I admit it’s totally my fault.

I took this adorable photo of Little Guy and Buddy watching the Backyardigans together.

Then I put my camera back on the kitchen counter and walked away.

See? Totally my fault for leaving my camera where Little Guy could reach it.

Apparently Little Guy wanted more pictures of himself with Buddy.

It’s actually kind of a cute photo, isn’t it?

And one of Buddy by himself.

The things this cat puts up with! I’m surprised he didn’t run away for dear life the moment Little Guy let go of him.

I’m not quite sure what he’s doing here.

Look mom, no boogers!

One thing is certain – life is never boring with Little Guy around!

As soon as Uncle Jay and Dee got engaged the rest of the family jumped in to help them plan.

Whether they liked it or not.

Since Irish Girl had done such a great job with Princess and Cowboy’s flowers, I volunteered her to do Uncle Jay and Dee’s flowers.

Whether she liked it or not.

Luckily she liked it, so the day before the wedding we all gathered in my parents’ house to work on flowers.

Dee had originally wanted red and yellow tulips for her wedding flowers, but Irish Girl was worried that tulips wouldn’t hold up well so Dee ordered red and yellow roses instead.

Aren’t they gorgeous?!

To accent the roses Dee chose white tulips. I don’t know if they’re a certain type, but they’re smaller than normal tulips.

She also chose alstroemeria, which was one of the flowers Princess had a lot of for her wedding. It’s a real pain to work with because the blooms tend to fall apart if they’re handled too much, luckilyDee didn’t want a lot of it; just enough to help fill out the bouquets.

While Mom, Irish Girl and Dee put together a battle plan…

Uncle Ike helped out by recording the moment for posterity aka goofed around with a camera.

The kids were corralled in the sunroom with a baby gate, and were content to play and watch TV.

At least Peanut and Little Guy were content…

Love Bug not so much. At 21 months old she’s personally offended by baby gates and kept making goo-goo eyes at Great Grandpa until he rescued her. It wasn’t hard; he’s such a softie when it comes to children!

She wanted to help with the flowers so badly, but we had a feeling the flowers wouldn’t survive.

My mom headed up the bow-making committee. I’d made all the bows for Princess’s wedding flowers with wired ribbon, but Mom and Dee had purchased unwired ribbon. It didn’t take me long to realize that I couldn’t make a decent bow with unwired ribbon to save my life.

Elle took a stab at bows but didn’t have any more luck than I did.

Poor Mom – we abandoned her to find another way to help out.

Irish Girl put together simple boutonnieres. Funny – I couldn’t spell that word before Princess’s wedding. Dee wanted just a single rose with some asparagus fern.

Woot – two done – just six more to go!

I think we did more talking than flower arranging; there’s always lots of talking when my family gets together.

Dee’s mom came over to help with flowers too – she was great at wrapping the stems after they’d been wired.

Dee’s sister was great at wiring the stems. I tried wiring but couldn’t bring myself to poke the wires though the flowers.

Dee set some of the nicer roses aside for the bridesmaid bouquets. I wanted to help make them, but had to leave for a dentist appointment and by the time I got back they were all done.

I hate going to the dentist, but that’s another whole subject.

Once the flowers were done it was time to play a bit. Can you tell that Uncle Jay is just a little fond of his grand-nieces?

Dee too. She was so excited that marrying Jay meant that she’d become an official aunt.

I hope they have lots of children.

Soon!

I recently had the thrill of watching Teacher on stage in the Kimberly Papermaker Players’ production of Cheaper by the Dozen. Which received a nice review by the local newspaper, by the way.

My friend from Valley AEYC, Robin, was also in the play. She’d been in Papermaker Player productions before, but this was Teacher’s first time.

I knew that Teacher had been involved in drama in high school and loved it, so when he was invited to audition for Cheaper by the Dozen I told him to go for it. I was in drama at my high school too and wouldn’t mind getting back into it again someday, but right now I don’t have time to add anything else.

I’d planned to see all four shows – Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, plus Saturday afternoon – but of course life got in the way.

Thursday night I had hair appointment to get ready for Uncle Jay and Dee’s wedding, but when it was done I hustled over to catch as much of the play as I could. I knew that Teacher’s part came at the end of the first act and was worried that I’d miss it.

I texted Nicole before leaving the salon parking lot, “Just leaving the salon”

“ok go in the 1st auditorium door (on left) we r on the left” she replied.

I was so close I could see the high school when Teacher’s trusty GPS failed me; the left-hand turn it told me to make would have taken me off the road and over the side of a viaduct. “Nooooooo!” So close and yet so far!

Refiguring the route, the GPS had me continue on the highway until the next exit, which took me back through a 25 MPH residential area. “Ack, I’m NEVER going to get there!”

