No Reno Demo

Well hello, you caught me, helping put up some wallpaper in the bathroom.  I know the title says no reno, but that's not actually talking about our house, that's talking about the project I helped with this weekend.  At home, Monica's been working on fancy-ing up our bathroom, and it's almost complete now that the wallpaper is up.

Winry was having a hard time one day this past week so I took her for a quick run to the store just to spend some time together one on one, and of course get a treat!  We looked at a few options, but in the end settled on Hostess.  I think this is Winry's first time having a Twinkie (my choice) and a Snowball (her choice).  We enjoyed them both.

The Packers kids are staying with us this week while they take a trip, so Monica's been trying to find fun things for the kids to go do.  They went to Pinballz one day while I was at work.  The Packer kids wanted to ride the go-karts, and while they were racing down the track, Grayson was at the horse track!

Everybody enjoyed some mini-bowling.  It's a lot of fun.

And of course they spent some time in the arcade playing games, such as carousel!

The kids had a water balloon fight, and when I got home from work I went out to help them clean up all the pieces and someone closed the garage door and shut me outside.  However, I was able to see that a cicada had... "hatched" from on our garage door.  Monica said it had been there for like a week, so it was old news to her.

I don't really have a spot for this, but Monica was putting Grayson to bed and he had some energy.  I mean, Grayson always has high energy, so maybe that's not so crazy, but I wanted to include Monica's video in here.

On Saturday I went to help a family in the ward who's house flooded back in July.  They are still working on finishing ripping out drywall, molding, etc. that was damaged so they can start to rebuild.  I stopped at Lowes to grab some masks for everyone that was going, and this little buddy came rolling up while I was there.  I'm curious how well it works and determines stock, but I thought it was pretty cool.

And finally, the no reno demo.  I spent my time there removing the bottom of the closet so we could cut out the drywall, removing the siding from all the doors, and ripping out the master bath.  I'm not exactly sure everything else that happened, but I know a bunch of stone got hauled out from the fireplace, and other drywall was ripped out.  I had a good time, but I was REALLY tired by the end and could barely hold my hammer still.  We were able to get everything done that was on the docket for the day, so hopefully they can start getting earnestly into rebuilding now.

And that rounds out the week.  It was pretty busy with extra kids, but I think everyone had a good time, and we're doing well.
 

You're a Wizard, Brooke-y!

Welcome muggles!  This week to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday, the library had a Harry Potter themed celebration, and it looks like it was pretty fun.  They went pretty all out and I wish I could have made it.  Here's Brooke all dressed up and ready to catch the train!

I don't know when this happened this week, but Grayson and Winry built a tower with magna-tiles and then asked for Monica to take a slow motion video of them smashing it.  I really like how excited they get after the tower smashes down.

Rewind rewind rewind!  On Monday, Jelly and I had a visitor at work.  A little lizard who climbed all the way across the window, just teasing Jelly the whole time.  I always know when we have a visitor because Jelly starts wagging her tail really fast and smacking into the desk.

Monica and the kids met up with several other families at the creek and had a blast.  I believe I heard that something Grayson brought floated under the walkway and got stuck.  Sara climbed in there to get it back out for him, what a heroine!  Also, while they were there, they found a leach!  Don't worry, it wasn't on anyone, just there, waiting...

Made it back to the Harry Potter party!  What party is complete these days without pinning something to something else?  None of them, exactly.  I'm going to bring that expectation with me to my company party this year, and oh boy, there better be pinning!

The kids all got to make potions, and Oliva was there too.  She was in dance with Brooke last year, and they're really great friends.  In fact, they're doing a duet together this upcoming dance season.

We had an unexpected visitor this week.  Right before bed someone saw a lizard on the wall!

It was high up on the wall, so I had to go get a ladder to save it.  He had other ideas however, and when I tried to trap him so I could take him outside, he went running and jumped straight on me.  It didn't take long till I had no clue where the lizard was, so I was pretty sure it had crawled up my shorts.

But Monica found it!  And I was wrong.  It was hiding between my legs.  So I gingerly walked outside and did something to get it to crawl to freedom!  Quite the adventure, and a very good laugh.

On Saturday, Grayson and Winry helped cook breakfast.  They like helping out in the kitchen when possible, and everything was great.

We picked a watermelon from our garden.  I don't remember what kind it is, but it's supposed to be that lighter orangey color.  It was really tasty, and we got a lot of seeds from it ready to plant in the years ahead.

Saturday morning, I had to go to the church and help set up some tables and chairs for a funeral, and Winry came with me to help.  The Weeks also came to help set up, and after we did a little bike riding in the parking lot with their kids.  Winry had a good time helping Lewis scoot around.

While I was out mowing the lawn, a bird came to our local bath, and by bath I mean Grayson's water table, likely filled with water beads and full of dirty water, but I guess birds don't mind.

Winry had a hard time on Sunday, so I took her out in the hall.  I sat on her lap again, which you can tell she loved, and had to get a picture for Niki because I know how much she loves this!

And that's all for this week.  Quite a few lizards in hindsight, but I guess it's that time of year when they're all coming out to play.  I told Monica if we ever leave Texas I might have to get a pet lizard to remember it by.