Bathroom Remodel

It has taken 30 years, but mom finally has an updated main floor bathroom which now includes a shower.  Here are pictures of the before, during and completed project.

Looking into bathroom from kitchen area

Notice -  just a wall.

View of bathroom from the door shown above.

The door, shown in a couple of pictures above, was at that blue wall.

Cutting out the wall for the shower.

Shower :)

New door that goes into hallway by master bedroom.  The original door was the slotted one, right in front of the stool.  They moved it back to the hallway.  (I just realized I did not take an "after" picture of the door, but it was painted white.)

Took out whole floor to joists to make sure floor would be level.

New flooring.

New vanity

Here you might be able to see how far the door was moved (shower is on the other side of the left wall).

It's done! Here are the "after" pictures.

New shower

New vanity, medicine cabinet and light fixture.

View from hallway by master bedroom.

View from the above entry area.

First Day of School

Today marks the start of yet another school year for the girls.

I now have a 6th grader, a 3rd grader and a 2nd grader!

It's so hard to believe that Allyson has finally reached middle school, but I guess you can't stop time from marching on :)

Here are a few pictures from this morning.

My Elementary girls

I told them to be silly . . .

Can you tell who the one who said she wasn't nervous but was excited?!  :)

More goofiness!

Time to be more proper :)

Once again I said to be silly . . .

My Middle School girl

Today was also the first time that I did not either walk or drive all of my girls to school.  I must admit it was a bit hard to watch Allyson walk down to the neighbors to wait on the bus . . .

but even harder to see her get on and ride away :( 

No tears were shed, but still tough to watch.

I know Allyson is going to have a great day as well as Janae and Kaycie.  

It will just be nice to have them home and hear how their day went.

The End of an Era

It's hard to believe that the days of attending elementary school for Allyson have come to a close.  I can easily remember that first day of school and how excited and nervous I was that my baby girl was starting school, and now her last day of 5th grade is just hours away!

First day of Kindergarten - August 2009

Coming home from school (one of the first few days of school)

Allyson attended school by herself until the 3rd grade when Janae was old enough to start Kindergarten.  And for the past two years, she has had both sisters in the same building.  Now with starting middle school in the fall, the next time Allyson will have a sister in the same building as her will be when she is a Senior and Janae will be a Freshman!

A picture review of the last 6 years:

Kindergarten

2009-2010

Age 5

Mrs. Wilson

1st Grade

2010-2011

Age 6

Mr. Anglemeyer

2nd Grade

2011-2012

Age 7

Mr. Haywood

3rd Grade

2012-2013

Age 8

Mr. Goertz

4th Grade

2013-2014

Age 9

Mr. Nice

5th Grade

2014-2015

Age 10

Mrs. Longcor / Mrs. Edwards

~~~~~~~~~~

Receiving her diploma

(Mrs. Edwards, Mrs. Banes, Mrs. Peters)

Certificate for participating in orchestra and Presidential Gold Award

WOW!  Class of 2022! May it not come too quickly . . .

Dead or Alive?

This morning as I was sitting on the couch, I happened to glance outside like I do quite often when relaxing or watching TV while on the couch.  This time, however, when I looked at the trees I felt that the Holy Spirit was showing me something.  I'll try my best to explain :o)

If you know where we live, then you know that the lot just north of us is nothing but a big lot full of pine trees and evergreen trees.  Not only do we like not having neighbors right beside us, but it's also a great wind block from those cold northerly winter winds!

From the outside, the trees look great . . . tall, green and quite nice to look at too.

But if you venture to the inside, well, it's a whole different kind of story.

It's dead . . .

Very little sunlight and greenery . . .

and quite dry and barren.

I felt like God was saying this.  How many times do we put on a good front to those who come in contact with us?  We are always happy and smiling, always got it together, putting forth our best so that others won't come inside to know how we are really feeling . . . dead, abandoned, broken and dry.

The reason the trees on the inside are like this is because the sunshine can't get to the inner most parts of the lot.  These same trees look great from the top and from the sides because it gets all the sun.  In the same way, if we don't have the Son in our inner most parts, then we may look good to those on the outside, but on the inside we are just dead, not thriving and living as the way our Father God intended for us.

If this is how you feeling, ask Jesus to help thin out the trees (junk), so that the Son can come and shine in and through you and that you might truly be alive!

There you have it . . . nothing earth moving and nothing you probably haven't heard before.  But realizing God is speaking to you through simple things is still quite humbling and encouraging (to me at least).  Be blessed and encouraged today!

1st Day of School

Summer quickly came to an end this past week with the start of school.  This school year brings us a

5th grader

a 2nd grader

and a 1st grader

It's so hard to believe that this is Allyson's final year at Model Elementary!  It seems like it was only yesterday that I walked Allyson to her first day of kindergarten while pushing Janae and Kaycie in the double stroller.  AND this is the last year that all three girls will ever be in the same school building!  The next time Allyson will have a sister in the same school with her will be when she is a senior.  That means Janae will be a freshman . . . sure don't like to think that about that yet, so I won't.  :o)

They've officially been in school one week, and despite it being a bit tough (for the younger two) to get readjusted from being away from home for such a long time ("why does school have to be sooo long?!" - Janae), all are enjoying their new grades.

DIY - Outdoor Swing Canopy

I don't remember how long we've had our outdoor swing, but it was definitely showing its age. Last year we had to replace the cushions, and this year the canopy needed replacement.  The big question was do I try to make one myself or find a replacement on the internet?  After searching, I did find a possible replacement, but it was out of stock and with shipping added to the cost, the price was a bit high.

I then checked around for outdoor fabrics and discovered that JoAnn Fabrics had a 50% off sale on all outdoor fabrics until this Saturday  :)  Time to act fast!  I went to my local store and found what I wanted.

Here are a few pictures of the old canopy.  That dark spot just right of center is a patch I had just put on earlier this year to cover up a tear.

My new fabric cut into strips for the overhang.

The top of the canopy.

All pieced together.  At this point, I did not have the sleeves and velcro sewed on to attach the canopy to the frame.  One way I saved even more money was that I reused the velcro strips from the old canopy!  It's definitely not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but not too shabby for a first-time trying :)

Ta-Da!

Yes, the sides are longer than the front.  I needed to make them slightly longer as I didn't make my top part of the canopy long enough to account for the slight bow in the frame, but I didn't realize that it would be this much longer than the front and back.  Oh well . . . don't think I want to take it back down again and shorten it.  We'll just live with the way it is and hope it lasts for more than one season!  :)

Do You Really Know What It Means?!

This morning I read through one of my favorite chapters in Psalms - Psalm 145.

1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.  2  Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever . . . 10 All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you.

When I got to verse 10 and noticed once again the word extol, I decided it was finally time to find out exactly what this word means and not just think and assume I know.

After looking online, I was actually quite surprised by the definition of the word . . . it is a verb and means praise enthusiastically.  Some synonyms are:  go into raptures about/over, wax lyrical about, sing the praises of, praise to the skies, acclaim, exalt, eulogize, adulate, rhapsodize over, rave about, enthuse about/over, overpraise; (informal) go wild about, go on about, ballyhoo; (formal) laud.

Praise enthusiastically!  WOW!  Do we really worship and praise our Father enthusiastically?  Do we live our lives where people know that we extol our King?!

1  I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.  2  Every day I will praise you and praise enthusiastically your name for ever and ever . . . 10 All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will praise you enthusiastically.

May we truly Extol the Lord our God.