Excitement

The kids were in bed, Jon was relaxing after working on the deck all day yesterday and all of the sudden we smelled something burning in the family room.  This wasn't one of those where you wonder where its coming from or what it could be. This was a run upstairs and get the kids because the house is on fire kind of smell.
We searched the house top to bottom looking for flames or smoke, but didn't find anything.  The kids were fine and the smell was slowing getting better.  Because it was so strong, I called the non emergency number for the fire department, told them what was happening and asked how concerned we should be or if we should do anything.  They said they would come out and check it out for us.  A couple minutes later we had 2 firetrucks in front of our house with their lights on.  A bunch of firefighters in full gear (thermal cameras, axes, hose etc) came in the house searching for hot spots and funny smells.  They also checked the outside of the house, air conditioner and furnace, but found nothing.  I felt terrible for calling them out for nothing, but it was great to get the peace of mind that our house wasn't going to burn down while we slept! Ben and Zach were still awake and came down to check things out.  Ben was a little freaked out, but calmed down quickly. They talked through a couple possibilities for the smell, but really had no idea as to what caused it.  They took our information and were gone.  Never a dull moment over here!

Deck

After digging holes and putting some cement in them last week, Jon was ready to get the deck frame going. Apparently this part of the process is very time consuming. In about 7 hrs (actual work time) Jon, his dad and a neighbor moved the wood to the back, put in a couple posts and put up a couple boards.  He expected to pretty much have the frame done yesterday, but he forgot how slow and math heavy this step is.  He's hoping to finish the frame this week.  Once its done he'll be able to finish the deck pretty quickly.  

Deck building goes even slower in 90 degree heat and in direct sunlight!

Chick

We met some friends at Chick Fil A for lunch today.  We saw the cow for the first time in years.  Zach had a blast following him around and watching him when he went outside, but he didn't want to interact with him. Apparently they've upgraded their hats.  They aren't big and obnoxious at all!

Deck!

Jon was finally able to break ground on the deck today. We had a few delays with Home Depot, but we're finally moving forward.  Since we're doing it "legally" this time with permits, we have to get 3 inspections along the way.  Of course we can't get the holes inspected until Thursday so hopefully we'll get a lot of work done on Saturday and actually get it looking like a deck.

Kiddie Park

I'm slightly embarrassed to say that in all of Bens 7 years we've never taken him to Kiddie Park.  He's been invited to a couple birthdays there, but we've always had something else going on.  We finally got the group together and went Saturday morning.  We pretty much had to beg the front gate chick to let Ben in without any restrictions.  He's right at the 50" height limit.  I hope he really enjoyed himself since I don't know that we'll be able to do that again.

The rides were a bit beneath a 7 year old, but he still managed to smile.  The rest of the group had a great time. Sam loved the roller coaster.  He was actually the only one who liked it.  The babies were crying when they got off the ride.  Sam went on it twice!

Zach was looking for his seat belt on the merry go round. Thank goodness for daddy!

It was a fun morning with the kids.  I hope to get the babies there a few more times before they get too big. In Ellies case, I'm guessing that will happen when she's 10!  I think we owe Ben a trip to Swings N Things!

Splash pad

We grabbed some friends and headed to the splash pad on Tuesday.  They all loved the water and had a blast.

Wordless Wednesday: Chickens

Goodies

Jon has been requesting some peanut butter truffles for a while now.  Since we're borrowing Corries mixer for the summer and since it was just fathers day, I figured this is a good time to get some made for him.  Ellie and Zach were great helpers and only sneezed in it once!   (just kidding baby)

Visitor

We had a visitor last night.  We saw some deer in our yard right after we moved in, but haven't seen any more until last night.  He helped himself t our bird feeder and moved on after we got a few pictures.

Happy Fathers Day

We are so lucky to have such a God loving, devoted, patient, smart, funny (ish), caring, generous, hard working, supportive, handsome, leader in our family!

Happy Fathers Day baby. We love you!

VBS

The kids had vacation Bible school last week.  For a total of 8 hours we were a family of three.  I have to admit it was kind of nice.  It was significantly quieter and we were able to get a ton done that we normally wouldn't have attempted with all four of them.  The kids sang some songs they learned last week in church today.  If you look closely you can see Ellie on the left.  She did NOT want to go up there. She hid behind a kid, crossed her arms and had the worst pouty face for the whole first song.  Its sad because she had a blast at VBS.

Behind

I told myself several times last week that I needed to update the blog.  Between play dates, VBS and life in general, it just never happened.  I'm hoping to gather some pictures and get a few posts up today.  The big thing is we finished painting the house.  We got the whole downstairs finished in less than a week and its taken 2 weeks to finish the upstairs.  The only major change is our bedroom.  We painted it green.  Its actually a normal color green, not like the 2 different shades we had at the old house.  The picture gives you an idea of the shade.  The house looks 100x's better.  Its so nice knowing its done.
We were hoping to get the deck started this weekend, but one of the Home Depot guys is making some improvements on Jons design.  We hope to have that back Monday and get going on the next project!

Done!

Ben has finally finished 2nd grade and will be moving on to third grade in the fall.  He finished most of his work 2 weeks ago, but we had some math left over that I wanted to finish up.  He's done a little bit each day and finished it today.  He still has to do his weekly presentations through the summer so he's not completely free.  He also has the option to do book reports to earn money toward his new Kindle.  

Did I forget to mention that?  A couple weeks ago Ben put his Kindle on the ground in the garage while he was out playing.  Jon came home and ran over the Kindle with the car.  It was ruined.  Jon was able to order a replacement for $100.  Seeing as we got the Kindle for free, I don't think its a terrible deal.  We've given Ben a list of jobs he can do around the house and have attached dollar amounts to them.  He can do them or not, but he wont get the new Kindle until he's "paid back" $100.  At the rate he's going, he'll have it for Christmas!

 Sam, Ellie and Zach are very excited for their big brother!

Balls

The babies love kicking around the balls with dad. However, it usually turns into seeing how many times they can get the balls past dad and into the street.  

Park

We headed to a park with some friends yesterday.  Its the first one we've been to on our side of town.  The kids had a blast.  I think this will become a regular part of our summer!

Carpet

We got new carpet installed in the family room today.  The carpet (that was only 2 years old) is worn in many places, but the family room was by far the worst.  It had a stain, a rip and you could feel the staples where the carpet met the wood floor.  The new carpet is amazing.  It has a 20 year warranty so I'm guessing it will last a bit longer than 2 yrs. Its soft and cushy and wonderful.  The only down side is that the rest of the house is lacking.  I think that will go on our long term to do list!