New Carpet & Tile

One of our last big project to get done in the kitchen is tiling. We were able to get the tiling done before Mike had to leave for annual training for 10 days. . It didn't take very long at all and it looks so good. We spent the weekend putting the tile down and then woke up at 3 am the day Mike had to leave (so as to let the tile dry enough) to grout. Luckily it only took us about 2 hours to grout because that's all the time Mike had.

We wanted to get the tile complete before he left so that I could get the walls sanded and primed before the cabinets arrive while he is gone.

We also got new carpet in our master bedroom and the baby's room. Its so nice having new fresh stain free carpet!

The cabinets finally arrived, I love them! So much better than the old ones. Later in the week the installers came to put them in. Unfortunately the people at Lowe's forgot to order a few pieces to finish the job and our ceiling ended up being very uneven, not a good thing when we ordered cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. So the installers were able to put in the bottom cabinets so that the granite people could template for the counter tops. Our hope is still to be able to have a working kitchen before the baby comes sometime in the next couple of weeks. A few good things, we got our new fridge, stove and microwave delivered and I love them. Its nice to know that I can cook something on the stove or in the oven now after about a month and a half. I've definitely improved my skills of cooking in a microwave, toaster oven and on an electric skillet.

The new tile!

(I can't say I will miss the pink)

Our new bedroom carpet. I also got the walls primed, the white is so much better than the green. Now I just have to decide on a color to paint the walls.

A few of our new cabinets.

Major Dad!

Congratulations to Mike!

He was promoted to a Major on August 3rd!

Claytor Lake

Last weekend we were able to go to Claytor Lake with one of Mike's partners at work. She and her parents were renting a boat and invited us to come along. The whole family had such a blast. The girls both went tubing with Dada and we all enjoyed the warm water to swim. Unfortunately I forgot our camera and so have no pictures.

We had such a fun time that we decided to go back the next weekend and try out the State Park Beach at Claytor Lake. It was a nice hot day and the water was wonderful. Raquel had lots of fun swimming and playing in the sand. Natalya on the other hand hated to touch the sand and wouldn't put her feet down in the water. She was happiest sitting on our beach towel eating snacks. Hopefully Natalya will get over her dislike of sand so that we can have enjoy the lake beach as a family a little more.

The only time Natalya was truly happy at the Lake.

Sitting on the towel off the sand eating snacks.

Raquel playing in the sand

Playing with dad in the water.

Building a sandcastle

Remodeling Part Two

Round two of remodeling started mid June. We realized that if we wanted to finish the pantry and laundry room, meaning putting new tile down on the floor we would have to start on the kitchen remodel because we would have to start tiling in there. So first thing on the do list was remove the wall between the pantry and kitchen. Then we removed the side cabinets and put them in the pantry area. The girls and I then went on vacation and left Mike to rebuild the wall and he did a very good job!

Mike taking down the wall

Wall free looking into the kitchen from the pantry.

The lovely wall paper we found behind the cabinets we removed.

Making another trip to Lowe's

After returning from our vacation to Spokane we started on the floor. Everything we read told us to remove the cement board from the floor with the tile still on it. So Mike tried to remove the cement board, and he tried and he tried. He then became very frustrated and decided that we need a large hole in the floor. After calming him down I told him there was probably a better way and maybe we should try just removing the tile from the cement board. We had success with removing the tile and spent the next three weeks chiseling the tile from the floor, patching the holes that were made in the cement board and sanding the floor. It was a lot of work but we now have a beautiful new tile floor!

Chiseling the tile from the floor. If you look to the left of the door you see a piece of plywood that is covering up the hole Mike made in the floor.

About half way done with the floor.

Finished removing the tile, now time to fill in the holes in the cement board.

Removing the rest of the cabinets and starting work on the plumbing and electrical.

Also we ordered our cabinets, decided/ordered and received our tile, picked out and ordered our granite. It was neat we went to a granite yard and were able to see the big slabs of granite and pick out the one we wanted. And lastly we bought a new fridge, one that will fit in our kitchen. Its been a busy couple of months and we hope to get the walls, electrical, plumbing and tile done before Mike has to leave for 10 days for annual training with the National Guard.

Busy Beaver Camp!

Raquel just finished a week of Busy Beaver Camp and absolutely loved it. She asks me almost everyday why she can't go back. I try to tell her that its just a summer camp and she will be going back to school in the fall. Her reply is that its still summer so why can't she go.

