Moments In Time

Sisters :)

Licking the beater after helping

make Mayonnaise Cake Cupcakes

Tummy-Time!

Sunglasses and Sidewalk Chalk;

one of the last warm mornings of summer.

Sleeping Sylvia

Waking up with a smile as usual. :)

Having fun in the "car" :)

Another warm morning;

outside before breakfast.

(She is holding a Hershey's Kiss, her special treat

for sleeping without her paci.)

The Addition - On A {Paint} Roll

Upstairs:  Den

Little bit by little bit, the addition project is moving along.  It seems to have picked up a little speed, but maybe that is just because the work that is being done is much more easily seen. :-)



Drywall is up and we have started painting!!  It is a LOT of paint to put up!  We were given some paint from Daniel's parents (a lot of trim paint, some ceiling paint and some partial gallons of colors that I thought we could use), but I still had to buy 21 gallons of paint!  We prefer the high quality, Benjamin Moore paint and we get the primer tinted, so we only have to do 1 coat of primer and then 1 final coat of paint.




Much of the addition has been primed and I have been spending every afternoon possible working at painting the final coats.  I discovered that it is really hard for me to paint ceilings, so I cut them in and then let Daniel paint them.  (The white-on-white is REALLY hard to see, plus my neck feels like it is going to break in two from having to look up at the ceiling that much!)

Two rooms that we have not done anything in yet are the downstairs 1/2 bath and the downstairs school/office room.  I have not decided colors for those yet.  I need to do that soon, though, because it will soon be their turn to go under the brush.

Daniel painting the stair-way.
I leave that area to his balancing expertise!

Daniel's parents came over one evening and helped prime the master bedroom, and then one Saturday morning 2 friends came and help prime the entire "common areas" - the (upstairs) den and the (downstairs) living room, foyer and hallway.  It was wonderful to have that huge space primed in such a short time.

Master Bedroom
ceiling: (leftover) White Dove
walls: a home-mix of (leftover) Soft Fern and Silken Pine

We *think* we will be able to start using the addition by the end of the month.  We have been determined to not go into any debt at all to build this, so we will be moving in before some things are finished.  The biggest unfinished item will be the floors.  We really want to put down hardwood floors and possibly even use reclaimed barn-wood if we can find an affordable way to get it planed, but whatever we do, it will be a large-dollar item and I am guessing that it will be about 2 years before we can afford it.  In the meantime we're planning to give the sub-flooring a coat of paint (probably a brown color) to somewhat hide the drywall splats and dust that has been ground in, and then top it with a coat of shellac to reduce splintering (especially for little, bare feet).

Master Bath

ceiling: Simply White

walls: Sweet Bluette
(a little more blue than the picture shows)

Interior doors, trim and the master bath will also be things to happen after we move in and as we have the money.

Nursery
ceiling: Simply White

walls: Vanilla ice Cream

Regardless, I am SO excited and eager to begin living in the addition.  One thing we are really looking forward to is being able to have guests.  Right now we can have guests, but it is very, very hard to host people for a meal when there is not enough seating!

Susannah "painting"
with a dry brush and empty paint can.

Anyway, working on painting is sort-of fun to do, and a large part in why I have not been doing much blogging lately. 

I've become pretty close friends with these:

Menu Planning Is Good!

Last week I really enjoyed having a menu plan.  I did not follow it to a T as a few things came up that prevented doing so, but it was very helpful and it made the meal-making part of my life EASIER!

Having enjoyed that bit of relief from having to plan meals each day, I really do want to try consistent menu planning.

Monday: Breakfast ~ Since Daniel was home and we had slept in, Daniel made egg sandwiches while I fed Sylvia her breakfast.
                 Dinner ~ Hamburgers, COTC, baked potatoes

Tuesday: Breakfast ~ Applesauce Muffins, strawberries (from freezer) and yogurt (homemade)
                 Dinner ~ Chicken and Rice Casserole, leftover COTC

Wednesday: Breakfast ~ Scrambled Eggs, Toast, Oranges
                      Dinner ~ Hamburger Pot Pie (didn't get made last week)

Thursday: Breakfast ~ Leftover Muffins, Smoothies
                    Dinner ~ Marinated Baked Chicken, Macaroni, 7-Layer Salad

Friday: Breakfast ~ French Toast, Fruit
              Dinner ~ Lasagna, Garlic Bread, leftover Salad (OR we might be going to visit friends for dinner)

Saturday: Breakfast ~ Cereal
                  Dinner ~ Choir Social - taking a side dish

Sunday: Breakfast ~ Quiche
                Lunch ~ Leftovers

Tiny Talk Tuesday - Singing Inchworms!

This is a Tiny Talk Tuesday compiled over the course of several weeks as I jot things down.

This morning I remembered something from yesterday's shopping trip. :)  As we were finishing up in WalMart, Sylvia was getting rutchy in her carseat and I knew it was because she was in bad need of her nap that was being disturbed.  After loading us all into the car, I commented "Sylvia, you can close your eyes and go to sleep now."  I didn't think another thing of it.  About 5 min. down the road, I hear Susannah very sternly (ok, bossily!) saying "Sulia (like "Julia"), cose eyes, seep! (close eyes, sleep)"  Then she said it again.  I glanced in the mirror to see Susannah looking quite stern and wagging her finger at Sylvia while saying this!  Needless to say, I had to on-the-fly come up with a brief lesson on who is and is not the "boss" and how we need to speak nicely.

*********

*********

Current Susannah-ese:

Cottage cheese with peaches = "Cottage Peaches"

Wear (like wearing clothes) = "wearya"

Pillow = "Puhyer"

Hear or Heard = "Her"  {"Her Daddy take shahyer (shower)?" is a common one on Sunday mornings. :-)}

Pajamas = "Dah-mez" {That one took me a whole bedtime routine to figure out!}

*********

*********

Tuesday evening Daniel, Susannah and I were out in the addition relaxing and hanging out (we have mattresses out there on the floor from when we had overnight guests).  Susannah had a lot of fun running around in the big open living room while Daniel and I sat and relaxed.  She found a bucket of drywall screws and picked a few of them up.
Daniel:  Susannah, what are those?
Susannah: Nails!
Daniel:  No, not nails...
Susannah:  Pokey things!  (They are sharp and pointy on the ends.)

*********

*********

{Susannah putting away utensils from the dishwasher.}  Just for fun, I gave her an inch-worm kiss (a silly thing I came up with the other night during bedtime).  After giving her an inch-worm kiss, she said "heard inchworm singing!" 
"You heard an inchworm singing?!" 
"Yes!" 
Dear girl, I think you must have excellent hearing!  :-)
{In her defense, I did have some music playing very softly in the background, so I'm sure she was hearing THAT instead of an inchworm.}

*********

*********

In an effort to teach Susannah good manners and politeness, we have started teaching her how to properly ask for something, "May I have ____, please?"  Often times we the answer we give her is "yes, you may."

The conversation used to go something like this:
Susannah: "Cashews? (or other desired item)"
Parent:  "How do you ask?"
 Susannah: "Please? Day-doe!" ("There-ya-go" used to be our answer, and she would say it for us!)

Now the conversation sometimes goes like this:
Susannah: "Cashews please?" 
Parent: "You need to ask the right way."
Susannah: "May have cashews, please? Yessu-may!"


*All of the pictures are from a recent trip to my Aunt and Uncle's farm.