Photo Mural Installation

I've had this 8 piece photo mural since we moved here 6 weeks ago, but was too intimidated to do it. We had bought a bucket of pre-mixed paste and all the accessories for wallpaper, but never found a good time to do it without the kids/babies distractions. Call it nesting, but today I felt the urge to get things done. I am 31 weeks btw. :)

   I was first looking into buying and installing better weatherstripping stuff for the backdoor as you can feel a draft on your feet near it, but decided that might be too hard for me and I am not sure how to safely remove the cheap one they have on the door so I'll wait on that. But I decided since Emily would be here to help with the kids I'd take on the wall!

   Time flew by. But I got it done. It's not perfect, and I am sure John will point out imperfections in aligning the seams and some air bubble/creases, but I think it still looks great and I didn't pay hundreds of dollars for it to be installed. :)

   While Emily played with the kids in the game room, I laid out all 8 pieces to see where they connected as they weren't labeled. I labeled them at that point. I couldn't find a tarp in the garage (probably packed up still) so I...was just really careful lol. I painted each sheet and carefully tried to hang them straight, but it was harder than I thought. Brushing out the bubbles and creases wasn't too bad, even with the semi-textured walls we have. Lining up subsequent pieces was sorta difficult. Then I used tips I saw online to get around outlets neatly. The worst part was the left portion when I had to trim and go around the counter top and cabinets. There are mistakes there, but I figure we could slap some caulk on it if we need to.

 See my outlet? I was pretty proud.

 Took a few hours from start to finish, but I like it. 

Here are the kids excited for their 3rd week of ninja warrior: 

 And here we are at a park nearby. Eusty enjoyed relaxing in the swing.

 And we looked for cool birds while waiting to see the dart train go by--they honk and wave at the kids :)

That's all that is going on here, besides finishing up the last 2 weeks of their 2nd qtrs of 1st & 2nd grade. Getting Thanksgiving dinner arranged and trying to be distracted from the terror around the world by just enjoying our little cocoon of pleasantness. 

Francis is Officially a Terrible Two Year Old

We celebrated Frankie's second birthday last week with a bbq, friends and family.
Mom brought her friend Ray, and Emily came to celebrate with us as well. John made chicken, burgers, hot dogs, shrimp, mom made sausage and sweet peppers with pineapple and chili sauce, I made mashed potatoes, and a gluten free cake and cookies. We also picked up a cherry cheese danish from the German deli nearby.

 Here's Olivia excited to get to have a gluten free dessert--and look how slim daddy is looking :)

 F for Frankie! He didn't understand what was going on :)

 

 Look how pretty Emily is :) Frankie was pretty amazed with this dinosaur toy, but I think his favorite was the semi truck with little cars that grandma brought.

 Working off the clock as usual :)

Happy birthday Frankie!

My Little Projects

Here's Frankie---his expression says, "kid, you wouldn't know the first thing to do with this--it's a big boy toy."

Sometimes I get sucked into doing little projects that might be time-wasters, but to me, especially if the kids take part in some of it, it's always better than just being on my phone or computer.
   Susan has been buying vintage dolls from her childhood and she has been looking for display shelves. I was thinking she could make one, and I looked up some cool ideas. Eventually it turned into me taking Olivia shopping to get pieces to turn an ikea shelf into a doll playhouse for her :) It was fun:

 I used some scrapbooking templates for wallpaper, and got somethings at hobby lobby and the dollar store---shelf liner for tile floors, popsicle sticks for wood floors, a basin for the bath, balsam wood for counters, $1 sponges and scrap fabric for couch :) I actually put a lot of time into this and then we put the shelf in Olivia's room so she and Frankie play with it at night. The push lights were from Costco--I ended up not liking them for our kitchen anyway--and they come with a remote.

John worked nights last week and it was rough to do the night routine alone, especially with how messy both babies are. Unfortunately Eustace started this terrible habit of gagging himself with his fingers so there's always a mess at mealtimes. He is still teething and drooling so his outfits are drenched, and he will never leave bibs on--he pulls the til he has scratches on the back of his neck from the velcro :( I have been tempted to tie his freaking hands down. He has great coordination and is already starting to walk, but he's such a mess and is always hurting all of us with his grabbiness!

  Anyway, bath time I thought would be difficult because Frankie is so whiny and doesn't like them anymore, and when John is home, he is very attached to him. But he liked taking a bath with Eustace this night when John was gone, so he's never predictable!

 He laid in the empty bath patiently while I got Eusty out and dressed, and I took this pic--it reminded me of me lol.

 Here's a project that I neglected for almost a year--I was doing this when Frankie was a baby. John and I learned it ourselves one day, and I bought this one to do on my own. It's pretty complex to look at each pattern and stitch and get the right colors etc, but I think it's pretty cool looking and rewarding. I am almost done! I hope to frame it.

 Eusty sleep-eating.

