West Nile

Doesn't that just hurt looking at it. Blynn and Todd both are very attractive to mosquitos. We can all be outside as a family and I will not be bothered or bitten one bit, but Todd and Blynn just get attacked. But Blynn's get really red and irritated. The price of being fair skinned. But my mom has been very concerned that she is going to contract West Nile Virus which isn't something to be joking about and I really need to be better about putting repellent on her. I just never think of it because it has never been a problem for me. However, if the symptoms of west nile are: lethargy (only when asked to clean up), constant whining, arguing with sibling, talking in a loud voice, kicking and hitting said sibling, thumb sucking, strange need to wear mismatched clothes with non-cute shoes, not wanting your hair to be cute, strong aversion to teeth brushing, need to dictate who goes first and where, etc. than I think we might be too late.

What Do I Do Now?

Well, the Tour de France ended today and I am already going through withdrawals to hear those british commentators and the hum of the helicopter. It was great this year, and my favorite cyclist George Hincapie had another great year. I love what the cycling team and the peloton represents and how similar it is for us to finish our 'race'. We each have our role in the team and we each have different strengths and gifts and we need the others on our team to do our strength/gift well. Except that our GC (general classification) guy is the big JC. I hope I am a good domestique for Him.

All You Need is Love

Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless-cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God's words; if help, let it be God's hearty help. That way, God's bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and He'll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything--encores to the end of time! 1 Peter 4:7-11 (Msg)

Some more inspiration from the blogging world, gave me the idea for this project.




Rusty even helped me get into the mood. Theme dressing at its best. 1) cut pieces of wood with none other than my dad's radial arm saw and painted them white, 2) put the stickers on it, 3) spray painted the whole thing black, 4) took stickers off and sanded the whole thing down with fine sandpaper. Now all I need is step 5) which is hanging it up in our room.

One of the Many Things

Mowing the lawn is one of the many things that Todd does for us. I am very thankful for that. Especially today, since it is hot, it takes him about 4-6 hours to do, we have an enormous lawn (some of you may remember this is where our wedding reception was), and he completely threw his back out last week. But yet he still does it!

Perfectly Content

I cannot think of anything else I would rather be doing right now. I love these 3 weeks in July. Maybe the only other thing I would rather be doing is seeing it for myself in France. Or meeting George in person.

Wonderwear

I think we have hit a major milestone. Potty training! This has been so much easier than Blynn and has happened way earlier than Blynn too. Blynn was 3 years old exactly and Rusty is 2 years 4 months. Who says girls do this faster and easier. Rusty has virtually taught himself how to do this too! The other major milestone will be not buying diapers anymore. Woohoo!!! Some motivation that I used for Rusty was to let him choose his first set of underwear, or rather wonderwear according to him. He chose Thomas the Tank Engine of course. (Is anyone other than me amazed at the extensive railroad system this tiny island of Sodor has? Kind of seems like overkill. And we complain in our town of how many times we get stopped by a train. Those poor Sodorians.)




I did make one mistake. The first time Rusty did no.2 in the potty I got really excited and gave him a big treat, a lollipop. Now he expects a lolli every time. I need to transfer this to something small like a jelly bean, because our next step is sure to be the dentist if I don't stop this soon.

Grandpa and Grandma Martin

We had visitors from Denver last night. The kids were so excited to have Grandma and Grandpa here. Blynn was listening to a story Grandpa was telling and I know it looks like it is a very serious story...

....but it turned out to be a very funny story.

Don't you wish your fireplace was haute like me?

I have been wanting to do something to this fireplace for awhile. I read this blog entry and was completely inspired by what I needed to do. Now, I will admit for the longest time I thought I was going to do this myself on my dad's radial arm saw, but my brother in law (Travis) laughed in my face, and I hate to admit it but he was soooooo right. Me doing this by myself is a very funny joke which I was reminded about constantly that day. First we primed the brick and then painted the brick a dark chocolate color and the backs of the book shelves green. Actually it is called pepper grass and that is exactly what I wanted. Green but with some spice. I love it!!

Have you ever seen Todd painting? Me neither, so I thought I'd take a picture to prove it.

Some of my favorite parts are the crown molding Trav added to the tops of everything, the clean lines of the wood around the fireplace, and this wire basket holding my old books. I do also think the fern in the insert is a great idea. None of these ideas are mine however, completely plagiarized by my friends in the blogging world. I realize that my ceiling needs to be touched up in this picture but I was reassured that the painting police aren't coming any time soon because they are too busy arresting people who are afraid to paint their brick and wood. TRAGEDY!

I'm still thinking of how I want to accessorize the mantle. But I know that it should involve a convex mirror that you usually see up in the top corner of a hallway at the hospital. Where can I find one of those?

Now the problem is my couch doesn't match with this beautiful new fireplace. We'll see what I can do about that. Do you think I'm capable of slipcovering myself? I also have a few other projects detailed out in my mind, but I think we are going to need a little break after this one. I forget how much work a little painting can be with a 4 year old and 2 year old.

Space Station

Did you know that the space station was visible tonight in our sky. We all went out to watch and low and behold it appeared between 8:46-8:54 just like my dad said it would. My dad has always known all things space related. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that this was one of his toys when he was a young boy and the fact that he interned with NASA one summer.

It seemed like it was lower than the airplanes that were flying out tonight. My picture makes it look super small, but it was much bigger to our eye.

The letter 'Nn', Sleepovers, and Projects

Blynn and Rusty are having their first sleepover tonight with their cousins. We did a fun project with the letter Nn. We gathered sticks and dipped them in brown paint, to represent a nest of course, and stamped them on outlines of the letter Nn. While the kids were taking a bath, I went to gather all of the kids pajamas. I opened Luke and Sam's bags that their mother (my sister) let them pack and this is what I found.
Only the essentials, what looked like all of their socks from their sock drawer and every piece of underwear they own. Also, their gameboy and every single game. These boys kill me. Thank goodness their mom is prepared as she did notice their packing necessities and actually packed them some pajamas.

Todd and I are still working on that project I was telling you about. My brother in law and our friend Abel were over yesterday and finished their portion. Now it's time for the slow, tedious process of finish work. I can't wait to show it all completed. It is spectacular!!!

Big TV day tomorrow, the Williams sisters and the TdF. Todd, of course, will try to sneak in golf. Luckily the tv and fireplace are right next to each other as to not slow down our progress.

Aaaah! And only after approximately 138 threats through gritted teeth, "If one more of you come out here again you will not get any donuts tomorrow".

Master makeover

I have slowly been updating the rooms in our little old house. I just completed our bedroom, but I accidentally deleted the before photos. And that really bums me out since I love before and after photos. But basically what I did was sew a new bedskirt and shams with a different material so as to not be so matchy matchy. We also used some of my parents leftover paint to use on the walls. My favorite part of the shams is the ricrac.

Here is the project I am currently working on, but you can't see those photos yet as I'm not done yet. I am on my brother-in-laws time table so who knows.

I have to get these projects done because on Saturday I will be out of commission from any special projects for about a month. The Tour de France is starting and it is everyday for 3 weeks. It should be very exciting this year!