The Basement

Well, we have been anxiously (and at times not so anxiously) engaged in finishing the great room of the basement. It's done but we don't have the flooring in yet and the rest of the basement remains unfinished though the hardest part left will be the bathroom. Thanks to Brian Hadlock without whom we would not have finished when we did! So, here's a photo line up of our progress and for all of you contractors out there, I don't want to hear about how we did it wrong, etc:

We actually started with bare walls, so this is a framed it.

This is the framing with insulation and a vapor barrier

This is the sheet rocking stage and the sheet rock jack pictured may have saved our marriage

Mud, tape and texture. You like the built in speakers?

Painting. This is the screen for our projector.

Yes I did help with each phase of the basement

All finished complete with old dorm furniture

Summer Fun

Well we started the summer off with a trip back home to visit family and friends. We had a lot of fun. The kids LOVE playing with their cousins and I loved seeing my sisters (what's up Tom?) and hanging out. Idaho is a long way from home.

Summer's finally started and we're trying to make the most of it. Here are just a few pictures of our exploits. I'll get some basement pics up soon so you can see how we're doing! In the meantime, we're having fun and playing a lot!

These boots were made for walkin'

Too much fun for these cousins

It's pretty cute. These two are best friends when they're together. Aiden kept asking, "Where's Sophie?" when we came home.

After walking around Old Town

Sophie wanted to sleep anywhere she could find

While there the lighthouse was open and it occurred to me my kids have never been inside or to the top, so we did both and boy was it exciting (not really but you know now I can say we've done it)

I'm not really sure what happened here all I can tell you is that this used to be a little toddler that called me 'Maime' and somewhere along the way she's become this beautiful young woman who's horribly moody and growing waaaaaay to fast

This is Adrienne's baby Oscar, she worked hard and earned the money to buy him and they are pathetically inseparable. As a side note, he hates my boys because they like to terrorize him

One of the few times Oscar wasn't hiding and shivering under the bed

At the beach

A few of Aiden's sleeping habits

Yes, he's asleep like that this was at a rest area on the way home

Can you guess why it's so hard to dissolve nap time? Because I think he's partly narcoleptic

The House's Transformation

Ok, we're finally up and running so I thought I'd post some before and after pics to give you an idea of what we're doing and what we've done to the house. They are in no particular order...

Living Room Before:

Just so you can see the difference, here is the ceiling partially painted with the new white...

Living Room After

Dining Room and Kitchen Before

Can you see the two tones of paint? The kitchen and dining room are different colors

Here's the old hardware up close, it's through the entire house

Here's the living room furnished (thanks Kelly and Joe for the new table)

Kid's Bathroom (new lights and hardware)

That's all for now because I'm tired...but look for more, we still have can lights, etc to put up...

Our Kids

Here are just a few pictures of the kids being kids we thought you'd like. They are so silly and wonderful and funny:

Yes, he's asleep in the toy box...

On the top bunk

Caught stripping

Ready for school

Aiden's New Disorder(s)

Aiden has recently been diagnosed with a case of exhibitionism, which we are trying to handle by avoiding public outings and engagements. Note the clothes in a pile next to him in this picture.

Recently he's been diagnosed with a new and strange disorder. It seems he's suffering from a rare non-genetic problem which we've lovingly dubbed, 'CGWD.'

That's right, Compulsive 'Glub' Wearing Disorder is no laughing matter. Look at the shame he feels because of what he's suffering with.

The combination of the two disorders is almost more than we can bare to live with. That's why we're reaching out to family and friends so we can educate people on this little known problem.

He's even started to hoard what are my two, poor, other children to do if they want to play outside in the snow?

It's so bad that if he can't find glubs he resorts to whatever he can find.

Usually socks

He will shed his glubs on occasion for things that may be difficult to perform with glubs on

Is there any hope for him?

We will not rest until we find a cure, but until then we'll just say,

Hooray for Glubs!!