Some sneak peeks at our progress

As many of you already know. We bought a house! So as of late we've been up to our knees in paint, sweat and blue tape. Its a lot of work but we will be so happy when its all done. We got a really really great price on this house. It had been sitting on the market for almost a year (empty) because they were asking too much for it. We threw them a really low offer (but reasonable / appropriate for this home) and they took it! Now that we've been painting we've seen it start to transform into a very cozy / modern type of way. If she would have just done this before we moved in, she probably could have sold it long ago and for much more than what she would have invested to update it. Her loss, our gain!

So, we've been trying get all the walls in the carpeted areas painted (living room/dining room, 2 bedroom and a hallway) so that the carpet cleaners (who are coming tomorrow) can clean carpets and we can move in on Saturday. Why the rush? I leave for Alaska on Wendesday to go and get Dominic. When we get back we will only have 3 days before school starts and I'm not sure how quickly we'll be able to get things done at that point. So far, here is some of our progress:

BEFORE Dining Room:

AFTER Dining Room:

BEFORE under stairs in living room:

After (but certainly not competed yet) under stairs in living room:

So there you have it, we've finished the downstairs completely and moved upstairs to the bedrooms and hallway. The finer details of the handrail and railing will be completed during naptimes over the next month or so when we get home. Lucky us. =)


More updates as we finish stuff. Wait till you see the screaming deal we got on an AMAZING dining room table and chairs.

Can I just say, "I'm sick of painting." Just saying......

Sacramento Temple Grounds

We went to the Sacramento Temple and walked around Temple grounds today with Chris and Melody who were have been in town with us for the weekend. It was so pretty there and Penny was posing left and right. Her hair was a mess so she was wearing a hat and it turned out to be a fun hat for pictures anyways!

What did you do today?

We're off to go swimming.........

Piggy

She makes us laugh.

Swimming Girler

Pat the Bunny

She took her little Pat the Bunny to hang out on the steps outside today. The light was shining so perfectly behind her, I had to snap a shot. I love the colors in this and wish that it was someone else's camera that had caught this moment.... for now my blurry, grainy shots from the tattered camera will have to suffice.

This morning

I found her reading books with the toys she'd been dragging around all morning. Each doll and the tiger each had their own book. I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "we're reading books mommy." Notice Lucy (pink baby) on her tummy with the book on her back? She cracks me up.

She then proceeded to ask for cheerios for her baby and helped her baby put the cheerios on the wheels. Notice that she made her babies fingers hold the pages? She's too much sometimes. I love her

After we cleaned up that mess, we got out the markers. She loves cats and had me drawing a few. I use to draw Harry Potter scars on Dominic's forehead daily with my eyeliner. The thought popped into my mind to draw a kitty on Penny's face and so off we went to the bathroom. She's been so giddy about it every since and can't stop looking at herself in the mirror.

Isn't she a cute kitty? I see a halloween costume coming on.

Penny goodness

Penny has been interested in everything to dress herself. She loves my hat

She says its too tight unless she puts it on backwards. I think her definition of too tight is different than what it actually means. Kinda like how Dominic use to use the word SPICY for anything that was hot in his mouth (minty, spicy, or just plain didn't like). She says things are too tight often....

She's figured out how to put her own pants on (backwards evey, thats hard ya know). And loves to wear Grandma's shoes too. We can hear her clunking down the hallway in them long before she actually appears.

I like this picture. So sweet, I could eat her bottom lip.

My garden

My garden is really sad. Its not very big. My soil was very deficient in a nutrient because I only used 1 type of compost instead of 3 (lazy is all). Now I know. I had to use some fertilizer and now it seems to be sprucing up but I'm not sure what, if anything, I'll be able to harvest from it. My tomato plants should be 4 times the size they are and have green tomatos on them already. Oh well.

Here is 4 stalks of corn, some more tomatoes and a pot of pumpkins that Dominic is eager to see when he gets back. We shall see. We have about 7 ears of corn already that are not fully grown. Remember the corn you planted one year Dad? Good times.

Turtles?

