HERE.

Vacation 2009

We are home from a wonderful vacation. The mountains were lovely, so lovely that our photos cannot do them justice. However, if you would like to see way too many photos of the Great Smoky Mountains and the Biltmore, look HERE.

(It took me a very long time to get the photos ready, so as I find time I will add captions to explain them.)