They really had the kids busy with art projects and fun activities. One day was jungle day and they had a treasure hunt and sang a song about going on a lion hunt. Another day they got to meet a firefighter and explore his fire truck. And yet another one of the days was all water fun with a big blowup twisty slide, little swimming pools and spray bottles. The last day they had the parents come in a little early for a sing-a-long and the kids sang all the songs they had been learning for the week. Definitely a camp we will try to do again next year!

Raquel also took swim lessons again this month. She was in the sea turtle level 2 class. Raquel was the smallest and youngest kid there but able to keep up with all the big kids. She can now swim quite well on her own and passed the class and can move up to the level 3 class, which we plan to take next week.

July 4th!

Blueberry Picking!

After the girls and I returned from our Spokane trip it was time for blueberry season. I must say that this year the strawberries were much easier to pick then the blueberries. The weather was nice, not too hot but a late frost and lack of rain really made a difference in the size and number of berries this year. Last year I was able to pick 4 gallons of berries in 2 hours, this year only 1 in the same amount of time. Both girls were not very good at helping out and Natalya actually cried most of the time. It definitely was not a fun adventure, but I got my blueberries and have enjoyed them. We made blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup and fresh fruit salads, but my favorite is just eating a big handful of fresh blueberries right out of the fridge.

Smithfield Plantation

We were able to celebrate the fourth all day long. After church we headed to Smithfieldplantation were we walked around and viewed the grounds and gardens, watched a musket firing demonstration, played with old fashioned toys and watched period style dancing. After the dance program they came into the audience and asked for volunteers to come learn a dance. I got asked and so learned to dance the old fashion way. It was fun but very hot and my partner's hands were very sweaty and he was a little creepy.

4th of July Parade!

Sitting in the shade waiting for the parade to start.

Watching the parade in the shadow of the tree.

Next we came home had lunch and took a rest before heading off to the little town parade. The parade was much better than last year and the girls got lots of candy, but I could have done with out the heat. We all huddled under a little tree on the side of the road to try to keep cool.

After coming home from the parade and devouring the candy and other treats we had around the house no one felt much like eating dinner, so we headed outside for fireworks. Raquel went all by herself to invite our neighbors to come watch. Both Natalya and Raquel had lots of fun lighting and watching our little firework display. I thought Natalya would be scared of them but she was right in there wanting to light the fireworks and hold her own sparkler.

Fireworks!

Natalya holding the matches ready to light another one.

Sparkler fun!

Raquel and her friend Ann out neighbor

I love Natalya's face!

We ended up having our yummy baby back ribs, corn on the cob, asparagus and watermelon 4th of July dinner the next day. Well worth the wait! Mmmmm!

Spokane (Part 2)

Our second week in Spokane started out with my dad taking the girls for a walk to McDonald's where they had a fun inside play area. My mom and I took the time away from the girls to go look at cabinets at Lowe's and Home Depot. Being the bad decision maker that I am, I thought it wise to get as many opinions from others as possible about what colors and types of cabinets people like. Later that evening my parents neighbor came over to invite us to use their heated outdoor swimming pool. Of course we couldn't say no and so we swam most everyday until we left.

Friday we went out to lunch to Taco Time, (Since working there in High School I think I've only been back once) still tasted the same after 10 or so years. My mom and I took the girls to another pet store. This one didn't have as many animals but the girls still spent plenty of time enjoying the dogs, cats and fish.

The weather finally warmed up and so we headed to the park to play in the water park. Unfortunately the water park was not working but we did play on the play ground for a while until it got too hot. The girls got to skype with dad, a perfect ending to a good day.

Natalya wanted to be like her big sister and wear goggles.

Raquel was very brave going off the diving board and slide by herself

and swimming to the edge.

Saturday grandma, the girls and I walked down to the Liberty Lake farmers market. Such a good farmers market, one that you wish you could buy just about everything from everyone. And the prices are what farmers market prices should be!

The girls and I bought some peas that were the biggest peas I have ever seen. Good thing I got 2 lbs. or the girls would have had them eaten all before we even left the market. My mom picked up some beautiful plants and flowers along with a yummy cinnamon roll. We had the cinnamon roll devoured in no time and so my mom and Raquel headed back down to get 2 more. Today we also went up to Greenbluff to pick Strawberries (opening weekend), but because of all the rainy weather lately the strawberries were not quite ripe and so not picking. But instead we stopped by a little orchard store and had yummy huckleberry ice cream cones, so the trip was not a total loss. We finished the day with a quick swim in the neighbors pool.

