Thursday, May 16, 2013

Homework on the go

Recently Honey had a homework assignment that involved visiting downtown and taking a picture of a local business. They were making a map of the city and the kids had to bring in different pictures of the landmarks & businesses downtown.

Also, a friend had recently sent me another project! Some kids on the west coast had started a journal and it had been forwarded on from friend to friend. Jennifer asked if we'd participate and sent the book to us. The kids loved reading all the entries from across the country and seeing descriptions of the weather and other kids' past times. While we were downtown getting Honey's homework done, we got a picture to include in the journal too! It was a fun project and I hope the kids enjoy reading all the entries when they get their book back. It's on its way to them now.



Another Surprise!

I love surprises! Especially when I'm the one doing the surprising :))) Last year our pool was on its last season. The leaks just kept coming and I couldn't keep them all patched. It had been well used and loved for at least 4 seasons and had stretched and was losing water and height! Murray received a little inheritance this year and we thought this would be a good opportunity to upgrade our pool, unbeknownst to the kiddos!



As the weather turned from snow to sunnier days, the girls got to thinking about that pool. They wondered what they'd do without one! They asked if we could get another pool so I mentioned that pools were expensive and we'd have to wait and see. Sweetie asked if we'd consider just even getting a wading pool so they'd have something. I assured her we'd get them something to slash in and that we could definitely manage a wading pool. I did warn them that a new pool would definitely NOT be the size they had last time. They nodded and seemed to understand. They did keep asking occasionally, usually on a hot day, when we would have a new one.
I went to a home show several weeks ago and checked out pool companies and got some info. Then I put down a deposit and picked one out. They came to check the yard while the kids were out and then yesterday, they came back to do the installation. It was a bit tricky keeping the secret all day with guys working in the backyard and boxes of pool materials all over. But I am a master of secret keeping!!! muahahahha!!!

They only had a half day of school so were home well before the guys were finished. I'd warned them all that the girls had no idea and that they weren't to mention anything and if anyone asked, they were just doing some landscaping. The girls came off the bus, instantly curious. "what are they doing Mum???" I said "well, they're fixing up the lawn where the pool was. It got all messy and muddy there." (TRUE!) "now come in and get washed up, it's lunchtime." (TRUE!) "But Mum, aren't we getting a wading pool!?!??" (ooh good question!) "Well, a new pool won't take up the same space the other one did so we still have to do something about all that mud." (TRUE!)

Luckily, they're easily distracted and we had lunch, finished homework and they played and watched tv the rest of the afternoon. Then I was in the backyard taking Checkers to pee when Honey had a question and came to the door to talk to me JUST as they were putting the pool walls up!!! She was turned in the wrong direction so I answered her question, silently willing her NOT to turn around. It was all fine until she started to shut the door and something caught her eye. I could see the guys all freeze in position, wondering what I was going to do now. Honey, miss inquisitive, of course wanted to know what they were doing. I could only reply "ummm, not sure, I guess they're blocking it off or something so they can work in there." and then I asked her something unrelated as I scooted her back inside to finish whatever she was working on.

The guys looked at me and said "pretty good. but what are you going to do when the water truck shows up???" I replied "well don't you have to water new lawns????" They laughed and shook their heads and went back to work. At supper time the water truck came with the first load but the girls were watching tv and didn't see or hear a thing. Murray wondered if they'd even notice a difference or know that this was a "big" pool. I was dumbfounded. Had we just blown the bank on something they wouldn't realize was any better than the previous one? Surely they'd be wowed??? Finally, I couldn't stand the suspense anymore and told Murray to call them for supper and then to say "hey let's go see how they're doing with the backyard." while I set up the video and regular camera out on the deck. Just as they were about to come out, the water guy comes over to ask me questions and distracted me!!! I missed their initial reactions but they were definitely surprised and very excited!!!

We're looking forward to some sunny weather now!

 








Wednesday, May 15, 2013

We were floored!

One of the highlights around here lately, and loooooooooong overdue, was getting new flooring for the kitchen! Once it was done, we couldn't believe we hadn't done it sooner. It was a bit hectic getting everything moved out of the kitchen and jammed into the living room but so worth the effort! The store hadn't told me to anything other than empty the closets and furniture so the installer wasn't very impressed when he arrived and found the baseboards still in place! I'd thought about removing them but didn't want to ruin them if he had better tools/skills than I did! He made short work of that and was less grumbly once he realized I hadn't been told to have the boards off and the rest of the day went smoothly.

Good bye cracking, dingy dull floors! Hello gorgeous new stuff!