Sunday, August 31, 2008

Feeling blue...

like a blue room that is! Since we decided not to go to BLR this weekend, I decided to go ahead and paint Shao's room. I had bought the paint this past week to have on hand for when I had some "free time"--yeah, right!! LOL

I chose Nantucket Fog. The first picture is with the old and the new. The left is the old, right is new. The second picture is with stuff back in place. I haven't chosen bedding yet... So the drapes may change. Need to find something to tie the pink and blue together. Any suggestions?

I'm thinking of either using their Bai Jia Bei quilts (when I get around to making them) or buying then each a cream colored silk comforter or duvet when we go to China.









Saturday, August 30, 2008

Hurricane Gustav

We are gearing up for Hurricane Gustav here. Lots of water, food, batteries, and gasoline. I think we are about as ready as we're going to be. Outside stuff picked up. Vehicles tanked up just in case. Not much left to do, but wait. It is expected to hit sometime Monday night/early Tuesday morning.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Grace playing

This video was taken just of the kids in general. Grace just happens to be in it. The person holding the video camera was being tackled by a little boy called Moses who really wanted some attention! They love seeing themselves on camera!

Grace in high chair

She's the second one from the right in the lavender shirt.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

NPS Jr. Ranger program

I added this to my Georgia post, but thought it deserved it's own post as well.

We have found a cool way to explore the national state parks. It's the Jr. Ranger program.
If you haven't done them yet, it's pretty cool! You get a booklet (I think this one was a few dollars) and your child has to do so many of the activities. They range from easy search word puzzles to finding information in an exhibit or along a trail or watching a video. When they're done, they turn it in and get a certificate and a pin badge. Some even give a fabric patch. Connor has done 3 so far. He got one here at our local state park for doing the booklet during summer camp, but you can do them at anytime. He also did one in Albuquerque last year at the Petroglyphs. He loves Civil War stuff and got do earn another badge at the Kennesaw State Park in GA. They had a demonstration and video. I think it's a great way to learn about different areas and events, plus they're neat side trips on vacation! And since most are outside, they're a great place to burn off some energy.

They also have Web Rangers. Where they can earn badges by completing activities online.

Check out http://www.nps.gov/learn/ to learn more about them.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Our first night in the mobile home

We finally got to spend our first night in the new mobile home!!! We are getting it stocked. Mattresses on the floor. No sofa. We do have counter stools that I painted the night before, so atleast we have somewhere to sit to eat. It rained most of the time we were there. So the kids got to watch Brady Bunch and Mary Poppins. Then the boys got to do one of their favorite things--play in the mud while sister watched from the door. I'm sure she was dying to get out there, too! She got daddy to take her for a long walk (on his shoulders) and had lots of his time and attention to read books and snuggle. Just what we wanted this house for, family time!




Friday, August 8, 2008

Our princess' 3rd birthday

Her birthday was during the week, so we kept it low key. We gave her a dollhouse and she's having lots of fun with it. Here's a picture of her in her favorite outfit playing with it.




On the weekend, we had her grandparents over for pizza and cake. She chose to dress up as a princess. It's the first time she's wanted to play dress up!




Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Here it is!

Here's our new house coming down the road. Notice the dirt rising. It is NOT pretty after a heavy rain....

And here it is being backed into place:
And here it is in place!
Here's the view from our front door:

The boys entertained themselves by reenacting battle scenes:


And of course baby girl was her cute self. Don't you love her matching mosquito bites on each cheek. She is an absolute magnet for them and we are overrun with them here.