School's Out - Stampede's In!

We've now had our first week of no school. We're doing good so far. Thanks to Sarah and Tyler (who did the ceilings) the rooms are officially painted and they look GREAT! We will be starting the lay the flooring down and putting doors up next week. It's not perfect but we did more than we thought we could - with a whole bunch of help from some very knowledgeable people, of course! Couldn't have done any of it without Zane, George, Sarah and Tyler!

We're going to take a break from house stuff tomorrow though, to go Stampedin'! This has been one of my favorite times of year since I can remember. As a kid, my dad and my grandmother would take us almost every single day. Rides, junk food, craft displays, sales booths, carny games, rodeos, chuckwagon races, grandstand show, concerts, animals... the fun just doesn't end! Plus, I'm a huge people watcher and the Stampede definitely brings the freaks out. D is not nearly as fond of crowds - or the Stampede - as I am, but he is making this sacrifice for me and I love him for it. I'll take pictures so I can share our day with you.

Not sure how much D will be able to take though. The other night he surprised us all with some Buster Bars and when he went to put them in the deep freeze he found a bunch of water on the floor and inside the freezer. Yup... my 18 year old freezer had died. I guess it didn't really owe us anything. I'd bought it before Tyler was born. It was in the clearance section of whatever store. I think I paid $200 or $300 for it. It moved with us from Calgary to Red Deer, back to Calgary, and four more moves after that. It held up way longer than anyone ever expected it to.

Anyway, we raced over to the Brick and bought a freezer. Poor sales guy didn't know what to think! I told him, "I need one today. What can I get from your warehouse or take off your floor today?" We actually got a a great deal being that it was their Canada Day sale and all. We took a floor model, loaded it into D's brother's truck and had it home and plugged in - all within an hour! I would much rather shop for furniture this way than dicker around with people. Here's what I want - do you have it or not? Throws those sales guys every time!

So back to the point about D... In moving the old freezer out of the basement, D thought he was strong enough to carry the little thing out by himself. Then the chest pain started. While I was out at a movie with my mom (Year One with Jack Black - DON'T waste your money on this one) D's chest pain was getting worse and worse. He finally loaded the boys up and headed over to the Urgent Care at about 9:00. I found the note when I got home and went to get the boys. Turns out D ripped some muscles when he lifted that little freezer. Glad it wasn't worse, but he's in a lot of pain. I'll take LOTS of pictures, because I don't know how long he's going to last there tomorrow...

Still Working on the Rooms

Mudding takes a lot of work! And I am a self professed "drywall dummy". I am so sore today I can barely move... but we're slowly (very slowly) seeing some progress. I'm anxious to get these rooms done for so many reasons.

I NEED my own craft space!!

The spare kids need a spare room to store their stuff and put their part-time beds.

Our adopting of V and T is getting closer to being finalized. That means that we will have license to foster more children and we will NEED the extra space.

School is done in two days and I can't work as efficiently with them "trying to help".

I'm sick of drywall dust and mud being traipsed all over the house!!!

You know it's bad when the four year old you babysit notices and says things like, "Someone really trashed your house!" I had planned to work on it some more today - but need to rest my arms and shoulders - at least for this morning. Here is a pic of D working away on the room. I love him for doing this for me!
I also wanted to share a little bit about Father's Day last Sunday. The boys were so excited to share what they'd made and try to make D's day a great one. V had made a cute little card and a clay picture inside a CD case. Very unique idea! D loved it. Please excuse the counter mess behind the picture...T forgot his card at school, so quickly wrapped up a Boston Pizza chocolate that comes in a mini box and shaped like a pizza. Also very cute and D loved it.

I had made a couple of gift cans, filled them with candy and resealed them for him to open. He thought that was a super cute idea! We also made him waffles for breakfast before we headed off to church.

The Primary kids sung a song and I have to tell you - those kids are so freakin' cute! I wish I could have a video or picture to share with you. There is one little guy who kept grabbing the microphone and placing it right in front of him. One of ours stood out in front all smiles and happy to be seen - the other hid behind some of the taller girls so no one would see him. I love Primary kids performances. They either make me laugh right out loud or tear up because I feel their wonderful spiritual presence. I think D had a pretty great Father's Day - though I know he was missing his own kids too.

There will be more to write later, I'm sure as this is the last week of school (boo!) AND baseball (yay!)

Finally Seeing Some Potential

We started over a month ago... The framing and the rewiring were being done at the same time. We had the drywall delivered a couple of weeks ago - but then didn't know how to put it up! Our good friend, Zane, came over to help Drew and Greg put it up. Zane couldn't lift the boards, but he was able to talk the boys through it. Said he felt like a city worker just standing there not really doing anything. So the boys got the ceilings up in the two new rooms. Looks like I'm going to be getting my craft room soon!! Woo hoo!!!

We got to take a break for Sunday though. Sunday's are so nice when we get to go to church early, and get home to enjoy the rest of the "Day of Rest".

He's not usually this grumpy... just doesn't like his picture being taken. LOL!