TABLE and Things

Well, my indecisiveness about the swine flu shot caused Braydan to catch it this week. At first he thought it was a cold, but then the fever started and burned him up for 3 days . He's better now, but that was our week: Taking care of him and staying away from him at the same time :) Luckily, none of us got it. Maybe now I'll learn my lesson and get a shot.

Toward the end of Braydan's confinement at home, he worked on the table more and finished it!!! I love it so much and am so happy not to have those roller chairs.

Every time Kaleb didn't want to eat, he'd launch himself and roll clear across the kitchen!

I posted my old table Saturday morning and someone bought it that same day for $5 less than what I paid for my "new" table! I was happy about that!
Just so you know, I worked on it too. I did all the black parts and he did the rest :)
What a pain it turned out to be. First he stripped it and put epoxy on it, but it looked horrible. So then he had to strip it again (and it was nasty, hand-burning stuff), sand it, stain it, put tons of polyurethane coats, wax it, and buff it.


Braydan also finished my office chair I got on craigs list. I got it for cheap and knew it could be beautiful with some work. Good thing I have a good worker!


On Saturday, Braydan wanted to show me a job he worked on in Everett so we drove over and it's right next to the new animal shelter. We thought it would be fun to go look at the animals. I told Braydan before walking in that we're not even thinking about getting a dog, so don't even ask. We'll I was pushing Eliza around and thought I had my fill of dogs until this last guy.
He was laying down in a flop of fur on his bed and at first I thought he was really old. But then he spied me and jumped up to come say hi. We took him outside and I really loved him, but knew I shouldn't be impulsive. So I made a pro/con list. Anybody have advice? Should I get him or not?


Cons:
1. Dirty, hairy, smelly
2. Ruined yard
3. Can't ever leave on vacation
4. Kaleb gets rashes when they lick him
5. Barking is annoying


Pros:
1. They're always happy to see you no matter what you've done or look like in the morning :)
2 We've both always had dogs growing up
2. Fun for kids
3. More motivation to walk every day
4. Dish cleaner :) ha, ha mom
5. Someone to distract Kaleb from Eliza :)

My Spooks

We had a great Halloween yesterday. Kaleb got to play with friends all morning and we carved our one pumpkin ( I meant to get more, but never did)

After naps we went to the town Harvest Festival at the fairgrounds. I was picturing like Stars Hollow small town hoopla, but it was pretty lame. Sorry if any of ya liked it. Maybe for older kids it would've been good, but Kaleb was too shy to even pick a duck out of the little duck pond. He stood there and stood there until the lady finally felt sorry for him and just put candy in his bucket. After dinner we got the kids dressed up and I was shocked when I put them together that their costumes kinda matched!

I didn't even think of that when I picked them out. I love the look of pure terror on her face as he's about to kiss her :)

We went with neighbors trick-or-treating and Kaleb got the hang of it by the end. At first he kept saying, "Happy Birthday!" It's kinda close. He had the best costume for rainy wet Seattle :)

Mom and Dad Visit

Well, we just had a fun visit from Mom and Dad Smith. They drove in last Tuesday night and left this Tuesday. It was lots of crazy, busy fun. I really can't remember all we did, but thank goodness for my camera to help me.

Braydan's birthday was Sunday, so we got to celebrate all together. He requested lots of pies instead of cake. Good thing Mom was here for that. He got lots of presents too (mostly from himself). Before his birthday he bought a sander and an air compressor.

Mom and Dad were great help with the kids. They helped feed them, dress them, play with them, nap them . . . . .

We went on some walks whenever the sun came out. Mom dressed Eliza up like this every time (and then kept it on her cause they thought the house was freezing :)

Friday was a busy day. Dad and Mom took Kaleb to the Children's Museum and let me shop by myself :) Then we met Braydan for lunch down-town and got to meet Bob and see his office. I've only done that a few times before. The rest of the day we devoted to canning apples. Mom brought 3 boxes from home! We had a good system down. Mostly I watched and kept the kids out of the way, while they all worked :) We got 28 quarts. I bet that will last my kids 28 days.

