Floor and rug initiation

In our house we (apparently) believe in initiating things quickly and thoroughly.

The first day we were back upstairs, the "new" floor got kool-aid splashed on it and colored on with washable crayons.

Today we got some rugs so we have cozy spots to sit on the floor.
It took 20 minutes for someone to realize the living room rug has "roads" to drive on.
It took 5 hours for the kids to remember somersaults.
However, it only took 35 minutes from the rug touching the floor until Laura pottied on it.

There was a little girl with a little curl

Summer of the Magic Treehouse

Evan set upon a mission in mid-July. He wanted to read through the Magic Treehouse series, straight through, starting at #1. He started on July 16 or 17; I wish I remembered which.

Here is a photo journal of him working on his goal.

July 17, 1:56 p.m., sitting in a basic reading position.

July 17, 5:18 p.m., book #2, bending and stretching.

Note: When Evan went to bed on July 17, he was on book #3. We had a bad storm in the middle of the night so we were all up for a couple of hours. He finished book #3 around 5:00 a.m. on July 18, then we all went back to bed for a while. At 9:30 a.m., he asked me for #4. At 10:45 a.m., he asked me for #5. He asked me for #6 somewhere around noon.

July 18, 10:59 a.m., spending time with his sisters ... kinda.

July 18, 10:59 a.m., proof that he's oblivious to the camera while he's reading.

July 18, 11:16 a.m., book #5, looking for a new reading position.

July 19, 7:29 a.m., having a dry bagel for breakfast so he can keep reading.

July 19, 8:50 a.m., sitting on the floor by Kendra and stretching out his ear.

July 19, 9:09 a.m., book #8, back to the couch in another new position.

July 19, 9:21 a.m., taking a break from the heavy reading ... to read a lighter book.

July 20, 8:10 a.m., taking a break and spending time with the girls ... by reading them a book.

July 21, 1:30 p.m., book #9, having a cookie break with us.

July 21, 1:44 p.m., unaware that everyone else is done with their cookie and has left the table.

July 22, 8:30 a.m., change of scenery, a different book in a different position.

July 28, 7:36 p.m., book #16, spending time with Daddy before bed.

August 2, 10:26 a.m., book #20, at Grandpa and Grandma's house

As of August 14, he was done with #29, but we're having problems getting a hold of #30 so he's stalled for a bit.

Death by chicken leg

Remember Evan's loose tooth that he didn't know about? Well, he figured it out after a few days. And, now, the last few days, it's been so wobbly that I didn't really know how it was staying in his mouth.

This morning at swimming lessons, he said "yes" emphatically, and the tooth was flapping in the breeze of the sss sound.

He hasn't been favoring that tooth at all. He was eating pizza, bagels, and even apple slices on it. But it stayed there.

Here's a picture from a couple days before it came out. If there were some way to get a picture of the inside of his mouth, I could show you that the new tooth is visible and ready to come in.

But today the loose tooth came out. We sat down to lunch, and Evan (age 5 years and 11 months exactly) started eating. I was ready to tell Chad about the tooth flapping in the "yes" breeze, when I looked over at Evan and saw a hole in his mouth. I asked if his tooth had come out, and his tongue and finger were going like crazy trying to determine if it was indeed gone. Chad asked, "did you swallow it?" about the same time as I said, "spit out what's in your mouth."

But before Evan could respond to either of us, we saw his tooth laying on his plate. Apparently when he took a bite of his chicken leg, the bite of chicken went in his mouth and the tooth came out of his mouth.

So, here is a picture of Evan showing off his new tooth hole. (Which will only be there for a day or possibly two days tops by the look of it.)

I really didn't know I'd find a tooth hole to be cute.

Hobbies

Right before bed. 6:57 p.m.

Waiting for breakfast the next morning. 7:49 a.m.

Any guesses what Evan's biggest hobby might be?

Videographic evidence

This is our videographic evidence that Evan, who has always been a struggle in the bathtub because he hates getting even the smallest drop of water near his eyes or ears, went to the bottom of the 5-foot part of the pool at swimming lessons to get a diving stick today.

Yay, Evan!

"Bed"time

Our kids play "bed" a lot. It usually involves pulling out lots of blankets and pillows and stuffed animals which don't get put back away.

On this particular day, it also involved a lot of chairs, which also didn't get put back away.

Here was the bed Kendra made.

The bed Laura made.

And the bed Evan made.

If they could just put their stuff away after it's "Morning!", this would be one of my favorite things they play!

Big love. Small spaces.

Letter to my husband

Dear Chad,

Laura may not be hungry for supper tonight.

Love, Lynnette

P.S. We may need to find a higher shelf for the cheeseballs.

"Retro" toys

A lot of the toys in our house are toys from my childhood that my parents kept a hold of. We have Care Bears and Smurfs and Strawberry Shortcakes and fun things like that. A few weeks ago, the kids got to play with these for the first time:

Does anyone else remember Dolly Pops?

The kids enjoyed them as much as I always did. And they were as frustrated by the one outfit that didn't stay snapped on as I always was.

P.S. You can also consider this your Before picture of the living room floor.

The After pictures

So I've been waiting to do this really cool, spectacular, awesome post with Before, During, During, During, After, and After pictures of our floors. But obviously that's not going to happen, so here you can see After pictures. They're from right after the floors were done and we could walk through. No furniture was in yet; register covers weren't even back on yet.

Laundry room

Kitchen

Dining room and living room

Cross view of living room and alcove

Alcove

Girls' room (Kendra now sleeps in Laura's room)

Our room, with some dust still hanging in the air

Some day maybe I'll do that really spiffy Before, During, During, During, After, and After post. But don't hold your breath.

Note: The floors are the same color from room to room now. It's just really hard to get a picture showing the true color. I could do a post with pictures of the front entryway closet and how different it looked depending on the setting I had the camera on. But don't hold your breath for that one either.