i am of the opinion that you can't truly appreciate a garage until you've spent some time grading the floor underneath it.



but i don't recommend doing it in flip flops.



we had a crew of help on saturday. it was awesome- we got so much done. and my mom took my kids for the afternoon so i could help too.



see that plywood on the left side? some of that was nailed on by yours truly- and dave only had to go back and pound a few nails back through.....i'm a little rusty with a nail gun. but not for long.





we are ready for floor trusses. they have been ordered and should come sometime this week.

shaeya and pepper. they fall asleep together every night.
so cute. and a whole week has gone by without any near death experiences for the cat so we're doing good.



wren is 15 months now and starting to throw lots of tantrums and clearly states her opinion about everything. without using any words. :)
i already miss just holding her- she always wants down.
she is very busy.



miss gymnast here. she is having the time of her life in gymnastics. she asks everyday if it's monday yet. she is very strong and has no fear so she's good at it- she just needs some work on following instructions and taking turns.....



and preschool is going great- she is already making new friends and tells me everyone's names. (she has this thing with names- she learns names really easily and does not forget them- she doesn't get that from me.)
and aidan is the one who pulls her braids. :)





i will appreciate preschool so much more when the older kids are in school-
and it starts on FRIDAY!
i have never been more ready.
usually i grieve the end of summer, but something about the 2 week delay, taking care of them on my own, driving all of them to and from preschool, and how bored ty and shaeya are lately makes me really ready for them to be in school.
bring on the rest of the schedule!

another saturday spent out at the lot.
can't wait til i can say "out at the new house" instead of "the lot." i think it's getting close- definitely losing it's "lotness" and gaining some "houseness"- i mean, just look at those WALLS. wood ones!!! and that beautiful basement floor.



many, many thanks to dave's dad, ron, who is our only help at this point. he has been coming out on saturdays to work with dave, and puts up with kids in his way and kids getting into his cooler and kids wanting him to hold them when he is hot and tired. thanks so much, ron.





of course i couldn't keep wren out this puddle, so i gave up and took off her wet clothes and diaper and let her play in it for awhile.



such a cute little white bottom, isn't it?
i would've said "little white butt" but remember, my grandma reads this. i think she actually prefers "heiny" if i remember right. :)





here's the neighborhood gang plus 1 of my nieces.
they are best friends already. can't wait til they are all running around in my yard.....while i'm reading a book by the fireplace on the porch.....sigh.



and now the latest family drama.....actually i think dave may have said something like "don't blog about this" or something. but since as of today it has all been resolved, i will briefly mention a few details. we just.....well.....lets just say that our new kitten was misplaced for a few days. she is back now and a little thinner but she is fine. she is totally fine. we are not kitten killers.



and we have also had some drama with school. they hired some new teachers at the last minute, so they are delaying the start of the year. it should've started today, but it won't be for 2 more weeks now.
tekoa started gymnastics today (so cute- and she LOVES it) and she starts pre-school tomorrow, so i've been a bit frustrated with only half my schedule starting. it's just going to be an awkward 2 weeks dragging all the kids with me to run tekoa back and forth. and i know ty and shaeya will be bored- especially with all their friends being in school. but it's just 2 weeks, right? before i know it they will be gone all day and it'll be too quiet around here. (at least that's what i'm telling myself...)

to all single moms of 4:
i salute you.
okay- all single moms of any kind. your job is not easy.

i know, i do get to at least know i have a husband. and i get to see him for about 45 minutes each night.
usually about the time i'm just getting started in on recapping all my activities, conversations, and thoughts from the day he is starting to fall asleep. i cannot imagine why. i mean all of you are on the edge of your seats, right?
good thing i've learned after 10 years to not take it personally.

so i've decided that since sundays are our only day together and dave's only time to be with the kids that we are going to try to make the most of them.
this past sunday we took the kids swimming in the lake, then packed up dinner and bikes and went to the park. it was beautiful outside and we had a wonderful and relaxing evening together. we shot some hoops, (tyden showed both dave and i up- a sign that we are getting old and he is getting old...) went for a walk, played on the swings and the slides, and made some new friends.







shaeya's legs got tired- it's a common occurrence....





here's wren with her best friend....





she sure loves that kitty. it is not reciprocated.



[i am having trouble getting sound for this video, but i'm going to keep working at it- it's cute]

a few more pictures of wren- my baby that is less and less a baby every day....







and the house-









dave has been working like crazy to get the basement floor ready for cement. and the inspection of the floor was approved today, so it can be poured anytime. yay!!!

and just so you all know, i ran that wheel barrow for awhile on saturday. shoveling and moving the rocks in the sweltering heat. and i acquired 2 very painful blisters. just so everyone knows. i'm totally helping.

i'm not only there to bring food and take pictures and then sit and sip a diet coke over in the neighbor's air conditioning while the kids play in their yard. i'm not that kinda girl- at least i wasn't 4 kids ago....somebody has to watch them, right??

the latest updates around here-

*the kids went to vbs last week at my sister's in law's church.
it was tekoa's first time doing anything like that.
she screamed and cried when i left her the first 2 days, and then after that she did great. i figured it was a good opportunity to break her into it since it wasn't my church- nobody could roll their eyes and say, "that's michelle's kid."

but i had to laugh when i saw her name tag-



tokeo! i bet the teachers had a good laugh when they wrote out that tag. what kind of crazy mother does this little one have?? although i know some people probably think tekoa isn't that much better :)

here is tekoa's class on the last day. she's at the top looking to the right. doesn't she look too cute and grown up?



here they are in the shirts they made. all very proud of themselves.




and now, moving on...

*destiny went home on sunday.
we all miss her, but especially tekoa. she keeps saying, "mom, i think destiny is looking for me."
and now that des is home i have no excuse for not starting in on a very large amount of neglected housework. a mountain of laundry, bathrooms that don't smell quite right, a kitchen floor you would stick to, and toys everywhere you look. sigh.