I consulted my animal map but it does not indicate turtles in California. j/k. I put together this puzzle two days ago and upon completion (I thought Penny would be excited to see all the animals, really she was just excited to break it apart) I thought it would be a cool thing to put on the kids wall in their new room (red or light blue wall). So, I got out the modge podge and put it on a frame that I got for $5. Its a pretty big puzzle at 17" X 23" so the frame was a pretty good find.

Anyways, about the turtle. We woke up this morning and found a turtle just right outside our backdoor. ITS HUGE! Dominic has been itching for a pet and this one might work! We shall see. It seems a little strange to have a wild turtle in our backyard as there is no real way for it to get to our backyard. There is a very steep hill behind us and a very steep hill in front. How'd you get here little turtle?

I put him in a box that I thought would be big enough, obviously its a little small. Pretty cool though eh?

I Just called about it. Its a female slider turtle. Native to Northern California ponds and streams. Its egg laying season and she must have ventured off to lay her eggs and then got lost. She's a LONG way from a pond of any sort so she got pretty darn lost I would say.

We'll go release her into the Cameron Park Lake this evening where she'll be the happiest. I wish I knew where she laid those little turtle eggs.

Its just Penny and mom all day long

Penny likes to show us her muscles. This picture is great but it doesn't capture the red face, grunting and shaking hands very well. Her muscles, based on dramatic presence, are huge!

She's taken to 'Dominic's guitar' since he's been gone and has become quite the rockstar lady. She knows how to jam...naked.

We were up by my garden and she literally started biting leaves off the lettuce. Its a little too bitter to eat anymore so I just let her have at it.

Its been a little on the cooler side lately (90's instead of 100's) and so we've been going on a bike ride after dinner. Its such a fun time and I LOVE THIS BIKE SEAT! Its so nice to have her in front of me as we can talk and point and listen to eachother. She even will tell me which way to go. I can point out the stop signs, airplanes, and boats we pass. We ride around a cool area that has airplanes at every house and extra wide streets for them to drive on to get to the runway in the development. It has the perfect amount of hills and Penny is thrilled by all that we see. I can't run when I'm trying to get pregnant because I don't know how to take it easy and not run myself down to 110 pounds (its so boring running slow) so this is a nice alternative to me doing nothing. Was that TMI? lol too bad.

I have another bike attatchment that harnesses a bike on the back for Dominic so we can ride tandem. All three of us (maybe even 3.5 of us! will be able to ride Dominic to school this year and we're really excited for that! We went on a couple of trial runs before he left for Alaska and it went well. We're excited to be getting more exercise this year!

Once in a lifetime

and we lived to tell.....did you?

04:05:06 07/08/09

Camping at Sly Creek Resevoir

Sean's cousins go camping about 2.5 hours away from us the week before the 4th of July every year. Last week we decided to join them for some fun on the lake. We had a great time and enjoyed many many things in the outdoors. Our favorite thing was hanging out in the tent though right at bedtime. Our kids were so silly and it was nice to all be together.

Sean, Dominic and Stella on the taco. We wanted to take Penny, but she was beyond tired and cranky that she fell asleep in mommies lap.



Dominic watching from the back of the boat after his ride.

Sean wakeboarding. He looks so handome out there.=) There would have been pictures of me except, well....I never got up. It was my first time and I just wasn't getting it. I'll try again another time. It LOOKS so easy.

Sweepy Penny. A little traumatized about testing/trying to find a life jacket that would keep her afloat, she fell asleep in my arms.

There were some water snakes that we could catch on one part of the lake where it made a small inlet. When the sun started to go down at night it was the perfect place for snakes and we caught a few during our 3 day stay there. Dominic was thrilled and wanted to bring one home but upon further discussion, decided that they would probably be happier in the lake and he put them back. We caught them several times. All the kids loved them. Penny squealed in delight.

Penny liked the headlamp but it would blind everyone she looked at. =)

Sean told Dominic that he could roast and burn as many marshmallows as he wanted. He made quite a few for everyone to eat but just didn't want to be done. Burn away Dominic, burn away. I can't believe how big he is sometimes.

Penny shoved about 3 marshmallows down that night.

Getting the glowsticks all ready. In our family, glowsticks are synonymous with camping.