Sunday's highlight was papa making fresh homemade raspberry ice cream. I think Natalya would have eaten half of the batch if I would have let her. She sure has her daddy's sweet tooth.

Huge peas from the farmers market.

Monday we returned to Greenbluff to pick strawberries, and pick we did, about 27 lbs. worth. Raquel helped pick with a few samples here and there but Natalya was just into the eating part. She always had to have one in each had. I should have weighed her before and after to account for all that she ate. Of course with all the fresh strawberries we had to make a yummy strawberry dessert. Tonight we had strawberry shortcake followed by a swim in the pool.

Tuesday we enjoyed fresh strawberry crepes for breakfast and made 4 batches of strawberry jam. I also requested that my dad make another batch of homemade ice cream, this time strawberry. Yummy! Never have to ask him twice to make ice cream, he enjoys it the most!

Picking Strawberries!

Natalya ate more strawberries than she picked. Can you tell she really enjoyed them! She wasn't happy unless she had one in each hand.

One of the three boxes of Strawberries we picked!

Wednesday we headed home, our plane left at 6:15 am and so we spent a long day (about 10 hrs) traveling back east. It was good to get home and see daddy but we had a great time visiting Grandma and Papa!

Spokane (Part 1)

The girls and I were able to go and visit my parents in Spokane for a couple of weeks. It took us a while to get there but we had lots of fun when we finally did. Luckily we were able to get a flight out of Roanoke for cheaper than D.C or Greensboro and so Mike was able to drive us to the airport instead of me driving 3-4 hours, parking the car and deal with the bags and kids on my own.

Our first delay happened in Roanoke where we sat on the plane for a while making us very close to being late for our connecting flight in Charlotte to Denver. When we did finally arrive in Charlotte we had about 15 min. to get to our plane. Of course we arrived in a different terminal than what our departing plane was in, so we had to run to catch our plane. I'm sure it wasn't a pretty sight seeing a 7 month pregnant women running through the airport. I'm lucky I didn't put myself into labor. So we made it to our gate just in time. Just in time that is to find out that our plane was delayed and that we would most likely miss our connecting flight in Denver. So after catching our breath we went and stood in the long airline customer service line to see what we were going to have to do to get to Spokane. They thought we may still be able to catch or connecting flight but gave us a hotel and meal voucher just in case. After getting something to eat we waited another hour or so for our flight.

The girls were really good on both the flights and waiting in the airport. Unfortunately both the girls only fell asleep about 10 minutes before we landed in Denver making it a long flight of entertaining the girls giving me no rest and then dealing with half a sleep kids getting off the plane. We did miss our connecting flight to Spokane, but only by about 10 minutes. So we got to start the adventure of getting to our hotel in Denver. It took about 1 hour for our shuttle bus to come pick us up and then the little 25 person bus was completely full. Another fun sight seeing a pregnant lady carrying a 18 month old, stroller and backpack while dealing with a 4 year old trying to get to the only open seats in the back of the bus. Not much aisle room and I had to hold the stroller the whole time which was about 30 minutes. It was probably a good thing that the airline kept our bags and so I didn't have to haul them too. I don't think I have ever been to an airport where the hotels are so far away like they are in Denver.

Our hotel was supper nice though which made up for it a little bit. After checking in we got a little something to eat from the hotel restaurant. The girls were supper great the whole time considering they didn't get to bed until 2:30am our time.

Eating dinner in bed at 2:30am

The next day we made the 30 minute trek back to the airport. Luckily the shuttle wasn't as full this time making it a lot easier. We ate a little McDonald's for breakfast and then got on our flight to Spokane. We arrived in Spokane about noon, headed to Grandma and Papa's house in Liberty Lake and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Friday we spent relaxing, touring Costco and its many samples and headed to the lake. It was still quite cold (pants and jacket weather) and so we didn't go swimming. But the girls enjoyed throwing rocks in the water and hanging out on the dock.

Throwing rocks in the lake.

At Lake Coeur d' Alene

Sunday we came in from the lake to go to church. Natalya was typhoid Mary and so I stayed home with her while Raquel went to primary with Grandma and Papa. After church we headed back out to the lake where we enjoyed a Father's day dinner for my dad.

