Repurposed Dresser

Like I promised, here is another repurposing project I finished a couple of weeks ago.

I found this beauty on the side of the road in front of our condo in St. George. I made my poor husband put it in the garage. It is pretty darn heavy. It may look like junk to the regular guy, but I could see its inner beauty. It was missing one drawer and the top had pretty much peeled off.

Here was my solution...

I found the blue hexagon tile at the Habitat for Humanity Restore, and since I didn't have enough, I found the extra small glass tiles at Home Depot.  Then Rinar and I frantically got to work laying it all out before the cement dried. It was a whole lot of little cuts with the tile saw.

Rinar added on extra molding at the top to give it a border and then I added on moldings on the sides and on the drawers to give it some architectural interest. Now it is a chic toy cabinet in my family room. Sorry, I was lazy and took the picture before the toys were picked up. You get the idea.

Biology Fun

Last week was quite eventful.  We dissected frogs. Ew!  I taught a biology class last year and this was part of the curriculum. I did really well until the end and then I really needed to get some fresh air.  Things don't change I guess. Round two and after I little while I decided I really needed to wash my dishes.

Zach, Trevor, Raef, Bryce, and Anders.  Trevor didn't care for it anymore than I did.

I did a biology unit with my boys and some of their friends. I wish I could have had more kids, but there is only one of me and what is left of my sanity.  This was our last class. I think I was able to cover a lot of stuff. We talked about taxonomy, plants, cells, bug classification...you know, biology stuff. It was a lot of information, and I think they all did well and learned some things. 

Tucker and Aleks

I would really like to do some kind of science club that continues throughout the year. Hopefully I will be able to find a way to make that happen.

Becky From Manchester

A couple of weeks ago our family hosted a soccer coach from England.  Her name is Becky and she stayed with us for a week.  That was a lot of fun.  There is a British Soccer Camp that makes a tour throughout the summer and they place the coaches with volunteer families.  I have signed Eli up to do the camp in August, but I guess they didn't have enough host families for the last camp that was just here.  The kids loved her and we even started to understand her accent by the end of the week.

As an additional bonus, five of the coaches, including Becky, came over for dinner on Wednesday. Rinar was out of town and they were coming back from an afternoon at Tahoe.  I thought it would be fun to have them over, and it really was.  As I sat around the dinner table with the five of them listening to them talk, I felt like I was in a English pub, except for the beer and smoke, of course. Except, they don't have smoke in pubs anymore, according to my guests. Fun times for our family.

Happenings

We have been busy the last couple of weeks. So busy, I don't even know what I have been doing. I have continued my furniture repurposing rampage.  I need to take some more pictures and share. Let's just say, things are coming along in that department.

We have also resumed school studies, since we had missed many weeks with moving and traveling.  Raef and Zach are getting back on track with their academics and I am pleased to see the progress they continue to make.  Consequently, Rinar and I decided to hire some full-time help, as I realized that I was completely overwhelmed with everything I was trying to do.  I am only one person, and my middle name is not Gumby.  So, a couple of weeks ago Mary started coming. She is a nice retired lady who loves my kids and is super helpful. She is here about 18 hours a week, Monday through Wednesday.  It is like I can breathe again.

Rinar and I are going to run the St. George Marathon in October, so training is in full swing.  Mileage has been pretty low for the first little bit, but on Friday night I did 10 miles...on the treadmill!  You think I am crazy. Well, uh, yeah.  But it was really out of necessity.

Rinar took Raef and Zach and went to Utah to visit his family for an extended weekend. I had to get it done when the kids were asleep, since I did not have a babysitter.  It took one movie and 92 minutes to be on and off.  Hopefully, I can see more of the outdoors for future runs.

Today was eventful. I took my three little ones to church by myself. They were pretty rotten.  Whenever I leave, the kids are happy and well-behaved and the house is clean. I can admit it. Rinar is just better at this than I am.

We went to the park this evening for a farewell gathering for a few families in our ward.  I was just glad to get my kids out of the house for a couple of hours. Of course, it didn't matter that they all had gone to the bathroom right before we left. They had to go at the park, which has no bathroom at all. Sheesh.  After they settled in, they had a lot of fun getting some fresh air.

We were the last ones to leave, because I was prolonging the inevitable death-struggle of putting them to bed.  It ended up not being so bad.  But luckily for these three, they were able to fish out all of the M&M's from the trail mix bag right before we left.  Makes a mama proud.

Pink Flowers

Rinar took all of the boys on a minitrip last night. They went to Davis Creek, which is about 10 miles from our house.  While they were gone, it was just me and my girl.  We went to dinner, did a little bit of thrift store shopping and then at Julia's request, we went to the playground. I pushed her on the swing and then she tried out all of the playground equipment.  She even met a little friend while we were there.