Getting crazy with the glowsticks

The concentration on her face is to die for. This is one of those wind-up flashlights. Penny is trying to push a buttong and not only sticking her tongue out to help her, but she is shaking because she's pushing so hard.

Daddy is getting a booger. This picture put Sean and I in a fit of laughter.

Dominic was super tired both nights and begged (part cuz he was tired, part because its such a novelty to sleep in a sleeping bag in a tent) to go to bed. Here he is mostly asleep and Sean is saying "Don't smile, don't smile." He's trying really hard not to smile. I love my boys.

We had a great time camping and can't wait to go again!

Cameron Park Lake!

There is a creek that feeds into the Cameron Park Lake (small lake) that years ago they dammed up, chlorinated the water (I don't know how...but they did and its great!) and brought in a bunch of beach sand. Its our own little beach here in our community and its so great and perfect. We have been a few times a week and absolutely love it! Today some friends of ours from our Apartment Complex in Sacramento and that we went to church with came and played with us all afternoon and into the evening at the lake. I hope they come again.

The water is quite shallow. Even past the rope it is shallow. It goes out for quite a while and the deepest it gets is 10.5 feet, I think. Penny was pretty brave today and went underwater several times and kept coming up with a big smile. By the end of our night there she was dunking herself underwater by counting to 3 first and then I would stand her back up. So goofy.

Do boogers dissinigrate (Sean please spellcheck that word for me) in chlorinated water?

Swimming baby! She loved kicking in the water and trying to swim.

Penny's friend McKaylee

Sean's girls. =)

All wrapped up and ready to go. I undid her towel when it was time to go and put her on my hip which was soon followed by a warm sensation running down my side. Thanks for peeing Penny!

Disneyland delayed

Okay, so I'm a little delayed in getting Disneyland pictures up. I've been weening myself from the computer and not been on it very much lately. Here goes:

Dominic got to be picked for the Star Wars Jedi Training Academy. He was one of the last kids picked and I was pretty worried for a bit. EVERYONE around him had been picked and he's just not the type to jump and scream to get someone's attention. Eventually he jumped and waved his hand enough to get their attention and YAY! It worked. He was thrilled and it was really fun to watch.

They teach the 'young padawan's' how to use a light saber and then Darth Vader and Darth Sidius come out and they get to battle them.

Learning the light saber moves.

His certificate of completion. Yay Padawan Dominic!

The island to explore. We found lots of fun things here. Each ride/adventure at Disneyland Dominic wanted to do again, we had to keep reminding him that there was SO MUCH TO SEE and each one would be just as fun and exciting.

The Rocky Mountain Railroad was one that Dominic really liked. It was a rollercoaster and it was actually a little bit scary around a couple corners and drops. I was surprised how much his appetite for rollercoasters has grown since last year. This was the only ride we did twice (love the fastpasses!)

Penny was watching with Grandma towards the end of the ride and saw us waving at her as we went by and screamed "Hi Daddy!" Grandma said it was one of the cutest things she had ever heard and teared up a bit. Our kids don't get to see their Grandma's enough I think.

Penny wanted Grandma to try on her glasses. Touche Grandma, touche.

Our family enjoying Disneyland

While Dominic and I ran off to do the rollercoaster a second time, Grandma took Penny on the Elephants. She LOVED them, and Penny did too. =)

Sean's sister and mom came to Disneyland with us. We were glad they got to come. They didn't want to miss Dominic, Penny and yes....MY first time to Disneyland.

Eating lunch and making funny faces are Dominic's favorite things to do together. Right Dominic?

There were lots of things to do on the island. He got all the way upside down on this one. Again, he wanted to just stay and play on this forever, we had to remind him that there were more cool things up ahead!

Sean hard at work. A little story behind this shirt. Sean bought this shirt online. It made him laugh. There were 2 people in the park who actually stopped him to ask where he got it. The shirt says "Randy Watson, world tour 1988". He loves this shirt.

And thats about it. I would have more, but the camera's weren't cooperating and many of our pictures were blurry and or too dark. But don't worry, we'll be back again next year! LOVED IT!