Blackmail pictures of the boys

A very funny sequence of photos: When the house gets quiet, every mom knows there is trouble brewing... after a few moments of silence I found the boys in the bathroom with my "Girl stuff." They will probably grow up to hate these pictures...
Spencer applying lipstick
The boys after putting on the lipstick. Very nice!

Do I have any lipstick on my teeth?
No, this is not in preparation for Halloween, this is our everyday wear.
Makeup isn't the only thing I keep in my makeup bag. I also have a disposable razor for when we travel. I was absolutely shocked to see that Spencer knew what a razor was for. He never showers with us. Interesting...
Don't we all feel like smiling when we know we look good? Lookin' good Spencer!

Men and Tractors

What is is about tractors and machines that men and boys just can't help but love? My uncle Dan let us borrow his big Cat on Saturday, so we could finish the concrete project. Here are some pictures of all the fun.
Mom and the boys hanging out in the cab.
Troy's first shot at breaking out the cement. There was even rebar in the sidewalk. Amazing. Whoever built this house wanted it to last. (It didn't.) Notice that there is still grass on the lawn. By the end of the day, you'd never guess there had been grass that morning. Troy and the boys. He had to stop every so often to let Timmy ride with him. But, Timmy only lasted a short time before he needed a break and wanted to climb out again.Thanks again, Uncle Dan! We not only had fun, but got a lot done, too.
Not only is the cement gone, so is the grass!A close-up shot of me and my little boys. You should have seen how excited they were.The Cat did a good job of ripping out more than concrete.
Brett, our brother in-law wanted in on the fun, too.

Let the Construction Begin

The "Before" pictures:
Another "Before" picture of the bathroom- notice how you could walk from the bath to the closet, to the bedroom. Alas, 'tis a thing of the past.
The "After" picture of the bathroom. Hmmm...

Out comes the cabinet and sink
Spencer helping to solder the new tub plumbing. (They actually used pex, a flexible plastic pipe- it's blue for cold and red for hot, so there was very little soldering to do.)
Looking into the bathroom from the backyard
Looking into the backyard from the bathroom. Hi Pa! Goodbye to my gorgeous green tile surround.
Timmy is always happy to help swing a hammer
Pa, Troy and Timmy surveying the damage. That was a live wire dangling from the ceiling until they switched off the power.
Spencer wondering why the bathtub is out on the lawn. Can anyone answer that for me?The walls start closing in... One last glimpse into the sun
Help! the walls really have closed in; there isn't even a window any more.
Troy and Pa putting up the new plastic surround onto the new "tiny" tub.
The boys discover the new tub and mini sink the next morning. It's not so bad after all
The next weekend
The walk-in closet goes the way of the bathroom. Here comes the sheet rock, watch out Brad!
A view of the back yard from the bedroom doorway.
Out comes the carpet...
This is the door Timmy escaped out after the nail polish incident. (details to follow)

The title might be a little misleading. We are still waiting on our building permit, but we began demolishing the additions we made when we first moved in. In order to dig our basement adjacent to our existing house, we had to take out the walk-in closet and the part of the bathroom with the jetted tub. It was a sad, sad day.

On the up side, however, my dad came up for the weekend, and we had a wonderful time with him. He and Troy spent all last weekend, Friday and Saturday, taking down the bathroom walls, the glass block window, un-installing the jacuzzi tub, sink, counters, and cabinets. Then, they installed a new, standard size tub (Timmy calls it a "tiny tub"), a miniature sink and essentially non-existent cabinet.

Then they re-framed the wall, minus the window and put up a temporary shower surround. The boys, especially Timmy, have a very hard time adjusting to change. (Troy said it's not their fault; it's in their blood.) On Sunday morning when I started filling the new "tiny tub" with water, Timmy started bawling and crying, and yelled, "I don't want this little tub!" Once he was in the water with Spencer, he promptly forgot and enjoyed himself.

As usual, Daddy had lots of helpers. In addition to Pa, Timmy and Spencer were always trying to get their hands into it.

This weekend, Troy's brother, Brad, surprised us and showed up with Skyler, one of his boys, to help rip out the walk-in closet.

Timmy and Skyler loved watching the sheet rock begin to crack, break, and ultimately come crashing down. They were so proud of their rough 'n' tough Daddies. They also loved standing in the closet with the walls off, but the carpet and interior doors still there. We had to make room in our tiny master bedroom for all the hanging clothes, shoes and dresser that were in the closet, as well as some junk we stored there for lack of a better place.

Thank you so much for all your help Brad and Pa! We couldn't have gotten it done as timely as if Troy and I were doing it ourselves. You're the greatest.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, after the demolition, we went out to the shed and started packing up our boxes and moved them into Troy's parent's basement for temporary storage until our basement is dug and the foundation and flat work finished. So I guess you could say we're moving!

Daddy's Little Helpers

When we were camping, Timmy must have run over a thorn with his bike because when he went to ride it, the front tire was flat. When he discovered it, Timmy was distraught, and just had to call Daddy at work. When Troy answered, Tim's message was short and sweet, "Daddy, when you get home, [will] you help me plump up my front tire? It got soft and flat." So, true to his word, Troy plumped up Timmy's tire when he got home and we went for a family walk so Tim could test out the plumped up tire. (It's one of those cute mispronunciations that we couldn't bear to correct, so we adopted his word as our own.)

However, a few days later, the tire was flat again. Timmy asked me to plump it up and I explained that it had a hole, and it needed to be fixed before we plumped it up. So, on Saturday, Daddy took everyone to buy a tube patch kit, and they spent a little male bonding time patching and fixing the tire. Timmy was eager to help, he got out his "Bob the Builder" tools and tried to do everything Daddy did. Spencer wanted to help, too, but was mostly a detriment to the fixing. The first step in fixing it was to remove the tire from the bike. It was cold outside so we broke the rules, and Mommy let the bike come into the house. They turned it upside down and began to take it off.

Once the tire was off the bike, there was a mini-crisis.

It was at this juncture that Tim decided Daddy was just breaking his bike even more, not fixing it. "Put it back on, Dad, don't break it! Just fix the tire! Don't take it off!" It took a moment to calm him down and explain that it had to come off to be fixed. Then when Troy pulled the tube out of the tire, Tim came unglued again. He recovered quickly this time. After finding the hole, patching it, testing it, plumping it, and putting it back on the bike, Tim was ready to ride. He grabbed his helmet, and rushed outside. Dad followed to be the spotter (we still have a crash almost every ride), and Mom was close behind with the camera. Spencer followed as fast as his crawlers would take him, and before we knew it, the whole family was outside. As soon as Spencer found a big stick, he stopped the chase, and was entertained with his new toy.

Hopefully, his tire won't need plumping for a while.