Building A Basement

One month in, and while we've been throwing every extra hour- and dollar- at the project, there isn't much of an update to give. Jason has been working down in the basement as often as he can, and the framing is 90% done!  The rooms are all up, the ceilings are all up, and the pile of lumber in the garage (that we had to replenish 3 times) is almost completely depleted.

The rest of us mostly just stay out of the basement- too many splinters and nails- so I haven't taken very many pictures.  It's kind of hard to tell what's going on down there anyway, but here are a few that I took before church one day.  Leah is standing in the kitchenette area, Adam is 8-year-old-boyishly squatting in the bathroom, and Noah has disappeared behind the far left studs, which are the guest room walk-in closet.

Emma is walking down the hallway, storage closet on the left and game closet on the right.  We've got fun plans for this spot!

Here's the view from the stairs- family room in the middle and office straight back.  The ladder is in front of the guest room, which is easier to see in the picture above.  

And the family room/entertainment wall is the 10% that isn't framed up yet, so no picture there.

HVAC came out last week, plumber tomorrow, and electrical will start this weekend.  Quotes for drywall and paint are up next, and before long carpet and tile will be on order.  Boy, some of the line items on this project are quite impressive!  Tradesmen definitely earn their keep.

We took an impromptu trip down to Kansas City one weekend to figure out a few things that we wanted from IKEA.  The kids were such troopers- 6 hours in the car and super squished on the way back.  But we had yummy meatballs and lots of chocolate and Swedish fish and new movies to keep everyone happy.  In the weeks since Noah has told us again and again how fun the trip was and how much he'd like to do it again.  The family that squishes together sticks together!

We are shooting to have the majority of the work done by the end of the summer, but increasing the total living space of our home by 33% is feeling like a pretty daunting task.  It's a good thing that we have dedicated this year to getting the job done, and while it's not nearly as exciting as planning and saving for a super family vacation, it will be so nice to have it done and to have a new space to enjoy together as a family... eventually!

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission

When I have grown a foot or two. 

And eaten 10,673 more pancakes!

Wrapping Up April

In no particular order, it seems that we've been plenty busy around here lately!  Emma was SO excited to go to a dance class with her friend.  She's been all about dance lately (not the best time of year to try to join a studio, but hopefully she'll still be as interested in the fall).

Adam got to chat with some police officers at his Cub Scouts pack meeting.  I was impressed with his respectful answers to their questions. 

 Leah wanted to dress up like a Loyalist for her class simulation of early colonists.  She was so excited to borrow this perfect dress from a friend (it didn't hurt one bit that she just finished reading all of the Little House on the Prairie books and is currently obsessed with Laura Ingalls).  

And bless her sweet heart, she was the only person who dressed up.  But she totally rocked her costume! 

Adam chose this combination for crazy hair day. 

And passed off his final math test for the year! 

 The same day Emma passed her next-to-last level of spelling words,

which meant ice cream for these two! 

Leah and I had an ice cream date soon after,  

and I couldn't just leave Noah out.  Ice cream for everyone in April!

Just a Saturday morning dance party.

Look at those moves!

 And an impromptu pajama day when Emma wasn't feeling well enough to go to school 

 so we snuggled a bunch.

Leah came home early from school that day too, so there is definitely some kind of bug lurking around here.

And we got to check out Adam's latest art display, this time at the Ankeny Art Center.  This is his third time his art has been selected for an art show!

Such a handsome fellow.

I got to attend a presentation in Leah's classroom, 

 which Adam's class happened to attend as well.  And Noah took no time making himself nice and comfy.

Lunch with Emma is always a treat!  She has a lot of very sweet friends in her kindergarten class and she was sporting a seriously wiggly tooth this day).

 Jason and I have been plenty busy with life too, but we aren't quite as photogenic as these sweet little babies of ours.

See?!

Hey Batter Batter!

 Adam started up another season of Little League recently.  Once it stopped snowing and raining and freezing, they've had a good run of games.

 It feels very serious this year.  Score-keeping, base-stealing, several two hour long games each week, but Adam loves it, and doesn't take himself or his teammates too seriously.   It's still fun.

And as long as he's playing, we'll be cheering him on.  

Goodness, this picture melts my heart into a billion tiny little pieces.  What a sweet moment.

Snaggletooth

Emma's snaggly front tooth has been a source of delight and disgust for the last few weeks.  Yesterday at lunch it finally popped out!   

Now she's got the cutest pumpkin smile of all.  When Emma was a baby, her teeth grew in with a big gap between the front two.  

It corrected so nicely over the years, 

and now it's going to be a few more years before we see it again!

Noah-isms

When Adam gets home from school- Adam! I love you times a million!

*****

Making a secret brothers fort- What about we 'lay low'? ... I don't know what that means, but I heard someone say that once!

*****

While drinking orange juice at breakfast- Ahhh... this really takes me back!

*****

Handing me his plate after dinner- Here you go, citizen!

*****

I don't know where this silly boy gets some of his sayings!  While watching these brothers play once, Jason commented that he never had a brother to have such fun with, and that it looked like a lot of fun.  And he was right!  These two love each other so much, and have so much fun together. 

