My problem...

So I have an issue and I am having a hard time coming up with the answer.  Since my first baby entered school I have kept every piece of paper they have brought home.  I have weekly classroom updates from Mrs. Coyote's kindergarten class, I have every lunch menu sent home for the last 5 years...well technically I have 2 for every month for the last 3 years.  Every homework assignment, every picture painted, every name list for valentines, every scrap that came home I have kept in separate boxes, one for each kid for each separate year for fear of tossing something very important.

Did you know that after a while these boxes start to pile up!  I have many more years of all these papers coming home.  I had gone looking for some type of storage boxes when Sky was in 1st grade in hopes of more secure storage but now I am starting to think I need to let some of this paper go.  I could keep some of the art projects, although the schools we have attended have not been much into that kind of thing.

Of course not everything is a nice neat 81/2 by 11 sheet either, there are the odd big pictures and 3d projects...the really big stuff this last couple years I have tried to take picture of because in this small house it doesn't take long for that stuff to get ruined in the boys room and I just have not had the space to store it.

Will my boys think I am horrible if I toss out a bunch of these papers?  What should I keep and what should I toss?  I have lots of reminders sent home about various activities at school.  I can toss those correct?  Or should I scrap that stuff?  Or should I scan every sheet and save them on a hard drive?

Military action...

So the boys wanted to go as characters from their favorite tv show, Stargate SG-1.  I couldn't find any actual costumes for the show so they went with these and I am going to change out the patches and try to make some that look like SG-1 patches,

Originally Bray wanted to be Dr. Daniel Jackson and Sky wanted to be Col. Jack O'Neil...or was the other way around? 

I still think I have strange kids.  At least the farm is safe from a Goa'uld attach!

bubble bath here I come...

I am so excited, Shane almost has the bathroom done!

My new tub with jets!  Can't wait to get in with a glass of wine and couple candles lit and sit back and have a long hot bath!  Haven't been able to take a bath since we left Spokane.

I really like the new sink and vanity.  The walls are a light mint green color and I LOVE it!

It is exciting when a room is done but I am so tired of having my house tore up!  Next thing that is going to be done is the front porch I think, I hope!  When the rain hits we don't have any covered area out there and it becomes such a muddy mess!

happy yellow...

Ok, so I am starting to put my kitchen back together but things are going real slow. 

At first I was afraid of yellow, and the first yellow we chose was too bright according to Shane so he got a new color that is closer to butter.

I just want to have every cupboard organized.  Everything in its place kind of house.  no clutter.  I am starting to think that is never going to happen to me.  I just moved my desk into the kitchen and had to move 3 boxes of misc. crap that has no home in the kitchen yet.  Do I need those things?  no...but some of them were given to me and I have this obsession to hold onto everything anyone has given me.  I don't want to hurt their feelings if they ever find out I got rid of it.  This means if anyone wants to see the Christmas card they sent me in say 1996...I have it. 

Ok, I am going to commit right now to donating a box of kitchen items that I have either A. not used since I moved here 2 years ago or B. don't like...even if it was a gift.  I better be sure I have a nice bottle of wine chilled to get though this though!

kitchen work...

So the bugs came out of the kitchen wall again.  So Shane decided it was time to take the wall out and hopefully rid us of the bugs once and for all.  There was a huge carpenter ant nest in the wall...

Shane and Scott tore down drywall and sprayed like heck as they went.  They decided to take the window out first thing so they had fresh air as they worked.

They removed drywall back to the cupboards to make dry walling as easy as possible.

See we have already taken down some drywall in the main bathroom too.  There is my gross tub that will soon have a new finish.

This is the side with my huge walk in pantry.  Looks so messy right now due to shoving everything in to have it all out of the way of the work.  Shane has talked about expanding my pantry so we can put our freezer in it also. 

I don't think I took any before pictures.  I had been left with some pretty ugly paneling stuff.  had small brown building all over.  But that was nothing compared to some of the 5 layers of wall paper that were under it!  The most obnoxious was a bright flowered print that I am guess was the late 60's early 70's.  Around the 1950's though I did like the paper that had kitchen do dads all over it...egg beaters and measuring cups and mixing bowls.  The color was distorted but it wasn't as bright and flashy as the other papers, muted blue-green and pastel pink I am guessing were the original colors with maybe a white or off white background.


