Joists Up!

Hey there!  What kinds of fun have you been into lately?  We're watching our house...at a standstill.  It's been twelve days since we've seen any action.  We'd gotten into a great rhythm going over each night, checking out the progress, taking pictures, visiting with the neighbors..until July fourth.  They took a vacation, and then had to measure for major trusses that had to be built, so we are REALLY hoping they'll get back on track.

Apparently, the floor span was pretty great (distance from wall to wall without support), so they measured for trusses before the house was built, but had to measure after the first floor was framed to make sure they are the correct size.  Some of them are almost three feet tall!  That makes for a super tall roof.  I guess the builder knows so much more than us about houses..which is why we are leaving it to him.  It does make me wonder if we need to add in a support column somewhere!  I have even been hoping to put a swing inside the house for fun..but that might not be the best idea. ; )

The last time we visited the house, I didn't take pictures, I was too busy talking..then it got dark!  I sure will have some sweet neighbors.  I'm thankful.  I actually have some really sweet neighbors here too!

Tonight was the television premiere of Saige Paints the Sky (an American Girl movie about the girl of the year, Saige).  We went to see it with some friends, and we even made paper mache hot air balloons!  They are still drying, but I can't wait to help paint them!  The kids kept getting busy and wondering off..so the moms finished all the messy pasty-ness.  Moms are good for that.

Here are the girls post-swimming, post-movie with their dolls!  They definitely had fun : )

What else have we been up to?  Well..here is a photo montage!  ..a few that were on my phone...

Apparently I have always have time to take pictures when he sits down to eat. ; )

THANK YOU, Junko and Emily!!!  She LOVED getting mail from Japan!  Check out those adorable Hello Kitty stamps!  and that teddy bear and puppy..too cute!!

A VERY happy girl!!

She got braces again this week!  This is her cheesy see-my-teeth smile.  She's showing off the pink/turquoise rubber bands she requested.  They are quick-clip brackets, so she doesn't actually need bands ; )

This child loves a box!  We push and pull him around..and he's so happy!

My second youngest loves food.  He made a race car! ; )

Mary Claire has a friend, Alyssa, who is headed to Minneapolis this week for a huge surgery.  She'll be there for a long time..so we decided to make some fun stuff for her and her American Girl!  First we made mini-food, then a letter, then a hospital gown and bracelet. ; )

We made American Girl food!  These are pictures we got from Mike'sCandyWrappers.com, we sized them to about an inch tall, printed them, and covered each with packing tape to look like plastic-y wrappers.

We made American Girl-size letters.(First, write a letter with a very easy-to-read font.  Second, go to Print and save as .pdf. Next, open a new document, and drag the .pdf to the document.  Finally, size the picture of your letter to doll-size..about 3" tall, and print!)

..and a hospital gown for her doll and a hospital bracelet. ; )  We used a bar code font we found for free online!  Here is the pattern for the gown! (and she has lots of other fun stuff too!)

We got this cool new app-and Mary Claire used it before me!  Here is my boy all decorated ; )

...DrumRoll Please!!  The trusses are being set.  Hooray!  Back to work!

I didn't get to go back this evening, as my day was super busy.  Ches said they set all the floor joists for the upstairs though!  I'm excited..I think they'll work all week now that they are back on track.  There were about eight guys working today..I can't imagine how they got those huge beams up without a machine.  Praying they don't hurt their backs!!

This is our brick!  It's called Ops, and it's from a factory in Alabama. (Used, or *antique* brick!)  This is all the color "turned out".

This is the same house..Ches caught this picture..I think it's cute. ; )

This is the same brick, same white grout.  Different house, and no color was turned out.  Looks different, right?  We told the builder to turn out 20% of the color..but we are considering a bit more, but maybe no blue? (there is actually some royal blue in there!)

I took Clay and Mary Claire to the orthodontist (she already popped a bracket!), and we got their school supplies.  The lists were out, there wasn't a crowd, and I had some time.  I'll get Ethan's supplies the next time he's out with me. ; )  I did already get him a new backpack and lunch box.  He didn't get one last year, and I felt bad.  He used an old lunchbox from preschool, and he used one of Clay's old backpacks.  He picked out one, and it was out of stock, his second choice was out of stock..and by the time they had more..he just didn't care. ; )

I also agreed to be on the Family Teams Committee for our JDRF Walk this year!  Pray for me..that I can help other teams get signed up, help them manage their team...and manage mine! : )  We had our first meeting tonight..and I hope I do the new teams justice.  I've been in low speed since I was pregnant with Carter, and maybe it's time for me to get back in there.  


Hope you are doing well!  Hugs and prayers for all the things YOU attempt to take on!