Dad also worked hard on chopping up the tree we cut down.

One morning Dad took Kaleb to the reptile zoo. The lady got a little boa snake out for Kaleb to hold, but he wouldn't do it.

Saturday was our relief society Super Saturday. I signed up Mom and I for almost every class! I made a tu-tu for Eliza. Mom made this awesome reversible cape for Kaleb. I taught a nursing cover class (to one person). I made some presents for Alisha. And mom made this plaque for me. It was a fun day without kids. It was amazing how much I could get done :)

We also had an early Christmas party since we won't be with them this year. They got us a new vacuum! At first I was like what? But our old one was bad so it's awesome to have one that actually has attachments! Sweet. I've vacuumed every day since I got it :)

qUiRkY KidS

This is how to properly eat a DONUT:

1. First, bite off all the chocolate frosting.

2. Lick your fingers.

3. Wipe whatever is left on your pants.

4. Then ask for another one "PLEASE!"

I don't know why I buy Kaleb any toys. He plays with this old piece of string and calls it his snake.

I tried to get a picture of her one little tooth, but a smile works too :)

I've always wondered what Kaleb is saying in his room before he falls asleep. Well I found out! I hid the baby monitor under his bed and listened :) At one point, I think he says, "do you want to take your new dress off?" I don't know who that question is addressed to.

Kaleb singing the "God Song" as he calls it.

Eliza damaging precious brain cells.

Eliza and her ALMOST done room

Eliza with her kitty. She loves this thing! (thanks Kandy!) I think it will be her comfort thing, (which I'm glad it's not a huge blanket like Kaleb had to drag everywhere :)

I said ALMOST because I'm always finding some fun project to work on, but I finally did get some things done in her room. These frames are huge, bigger than 8x10's. I got them at a garage sale for .25 cents each! I painted them, put ribbon on the back and got pink knobs and Lowes :)

Braydan's sister Sym made me the cutest blanket for Eliza! I mounted it on her wall. I took a close-up so you can see she hand-stitched every little x!

I was walking with the kids and past our neighbor who was carrying a box full of stuff to throw in the garbage. One thing was an old lamp. I asked if I could have it. He gave me a weird look and handed it to me : ) I made sure it worked and then got busy! It had an ugly gray shade and blue bottom, so first I spray-painted the base white. Then I got cute scrapbook paper and modge-podged it on. Then glued ribbon around it. It was fun to do and only cost $1!

Here's the dresser I got with Alisha at a garage sale in the summer. I finally painted it and fixed all the knobs. Sadly, Eliza's clothes fill ALL those drawers!! And she has more in the closet! She has more clothes right now than Braydan and I! I got the basket and a few more like it at a garage sale. I don't know where to put them though?So this little box was fun to do also. I got it from a garage sale for a dollar and it was painted blue with ocean theme (it had shells and stuff glued to it) I ripped all that off, sanded it, painted it white. Got cute paper and modge-podged it on! I got the shelf it's on too from a garage sale :) I painted it white and it goes good with her room.

Reptile Zoo

Okay, so the reptile zoo is my new favorite place! I never wanted to go before because Braydan made it sound kinda red-neck (which it is by the way), but it's still pretty cool. It's only 5 minutes away and awesome cause you can get really close (almost too close in my opinion) to the 10 deadliest snakes and other creatures.

Don't you love her rolls hanging over her pants?

Kaleb just ran around so excited he didn't know which one to look at first. I think he's been listening to me too much cause he kept saying, "Eww gross." Or "SICK!"

It was a fun morning to get away from all our projects :) More on that later . . . .

Some pictures

Good bye annoying plum staining, slimy leaf, shady tree.

I had a big bucket of tomatoes on the back step. I guess they thought it would be fun to throw them on the ground and jump on them.

They also had a blast throwing things in the hot tub. (yes, that's braydan's shoe). I don't know how they lifted the cover off! I can barely lift it.
Eliza's first blueberry experience.

Squash. That's not even all of them.

Bathroom before
After. Still need to decorate more, but it's better than it was (thank you Amber)