The Girls' Room

The girls' new room is pretty much done. There is still some artwork and photos somewhere in the dumping ground formerly known as "the garage." I can't wait to find it and hang it back up. In the meantime, Evelyn and I strategically placed some princess decals to cover up big holes in the wall above her bed.

We replaced the closet's bi-fold doors with a less finger-pinching curtain.

Soren's new bed.


We still even have a little room for the "preschool" table. We will definitely have to find some cute bulletin board decorations for our preschool area. Soren's very excited to start preschool, as I'm sure many of you have heard.

The Basement Remodel IV

It's official: everyone has a bedroom. The girls are no longer bunking in Brody's room. Brody is now (very reluctantly) sleeping alone. Colby and I have a new and beautiful room to call our own!

The remodel is still not quite done. There is a hallway and closet that need flooring, trim, and doors. The girls don't have any pictures on their walls. The master bedroom closet isn't done (but may be by tonight), and there is still artwork and curtains to be hung. However, Colby already has his shoes all over the floor, so I guess that means we're home.

Here's the view looking towards the closet. The doorway isn't covered yet, but we're keeping an eye out for the perfect curtain. Colby wants one of those curtains made of beads. I guess I'll have to go to the local pot smokers' outlet store, aka Euphoria.


The bedroom closet will hopefully soon be filled with our clothes and shoes.


Notice that Colby already has the floor and his dresser cluttered with clothes and shoes. No big surprise there. But hey, on that lovely flooring even a pile of shoes looks good.


Where all the magic happens. By magic I mean 7 hours of blissful quiet. Get your minds out of the gutter.

First Day of Summer Dance

Saturday was Soren's first day of dance class. I signed both girls up for the July session mostly as an excuse to go to the farmer's market while they are at dance.

Soren has been so excited about it, and my daycare girl Reese also enrolled in the same class. Soren and Reese were the only two kids that really did a great job in class. They had fun and never needed a parent to cling to. They followed all the directions and set a great example for all the other little crybabies who wouldn't leave mommy's/daddy's side.

"Empty" Luggage

The kids were finally all home on Friday. Colby and his dad worked on the basement all afternoon. I spent the time putting away all the stuff we had sent to grandma's with the kids. Grandma was nice enough to keep an eye on the 7 children (my kids, the daycare kids, and my nephew) that were here all day while I completed the task.

Unfortunately, I could never quite get those suitcases emptied out. . .

Happy 4th of July!

We were in Norfolk this year for the 4th and spent a lovely afternoon with Colby's parents. Colby and I were both a little distracted as thoughts of remodeling danced through our heads, but the kids had a great time lighting fireworks. Colby's parents and sister took the kids to the annual Big Bang Boom celebration at Skyview Lake the night before, but there is nothing like lighting your own fireworks.

Evie loved smoke balls.

Soren loved snappers.

Dade would light whatever and try to blow up pretty much anything with a firecracker.

Brody's idea was to light it and run away as fast as he could.

After he discovered the "grabber" he wouldn't even light anything. He just walked around and picked up debris.

Of course, leaving the kids at grandma's was bittersweet, but there was work to be done at home and fun to be had at grandma's. After we arrived safely back in Lincoln, I got the nasty stomach bug Soren had. So much for working on the house. . .

Happy 3rd of July!

After braving two days of a two year old with a stomach flu, the day for our trip to Norfolk arrived. The trip is exciting for many reasons. First, the kids are staying at Grandparents' Vesely all week. Second, we get to visit with our good friends the Hoss family who we haven't seen in nearly a year.

We headed to Jessica's mom's house with the girls to shoot some fireworks, visit, and eat lots of Korean food. We accomplished all of that and more. Jessica's mom had chickens and ducks at her house, so the girls spent hours "feeding" them grass and stuff.

Evelyn had her first solo sleepover with Jessica's daughter Lydia. Sure, Evie has stayed for days at grandparents' houses, but no where else without us, and certainly not at a house where she had never been before. The girls got along like peanut butter and jelly.


There was a rainbow over us in the sky, even though there was no rain. It was a fantastic evening, besides the mosquitoes.


We had a lovely time seeing friends we missed, yet we still felt like we hadn't been apart long at all. I guess we all kind of go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Fun at the Park

We have been blessed recently with a pretty nice stretch of weather. July in Nebraska can be quite sweltering and can even take your breath away, literally, when you step outside. The air gets heavy with humidity making it impossible to enjoy the outdoors. Not today.

We spent a fantastic hour and 15 minutes at the Arnold School playground. It was pretty nice having the whole thing all to ourselves. The kids barely even noticed that it was getting close to lunch. They were, however, snacking on sunflower seeds leftover from baseball practice. What says summer more than playing at the park and eating sunflower seeds? *smiles*