7 Quick Takes

1 - Enjoy!

2 - I know this is a little past due, but here's pictures from L's first day of school.

When she grows up she wants to be the Queen of the Butterflies. No one better get in her way!

Shortly after I took this picture she looked up at me, waved, and said, "Bye-bye." I was dismissed.

3 - JF also had his first day of school. He's in the Early Childhood Education classroom... which is sort of like special ed preschool... it's because of his apraxia.

As you can see, he likes suckers, coloring, and ice.

Sometimes he cries when I drop him off and sometimes he doesn't but the tears don't last. He has a blast every day, which is easy to see when I pick him up and he's obviously enjoying himself and oblivious to my presence. 

4 - When we're in the car I usually just want to listen to the radio. The kids often want to talk to me. Today I missed out on awesome songs like Royals and Roar and Monkey Man. I tried to explain that its not every day that The Specials are on the radio so I really wanted them to be quiet for Monkey Man but no dice. I guess they just can't appreciate ska music.

5 - Two special prayer requests. First: We're having an open house on Sunday from 2-4. We've lowered the price of our home again and we're really, really, really hoping someone will buy our house very soon. Please pray that people will come and we'll end up with a good offer. 

Second: My cousin's son is very sick with c-diff. He's been really sick for a long time and is currently in the hospital for his second stay this month. Please pray that little Noah will get well soon - or how about right now?! - and please pray for his parents as they navigate all this.

6 - Speaking of my house selling... we made an offer on a house in the town we want to live in and it was accepted. The offer is contingent on the sale of our house of course (which is why we need to sell this one so badly). I've been daydreaming about what I'll do in the dining room, which looks like this

On the other side of those curtains are French doors that lead to a sunroom that has a view of our huge, green, tree-lined backyard. As far as I'm concerned there's no need for those drapes and I intend to take them down asap. A new light fixture for sure. I think I'd like to paint those built-ins white but paint the backs of them a rich, pretty blue. The paneling, well I don't know what I'll do with the paneling. I'd love to get rid of it but that might be too big of a project for right now. 

And in the unfinished basement we have big plans. There's a small, ugly half-bath that we'd like to fix up and add a shower stall to. Then, in a large, long room we want to keep one far end of it white and blank so we can shine a projector on it and watch movies. There'll be a comfy sofa, maybe some counter space, and most importantly on the opposite wall I want a simpler and less grey version of this

Ben has requested a slide to get off the top bunks and I think it's a great idea. 

This way we can have family movie nights and the kids can just fall asleep in the bunks. If there's a tornado warning at night we can all just go to sleep in the basement. If people come to visit there will be open beds. When the kids get older and have slumber parties we'll be all set up.  I love it.

7 - We harvested a bunch of tomatoes recently.

Look at all those beauties.

The Little Tykes wagon came in very handy for the harvest. Thanks, kiddos!

I washed them off, blended them up, boiled them down, and added some yummy seasoning. They made a delicious marinara sauce. We used it on homemade pizza last night and Italian nachos tonight. Delicious. 

Many thanks to Jen for hosting!