Ceiling, Chain Saws, and a New Toy

Some day we will be selling this house and buying a bigger house.  No set time yet, and we aren't seriously looking at new houses yet.  But we do have a few more projects that we will need to finish prior to putting this house on the market.

One project was to paint the ceiling in the guest bedroom.  It had a large crack in it, which Scott repaired when we did the baby's room.  It also had a number of water stains, from before Scott replaced the roof on this house.  We considered removing the wallpaper, but decided that would be more work than we would get value out of it, so the wallpaper is staying for now.  

You can see where we repaired the crack, and also a large round water stain.

Last week Mom and my niece Olivia came over during a week day to help with the ceiling.  The best way they could "help" was to take care of the baby while I paint!  At one point I went to the bathroom, and came out to find Olivia with her hands on the roller...caught her just in time!  I explained that we aren't replacing the wallpaper, so she can't really help with the ceiling, because it would be very difficult for her to not paint the walls!  Fortunately, she listened and did not try to help again!

Mom is doing a great job--she is good at putting the baby to sleep!

Olivia enjoyed playing on my computer.

Laurel likes to grab things, including her toes.

 I did the primer and the first coat of paint on the ceiling while Mom was here on Thursday, and finished up the second coat Friday afternoon, and put everything back into the room on Saturday.  It is much brighter in there!  I also laundered the drapes...they were pretty gross.

Saturday afternoon we had a training session for our CERT team.  This is a Community Emergency Response Team that Scott and I are a part of.  It is more difficult to be available to both help out when needed with a baby--last week when President Obama was speaking here in Oskaloosa, the CERT team helped direct traffic, but I was not able to take part because we didn't know how long it would take, and the baby doesn't take a bottle and needs to eat!  Our training on Saturday was a chain saw safety session, then a "find the missing bodies on the farm" session, followed by a pot luck.

I think I would like to try using that chain saw...

Here I am, showing off my skills!  I have used chain saws before, but Scott usually does the work on our yard when needed.

We brought our chain saw along as well.  It is a Husqavarna, which is a nice brand.  Scott bought it during a big ice storm a few years ago...he probably would have bought a less expensive one, but there was a run on chain saws and this was the only one left!  One of the young men on the CERT team grabbed it as soon as we got it out of the car, cradled it in his lap, and offered us $250 for it.  No sale!

 Today I stopped at Goodwill to see if I could find a fancy dress for an upcoming occasion.  I found at brand new, tags-still-on $170 flapper dress in my size, and bought it for $6!  I have always wanted a flapper dress, and this one was flattering, and the price was right!  I also bought a new toy for Laurel.  She sure likes grabbing things with her hands, and I thought she would enjoy laying on the floor and playing with this.  I was right!  She spent about an hour this afternoon playing and chatting away.

She is very intent on grabbing the toys.

 Here's a short video of Laurel playing with her new toy.  Mind you, this went on for about 15 minutes, but I only recorded 30 seconds!

Firebowl

Last week the burn ban in Mahaska County was lifted, so we were finally able to get out our new fire bowl.  We literally had to get it out, as it was still in the box...no reason to get it out in the last 2 months since we couldn't use it anyway!  Our friend Levi came over for supper and we sat around the fire bowl for a few hours.  Laurel enjoys being outside, and ended up falling asleep out there wrapped in her blanket.

On Saturday morning Scott went over to William Penn University and helped college students move in.  I didn't go because we realized that if we both go, someone has to hold the baby, and that person then cannot carry boxes.  Instead, I got the wonderful task of doing the dishes, my favorite thing ever (NOT!).  When Scott was finished we went to Pella to hang out with my family.  My sister Carrie and family had come down so that Tim could help Dad finish putting the railing on the new deck stairs.  It was fun to have the whole family together!

"Daddy, NO!"

Abby helped Dad and Tim out quite a bit.  Some of the other kids tried to "help" as well, but Dad sent them back inside...a 3 year old that grabs everything and doesn't listen to you just isn't that much help!

