The Calm Before the Fair

Tomorrow starts my 5th Shawnee County Fair! I don't know if I'm getting the hang of it or forgetting something because right now I'm eerily calm. hmmmmm
I can't think of anything else that needs done before 7am tomorrow so I am just waiting.....
The fair is a lot of fun and I enjoy when it is actually here and happening. Another great thing about the fair is Grandma Rosie comes to help the whole family get through the four days of activities. She will have even more jobs this year because it is Daryl's first year participating as a Clover Bud. He has to have his project judged and then work a shift for his club's cookie sale. It will be a fun time for all of us.
I wanted to show off some new yarns I spun. I had wanted to spin my whole pile of fiber that is pictured but two out of three ain't bad!

Got Daryl all enrolled for school today. It is crazy that the first day of school is two weeks away. He is excited to be in first grade and this year he will be riding the bus. I can tell he has a little anxiety about that but it is something he wants to do. He rode a bus to his day camp this summer so he made a point to tell me he CAN ride the bus to school. I know he will do fine, and I will get to walk to the bus stop with him every day instead of driving him to school. We will still get a few moments of Mommy/Daryl time every morning!

On top of everything else we are doing this month we had one of our trees cut down in front of our house. We have lived in our home for three years now and can't get grass to grow in the front yard. The last thing it could be is our yard was too shady. Well, that won't be a problem anymore!

Sorry the picture is a little dark, I didn't get home till 8:30pm! 

 

I hope everyone had a happy end to July, if you are in the area come say "Hi" to me at the fair!

Family Milestone

 Wednesday of this week our family had a first. Daryl and Alex both had an activity at the same time. So Kelly and I split and he took Daryl to T-Ball and I took Alex to swim lessons. It was fun to come home and hear how the other activity went.

Swim lessons ended tonight and Alex is pretty sad about it. They were the first thing we did just with Alex and he really liked things being about him!

On Monday we had Alex's birthday cake and ice cream after dinner. He loved the ice cream, the cake was another story. He was really excited when it came out of the oven but when I frosted it he lost his mind! How dare I put frosting on a cake, he wanted nothing to do with it. It was his birthday so I didn't MAKE him eat cake, he just had ice cream.

That night when Kelly was saying prayers with the boys he said, "And thank you God for Alex's birthday today."
Alex said, "birthday cake with NO frosting." :-)
We finally finished that cake today and he never did eat one bite.
Today, when I picked up Daryl from his day camp our conversation was pretty funny.
Me-"Daryl what did you do today?" (This is the normal pick up question.)
Daryl-"I swam mom, and that's all I remember and that's all I know!"
What am I going to do with these boys!!!

Summer Fun!

Saturday, I had a night out with the office ladies. We went to Paint Therapy Uncorked and made masterpieces! I think most of us were pretty nervous about our painting ability but we actually all did pretty good. Lisa's bird even looked better than the example! 

 Cindy is making happy trees!

 Look and Lisa's bird, isn't it great! Laurie's trees are very pretty too! I think she should hang it above her fireplace!

I gave my painting to Kelly! I made him hang it right away. :-)

Today, we took the boys to the pool and when we were paying we realized it is the last time Alex will get in free. Tomorrow, he will be three! I don't know where the time has gone but I do remember spending a couple of hours in the pool exactly three years ago. I was at the end of my rope in July 2012 and Kelly thought going to the pool would help me feel better. It did and later that night I went into labor!

 It was funny to be at the pool again with my almost three year old! When I kissed him goodnight I told him when he wakes up he will be three. He didn't care that much but Daryl thought it was sweet! We will probably go get some ice cream tomorrow to celebrate the big day!  

It's HOT in Topeka!

I'm obligated to put this right here.....(feel free to stop watching at 1:25)


So glad this is the week Alex started swim lessons. He has them four days this week and four days next week. So far he is loving them! I think it will be major progress if we can get him to go under the water.

Last Saturday Kelly and I went to, "Brew at the Zoo" with our friends Ben and Jaime. It was a blast as expected. The food trucks this year were a nice addition. They just needed a dessert food truck, I was ready for some Ice Cream as hot as it was.

Since it is so hot I'm making yarn. Go figure!

House Projects!

There are many people out there who don't like little around the house projects that need to be done. We are not those people!
We have had to restrain ourselves to not do them while we were getting out of debt. Now that we have accomplished that we took the opportunity to spend our three day weekend doing things around the house.
First, we had to start with a list. I LOVE a list! There is no better feeling than crossing things off a list!!

Breezeway canopy - before

After

The pooldoghouse patio is completely stained

Rotten shop window sills - before

After

Our poor weathered bench - before

After

We couldn't have done it without a little help!

Be Royal!

 We had an awesome long weekend at The Manor. Our goals were to get some projects done around the house and have some fun with the boys. Having fun is taken care of and Kelly will finish the To Do list tomorrow. He gets an extra day at home with Alex. :-)
I will post project pictures hopefully tomorrow.
On Friday night we took Daryl and Zach to the Royals game against the Twins and enjoyed an extra inning win! We also enjoyed the Friday night fireworks! It was a blast and Daryl did really good. He only got up to walk around once.

I also brought along my little sock for the "down time" between innings. I think it was good luck for the Royals because they won!

 The boys enjoyed some fireworks on the 4th of July. Daryl enjoyed them a little more than Alex! Alex finally came around and as long as he was sitting in the garage he didn't scream. I did take him home when the big stuff started to go off and Daryl and Kelly stayed a little longer. It was a really great day!
Today was my long run day and after my week off I am back on track! I was starting to get a little nervous about my running plan because I didn't get my 12 mile run in before I left the state, but with the help of my new running buddies I logged 13 today. I'm still staying positive about this crazy Marathon goal!

I'm Still Here!

I know the blog has been quiet but that was not my fault. I had lined up a guest blogger while I was in Pennsylvania for work but he didn't do anything. I fired him!
Lot to tell about from last week.

Probably the most exciting is Alex is wearing underwear! When I left Kelly potty trained Alex, I don't know what he said but it worked! So far (knock on wood) he has only had one accident. Yay, Alex!! PS-Kelly stop being so awesome, you are making the other dads look bad. Not only did you have two boys by yourself for 8 days without shipping them off to Grandmas you potty trained one. You can stop now! LOL


In other news I did get to tour the North East part of Pennsylvania for work. I met some amazing people and saw some amazing sights. I also admit I was with some pretty great youth!

The only bear I saw in PA. Trust me I was looking! 

Bushkill Falls, they were beautiful. So happy my host family brought me here!

No trip to Philly is complete without a shot of the Liberty Bell! 

While I was traveling I started a sock. I'm using a ball of yarn that Kelly got for me a year ago. I love the colors! I'm knitting the Hermoine Everyday Sock pattern. I almost finished one sock. I hope I don't come down with some second sock syndrome!

I've also started the Tour De Fleece challenge. Tour De Fleece is when you spin every day of the Tour De France race. I've needed some motivation to get my spinning mojo back and this should do it. I've picked three Hello Yarn Fibers I've been wanting to spin. I already have Headbanger (orange and blue) on the wheel right now!

Have a Happy 4th everyone! Try and keep all of your fingers!!