Our Holiday Project: Drainage

Last year I mentioned what we end up doing on long holiday weekends: projects.  We always end up working on some sort of project whether we had planned to or not.  Last year we worked on our steps over Memorial Day weekend.  We finished them and they turned out rather well.  This year Ryan is digging up our steps, or at least a few of them.

Last year we had our gutters draining into a rain barrel to keep the water from washing away the dirt underneath the steps.  It worked in theory.  In actuality the water still ran everywhere and not always in the rain barrel.  Yesterday we had new gutters installed as a result of the hail and wind storm.  A few days prior, Ryan began digging out a trench to install underground gutter drainage.  After consulting with the gutter installer it was decided that we needed to reroute the drainage underneath the steps.  Yes, underneath the steps.  The best way to do this was pull out the pavers, dig up the sand, and dig a hole to run the tube underneath the timber frame.

So far Ryan has been doing all of the hardwork.  My job has been to watch the kids and bring him ice cold water.  I'm sure at some point I'll be back to laying pavers and landscaping.  The kids are definitely entertained by this whole project. 

Aric and Kellyn thought it was great to have 100ft of "snake" to play with last night.  They had the snake all over the yard and even discovered the joys of playing telephone.

When we finally ran the tube down the side of the house, and through the steps, Aric helped Ryan and I push and pull it through.  Kellyn was our self-appointed cheerleader.  She ran around repeatedly yelling, "We are a family.  We can do this!"  I'm not sure it motivated us too much, but it did make us laugh.

Next time we will work harder on our drainage plans before we build the steps.

Things Heard Around Here

Mommy, I swallowed two Lego wheels.

Imagine that being said by a hysterical three year old who won't stop crying because she accidentally swallowed two Lego wheels.  Now imagine a hysterical five year old crying in the background because his sister swallowed his Lego wheels.

It's going to be a fun next few days waiting for those to come out.

Roof

A month ago a bad wind and hail storm came through and damaged our roof, gutters, and truck.  Not good.  This past Friday they came out to replace the roof.  They were up there from 6am to 8pm with an hour lunch break.

It was a long day, but I'm glad they did it all in one day.  I don't think I could have handled more than one day of them banging away on our roof.  On Tuesday they come out to work on the gutters.  I'm hoping gutter replacement is much quieter.

Things Heard Around Here

Kellyn: Mommy, those are nipples.  Mommy, you have nipples.

Of course, this picture is not hanging in the privacy of my own home.  It hangs in the dentist office waiting room.  Of course, the waiting room was not empty except for Aric, Kellyn, and me.  My only hope is that the other people in the waiting room were hard of hearing.

Swim Lessons and Growing Up

This summer we signed both kids up for a two week swim lesson class.

It started out well, but quickly deteriorated.

After 3.1 days we pulled Kellyn out of the class.  She was running away crying from the instructor and would not calm down.  It was obvious that she just wasn't ready.  We didn't want her to waste other people's time or money with her antics.  Maybe next summer she will be able to handle the stress of swim lessons.

After about three days of class Aric informed me his hair looked like a girl's.  He said it was too long and got in the way of his goggles.  We let him look through photos and made an appointment for a haircut.

The first day Ryan and I did many double takes when we looked at Aric.  It is such a dramatic difference.  We are slowly getting used to the new haircut.  Aric loves his new cut.  The whole way home from the salon he checked himself out in the rear view mirror.

We don't want to be the parents who fight with our kids over hairstyles.  It's just hair and we know it won't always be like this, but if it is that's okay, too.

Five

In case you didn't notice, Aric turned five a few weeks ago.  I still can't wrap my mind around him turning five.  How did time go by so quickly?

We ended up celebrating his birthday all week long, because Ryan had to be out of town on a business trip that week.  We started the week with a small family celebration on Sunday.  We grilled out, ate outside and then made smores.

On Aric's birthday my friend, Laura, and I took the kids to an aquarium and Legoland.

We spent the morning in the aquarium, had a picnic outside, and then went to Legoland.  The aquarium was small, but kid friendly.  They had several bubbles, windows and other displays where the kids could get a closer look at the aquatic life.  We didn't expect much from Legoland.  Thankfully we were pleasantly surprised.

There were rides, displays, a 4D Lego movie theater, a Lego pit, a place to build and race Lego cars, and karaoke.  What more could a kid ask for?

We finished out that night with some cupcakes and a slumber party in the living room.

The following Sunday we finished out Aric's birthday celebrations with a small party.

We had plenty of food, cupcakes, homemade ice cream, a Nerf gun war, and a pinata.  I was exhausted when the party was over, and kind of glad to be done celebrating a long birthday week.

 And that is how we celebrated Aric turning five.  It makes me exhausted all over again.

Things Heard Around Here

There is a fly in the kitchen, so you should close your mouth when you chew.  If you don't close your mouth then the fly could go in your mouth and poop in there.

...the wisdom of a five year old.