Getting the pieces together.  We had to do a little bending and pulling to get everything to line up.  In the end, I laid on the top rail to hold it in place while Dad pulled on the bottom and Tim screwed everything in.  I knew that baby weight would come in handy somehow...

Pekaboo, Kendall!

Kendall sure loves her cousin Laurel.

Sunday afternoon nap

 On Sunday afternoon we had some bizarre weather.  Around 2pm we heard some thunder, and heard what we thought was rain, only to discover that it was hailing!  According to our friends 1 mile away in Oskaloosa, it was not hailing at their house.  About an hour later, we got 10 minutes worth of rain, and they got a little hail.  The entire time, we could see the sun shining on the other end of town!

This hailstone was the size of a dime!

You can see that it wasn't very heavy hail, just enough to make some noise.

Hello, Uncle Crisco!

Church Picnic & Baptism

Last Sunday was our Jubilee Family Church annual Picnic and Baptism, out at Lake Keomah State Park.  After having practically no rain all summer, it was rainy this weekend!  We prayed for good weather for the picnic at church, and God obliged--the rain stopped about 30 minutes before we began and started up again right as we were finishing!  This year we had 10 people get baptized, Praise the Lord!

As always, the food was awesome.  I brought a pink lemonade cake, cheesy potatoes (which were gone before I even got to the line, bummer), and a corn casserole.  I ate a plate of regular food, and then an entire plate of dessert.  And just so you know, when I got home that night I did go to the gym and work out, so at least 1/4 of that dessert was burned right off!  :)

We also have fun and games, with a bouncy house for the kids, a dunk tank, face painting, and corn hole.  

Levi was in the dunk tank, and the water was cold!

Laurel loves being outside, so she enjoyed the picnic also.

Shawn was holding Laurel and walking around looking for Scott to take his picture.  Guess he would like another baby!  

 Scott brought his camera and took a bunch of pictures of the baptism and picnic.  He tried to get a shot of everyone who was there, and took a lot of candids.

We thought this was a great picture!  She is winking and saying "Cheese!"

Family Picture

 Today (Friday, August 17) Laurel had her 4 month doctor appointment.  This means shots!  She handled the shots quite well again, only crying for about a minute.  I was pro-active in caring for her this time, and gave her tylenol right after we left, and I think it did the trick.  She did sleep a lot this afternoon, and hasn't eaten quite as much as usual, but she is not super crabby!

 Laurel now weights 16 lbs, 5 oz., and is 26" long.  She grew 5" in the last 2 months!  She is 96th percentile in height and 92nd percentile in weight.  Her head is only in the 58th percentile, but I don't think she looks like a pin-head, do you?

I was tryng to make the same face...do we look alike?

 After rolling over 3 times in one night all by herself, Laurel decided the fun was over, and has not rolled over since.  Oh well, we'll keep doing tummy time and eventually she'll do it!

Hi Mommy!

A Little Present

Yesterday morning I walked out the front door, and discovered a little present left right outside the door by some friendly neighborhood creature.  No, it is not a candy bar.  Guess this is their way of telling us it is time to fill up the bird feeder again.

Summer Days

The weather has cooled down for a few days...after a month of temps above 90 degrees (and a couple weeks of temps over 100 degrees!), anything below 90 feels great!  Today it was 75 degrees all day, and I'll be honest, I put on a jacket.  When the weather is nice, we spend time sitting out on our front porch.  We enjoy being outside and watching all the cars run the stop sign on the corner.  :)  Laurel also enjoys being outside, and likes to look around.  

Hi Mommy!

No, baby!  You are not allowed to drink any Diet Pepsi!

Laurel did not take an afternoon nap today, so she was pretty mellow...and not very smiley.

Here I am in my light jacket...and I'm not even hot!  I like this weather!

