Boots

I love my rain boots.  I think I mentioned that once before.  I also think they make a pretty cool picture.

Home Depot

I had to make a quick stop at Home Depot the other day to pick up some spray paint (yep, I am a closet graffiti artist!)  It was just Misha and I, and I asked if she was coming in with me since most of the time my older girls are just as happy to sit in the car while I run a quick errand.  I smiled at her reply, "Yeah, I love the smell of Home Depot."

Firepits and Fun

Misha had been dying to have a firepit in the backyard.  She started arranging a few rocks there when Chris had her move it to the side yard out of the way of the landscapers.  Once Chris and Grandpa Kline got involved, the firepit and surrounding area came together rather quickly.  Chris even brought out his saw to aid in the efficient cutting of the piles of wood.  Someday we hope to have something a little more lovely, but until then, this will work perfectly.

The picnic table that was on our lot when we purchased it was brought over (though Chris has since built a new one), Kristen enjoyed a little bubble time, and logs were placed around the pit.

And I don't have an actual picture of the firepit.  I'll get one.

Grandpa and Grandma Kline

We had a lot of family pop in for a visit in July.  Chris' dad and Christine arrived on Saturday afternoon, hung around for Sacrament meeting on Sunday, and headed back to the airport shortly after the girls and I arrived home from church around 1:30.  Chris opted to skip the last couple of hours of church to hang out with his dad.  They were just returning from a hike when we arrived home.

That Darn Wind!

I was resting comfortably on my bed at 10:00 pm when I heard the wind and suddenly remembered that the girls and I had left chair cushions on the deck chairs.  The cushions and chairs were new and were in need of velcro tabs to attach them to the chairs.  I raced downstairs to retrieve the cushions and counted 1, 2, 3...  Ah shoot, one was missing.  I spied a small pillow at the bottom of the stairs and realized that the wind had probably blown away the other cushion.  Crap.  I went inside for a flashlight and starting searching our lot and the lot next door.  The flashlight was pathetically inadequate so I had Misha go and retrieve the heavy duty flashlight from the Pilot.  It was a lot easier to see, but I still wasn't finding the cushion.

Chris arrived home from his Chicago trip in the middle of my searching.  He began to help me and then went in the house to change in to his cowboy boots.  It took about twenty minutes before I finally found the errant cushion.  We're now looking for a deck bin to hold the cushions so we don't have to bring them in every night, and I need to find some outdoor fabric to make velcro tabs so the cushions can attach to the chairs.

She Got A Job!

Amy got a job!  It is amazing considering her age.  She will be working in a childcare setting but is pretty excited to be earning some money.  She is hoping to get her lifeguard certification in December which would then open up more opportunities for her. 

She went for an interview on Thursday afternoon, and a couple of hours later, her interviewer called to offer her a job.  If only it always happened that quickly.  I will be driving her to and from, but I am happy for her.

Rice's Visit

My brother and his family came to visit while he was in Estes Park attending a Continuing Education conference.  It was fun to share our new house with them and some of the amenities of the neighborhood.

Misha and Wade kayaked over to the pool while the rest of us drove down to the pool.  We had lunch poolside and the kids had a great time playing in the water.

Following a couple of hours swimming, we headed in to Longmont for an appointment.  We played at a park for a bit and then enjoyed some frozen yogurt.  We didn't have too much time together, but it was so great to see family.

Decor

I have been decorating in my house and having fun in the process.  My girls and I came across a 70% off sale at Michaels and picked up some fun projects for them to work on to decorate their rooms.

 My keys from the tower of London gift shop:

Misha's cluster wall:

Kristen's cluster wall:

Amy has been working on her wall as well, but there are a few things she wants to finish first before showcasing it.

Kayaking the St. Vrain

For Misha's date with her dad, she wanted to kayak down the river.  Chris strapped the kayaks to the top of the car (a little precarious I might add) and I drove with them to the drop off point on 119 around 4:30 pm.  I figured it wouldn't take them too long to reach our house, but it actually took them a couple of hours.  They had to portage around a tree and scout out an irrigation diversion dam with its spillway to make sure it was safe.  After about two hours, they finally floated by the house.  I heard Misha yell, "Mom," to make sure I noticed them. 

They floated a little further to the bridge where they could then easily get out of the river.  They transported the kayaks over the road and into the lake where they then paddled back to our house.  Misha (and Chris) were all smiles when they arrived.  Tired, but they were smiling.

Sorting Clothes

So, with Amy and Misha being so different in their styles, Kristen has A LOT of clothes handed down to her.  She doesn't usually mind though requests "one new outfit for the first day of school."  And shoes, I still have to buy her shoes.  She grew one size from April to July.  (So much for the new shoes I gave her for her birthday.)  I usually cull out her t-shirts too so that she doesn't have twenty to thirty shirts in her drawer.  The reality of it is that she usually only wears the same 5 to 7 over and over again.

She has pants in storage in sizes 12, 14, 16, 0, 1, 2, and 3 that should last her for a number of years.  Going through the clothes is something I have to do with my girls at the end of summer and the end of winter.  Not fun, but necessary.  And I was able to give all of Kristen's hand-me-downs to a little girl who then wrote me a sweet thank you note.

