Free at last, free at last...

I know Dr. King was talking about something completely different, but it seems to echo our feelings of FINALLY having the fence done.  I suppose all in all it wasn't the hugest inconvenience one could have, but it sure is nice to have it done. And we got to know our neighbors better because of it, so it wasn't a completely pointless venture. 

In orther news, L starts 1st grade tomorrow.  We finally met her teacher on Friday and we think it will be a good year for her.  She asked for a Father's blessing from her Dad tonight to help start the school year... very sweet. 

Also, had a wonderful batch of spinach from the garden tonight.  That and the homemade tomato bruschetta made for a very tasty, very fresh meal.  More later!

Home Depot Platinum Member

Hey, there's supposed to be a fence there!  This is the section that was completely ruined, but we decided to do basically the whole fence along that side of our property as it was kind of pathetic in spots.

I've come to realize by now that fix the fence Monday is really fix the fence week...but it will be awesome when it's done.  I've made so many trips to Home Depot (despite excellent planning) that it's, "Hello, carbon emissions, goodbye only having to fuel up the old minivan once a month or so."  It's times like these a truck would be handy, but you must admire my loading job at the upper right.  I have some kind of closet machismo that comes out at times like these.  I like to try to carry all the heavy stuff, do lots of manual labor and "be a real man".  I think it stems from trying to impress my dad when I was little.  The Husband, meanwhile, found out that jackhammers aren't as fun as they look.  He and an awesome friend from church used one for 4 hours Monday, and it never looked like they were having too swell of a time.  I hope our friend is still our friend after all that work.  I knew I didn't want to try the jackhammer out because of how heavy it felt when I was dragging it out of the back of the minivan.

As an aside, some weirdo in a pickup truck is "walking" his dog slowly down our street again and again. 

Anyway, on the mothering kids front, our kids have been babysat a little, left to watch a movie a little and have helped a little with the fence this week. It's school countdown time for us...L starts in 5 days and M in 14. They are very ready to be back. I am glad I have kids who are still pumped for it, and I hope that's always the case. L decided to be a poser today.  She is still in the stage where her candid smiles are so much cuter and more sweet that her planned ones...though maybe that's how it is with all of us.

M, the car obsessed, has taken up coloring as an actually enjoyable activity in the last week...which is a rare feat for all the boys I know.  Sure, he is just coloring cars instead of playing with them, but it's still coloring.

And B...he has had a rough week, being almost too ill to bite and pinch, etc.,...Note, I said ALMOST too ill.  On observing him this week, I've noticed as soon as M does something B doesn't like, B opens his mouth wide (the better to do a great bite with) and sticks his arms out wide (the better to get a good hold on his victim so that the bite can inflict more damage).  I am praying it's a stage.  He doesn't do it in church at nursery-just at home with M and Mom.  He sits dutifully in a time out afterwards but then just does it again the next time things don't go his way, so if anyone has any effective disciipline for this situation, let me know.  Sick or well, he can always feel the rhythm and is a serious dancer to anything from a waltz to hip-hop.  He will stop throwing a fit or even in the midst of attack plans just so he can dance.

I am off to clean all day long to make up for being a tough guy the last few days.  Wish me luck!

Bad Fences Make for Good Neighbors

No pictures to post, but we had a huge windstorm last night.  The strongest gust was clocked at 68 mph.  The Husband and I were attempting to watch the movie Roxanne when I heard a loud crunch sound.  I checked out front and then out back, and there was no fence in the back of our house between us and our neighbor.  The fence was admittedly weak and something we were wanting to fix when the weather cooled down this fall, but now that the fence just got ripped off, Monday will be fix the fence day.  Today, The Husband and our neighbor dis-assembled some of the fence and found some kind of critters (apparently not termites) in the wood.  Ick!  The good news is it was a great way to meet our new neighbor and to reconnect with our older neighbors, as we have a lot of fence to fix.  The bad news is our pup, who is kind of phobic about a lot of things, is psyched out a wee bit by the hole in the fence.  He is sticking to his people like glue.  So by sunset tomorrow hopefully we have some lovely fixed up, sturdy fence...then on to our next fix up plans...and assuming we can put a little money aside for it each month, there are a lot of fix up plans.  And nobody will be able to stop The Husband now that he's got his definitive Home Depot orange home fixing book.  He's been eyeballing it for years, so I guess the other good news about our fence, may s/he rest in peace, is that The Husband got his handyman book.

Chocolate Insomnia

Sooo...I've toyed with the idea of doing a blog as a faster way to get info and pictures out to family.  I'm starting its setup tonight because I ate a whole bar of chocolate around 9 pm and lay in bed for about an hour before realizing I wouldn't fall asleep.  This has been our first week w/o swim lessons basically all summer.  L, the resident fish, appears so dismayed about not being in the water everyday that she decided to be sick.  Ok, more likely she got a virus and that caused her to be sick, but you never know.  M has transferred all the toys from his room into every other room in the house, thus proving correct the chaos theory.  For the first time in maybe his whole life I made him clean up the entire mess by himself.  Since L has been sick and is normally the major helper around here, it was just killing him.  B, dear, sweet, psycho baby B...he gave me a baby goose egg on my head today, so I'm cracking down on him.  He may be cute and cuddly and only 18 months old, but the reign of B the Tyrant is coming to an end.  A new pecking order shall be established.  As a summation of our summer (because it was the main event of summer), I am adding some swim lesson pictures.