*saturday we had a close call. the kids were playing all afternoon, and when it came time to get them in and cleaned up i rounded up 5 kids and no kitten. nobody had seen her for awhile.
i was exhausted and so ready to start bedtime preparations, but instead started a search for the cat. around the lake and the barn, up to the neighbors and back, underneath decks....no kitty. when it got too dark to see anything i took the kids in. shaeya was sobbing.

first thing sunday morning the kids were back outside looking with no sign of her.
after feeding and dressing some very sad and whiny kids and doing a lot of little girls' hair, i went outside to start loading des' stuff.
as i was trying to fit too much stuff in the back of the van, i heard a faint kitten cry. and then another.

we found her in a discarded tractor bucket. she looked a bit bedraggled and brown, but the kids were ecstatic. rejoicing, and dirtying up their sunday clothes by giving her lots of hugs and kisses. and exclaiming over how big she'd gotten since the night before :)
whew. close call. i will say once again that i am just not cut out to be a pet owner.

*i have made a few decisions for the fall and am feeling good about them. no gym after all (in the end the guilt of the $ and of leaving the kids for that hour won out.) tekoa will be in gymnastics on mondays and pre-school on tuesdays and thursdays.
spoiled girl. my other kids just stayed home with me till they were 4. but i think this schedule will be good for koa and i, and i decided i have to do this stuff while i still live in town- i may not do 4 yr preschool for her next year when we live farther away.

only 2 precious weeks of summer left.....which, sadly, will be filled with school supplies, birth certificates, pre-school physicals, uniforms, gym shoes, parent orientations, open houses, and earlier bedtimes.

*and the latest on the house.
not a whole lot happened last week, but the foundation walls did get poured, the forms stripped off, the tar sprayed on, and tonight dave is putting the footing tile around the inside of the basement walls.
next comes some underground plumbing, then grading the floor to get ready to pour the basement.









and i know this post is really long, (stalling on the housework thing, and feeling a bit lonely with the kids all asleep and dave gone) but here is a video of ty and shaeya. my dad gave shaeya his old ipod, and i let ty use mine, and this is what they did all afternoon. :)



i think we have some superstars on our hands. if we could only get shaeya some shorts that fit her and teach tyden the words....

it was still a good day despite some unfortunate happenings.

the 1st being a huge spill at breakfast time. and my futile attempts at keeping 3 girls at the table while they ate their breakfast.

still a good day even though as i cleaned up breakfast i had the misfortune of stepping in yet another spill. this one resulting in my feet flying out from underneath me and a very ungraceful fall onto the hard tile floor.

it was still a good day even though destiny peed her pants right after i cleaned up a "kitty accident" off of shaeya's twill pottery barn chair.
and even though wren got into the toilet twice.
and even though tekoa had an accident in her car seat on our way to help my parents move into their apartment.

and because that wasn't quite enough pee for one day (and grandma hasn't yet had her fill of the word "pee" in this post,) destiny peed her pants once more on the bathroom floor right before all the rest of the kids tromped in to brush their teeth before bed.

it was still a good day even though each kid (and dave and i) stepped into that pee. and as tekoa walked through she lost her balance and slipped right onto it giving herself a nice even coat of pee from head to toe.

yep, it was still a good day. i found many reasons to smile and laugh and kiss and hug and pray.
i am blessed and loved and ready to do it all over again tomorrow. :)

sooo...
remember that crazy week i had? well let me tell you how it ended.

we spent a day at the lake with the thames' family on friday. and everything was going so well- we were all having a great time together. until...

my dad took tekoa and tess for a ride on the "mule" (our little jeep type thing) to take some garbage down to the dumpster. once they got there, he climbed off with the garbage and one of those little girls (can you guess who??) stomped on the gas pedal and drove the thing across the gravel road and right into a tree.



i still can't believe she did that.
they hit pretty hard. luckily tess was fine, but koa hit the side of her face on the gear shift.



it was pretty scary, cause she was in so much pain. her face was really swollen and bruised, and she was crying really hard.
then, once she finally settled down, she looked over at me and said, "mom, i'm gonna puke."
and i rushed her to the bathroom and she did.
poor thing. and then i was even more scared.
but i took brenda thames' advice to wait it out (she has 13 kids- 9 of which are boys. enough said) and i'm glad i did. she is fine. she is actually enjoying all the attention she has been getting and tells the story of what happened to everyone.







after all that drama friday night, koa and wren and i got up early on saturday to go pick up destiny. we drove to ottawa and then straight to washington for a birthday party. a cowgirl party.












pepper hung out here during most of the party. yes, we brought her with us, cause i was still feeling bad for koa and i thought it would help keep her mind off her injuries.




the party was fun, but after trying to keep track of des, koa, wren (who was into everything and always in danger because of the swings, the slide, the ladders, and the horses) and pepper (who was being overly loved by a hoard of little girls) for 4 hours i was seriously exhausted.

the rest of our weekend was great, and today has been too- apart from a big fat refusal from the gym.
i had planned for today to be the day. i was finally ready to sign on for a year, and i was looking so forward to working out.
i got up early, rushed everyone through breakfast, brushed teeth, did hair, got them all dressed and then loaded up in the van by 8:30.
we went into the gym and to the kid's room where they promptly told me that they couldn't watch destiny. that had not even crossed my mind.
so we went back home. i was pretty disappointed, but i'm over it now. we will have fun this week and the gym can wait.
the kids didn't want to go anyway. in fact, shaeya had tried to talk me out of it this morning. ("mom, are you sure you want to go to the gym?? it's an awful lot of work to haul all of us in and back out....) she is funny. and right.