Misha's Art

I am super impressed with Misha's drawing skills.  She has found a lot of pictures to learn from on Pinterest and often pins pictures of how to draw hands, feet, facial expressions, etc.  The internet makes it so easy to learn a new skill.  Easier still when you have a talent.  She copied this one from someone else's sketch.  I love it.

Basement Flood

After sorting through all of the bins of clothes and selecting items for Kristen for the fall, it was time to put everything away.  I picked up the first bin of jeans and headed downstairs.  Much to my huge dismay, I spied standing water in the basement guest room as I reached halfway down the stairs.  I yelled to the girls to call Chris.  Fortunately he was in state; unfortunately, it would take him about two hours to get home from Colorado Springs.

I immediately called Dave, the construction manager, and Andrew the builder.  Dave brought a pump from the swimming pool and put it in the window well of the guest room.  The window well was full of at least a foot of water, and you could tell by the marks on the window that it had been higher.  Not surprising since there was water all of the floor and an inch deep in some places of the guest room corner of the basement.  Fortunately, it hadn't spread too much further.

Amy and Misha immediately started helping me unload the bedroom.  We had it set up with the queen bed and dresser, plus a lot of extras that we hadn't found places for yet.  The large dining room rug was saturated.  I had the girls help me carry it outside and dumped it under the deck.  It was raining, but hey, what was a little more water going to hurt!?

I had never used the shop vac for water removal and had Chris talk me through the set up and removal of the filter.  I didn't want the water to sit too long for fear of seeping through to the crawl space more.  It took awhile to suck all of the water up, but I was finishing the last of it when Chris arrived home.

We set up fans, carried the carpet upstairs to the deck to air it out, and was grateful that the flooding hadn't been worse.  Apparently the landscaper had blocked a drainage path from the downspouts and the water had nowhere to go but in to the window well.  I was impressed that he apologized (since the builder was quick to absolve himself from any responsibility).

Chris and Misha spent some time outside making sure the drainage was having the rain in the correct direction.  I think they enjoyed the time playing in the mud a bit.  There were times when Chris sank so deep that he thought he might not free himself or his boot was sucked right off his foot.  So ready for landscaping.

Braces...Again

Amy.  She's not happy.  The small brace that was attached to the back of Amy's teeth fell off.  Her front teeth started to drift apart again.  I took her in last Friday for another look by our dentist.  He added two brackets to her front teeth with a power chain.  By Saturday Amy was in quite a lot of pain.  By Sunday, I could tell that the power chain was going above and beyond the call of duty and Amy's teeth were starting to be pulled together in a v-shape.  Not good.

We had originally had an appointment at 2 pm on Monday afternoon but the dentists' office was able to fit us in at 9:30 am.  Sadly, Amy thought she would be getting the braces off altogether; instead, the dentists applied two more brackets and a wire.  But at least she isn't complaining so much about the pain and her teeth aren't being horked in the wrong direction.  She wouldn't smile. 

Sunset

We get some beautiful sunset views off the master bedroom. 

Here's a reflection of the pink clouds on the lake.

Landscape

We have had a few small starts to our landscaping. Our lot has most of the final grade finished with a little fertilizer spread around.  We have some berms in a couple of places--in the middle of the driveway turn around, along the west side, and there will be one on the east side by the driveway.  We have one rock wall installed in the backyard and a couple of huge rocks placed on berms.  It is a slow process.  I never realized that placing rocks for a rock wall was such a precise skill.

Rhythm on the River

It was nice to have a Saturday that wasn't booked with house stuff.  We decided to head in to Longmont and attend the Rhythm on the River at Roger's Grove.  It was hot and muggy and we were grateful for the vendors who handed out water, lip balm, and fans.  The fans were especially appreciated.  We checked out some of the booths and then with much urging from children, went for lunch in the food court area.

I think that this activity was a lot more fun for our girls when they were smaller, but they did have fun at the bungee trampolines, playing with bubbles, and getting balloons.  Those of us that had to wait for them while they waited in lines might not have had quite as much fun.

Curtains

I have been working on curtains in the past month.  Out of necessity, Misha and Kristen have curtains in their room.  They get a lot of afternoon sunshine and their rooms are quite warm.  Misha and Kristen's windows are quite large and required me to find curtains in the 120" length.  I was able to find some for Misha at IKEA in dark blue.  We shortened them about 6 or 7 inches and they work perfectly.

For Kristen's room, I found some curtains that were ruffled but only came in 84" lengths.  So, I bought three curtains and proceeded to cut and paste (with my sewing machine) and then I had to add black out lining.  They turned out great.  I had hoped to have them up to surprise Kristen when she got home from Grandma's, but the timing didn't work quite right with getting the curtain rod hung.  So she got them the day after she got home.

Amy found some curtains at IKEA that worked great with the colors she had chosen for her room.  I had to add some black-out fabric to them as well and then shortened them a couple of inches.  That black-out lining is pretty slick.  It doesn't have to be hemmed and I simply attached with a simple seam at the top of the curtain.

I also found some curtains at West Elm for the living room.  Our color palette for that room is a light blue and these curtains matched perfectly.  I bought two initially just to make sure they would match and then bought two more.  Too bad I didn't know they would be half the sale price when I bought the first pair.  I added some black ribbon in stripes on the lower section of the curtain.