The park had some pink flowers and Julia came to tell me that she was going to pick me some flowers.  But then she came back and was troubled because she couldn't get the flower she wanted.  I just told her to think about the pretty pink flower and this is the face she gave me.

"I am pondering pink flowers!"

The Fourth

Another 4th of July has come and gone. Once again, we went to the church for a little parade.  There was a city firetruck there to lead our menagerie of bicycles, wagons, tricycles and scooters.  The kids have lots of fun and this year we made better time than last year. Eli is a lot faster on his tricycle and Rinar took the shortcut back to the church. We learned a lot from last year.

We had an extra member of the family for a couple of days. We dog-sat for the Lindsey's while they went camping.  I thought it would be a good idea to take her, Midnight,  to the parade for her walk. She did really well, except for when we were waiting to start and she bolted for another black lab and clotheslined all three of my little kids.  The leash was not locked and I did not react quickly enough. It was okay in the end and kind of funny. 

In the afternoon we had three families to our house for a 4th barbeque: the Rockwell's, Watson's, and Brereton's.  There were a million kids running around the house and it was tons of fun.  I had marinated some tri-tip for two days and it turned out super-delicious.  Like butter.  I must make it again sometime.

After our guests left, we headed down to Carson City to see the fireworks. Raef and Zach were both feeling sick and threw up a couple of times, but we thought we could get away with it.

When we arrived, Raef curled up on a blanket and fell asleep and Eli zonked out in the car.  Harry was in heaven. I brought his tricycle and he was riding it around everywhere. The huge smile never left his face.  Then right before the fireworks started, Zach started to feel yucky again.  Harry and Julia were loving the fireworks and Eli woke up once the show started. Harry clapped after every single one.  I am glad he savored what he saw, because after about 10 minutes, Zach begged us to go home and we did.  The little ones were a bit disappointed but they were okay.

It was still a great day, but when the 4th is on a Wednesday, it definitely makes for a very strange week.

Picnic Time

In preparation for the 4th, Rinar was able to come home early today from work.  We decided to go to the park and have a picnic.  It was lots of fun. It is so nice that we live close to the park now.  We stopped at the store to get some food and then we were on our way.

The weather was absolutely perfect and after we finished eating, we headed to the big grass area.  All of the kids greatly enjoyed running down the small hill and across the field.  Lots and lots of running.  This is a perfect activity to do right before bedtime. I think this could become a regular activity for our family this summer.

She fell down and was a little bit sad.

Okay, Mom. It is time to go. Let me put your shoes on.

Smile, Eli! He was so excited about how fast he was running. "Did I run 40, 50, 15?"  Random numbers. So cute.

Raef joined some kids for a pick-up soccer game, in his blue jeans.

And Zach is currently obsessed with writing his own cookbook.

The Story of the Box

Here is the final chapter from our trip to Europe. When we were halfway to San Francisco, Rinar and I realized we had forgotten a couple of things. He forgot to pack his International Drivers License and I was pretty sure I had left my darn glasses at home. We called Kehau and both items were confirmed to be in our bedroom.

So, Kehau kindly took them to the UPS store to get them to us.  We figured it was a two week trip and that we might as well pay the postage. The only problem was that by the time we were leaving Vienna there was no package. Grrrr... Luckily, Rinar had no problem with the car and licensing.

We decided to just have the hotel refuse delivery so that my glasses would get back to Reno sometime.

Sure enough, about three weeks after we were back home, I found this on the doorstep.

This box has quite a story to tell.

Carson City Rendezvous

On June 9, we took the family to the Carson City Rendezvous. It was a fun little adventure for the whole family.  The Rendezvous was free and it was thoughtfully done.  The kids each got a passport where they could get stamps at the different stations, like Civil War, Native Americans, Railroad, Gunfighters, etc. There were many displays and things to do at each different area.
Here are some of the Union soldiers lining up at the Civil War camp.  There was a cannon here that they shot. BOOM!

Next to the Civil War area, was the Mountain Man stuff. It was super-cool.  They got to throw hand axes.  Even Rinar and I got in on the action.  I made all three of my axes stick into the wood.  Rinar only got one.  HA HA!  Boo-yeah.  Raef and Zach were in heaven...throwing dangerous weapons was encouraged. Where else can you do that?

At this station, it was bowie knives. Sweet.  I think these were a bit harder to stick to the wood. I wasn't about to try those and tarnish my perfect record.

There actually was a small train track set up for a hand operated train that you pump up and down. We were able to go with all the kids and they loved it.

Afterwards, we hit the food row and got a treat. Eli, Harry, and Julia were very happy.

Aside from the rotten Reno wind, it was a very fun day.  I need to remember to put this on my calendar for next year.