The basement!

We have finished most of our basement. Only the downstairs bathroom still needs construction. We still have to hang some doors and put up the molding, but it has been so nice to enjoy the rest of it, we have been waiting so long. So here at last, I am posting a few pictures of the new carpet, walls, and paint. The first picture is a view of the toy room from the perspective of the closet under the stairs.

This next picture is the toy room from the other side.

We are going to put up a chalk board for the kids on the wall by the stairs. We have the chalkboard paint and the board, we just need to put the two together and hang it up. I think it will be lots of fun for them, as well as easy clean up for me. The next picture is of our family or TV room. We are still deciding what to do in this room for seating.

The next room is the computer/game room. I don't have pictures of Mary's room yet, she wants her curtains up for the finished look. Hopefully, I will get those sewn up this weekend and will post about it next week.

Although the different lighting makes the carpet look like it might be different colors in different rooms, it is only due to the different lights, I think. The carpet is throughout the entire basement as well as the stairs. It truly feels like a different basement than the one we initially had.

Having a nap

Emma is always falling asleep in the oddest places... here are a few more examples, though they are not a complete showing.

And one last silly picture of the whole bunch...

All I want for Christmas....

Finally! A few posts back, I mentioned Emma being very impatient to loose a tooth. She had one on the top that was almost loose... I never thought to check the teeth on the bottom. On the first of November, she lost her first tooth, and then yesterday her second. She is absolutely thrilled and asked me last night for the phone number of the tooth fairy.

Socks

This is a picture of my great-grandmother Agatha Hilda Fullmer. It hangs on a wall in my bedroom. Benjamin loves this picture. The first time he talked about it to me, it took me a minute to understand that he was talking about the picture, because he said "missing a sock." Now we have regular conversations about the horse that is missing a sock. He finds it very funny.

Priesthood Leadership Conference

About a month ago we had our normal stake conference. At that conference we were informed that we would be having another stake conference in four weeks, at which the entire stake would attend solely at the stake center. Yesterday we went to that conference which was presided over by Elder Ronald A. Rasaband of the Presidency of the Seventy. There were no changes to the stake (which we were expecting) instead this was our introduction to Priesthood Leadership Conferences. Elder Bednar and Elder Rasaband came and visited with leaders (mission, bishopric, stake, and others) and had a four hour meeting with them on Saturday. This new type of conference will allow the leadership of the stakes of the church to recieve a visit from an apostle about every 4 years. Elder Rasaband also attended a stake youth fireside Saturday evening.

Sunday morning we listened to a talk from our stake president, several testimonies from youth and adults in the stake, Brother and Sister Border from the Spokane Mission, and Brother and Sister Grimmett in the Spokane Temple Presidency, and then Elder Rasaband. What I heard of the meeting I really enjoyed (I spent the majority of the time dealing with a cranky Benjamin).

Happenings of the past week

A couple of post-able events that occured this week:

Benjamin is big enough to wear the size 2/3 Sunbeam shirt. This shirt has been passed down from Rebekah to Emma and now Benjamin. Emma was at first sad to see her old shirt in Ben's drawer, but quickly changed her feelings to excitement that he was getting so big. She wanted him to wear it right away. Afterwards, she and Ben went out to the living room to play. She set up a couple of chairs and they sang songs and pretended to listen and interact with a teacher. She came back into my room and proudly announced that she was helping Ben learn how to be a Sunbeam.

Another moment involving Emma...I was playing a game on the computer when Emma came into the room and asked if I could get a certain stuffed animal down from the pet net (a little hammock thingy) in her room. Rebekah was playing on the top bunkbed and could easily reach the toy so I asked her to grab it, which she happily did. After a few minutes Emma was back to ask if she could have all of her stuffed animals down to play with. I told her to go ask her sister really nicely to get them down for her. From my room, I listened to her ask "Rebekah, mom asks you to super pretty pretty please with 100 cherries on top of purple to get my animals down." Rebekah again very nicely said "Sure." Emma then exclaimed with great glee "Hooray for my evil plan!" What a goose! The "evil" part of her plan was to tell Rebekah that I wanted Emma's animals down instead of it just being Emma's request. I laughed for a while about that one.

That old ploy...

