Working

We brought dinner to Daddy so he wouldn't have to stop working, and we ate with him in the lunchroom. This is where the work gets done! The company Brian works for has a huge shop (they do their own custom cabinetry etc), and this is how it's possible for him to make our cabinets himself - he has the knowledge and skill, but we don't own the tools or have the space to put them, so it's a blessing to be able to use the Shop, for sure!

Where the magic happens:-)

Brian, hard at work

This is a pantry cabinet, in the making

This is a never before seen pic of Brian's office. It's "totally full of paper" as Kenna put it:-) Lots of jobs to keep track of, and bid on!

This completely cracked me up! Brian never told me that his coworkers put a little something on the fridge for him awhile back:-) Remember last year, how when I was in Canada, a possum moved into our house and scared Brian right out of the house...running off to sleep at his sisters? Well, after the initial cowardice (hee hee), he displayed great bravery by trapping the possum in a live trap and taking it far far away to make a new home in the forest. His coworkers obviously had a little fun at his expense:-)

Brian, a "regular person", an often-shirtless problem-solver holds up an opossum before releasing it back into the wild, far from his Norfolk home.
LOL!!!!

You Tell Me

It's the new phase of life around here. My babies aren't babies anymore. They are big kids now. And in an effort to turn them into wonderful critical thinkers, instead of do-as-you're-told robots - I kinda stopped answering their questions awhile ago.

Not all of them. But most of them. All the dumb ones anyway.

Not that they cease to ask anymore. Oh no. It's still an eternal barrage of this 'n that nonsensical questions. Like "when will we get there", "is it snack yet", "where's my toothbrush", "will dogs bite you"...

And I have a great standard answer. "You tell me". Because they already know the answer. They know how to tell time, they know how to look for things, they know when they're about to do something stupid.

Basically, at this point, I am wondering if they have a) any common sense at all and b) if critical thinking is really THAT important. Haha. Because it's a pain in the butt to reinforce common sense.

If they have a legit question relating to something other than where we put the laundry or where the cups go, I'll answer it. But truthfully, in their 6 & 7 years of existence, we've done a lot of talking. They've got a lot of information in their brains. And they need to use it. And fast. I have never been known for my patience.

There have been days, when, after no less than seventy two thousand questions, I have forbid speaking to me. For any reason. Those days are rare, but sometimes, oh-so-necessary:-)

Watch out world, someday (soon, I hope) you'll have to contend with a whole herd of problem solvers!

Kenna's Lookalike

Brian and I were watching a show, and an actress had a recurring role - Brian commented, "she looks like us, doesn't she?" (us = his family). I agreed - she totally does. I said "doesn't she look like Kenna? I can totally see Kenna looking like that when she grown". He agreed. She does look like Kenna. Well come to find out from the credits/online - her name is Sarah Bolger. It's got to be in those familial Irish genes! It's got to be!!! What do you think?

Obviously, you have to project what we can see in Kenna now, in to a grown up form but here are the similarities I see between Kenna and her famous counterpart - face shape, 'sad eyes' (downward tilt on outer edge of round eyes), small but even lips, similar nose bridge & nose.

What do you think? Are we crazy people? If someone told me this was one of Brian's sisters, I wouldn't doubt it for a second, if I didn't already know them - Sarah Bolger looks like a combo of Meghan and Ann.

And when I think about Kenna, all grown up, this is pretty much exactly how I've always pictured her. Funny to actually see it in person.

This Week

Summer - oh summer! I need to get back into posting and taking pics, we've been pretty lax about it all since getting back from Ontario. We've been swimming along nicely here. Buying school supplies and making/putting together a preschool program for Sonny and Grey.

Making a school and daily routine schedule that we are testing out (chores-wise) anyway, to see if it will work for us.

Getting better from colds/sickness - I still have a sore throat and a constant low-grade headache, but we're good otherwise.

And the beach. Always fun at the beach!

Brian's building and installing all the rest of the cabinets (lowers and pantry) - When he installed the sink lower, obviously all the plumbing had to come out and go back it...and it couldn't be used for about a day (sink or dishwasher). So I had to do a round of dishes in the tub. The kids thought this was the BEST.

We ordered our countertop, and backsplash!! There were 20,000 choices, and we narrowed it down to 4 or so...and we picked the 4th choice in this pic (the one on the R). Countertop is being made and they gave us a 2 week turnaround (from Thursday I think). I'm secretly hoping it gets done a little quicker, but that's ok! Our backsplash materials will be here much sooner (shipping to home from Home Depot) - wanna see? This should be the link here. Oil Rubbed Bronze wall tiles. This was NOT an easy decision.

In fact, at one point in Home Depot, Kenna asked why we were arguing so much. I snapped, "we're not arguing, we're discussing" HAHA! Brian and I have very different styles, tastes, and opinions about what looks good together. In the end, although maybe not the fave style of all involved, we decided on the wall tiles, mainly due to the cost and our budget restraints. Doing these tiles will save us 50% or more of what it would cost to do a tile backsplash, which sold us both on the idea.

We decided to do the oil rubbed bronze for the hardware too. Tying together the dark floors, light cabinets, and countertop. I hope these links show up/work from ebay. A few choices. Have an opinion? Let us know! Our frontrunning choice or something like this. Brian does not want any knobs, only handles for all the doors/drawers.

So next week I'll update with more pictures of the progress. Another perk Brian installed this week - under cabinet lighting! Yay!

Song(s) of Summer

It's the song of summer, y'all - since summer is rapidly nearing it's close (boo), I thought I should share mine:-)

RULES: A song of summer is that one song...the one you don't mind hearing a thousand times over because it epitomizes the mood of the season...there is always a new song for each summer, it has to be something currently on the radio

This is my song of summer: Florida Georgia Line - Cruise (with or without Nelly:-)


And this is Brian's song of summer: Goo Goo Dolls - Rebel Beat

Canada Catch Up

A few pics I forgot to post...

The kids with their Great Grandpa Shantz

Waiting for Grandpa to get home. A pic with the hedgehog

When we left VA the new tooth was no where to be found. Two weeks later, we can see it!

Brooks spent a lot of time playing baseball and improving his technique with Uncle Mark's help

Cousins playtime together!

Bags of milk. Noteworthy, sure! I love this packaging method:-)

Greg & Grey

My Uncle Greg passed away today, 33 years ago (I was 17 months old, he was 18 years old). Memories today of a short life, well lived.

Here is a new Gregory, with the original Gregory:-)