When I first bought my house on Joseph, my brother Danny bought me a garden window because I had always talked about wanting one.  I loved that window and was so sad when I sold my house and couldn't take it with me.  I had talked about wanting to put one in the kitchen but these days they are a special order item and so expensive!  Shane and I had talked about making the kitchen window smaller so that in the future we could put counter top all the way around the kitchen and to save time and money right now since everything has been going over budget.  But Shane knew how much I wanted a garden window and so he got me a HUGE one.  He actually will need to cut the window opening bigger and re-frame it to get the window to fit.  I will have enough space to put all my herbs in it and to even have room for my spring starts each year! 

I want to leave you with a beautiful photo I found while trying to find a before pic of my kitchen.  I love going to the beach and here are my boys enjoying the last moments of daylight.

Best fireworks EVER...

Hoquiam's big thing each year is the Logger Play day which is the first Saturday of September.  This year was the 50th annual and I wanted to go.  Last year it fell on Shane's birthday but luckily this year it was the day before.  Shane had gone as a kid and said it was boring but I worked hard and got both the boys to agree to go with me.  I even got one of Sky's friends who had also been told it was boring and didn't want to go to change his mind and join us...I had bought a ticket for Shane but he was working on the house so this way I was able to use all 4 tickets.

While in college in Spokane I competed in Logger Sports.  Although I double bucked crooked cookies I was great at the ax though...never attempted to climb the pole let alone top the tree because, well that is a really tall pole even when you don't have a big saw tied to you!

I had a blast!  They even had a couple world champion log rollers there and it was really amazing how long they stayed on.  The royal court did not fair so well.  I believe the Queen won but both were in the water within 2 seconds of the log being let go.

The night ended with the most amazing firework display I have EVER seen!  For one because we were so close, I am use to watching from my front deck on my Carnahan house.  But they also seemed to go for ever and were so colorful and amazing.  My phone battery died and I was not able to get any photos of the display and I am so bummed. 

The boys had mentioned a couple times during the show that they were getting bored.  At that point I got them hot dogs, then ice cream and lastly light up swords but after the fireworks Sky asked if we can go next year too.  All 3 boys couldn't stop talking about how cool the fireworks were...There were a lot of "Dude remember the one that..."  and "Oh Dude".

I was just as bad though I gave Shane a complete run down of the show.  He said it sounds better then what he remembers and even said maybe next year he will join us.

1st day of school...

Yesterday was a hard day for me.  Sky moved up to middle school and I was not ready.  He wanted me to go in with him and that helped.  There were other parents there, Shane said kids would make fun of him but he wanted me there and I just helped him find his locker, get his schedule, point out which classes were on which floor and left him long before the bell rang.

I started to break down once but I turned around and saw another mom who works at Central Elementary and her smile made me feel better.  Her youngest of 8 is in the same grade as Sky.

yes this is what he wore the first day.  I don't see fashion in his future career choice.

Mr. Cobb made a comment about how tall Sky has gotten and I said yes, he is half grown, just then Mrs. Cobb piped up that for some he is full grown and I realized for the first time he was taller than she was!

Now onto my GQ son...

This tie was longer than his others so I attempted a double Winsor knot.  Doesn't look too bad in photo but the knot is quite large so I am going to have to figure something out.  I had hoped this would work and I could start getting men's ties, more options available and then he could use them for ever.  For now he has already outgrown a couple of his shorter favorite ties but boys sizes are still a better fit.

It was decided that this year ties will be worn on non PE days because they get in the way and we have had a hard time finding tie tacks!  PE days will sport either his large selection of khakis or jeans and a Polo shirt.  Noticed this morning I have to go get new jeans because although his last year jeans fit fine around they barely come down to the tops of his sneakers...don't want to look like a flood is coming!  Bray moved up to Central school this year and he is excited for the year...fingers crossed that he is able to control his temper the whole year.