The Long Winter

is officially over!  So you can bet we're going to be doing a whole lot of this in the months to come. Hello spring!  We're so glad you're finally here!

A Free Friday

 A Friday off from school means a day of fun for Mom and the kids!  

We visited the science center to see the T-Rex exhibit one more time before it leaves.

 We learned that Emma's freckles look crazy under a black light!

And even though there were school buses galore there, we had plenty of exhibits widely to ourselves.

And we kicked off the weekend with dinner at a favorite-because-it's-nostalgic restaurant.

It's always fun to let someone else do the cooking- and especially the cleaning!

Most of our weekends this month and in the foreseeable future are scheduled for working on the basement, which isn't really 'fun' for anyone.  So this was an especially enjoyable Friday for all.

Routines

There was a time when I napped with Emma every day while baby Noah napped and the big kids were at school.  It was the exact same routine every day.  I loved it and it felt like it would never end.

We're back there again, when our afternoon routine is the exact same every day.  Only this time around it's just me and my daytime buddy.

We finish up lunch. 

We walk hand in hand up the stairs.

I turn on the fan and close the blinds.  The door stays open.

We climb into my bed.  I sleep on Daddy's side of the bed, and Noah giggles about stealing my side of the bed and my most comfy pillow.

We snuggle under the blue quilt to read a chapter or two of our book.  Noah doesn't like that Emma always gets the "bedtime pick" but he always gets the "naptime pick" so it really is fair.  

I start to fall asleep as we read, which means its time for us to both turn over onto our right side and take a snooze.

Noah announces that he needs to go to the bathroom, slides down the foot of the bed, and goes to the bathroom (This happens every. single. day.).

I don't always hear him come back into the bed, but after a quick minute or two (or 45) of shut eye, my eyes pop open, I see that he's fast asleep, and I realize that I have a few minutes of alone time in a quiet house before the big kids get home.  

I sit up.

My left elbow cracks as I straighten my arms (every time).

I slide out of the bed, pick up my slippers, and silently sneak downstairs, avoiding the creakiest steps as I go in an attempt to keep Noah asleep for a few more minutes.

I pick up the water cup, my phone, and settle in at the computer.  

Noah magically and immediately appears at the foot of the stairs.  He looks like he is still asleep with his eyes open, but the invisible bond between us has apparently required that he get out of bed too.

I snuggle him up on the couch, where he promptly falls back asleep.

I sit down at the computer and type out a post just like this, relishing in the clean house and 32 minutes of quiet that I have before the afternoon excitement hits, while Noah finishes up his nap on the couch nearby.

And I smile and hope that these days never end.

Superheroes!

These three cuties teamed up to participate in the school talent show this year- as superheroes!

They practiced and practiced, and did an awesome job of rocking out to Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up in front of more than 600 of their peers, teachers, and parents.  

 I love that they worked together to share a talent.  And they weren't selected because it was so polished or because it was so professional, they were selected because it was so FUN!  It made me happy to see them proudly sharing a bit of our family's fun with their world.  We have lots of happy laughing memories of our dance parties.

And I was so proud of them for contributing to their school in a positive way.  Contribution has been on my mind a lot lately.  It's easy to sit back and watch others contribute while you simply consume- to take from school, to take from church, to take from other people. 

But to be brave enough to actually create and contribute- that is something worthwhile.  And their contribution was a great one!

Emma's Victory

After weeks of trying and failing and learning and crying and promising and encouraging and praying, the third time was a charm for Emma's latest list of spelling words.

We were both overjoyed when she conquered this mountain!

We have used word walls, recitation, writing the words on the chalkboard in the kitchen and on sheet after sheet of paper.  Leah and Adam and Daddy have all helped her study, and I've tried to come up with as many tricks as possible to understand the words that just don't look anything like they sound, like 'any' and 'from' and 'about' and 'because' (which I don't think I could spell until at least junior high).  

I tried explaining the bossy 'e' and the fact that every syllable has to have a vowel in it... and finally in the early hours of the morning the Spirit reminded me that she's only six!  She needed a song to help her remember that last tricky word, and instantly a song was in my mind.  

"A-F-T-E-R!  A-F-T-E-R!  A-F-T-E-R! 

We'll get ice cream AFTER my test!"

And it worked!  It was a tender mercy.  She passed her test today with beautiful handwriting and flying colors. 

I had the rare opportunity to walk home from school with her today, and we chatted about her success.  

"Mommy, I was so nervous that I would never pass my test!"

"Why? You're smart and you're persistent.  What else do you need?"

"Courage. I had to try again."

And with that true ringing in my ears, she sped off on her bike.

We celebrated with a long-anticipated date to Sweet Swirls, where she enjoyed her hard earned bowl of chocolate ice cream with Nutella, Kit-Kats and marshmallow cream on top!

I sure do love this girl and her persistence.  Reading has not come easily to Emma, but she has never once quit.  She tries and tries again, even when there are tears in her eyes and she "can't get the words to come out of my mouth quite right".   

And she has learned and grown so much this year.  My heart feels heavy when I think about how hard kindergarten is, and how much is expected of her, but it soars again when I see the tenacity in my spunky little Emma that keeps her trying her best, day after day.  

And of course, she's right- she is one courageous little lady!