Garden

I went out and checked my garden tonight and found a big handful of pea pods that were ready to be picked. Addie helped me and then we checked out the carrots and she found one that wasn't too bad. She ate it after we peeled it. I have a few tomatoes and the beans are still going to be a little while. This is a picture of the peas we shelled.

Basement Progress

We have been working like crazy on the basement, trying to get things done before vacation and ultimately school starting. This is some of the progress. We cut in Ashley's window and got everything framed up and installed. We finished off the window today. We also have all of the wiring done in Ashley's room, outlets, and lights and switches. The hallway light and outlet is in, and Amber's lights are in. Out next project is to cut in Amber's window, do her outlets and then start sheetrocking the two bedrooms and hallway. Hopefully in the next couple of days.

Two Tired Boys

This is where I found Bill and Alex this afternoon. They were snuggled up with each other and eventually fell asleep. :) Very cute!

Tragedy

Well, most of you that are around here know that Coach Ed Thomas, of Aplington-Parkersburg, was killed today by a former player/student. It was really a shock to everyone. I have to say that I really didn't know Coach Thomas well. I had never met him in person, but he has had a great impact on my husband, and I benefit from that. Coach Thomas was a great example for all young coaches to follow, teaching kids about life on the field, but more importantly, about life off the field. Bill has used this same philosophy in his own coaching, and I have to think that positive coaching role models, such as Coach Thomas, have been the reason for this.
This is such a horrible tragedy for any family, but I am thankful to know that Coach Thomas was a believer and understood what his life was all about; impacting students and athletes. I am hopeful that in our lifetime we will see the silver lining, the bigger picture that God has for this family, school, and community. In that way Coach Thomas will continue to impact peoples lives for generations to come.

Expedition: Windows Wells

Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to excavate several tons of dirt, assemble wooden panels, and then somehow put all that dirt back again (maybe not all of it). :)
Okay, so we dug for our egress windows on Saturday. Some of you will ask yourselves, why on earth did they dig them yesterday, the hottest day of the year? Well, we didn't plan them out that way. It just happened that at this stage of the basement, we are kinda close to a stopping point until we get the windows in. We called our friend Bruce to help us dig. He helped us with our old front bushes years ago, and our addition to the house also. Before he got to the house we had to move the rock and pull out a couple of bushes that were in the way.

He drove his tractor in that has a backhoe attached to it. In about an hour he accomplished what would have taken us days, if not weeks. :)

After he was done, we (Bill) had to work on finishing up digging out by hand what the backhoe couldn't get. This was tough, because the holes are about 5 feet deep, so he had to climb down a ladder and then throw the dirt out over his head. Not fun! We had pre-assembled our window wells out of pressure treated lumber. Each well was made up of three panels, that weighed about as much as a small pick-up truck. :) On the first window well we learned that the first panel to put in was not the middle/front. This occurred to us after about 2 hours of work! Our neighbor Carlos came over and helped us drop the panels in and lift them out, scoot them over, and wedge them this way and that. On the second window well, we showed what great students we really are. Our learning curve was great! Instead of two plus hours of work, it only took about 45 minutes to drop in the panels and get it all put together. We definitely learned our lessons from the first time.

When we were finished our other neighbor across the street brought over his skidloader from the Co-op and pushed most of the dirt back in for us and saved us a ton of work.

Then all that was left was to shovel in up by the house.

Thankfully all this was finished last night, since this morning we had a nice downpour of rain. That would have made a nice mess!
So today, if I have time, I am going to finish leveling off the dirt in the flower garden around the wells, put down weed guard paper, replant my bushes, and shovel the rocks back into place. Then at least it will be back to somewhat-normal other than the large dirt pile left over. I am going to fill in the yard in all the low spots and throw grass seed on it. Then the rest of it might get a sign: Free Dirt for the Taking!
Next project: finish 2 walls and then put windows in

Amber's braces

Amber got braces yesterday. Here are some pictures. I don't know why the second picture is sideways. It isn't that way when it is previewed. Odd.

Gainfully Employed!