I just want to say how a much I appreciate and admire the father's in my life. My dad is always there for me when I need him and willing to do anything for me. Mike is the best husband! He has been spending his free time remodeling our kitchen for me and what a great father he is to our little girls! They adore him and can't wait for him to get home each day from work. Happy Father's Day!

After a nice relaxing Sunday we set to work on Monday cleaning and cleaning and cleaning the cabin because my parents were renting the lake cabin out for the week and it hadn't been deep cleaned yet for the summer. After a long day at the lake we headed back to Liberty Lake to relax.

After a boring day of cleaning we decided to have a little fun with the girls on Tuesday. We headed to Riverfront park where we rode the train, carousel and played on the big red wagon. Natalya wasn't a big fan of the carousel which I don't blame her it went pretty fast.

After leaving downtown we went to check out Northwest Feed and Seed, its a garden center and pet store. My mom use to take me when I was a little girl and I loved it and so I thought it would be neat to take my little girls. Both Raquel and Natalya had a blast looking at all the animals. Its more than a dog and cat pet store, they have a wide range of animals. Baby geese, chickens, dogs, cats, a large turtle, snakes, an alligator, tons of fish and birds are just a few of the many animals that we got to see and pet. It was as fun as I remembered it and will become a regular stop whenever we visit Spokane.

Getting ready for the train ride.

Looking out over the Spokane River in downtown Spokane while on the train.

The Carousel

(Raquel, Grandma & Natalya)

The garbage eating goat!

Riverfront Park!

At Northwest Feed and Seed enjoying the animals.

They have a wide variety of animals from chicken, geese, snakes, rabbits to dogs, cats, mice and turtles. The girls had fun looking and petting most of them.

Butterflies!

For her birthday Raquel received as one of her gifts a butterfly habitat. It came with a coupon for caterpillars that you send away for and receive in the mail. We waited until the end of May to make sure it was warm enough and that we were seeing butterflies out side before we sent away for our caterpillars. They came in a cup with five small caterpillars, which looked like they were dead. But within a few days they were up moving around and growing. The food was in the bottom of the cup and so all we had to do was watch them grow and grow! It was neat to see how big they got everyday, they really grow fast!

The growing caterpillars

Then after about a week they started hanging upside down on a paper disk that was attached to the lid. Then with in a few days they had all formed a chrysalis. Once they formed their chrysalis we removed them from the cup and attached them to the side of the butterfly garden. Raquel patiently waited for another week for the butterflies to emerged from their cocoons.

Natalya enjoying watching the butterflies

Getting ready to let them go in our front yard.

We enjoyed them for about 5 days, feeding them fresh cut watermelon and oranges and sugar water on flowers. We were leaving on a trip and so reluctantly had to let them go. The girls had fun taking the butterfly garden outside and letting the butterflies emerge from the habitat and watching as they flew around the garden. It was a neat experience for the whole family and one we want to do again next year.

Our butterflies!

Mike's Birthday!

Mike celebrated his birthday today! He started the day with Raquel running into our bedroom so excited that it was daddy's birthday saying, "This is how we sing happy birthday at my school. Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday, to you, to you, to you! Do you want baby chickie claps, alligator claps or shark claps." Mike picked shark claps!

Yesterday Raquel and I went out for groceries, but also snuck over to Mike's work to decorate his office. Raquel helped pick out balloons and candy from the dollar store and then help decide where all the decorations should go. If it had been up to her she would have filled the whole room with balloons and streamers leaving no room to work. I made Mike's usual German Chocolate Cake for his birthday cake and picked up pizza and drinks for a little lunch party with all the staff at work. The girls and I had fun hanging out with Dada for his birthday while eating lots of good food.

In the car heading to Daddy's office.

Raquel was super helpful in getting everything ready for dad's special day.

Last Day of School!

Ms. Jones, Raquel & Mrs. Ingram

Today was Raquel's last day of Preschool for the school year. She had lots of fun meeting new friends, playing and learning at school. She learned to spell and write her name, and loved all the art projects and Music. It was cute hearing her sing little songs that she learned at preschool and seeing the excitement in her eyes when she saw her teachers in the morning and the love and smiles she gave me when I'd pick her up in the afternoon. Raquel had the best teachers, Mrs. Ingram and Ms. Jones. They really made her feel extra special everyday she was at school and helped her learn and grow this year. For a thank you gift for her teachers Raquel painted a clay flowerpot, planted a beautiful flower and made a little flower sign with her picture that said, "Thanks For Helping Me Grow!". They really turned out cute and she was so excited to give them to her teachers.