Last meet of the summer...

Bray has decided he is going to continue on the swim team this fall.  He has done so well.  Last meet of the summer was yesterday and unfortunately the electronics were out so I have no idea what his official times were or if he placed or ribboned yet.  He swam his first IM and his first Butterfly in a separate race also.  On the way home he told me he doesn't want to ever swim butterfly again if he doesn't have to...this meet it was a requirement that all swimmers swim all 4 stokes and an IM to participate.  Most kids had not swam Butterfly or IM in competition in his age group.  Many kids on his team chose to not go because of it only 3 boys and 6 girls from here went.  I am so proud that he gave it a try.  He was not fast but his coach said his form was perfect and that the speed will come in time.

Oh, an IM is when the swimmer swims a lap of Butterfly, then Backstroke, then Breast stoke and finishes with freestyle.  They are actually done at different lengths and some of the older kids swim upto 400 meters, doing 100 of each.  Brays group only had to swim the 100 meter IM though but it was not only the first IM for all of them at a meet but also their first 100 meter race.  Many had a hard time climbing out of the pool at the end and had to swim to the ladder instead of going out the wall like normal.

goofy mode

serious mode

Parents were not allowed on deck with the swimmers so we had to be upstairs which bummed me out not being with B but we had a good view to watch their form as they swam.  B is in late 1 on the far side.  The kid closest in lane 4 also wearing a GH2O swim cap is Colton from our team who is quite an amazing swimmer.  Bray is usually finishing just behind  Colton, whose father was a swimmer and competed through college.

B likes to start from the standing position, he feels off balance to start holding onto the board and he never gets his arms up high enough and head down enough to keep his goggles on when he hits the water...another thing that will come with time. 

not done but have to share...

Drywall is up and although still needs taping and finishing touches I have to share how great it is looking!

This is the stairway after taking down that wobbly handrail and closing it off.

My beautiful windows with grids really add to the country feel.  The original windows had the separate panes of glass but prior owners replaced most with plain windows.  LOVE THESE!

My mom, not so happy about his one...we took out the wood shelves around the kitchen doorway, not sure if we are going to do anything different here but looks so much more open and bright getting rid of the dark wood...and see my grids on my new sliding door...had to special order it because it is a HUGE door but lets in so much light and such a great view of the property, well worth the extra money!

After finishing the walls and getting everything painted Shane is going to refinish the wood floor again. He worked hard on it when we first bought the place and thinks just a light sanding and new coat of what ever goose grease he used before and it will just look AMAZING again.

I am flip flopping on the color though.  Still like the idea of light blue, bring in a feel of cool water, but I also think a light grayish white might look nice...don't laugh but I like the color of the plain drywall.  Closest paint color I have found is Alabaster White, but still looking.  I am thinking yellow for the kitchen and I want the colors to flow nicely together and now sure if either would look good...

Look look look!

Wiring and insulation is all done and I am getting drywall back in the living room!  Took an extra day to get started because of moving the laundry room but now we are back on track and I sure hope to have all the drywall done today!

Brady has his last summer swim meet tomorrow and I am sure hoping all goes well!  Heading to the Y now to do some IMs.  This is his first IM in competition which is where they swim all 4 stokes in the same race, Butterfly, Back stroke, Breast stroke and Freestyle.  B has worked hard on his Butterfly and Breast this week and he rocks the back and freestyle already.  His main problem is his kicking.  As the coach says if they are racing on arms alone B will take 1st place but he gets lazy with his kickers and that is his downfall because most other kids racing have stronger kickers.  And that gives much more speed.

can it be stress?

So my right eye is constantly twitching...very annoying.  Probably stress or lack of sleep...

Shane, Scott and my dad moved the washer and dryer into my new laundry room upstairs.  It will be so great to not have to carry dirty cloths down to the basement and clean cloths up 2 stories to the bedrooms.  Now with the bathroom upstairs all working most of the dirty cloths are kept up there and I do have hopes of having the main floor stay a little cleaner...course if Sky moved his bedroom into my current office then who know how things will be then. 

Bray is already making plans for his new single occupancy bedroom.  Since he is staying in the big room he plans to have his castle tent and drum set out.  He worked very hard yesterday on his room to make space to put a dresser in there.  With getting all the laundry done we found the boys lacked drawer space big time.  Now each boy has their own dresser which is a good thing. 

Roosters are crowing like crazy, we really need to butcher 6 of those suckers. 

Hoping the guys will get most of the drywall done today.  I really need to pick a paint color before they are done.  New windows look so great!  I live the white grids!  really goes with the country setting.

nothing but dust on everything!

All the drywall was taken down and Shane got everything wired!

While Shane worked on wiring Scott started getting the tile floor in my upstairs bathroom...yippy that is almost done! and he has started destruction of the main floor bathroom. 

I must share some very sad news though.  I am loosing my office.  This summer has proven that the boys need to have separate rooms.  I must have a way to sent them each to different areas when I just can take their fighting anymore.  So hopefully before the end of the summer I can move my desk back to the kitchen, get all my items back into boxes in the basement and start moving Sky into his new bedroom.

A look at the before...

So the windows are in and we have emptied the living room and are ready to start the work!  Here is my current living room and dining room...only thing we have done so far is Shane refinished the floor when we first bought the house.

Here is the new front door.  Well, it was changed last fall.

I tried to go around the room and give every section.  This is of course the front door and the large front window.

This is the corner of the house by my parents 5th wheel.  The dark paneling is going!

Here is our sad fireplace that will also be getting a face lift but probably not this year.

This is the door to Shane's office that we finished up last summer.



The china hutch Pam gave me will really look nice when the paneling is gone!

This is my giant sliding door that has a wonderful view of our property.  And the beautiful deck Shane fixed up when we first bought the house.
 

Here is the doorway to the kitchen.

Here is the hall, the end is the bathroom and on the right is the stairs going up then the door to the basement stairs and in the corner is my office.

Here we are back around to the front doorway.

Soon all my windows in this room will be replaced and I will have screens to keep the flies out!  We are even replacing the sliding glass door!

Can you see the sag in the ceiling?  Won't be sad to loose that!  But I will miss my water feature a bit.  I love waterfalls just not running down the walls of my living room.

Now the bathroom is not totally done just yet but the forecast has no rain for a while so we are hoping to get the drywall taken down and the walls insulated and then re-drywalled as fast as possible. Everything is sitting outside under a tarp and on the back deck for now...please no rain!

I have to start thinking about paint colors and new light fixtures!!!

Total Jerk...

My oldest son has become a complete and total JERK!!!

He expects everyone to wait on him and he yells orders and then gets mad if we don't jump!!!

I do not know what to do about this.  We wanted to go camping but can't until he is up and walking around on his own.  Maybe one of us should just stay home with Sky and the other can take Bray camping.  I am sick of going out of my way to accommodate Sky when he is not even trying to get better at this point.  He likes laying around not having to do any chores. 

I am very frustrated!  Everyone's summer is being ruined!