 My flower garden has not done well this year, due to the drought and the hot conditions.  I can't justify watering it every day just to have nice flowers, when all the farmers providing food for us don't have enough water to ensure their livelihood!  The hostas are looking pretty dry, and I haven't had a lot of flowers this summer.  But, my surprise lilies bloomed this week.  Surprise!  We even had a short rain storm, so you can see the rain drops on the petals.

I have 2 hydrangeas, and they have a few flowers...about half as many as usual.  And the leaves are so thin it doesn't even look like a bush anymore.

Laurel turned 4 months old on August 7.  She now has figured out that she has hands, and those hands can grab things!  When she is sitting on my lap she reaches for my phone, or my fork, or whatever I'm holding.  No fine motor skills yet, but she is a good grabber!  She also has found her feet, and spends a lot of time holding her toes.  In the past couple days she also has been spotted putting her big toe into her mouth and sucking away.  Laurel also likes to talk a lot, and makes all kinds of strange noises.  She doesn't cry very often, but does get fussy when she is hungry, and seems to be starting to get some teeth, which makes her not very happy.

See how flexible I am!  Some day Laurel will look at this picture and wish she could get her foot anywhere near her mouth

I'm holding my foot!  The only problem with this is that she has stopped rolling over, because her arms and legs are in the way!

Remember the last picture of tummy time, where she was crying?  She is much happier now.

Today Laurel fell asleep in the car on the way home from Pella in this position.  I kept trying to push her head back so she could lean back in the car seat, but she wouldn't move and kept going back to this position.  Once we got home she slept for about 15 more minutes like this.  Guess she was comfy!

Sleeping, Moving, Crafting

Last weekend when Melanie was here, she and Laurel both fell asleep on the sofa.  Picture time!

Laurel sticks her hands in her mouth all the time now; sometimes both hands at once!  And she is drooling like crazy.  Maybe we will see some teeth soon.

Laurel is also starting to scootch.  When she is lying on the floor or on the changing table, she kicks her legs and moves a little.  I realized how much she is moving when I went to get her out of her crib the other morning.  When I put her in to sleep, her head was up (facing up and to the rightish in this picture).  When I came in the next morning, she was in this position--head facing the opposite direction, stuck in the corner, and somehow the blanket is still over her legs!

 I went to Pella and had lunch with my sister and her family on Thursday.  Emily and Abby ended up coming home with me and spending the night.  We ate pizza for supper and waffles for breakfast, by special request.  And we watched the Olympics all evening (my nieces are turning into Olympic junkies just like me!).  We had fun...although Abby did not enjoy it very much when Laurel pooped all over her legs!

Emily was entertaining Laurel and making her laugh.

Rather than watch tv and play computer all day, we had craft time.  Laurel even joined in!

 Every once in a while Laurel has a day when she sleeps a lot.  Today was one of those days.  She was up and ready to face the day at 6:30am.  Then she fell asleep for about an hour around 8:30am, and fell asleep again around 11:30am, and then slept for most of the afternoon until around 5pm.  The first time she did this, I was worried that she wouldn't sleep that night; fortunately, she usually still sleeps well, just needs to catch up on sleep.

Scott had been carrying around an awake Laurel while putting away laundry.  It got very quiet, and I caught them shirking on the job!!

I've been making sure I give Laurel some floor time every day.  She is getting much better at tummy time, and doesn't cry as much any more.  Tonight I helped her roll from tummy to back.  Then as I leaned back, she rolled herself over from back to tummy!  Good job, Laurel!

Active Child

Laurel seems to be a very active child...which is a good thing since at 2 months she was in the 96th percentile for weight!  Here is a video of her sitting on my lap earlier this afternoon.  She kicked her legs like this for at least 30 minutes.  This was after she spent about 1 1/2 hours on the floor this morning kicking and half-rolling over, and before she spent another 30 minutes late afternoon kicking like this.

Do all almost 4 month olds kick their legs and flail their arms like this?