This is my dining room painted Mayflower Red. It's the colour Kev and I chose and we are loving it! It's very warm and because the room is so big, it makes it cozier. We have a floor now and I have a little bit more painting to do. My fride is in place and clean now, the stove is clean and our countertop will be ready on Tuesday! I started cleaning out the dust in the cupboards last night and will continue that tonight so I can start placing stuff back in. I'm very excited and am sure I will rearrange things a couple of times. I think by next weekend, I'll be in our new kitchen!

First day of school 2007. Don't they look totally thrilled? They were all ready and out the lane, probably waiting 10 minutes for the bus. It is tradition that I walk out with them on the first day, after that Kevin always walks them out because he's heading to work then anyway. It started this way when Sam started kindergarten and I had 2 little ones at home, so Kevin would take her out in the morning and I would meet her after school. We can't see the road bacause of the bush so it makes me feel better knowing someone saw them onto the bus. Now after school, they just come in by themselves. I try and watch if I'm home. I find that after school, they just want to veg. Suppertime or bedtime seems to be the "chatty" time. All is going well so far and they seem to be ok with their teachers and classmates. Not much homework yet but that will come.

Summer...now just a memory.

Here are a few photos from summer, activities we did. Of course, not all our memories are recorded...just a sweet few.

Getting there.....

Well, we are getting somewhere now! I have odds and ends of painting to do, the trim will be on soon and Kevin plans to have the cupboards done tonight. Tomorrow I'm planning on getting flooring, a bit more paint and the tiles for the mudroom. My guess is in a couple of weeks I'll be moving back upstairs. Before we move back into the kitchen/ diningroom, I will have to clean and vacuum everywhere. We decided to leave the laundry room for now, it's not necessity to have it done. I can still do my wash.
I love the colours I picked out for the walls and look forward to washing dishes while watching the sunset out my patio door. We have a long way to go with the outdoor cleanup but that will be something to work at over the next few years. We did a lot over the last 10 years making changes, so maybe we'll work the next 10 making more.
My sister Karen and niece Kalli were here last week with the little boy they babysit. They hadn't been here since we started so it was quite a surprise for them. It was a quick visit because Owen had to be back for his afternoon nap. He was blowing bubbles with Katrina and he thought Josiah's trucks and tractors were pretty cool.
Well, I need to go help the guys load truck. Even though it's holiday Monday, the truck still has to take plants to Toronto. After that I need to go home and find lunch pails and thermoses, etc, for lunches tomorrow. I can't believe school is here already. I always have mixed feelings about this day. I love having them around but it will be easier to clean and get the organizing done in the house. It always scares me a little that we entrust our kids to total strangers for 8 hours every day. The teacher sees them more than we do! I am not willing to homeschool though so I must accept this decision we have made but attempt to get involved with the staff and be a teacher's "helper".
My goodness, I really need to go now. I wrote more than I meant to.

Painting

We are painting like crazy....I'm gonna need a super massage when this is all done. We are loving the colours we picked but have run into a few snags. That always happens in renos, doesn't it? I will post some pictures when I get time.
Next week I need to take the kids shopping for the rest of their school supplies. I can't believe summer holidays are almost over! I'm sad and feeling a little guilty that we didn't do more together as a family. We did have a great day at Bingeman's Big Splash and also at the Children's Museum in London. We are hoping to camp for a weekend in September so that will be fun.

Till my next blog....

Horses and Houses

Here's my sweet daughter who's growing up so fast. She loves horses like her mom did (does). She has horses pasted all over her room. Her border is horses, her closet curtain and bed cover have horses on them, not to mention all the posters and paintings all over the walls. I'm so glad we've been able to work out riding lessons for her and she is loving it...a very confident horse gal. A lot of people are afraid of horses but when I was young I learned that you can't be afraid of them or let them know you are scared because they can sense it and use it to their advantage. You have to be confident and show them whose boss! Then they can be so much fun! When I was around 13,(I'd been taking lessons for about a year) the horse I was riding acted up and threw me off. My wrist was hurting and I was scared but my teacher made me get back on and discipline that horse and I'm glad she did or I never would've rode again. It ends up that my wrist was broken but I was still able to get on that horse. After a couple of years of lessons, I got my own horse, Crisco. He was a beautiful chesnut brown. He was probably too young for an inexperienced rider like me but he was a great horse after I showed him I was in charge. I rode him until I got married and then he was sold because at that point I had lost interest...moving on to other things. Now I wish I could've kept him somehow but there was really no place to keep him here and we couldn't afford him. I guess my horse gene has been passed on down to Samantha now. She's actually going with Ken and Ginny on a weekend trail ride. She was pretty excited when we told her. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Here is a sneak peak at our new siding. We like it and hope to have our kitchen done soon. Ian tells me I can start painting on Tuesday so I plan to purchase the paint soon. Debating on colours...think we have it narrowed down. Then all the cupboards have to be assembled and installed (which we are doing) and the flooring layed (which we are doing). Our contractor is doing the trim for us because Kevin hates doing trim so it will never get done and it doesn't look like a job for me either. Our new front window was installed today so we are just waiting for our front door and the two garage doors. Then we have all the outside mess to start at...but that's a whole new ballgame! That doesn't affect our living though, and can be done over several years. So there you have it....

hockey

Here's a picture of Kev playing hockey in Ohio in July. He's number 7. His team won and got the trophy for the first time in 3 years. It was a bunch of guys who love hockey and growing/selling plants playing to raise money for "America in Bloom". The president even talked about Tim Horton and the Timbit hockey program! (You can see the sign in the background)