What we’re up to #1: Symantha

Since I have been slacking like crazy on my blog lately, I am going to do a little catch up. One person in our family will be featured each day, just showing some of my favorite events or pics of the last couple months. There has been a lot going on around here, despite the constant time stealer of THE HOUSE. So, Symantha is up first.

This girl loves to have her picture taken lately. All the time it’s, “Here Mom, take a picture of this.” I will happily cooperate, but she is all about posing, which tend to NOT be my favorite pictures. I’m pretty sure that head tilt above is straight from her Nana. (Aren’t you proud, Mom?)

 

At the beginning of June, Symantha got to be a part of a basketball clinic with Tom Newell (former Sonics coach) at our church. He is the nicest man, and it was a good experience for her.

Symantha was Student of the Trimester in June.  Her principal read her certificate about how she was a joy to have in the classroom and what an amazing reader she is. She beamed through the whole thing. She was one of the top readers in the class and even earned a happy meal for reading 100 books by the end of the year.

All of the third grade did multiple reader’s theater performances of Charlotte’s Web and Symantha had the part of Charlotte. She loved this and was very dramatic (of course).

Symantha had a great third grade year, but she was very ready for summer vacation! On the last day, she finally got to ride the buses that circle around and honk their horns to celebrate the end of school. Every other year we have just watched them and waved, but I let her ride and be a part of the hoopla this time. She loved it.

So far, summer vacation has consisted of sleeping in, reading, birthday parties, a wedding, a campout with Dad, playing at parks, and swimming lessons every day this week.  She has been having a blast.

I love this big girl, can’t believe she is about to have a birthday and turn NINE!!!

Stay tuned for Hailey, tomorrow.

House update... finally

It’s been a whirlwind the last few weeks, as so much progress has been made on the house! I have been meaning to blog about things along the way, but now it is just going to be a big recap with lots of pictures.
It started out like this…

But a week later, it looked like this…

The framing part goes so fast! The girls were shocked when we pulled up and they could actually see some semblance of a house there. At this point they could actually walk through rooms with studs dividing them. It was SO exciting for all of us. The paper version we had been staring at for months was finally becoming reality.


At this point, Addison was very concerned that we would get rained on and it might be a little cold in our house. She really does not get this process, and it is so cute the things she asks about or comes up with.
The next day, the trusses came and it began to look like this:

A couple of days later, we had a picnic in what will be our kitchen/great room. Then we had an awesome family devotion about the blessing that God has given us with this house, and we wrote scriptures all over our walls. I had read this in a book years ago, and always wanted to do it. Grandma and Grandpa joined us in this and it was really cool.

We also have a little mountain view out our front windows, at least until the trees grow up

And finally the most recent pics as of Saturday.

Addison helped me take pictures, she has seen Mommy do this a lot
It’s so fun to see the changes every single day. There is still a long way to go, but a lot of the major decisions have been made and this part is really fun.

June: Ten on Ten

Ten on ten is hard when you have a busy, fun day with friends and take TONS of pictures. How about you don't count my pictures and just pretend there are only ten - I am totally cheating. But here is our day:

PS - I know I have been a total slacker blogger lately, and an update on the house and our lives is coming soon.

Breaking Ground

I am taking a short break in my overwhelmed and currently crazy life to do a quick blog post.

Two weeks ago, we officially broke ground on our house – it was very exciting! It has been about 6 years in the making and for a while there we thought it wasn’t going to happen. I had to be in a class when we actually started digging, but my brother-in-law Cory sent me a text and a picture and I actually got a little teary-eyed. Since then, the craziness has really begun. We have had some issues, as to be expected, but they have all been worked out. Derek has been at the property often until 10-11 at night, but soon that will get a little better too. We bring him dinner when he has to be there, and always drop in to see how things are going. The girls love this, although Addi asks each day if our house is done yet.

It is all lots of mud and cement and steel bars right now, and we live in rubber boots. I have a feeling there will be lots more dirty socks, like these:

But you can tell how upset it makes the kids by the look on Symantha’s face.

It is going to be a long and crazy process, but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Each step is so exciting, and I have a feeling these next few months are going to fly by. Hopefully I can keep up!

Ten on Ten: May