Tonight at dinner we had a first. We ate spaghetti, garlic bread, green beans, and applesauce. As parents, Steven and I are pretty easy going when it comes to how much vegetables our kids must eat. For green beans, they must eat as least as many as their age. In Emma's case this typically means five. However due to her extreme dislike of green beans, (she eats other vegetables really well) Steven told her she must eat one and if she wanted another piece of garlic bread, she needed two more. A few minutes later she chirps "I ate one, Daddy, do I have to eat any more?" Steven said that if she wanted more bread than yes she did.

This time he happened to be watching her more closely and she failed to notice that Dad was watching her stuff her green beans under the edge of her plate, out of sight. It brought to mind the many times as a child that I sat at the table staring at a vegetable after everyone was done eating (usually cooked spinach or lima beans) in utter disgust, waiting for my parents to forget I was in the kitchen so I could put it in the garbage. I distinctly remember one time in particular that I stuffed a large amount of lima beans in the legs of the table and under my plate, feeling terribly clever all the while.

Steve was really good about not letting her see his amusement with her behavior and both of us continued to watch the drama with secret smiles. There was a lot of gagging and even a brief scraping of the tongue with a finger. Finally after a large drink of milk, the first green bean was consumed. She never did finish the other two, and also never got her second piece of bread. Tonight I think she was too tired to deal with more than the emotion she put into eating the first one. Kids are great.

Last week Mary started 6th grade. It has been quite an adjustment. Free time is now at a premium. I can't wait till we settle into a routine and I have a little more time during the day. She is enjoying her classes, some more than others of course, and is doing really good. Mary is also continuing her Viola this year. She is still able to go to the school twice a week to have music with other 6th graders.

Isaiah has started cross country this week. He has practice 3 days a week with a meet on Friday. Adding homework, reading and Scouts to his schedule, he is very busy. He likes his teacher Mrs. Golden and so far 4th grade is treating him well.

Rebekah is thrilled to be in school. She is in a combo class this year, with 3rd graders. She will be getting her first homework packet on Friday and is very excited. She is a child that I don't really have to remind to do her homework. She and Mary both lost another tooth on Sunday.

Emma had a birthday (finally!) on Sunday. She is absolutely thrilled to be five. Monday morning she asked me if she was in school now. She is very excited to have her first loose tooth. She has been frequently asking the past while how old a person has to be to have a loose tooth. Although her tooth wasn't very loose, I am confident that in her enthusiasm her tooth will come out sooner rather than later.

Benjamin is also doing great. I can't believe how tall he is getting. He often makes Steven and I laugh in disbelief at his grasp of words and sentances, he reminds us of Emma in that way. He can also usually be found with a car, dinosaur, or lightsaber lost in noisy make believe for quite a while.

Maybe not...

Just a quick note about the new kitty. In my last post I wrote about the adjustments Callie was going through. She wasn't able to accept her sister after all. She hissed, growled, stalked and batted at her. Co-Co, who I nicknamed Moaning Myrtle, spent most of her time at our home hiding in the bathroom behind the toilet. She was the sweetest kitty, she loved to be petted, but was very nervous and shy. Callie not only didn't get along with the new kitty, she started being hostile to us as well. She hissed at and tried to bite Steven and also hissed at Isaiah. The kids are really dissapointed. There were tears, but the best thing for both of them, was for Co-Co to go to a different household where she won't have a hostile sibling. Callie is already happier and purring again. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that our cat is onery... because the rest of us certainly are.

Callie's sister

Today we got another cat. Callie's sister's old owner moved across the country and didn't want to keep her. Her name was Missy, but we think we will change it to Co-Co. (The last half of the word calico, Callie is named from the first part of the word). From what we have been told her personality is a lot less fiesty and independant than Callie. Her behavior up till now is backing that up. She has spent the hour since she arrived hiding behind the toilet. When we got Callie, even as a kitten she explored the whole house and was very curious.

Callie was for the first little bit, very curious about the new arrival. After that passed she spent some time hissing at her. That too has passed, and now Callie is busy ignoring her. One of our original thoughts for taking a second cat was to give Callie some company...we'll have to see if that part works out. When/if Co-Co decides to come out of the bathroom, I will post a picture of both of them.

On a totally unrelated topic, I am tired of the heat and want Fall to arrive. I love crisp mornings and falling leaves. Last year it seemed as though one week was summer and then the next week we went straight to winter.

The Drywall is Done!