Yes, that's right, I am now gainfully employed. Well, starting in August. I interviewed Wednesday for a teaching job and got a call yesterday asking if I wanted the job. I took it. So starting in mid-August I will be a 1/2 time reading teacher in the morning and in the afternoon I will be the librarian at three buildings. I will spend 2 days at one school, 2 days at another, and 1 at another. I am very excited about the job. It is one of my favorite subject areas and the staff that I will be working with are really nice. I subbed in the building last fall and they were all really great. Actually, one of the spec. ed. teachers used to teach at H-R. Plus it is the same school district as Bill, so we will get to do inservice together and have the same schedule. The girls schedule is just slightly different, but that will be okay. Amber goes to Middle School this fall and will be able to be home before Ashley and Addie and they can be home for about 20 minutes until I come home. All good things! Can't wait to get started!

New Bed

Several years ago we were given a single bed frame, so that when Alex was ready for a bigger bed we would have it. Bill's grandma moved in with his parents a while back and so we let them use the bed for her. She passed away and the bed went into Bill's parent's storage shed. Yesterday Bill's sister needed to check on some of her things in the shed, and Bill went with her to get our bed back. In the meantime, I took Alex to Walmart for some sheets and ended up coming home with a "race car" bedspread. It was the first thing Alex saw, and everytime I went down another aisle looking at other things he would remind me that he wanted that race car bed. Now I had planned on buying him this really cute comforter that would match his border of camping bears. It had real bears and campfires and tents on it. It also had 3-D foam bears that could stick on the wall. So I told him this, that mommy had already found one for him with bears on it. He looked at me, very seriously and said, "no mommy, bears are for babies. I'm a big boy, I want the race car bed!" It was so funny. So of course we now have the race car bed. :)

Losing Teeth!

Addie lost her first tooth the other day (bottom middle), I think it was Saturday. She finally let mom pull it out. She put it under her pillow and the tooth fairy brought her a dollar. Well, the funny thing is, she had another loose tooth, the other bottom middle.Today she was wiggling it with her finger and she walked into my bedroom and bumped into my bed. This knocked it completely loose. She panicked a little bit, and ran out to Bill. He looked at it and sure enough, she knocked it completely out. It was sitting in her mouth and she had to spit it out. :) So now she has two missing teeth in a matter of days. It really changes her look. It makes me a little sad, she is changing so quickly. Addie has been my little girl for so long, it is a little hard to see her growing up. Mrs. Zoske (preschool teacher), if you read this, Addie wanted to make sure that you saw she lost her teeth!

Swingset

We told the kids that they would not be spending their entire waking hours in front of the tv this summer. They of course were horrified. :) Isn't that what kids are supposed to do with their summer vacation? We let them know that we expected them to be outside playing. But when we started thinking about what they had to DO outside we came to the conclusion that we needed a swingset. We took our old one to Independence and it was falling about when we left there, so we didn't bring it back. Ashley and Addie have made a couple comments about wanting/needing a swingset. So Menards was having a sale on wooden sets and we scored a great deal on a smaller swingset. It has a little tower with wooden roof, slide, slanted rope climbing wall, vertical climbing wall, 2 swings, rings, and a sandbox underneath. We bought it yesterday evening and started this morning about 7:30 a.m. cutting all the wood to the sizes we needed. Around 8 we started screwing things together. We stopped around 11:20 with most of the tower put together. I had to take Amber to get two baby teeth pulled for braces at 11:45. When I came back around 3:30 we started again and finished by 5:30 p.m. So it took us a little while, but I think we did a great job. The kids love it and have been playing on it already. It was just what we needed for them to enjoy playing outside this summer!

T-ball

Addie is playing t-ball this year. Although they don't do a lot of hitting off the tee. Addie's coach usually tosses them 5 or 6 and then if they can't get a hit he will put it on the tee. Addie is the only leftie on the team. She is also the only Pre-K kid out there. Everyone else is Kindergarten, first or second grade. The bat is so heavy that it is hard for her to swing, but she managed at her last game to hit 1 of her three at-bats off a pitch, not off the tee. I think that at times Addie would be just as happy playing in the dirt than fielding or hitting, but I know all our girls went through that stage and she will eventually be more excited about the ball than the dirt. :) The first picture is of Addie and another girl squatting down and playing in the dirt during the middle of the game. :) The other two are pictures of her at bat and running to first base.