I found this yarn cross-stitch kids set at the dollar store and Lucas loves it! I helped him get started but every now and then he takes it upstairs or in his room and works on it alone quietly. He has my personality. Olivia can't be alone and quiet very long--she needs people and interaction. Good thing we are having a bunch of kids because we don't get out much and she needs to be surrounded by people haha.

Action Zone Park

The kids completed a row of stickers for doing well in school so we decided to reward them with a trip to the arcade nearby, that has golf and batting cages too. It was fun but hard to keep track of everyone so I put Eusty on my back and he fell asleep of course. Frankie loved running around and playing games, and also picking up daddy's golf ball and putting it in the hole for him, then clapping for himself.

They really have been doing well in school. Almost ready to take their second qtr exams. Olivia is reading and writing so well already, and Lucas astounded me when I heard him study his bible history flashcards for the first time ;) He got them all right. They really enjoy ninja warrior classes but I can tell they are pretty weak and the coach has a lot of work to do---I feel bad because they haven't gotten out to play on playgrounds very much so they aren't able to do things other kids are. I am trying to fix that. I took them to a memorial park nearby that Susan showed me (she runs by it everyday) and they were so excited to make a friend and play tag. Lucas will yell out mid-play, "mama! We are having fun! I love making friends!" And then I hear them discuss what grade they are in, and homeschool etc. And then Olivia tells our whole life story and tells about her baby brothers. :) I'll have to do another interview video again soon.

Tornadic

A week ago we had a few funnels touch down in Denton--I didn't see any but the weather was pretty odd. Kinda warm, yellowish tint, thick clouds and rainbows, and then we heard the sirens. I had taken the kids to the park nearby to get them out of the house a bit. When we got to the playground, it was full of wasps buzzing in the canopy, so Olivia was too scared to play:

 This was the view from our backyard when we heard the sirens.

This was all of us hiding out in my closet when the weather warnings got bad. It didn't last long, but John & Jim stayed in Frisco til the roads and skies cleared up a bit. 

The night before, I was waiting for John to get home from school so we could watch The Walking Dead. I put the kids to bed and sat in the game room a minute--I looked out my window and saw the silhouette of large buck, male deer with huge antlers...I thought it was surely a tree and I looked again and it was walking down our street! No pics, because when I got to a better window to look, he was gone. Don't know where it came from, but we are close to the lake so I guess there's enough thick brush to hide him. Pretty cool to see though. 

Some Interesting videos

So disgusting and selfish. People are so selfish today it's sickening.



I remember starting to watch Cosmos in Netflix a few months ago and now much is explained--didn't know the a-hole Seth Macfarland took part in it. What a joke:

I know you are but what am I

I think the kid's costumes came out pretty swell! Lucas made sure he was the star of the night and even did a little PeeWee "tequila" dance at every door---almost everyone recognized and loved it. It was awesome. Some people recognized Olivia as "Coraline," but I know that movie wasn't as well-known as it should be. We had a great night with clear skies and the babies did well in the stroller too:

 Lucas' personality is as goofy as PeeWee so it all came naturally :) His act was complete with sayings like "I know you are but what am I!" One of us should've been Jambi !

Then there was this creepy guy--but he didn't try to scare the little ones :) He even took off his mask because he was too sweaty. Which was a little relieving as we were spooked!

 Susan decided against being Tina Turner, and was the mad hatter. Pretty cute though :) Probably one of the few adult women's costumes that isn't a slutty version of something haha.

 Here's my nanny Emily (i've decided to simplify things and call her the nanny haha). She came to get in on the fun of watching these kids perform for candy they can't really eat (gluten/dye) heehee. The kids and babies all love to see her esp Frankie. :)

 Here's Olivia when she found one i'd let her eat haha.

   And here are just a couple assignments the kids recently did. They are almost halfway done with 1st and 2nd grade. They are doing well, and I am trying to be more regular with it. They love Ninja Warrior class so that motivates them to do well and earn their stickers:

 May not be exactly accurate, but he did it all himself. In his Bible History course he has to read a chapter and than answer questions in complete sentences. He is reading so well now without any breaks. He sometimes reads "Matilda" at night and I heard him read without hesitation, the word "satisfactory". Very cool!

Olivia has just begun the task of reading in her Catholic primer, but this week also started having to answer questions in complete written sentences. I remember starting this with Lucas last year and it was tedious. Olivia has taken to it much quicker, probably for 2 reasons---because she is very verbal and talked early so it might come easier, and also because I started homeschooling her at age 3, so she has had more time to learn phonics.  Lucas naturally does better in math, but is definitely not lacking in english either.

   Side note---in geography he was learning the state capitals and he stopped and asked me, "mama? Is this state (Nevada), where Jonah had to go?" and I said "huh?" and he said "Ni-vi-duh". Haha! Pretty cute little fish-slapper!