Today I hung the last piece of drywall in the basement (excluding the bathroom which will be a project for next year - due to plumbing issues)! I need to go pick up our third or fourth 60 pound bucket of mud and another roll of corner tape to finish the mudding and taping. Then I need to find out where to rent a machine to texture the walls for next week! I think that I will celebrate today by going to pick out paint colors. This has been such a long process for us, that I am still a little disbelieving that it is so close to being finished!

62.3 pounds

That is how heavy the boxes we recieved today for Mary's upcoming year of school were. She now has a stack of books and workbooks that is over a foot tall. I don't think the implications of that have sunk in yet, because she is super excited for school to start. Up until today she was often heard to point out that while Isaiah and Rebekah start next Thursday, on August 27th, she didn't have to start until September 8th. Today she was complaining that she had to wait longer to start school.

Books and more books weren't the only thing in all the boxes. She also recieved pictures of art, acrylic paints, paint brushes, modeling clay and oil pastels for art this year. For science she recieved a magnifying glass, an advanced rock and mineral collection, wall maps, pipe cleaners, more modeling clay, safety glasses, a large test tube, packets of sand and one of gravel, a magnet set and a thermometer. For American History, she was sent an inflatable globe and more wall maps. Combined with all the things that she will be doing on the computer, I am very satisfied that she is going to have a great year learning and doing new things.

In other news, today Isaiah is going out to a ranch to learn about and perhaps ride horses for his Cub Scout den meeting. He is so very excited and Mary and Rebekah (fervent lovers of all things horse) are very envious.

Brownie Points, Please

There is a new system of work and reward in our home. It started a couple of weeks ago when I asked one of the kids (Isaiah, I think) to please run upstairs and fetch the wipes and a diaper. Feeling his age, he asked what he would get for it, and I told him he could have a brownie point (to me a brownie point is when you don't get anything but goodwill from a person for doing something). He went and did what I asked right away and I gave it no more thought. Later, while I was upstairs making lunch, Mary rushes into the room, with Isaiah and Rebekah close behind wanting to know what she could do to earn a "donut point, too." Several days passed with the kids frequently asking what they could do to earn points and arguing over who would do the small something to earn a point. They kept a running tally and talked about it A LOT. I must admit, I found something for them to do every time they asked.

They were all approaching double digits, before they realized they didn't know what exactly brownie points are good for. Mary started grumbling that it was just another way to get them to help out at home, besides their daily chore (she is starting to catch on too quickly to some things). So I decided that they could redeem brownie points for various things, extra time on the computer or video games, staying up a little past their bedtime (that one won't work during school), or other special things. They can also lose brownie points, especially at bedtime if they don't go when they are told. Bedtimes have been much nicer, a good deal less wandering of the halls, and what not.

I just have to add this picture taken last Sunday. What a Cutie!

A brief glimpse of our recent vacation

The campsite.

Happy to be out of the car!

We took a walk down to the river...this place was so beautiful!

Emma and Ben sitting on a stump.

Next to our camp was a nice grassy area the kids had lots of fun playing around on.

Feeding the anemones at the Aquarium.

The cutest kids ever!

We were all getting splashed in this picture...

The ride home.

(Steven took this picture with one hand while driving)

Unfortunately we forgot to bring the camera with us while at the Zoo. But we had a fabulous time!

Not quite a year...

Well. Hmm. I have recently been enjoying my sister's blog. She lives in Richland and so we don't see each other terribly often. It has been lots of fun to see what she and her family has been up to. I am a horrible correspondent (this is not a new development) but I am going to try to do better (again). So much has happened and not happened since I last posted.

As far as the not happened...in my last post I talked about working on the basement and Mary hopefully moving into her room soon. I wouldn't say she has totally given up hope...but she still is waiting. A while back we moved her into the game/computer room, so she does have her own space now, but it isn't the same as a fully functional bedroom. We have made tons of progress on the basement. We are so stinkin' close to finishing all the mudding and sanding. I would say mere hours away, if we could just put the time in. Texturing would be a one day project, and then we could get the entire basement carpeted. We haven't really worked on the downstairs bathroom, other than some demolition, but that isn't going to be carpeted, so it is not a priority for us now. I would love to have the rest finished before school. That is always such a busy time.

The most recent happening was a family vacation to Seattle to visit Woodland Park Zoo and the Seattle Aquarium. We had a really great trip. The first night we camped as Kanasat-Palmer State Park. It was absolutely beautiful. Our most favorite campsite ever, I think. Though we had a great time on our trip, it was really nice to come back home.