Memorial Day Weekend

We went over to the river and played on the beach a lot. These are photo courtesy of Ellen. I got sick on Sunday morning early a.m. so I wasn't out and about all that much. It was a wonderful weekend though.

More Gardening

Well, I have gotten everything planted that can be. We are going to wait on pumpkins and watermelons for a little later. Probably when I have harvested some of the garden and we have more room. Here is what we have. Under the straw are the potatoes, some red, some white. Next to the straw are the onions. If I pulled them now I would have green onions, but if I wait longer they will be large white onions. Then I have four rows of peas. Then one row of carrots for Addie. Surprisingly they are coming up. Then I have 4 rows of green beans, which may or may not show up in the photos, but some have sprouted. Then we have four mounds of cucumbers, 6 milk cartons of peppers and my tomato plants. :)
It has been quite satisfying for me to do the garden. Most of it I have done myself, other than rotatilling and lifting the straw bales ( they were too heavy-Bill came to help). I hoe the garden every 2-4 days depending on if it needs it. It is really something to see the fruits of your labors, and even though it is more work, I am really enjoying it. In some ways it takes me back to childhood. I know that as a kid I probably complained about the heat, or having to snap beans or shell peas, but there was nothing like home grown beans to eat. So if you couldn't tell, I am loving my garden. By the way, Bill is loving that he has nothing to do with my garden. :)

Basement Remodel

We are remodeling the basement to put in two bedrooms for Amber and Ashley. There will also be a bathroom and t.v. room.

Gardening

Well, I've decided to try gardening this summer with the kids. We decided on several vegetables to plant. We had to start some early inside the house, like our peppers. We started these March 1st. I will take some photos of my garden now and post them a little later.

More of Phoenix, AZ

All the kids came down to our hotel room to watch a movie. They wanted the lights out so that it felt like the movie theater.


Now, who could resist posting this picture. This is at the science center. Jim and I raced each other in wheelchairs. It was an exhibit that let you sit in the chair, use your arms, but kept the wheelchair in place. There was a screen that showed your progress. Who won, you might ask? :) You'll have to ask Jim about that, although, if he admits that I won, he probably would say something like, "I let her win", you know, something that boys says when a girl beats them and they don't want anyone to know. :) I have to say, though, that the look on my face is nothing short of comical. I look like I am really straining.

Phoenix for Christmas

Christmas 2008 was spent in Phoenix, AZ with my entire family. We stayed at a really nice hotel and then went out and found places to take the kids and see the sights. One day we took the kids to an amusement park, Castles and Coasters, like a mini- Adventureland. The kids had a great time. Bill convinced Amber to go on the kids version of the space shot. It wasn't too bad. Her face when they first took off was priceless, but she actually went back and road it again with her dad.



We also went to the science center, the zoo, and drove all the way to Sedona. The trip home from Sedona was memorable as Addie threw up all over me, the van, and herself. This started the 24 bug that many of us got. Thank goodness our room had two bathrooms. I was sick 7 times that night, and the girls in the other room were sick all night too. Bill was a busy guy.




We went to a railroad museum of some sort and the kids rode in a cattle car with Grandma and Grandpa. It was quite comical to see them all scrunched in.

So Daddy thinks he going to play football...

I'm not so sure... :) Addie got this princess makeup table for Christmas. The brush, comb, lipstick, etc., all make noise when you pull them out or put them back. This fascinates Alex, so Addie was showing him how everything works. He doesn't actually play with the table anymore, now he just steals the little stool and he uses it to turn lights on and off.

Addie's Birthday- 5 years old!

Can you believe it?? Addie is 5 years old. She is attending 4/5 year old preK in Radcliffe (the same building that her sisters are in). Addie is really growing up. She has a great personality and can really crack you up.




This is a picture from the Heubner side of birthdays.

Colo-NESCO

Well, for a lot of people that didn't know, we moved back to Hubbard last June and Bill took a job at Colo-NESCO teaching English and coaching football and girls track. His team performed really well this past season, making the playoffs. It was an outstanding season! Way to go Bill (and the boys of course)!