Despite my dramatics I did get there; just a couple of minutes later than the GPS had originally figured. But those minutes could be the difference between seeing Teacher and missing him.

Parking quickly, I ran through the rain and into the school. Just outside the auditorium doors I shed my coat and folded my umbrella while I tried to remember what the layout was on the other side of the doors. Could I sneak in without being seen, or would a beam of light from the opening door give me away?

Suddenly I heard a loud voice coming from the other side of the door… could it be? Yes! It was Teacher!

Who cares if I’m noticed; my honey is onstage and I’m missing it!

I flew through the auditorium door and almost smacked face-first into the second one – guess I didn’t need to worry about light! I pushed the outer door shut as I opened the inner door, stepped into the darkness, and froze.

There he is!

Oh my goodness – WHAT is he wearing?!

I knew his character, Joe Scales, was a cheerleader and I’d imagined that his costume would include a letterman’s sweater or jacket. I never dreamed he’d be wearing yellow and blue plaid pants! And look; not only are they Teacher’s beloved Michigan colors, he’s also got a big M on his shirt!

Keeping my eyes glued to the stage I slipped into the chair next to Nicole. “Your husband is such a dork!” she laughed.

“No, he’s just a good actor.” I replied, smiling.

And he was! I knew Teacher would be a good actor, but I didn’t know how good. That’s my man! I thought as I watched him with pride.

All too quickly his scene ended and it was time for intermission. I was looking forward to watching Robin in the second act, but not as much as I was looking forward to seeing Teacher after the show.

After the show I made him pose for a close-up.

And of course we had to include, who in addition to giving Teacher a hard time in rehearsals, did an AMAZING job in the show.

I don’t know if Robin’s character, Ernestine, would be considered one of the main characters, but she definitely was among those with the most lines.

Friday Nicole and I missed the play because we were road-tripping with Dorothy so I could receive my award, but I went both Saturday afternoon and evening. It was so much fun to notice the differences in each performance – some made deliberately, and some made by mistake – and to study their makeup and costumes. Makeup and costuming was my favorite part of Drama class in high school.

I can’t wait to see what production they’ll do next; whatever it is I hope Teacher gets a role in it!

I have an image in my head.

It’s what I’d like our basement family room to be when it’s done:
Relaxing.
Uncluttered.
Clean.
Bright.
Natural.

Step by step we’re getting there.

We took a giant step forward last week when we had an egress window put in.

Then we took another giant step over the weekend – we finished the floor in half the room!

When Teacher and I had decided to put in the egress window we hadn’t considered finishing the floor, but the more we thought about it the more sense it made to do it now since half the room was already empty.

One of the reasons we hadn’t finished the floor earlier is because we couldn’t decide what to do. We’d originally planned to carpet the room, but didn’t know if carpet tiles or regular carpet would be better. We went round and round and round over color and style, quality, and cost. We just weren’t sure what the best choice was so we didn’t make one. We put it off for “later.”

“Later” arrived, but we still didn’t know what to do with the floor.

We considered paint but I was afraid it would take too long since we’d have to do an undercoat and two top coats. The primer would dry in about half an hour, but the paint recommended 24 hours between coats. College Boy, Irish Girl and Love Bug had been at my parents for two weeks and I wanted them to move back on Sunday. We were also concerned that paint wouldn’t hold up on the floor; even with area rugs on it.

Next we revisited the carpet square idea, but the ones we could find locally were expensive. My feeling was that if we were going to sink several hundred dollars into the house there were better places for it to go than the basement! We knew there were cheaper carpet squares available online, but we didn’t have time to research and find them, much less order them and wait for them to arrive.

We needed something that would look nice, hold up, be affordable, and be quick to install. In other words, we needed the almost-impossible.

Note: I said almost impossible…

On Friday we spent part of our usual Date Night looking at flooring in Lowe’s and Home Depot, and found our solution: self-adhesive vinyl tiles!

We’d had self-adhesive vinyl tiles in our main floor bathroom, but had forgotten about them after redoing the bathroom with real tile.

They looked nice, would hold up, and were both affordable, and quick to install. Even better, they’d be relatively easy to replace if something happened to one or two, or three, or…

There weren’t many color choices available in the quantity we needed, so we bought one tile to bring home and try in the room. It had green and blue tones in it, but I was worried it would look too orange. Orange is one of my least favorite colors.

It looked much less orange in the basement, so Saturday we went back and bought enough tiles to do the entire room. I couldn’t wait to see what a bunch of them would look like on the floor!

First we had to prime the bare plywood floor. College Boy and I did the edges with narrow paint brushes while Teacher filled in the middle with a roller. He was so fast College Boy and I could hardly stay ahead of him; even with a head-start!

The primer said it would dry to the touch in 30 minutes, so by the time Teacher reached the door the far end was dry already.

In case you’re wondering, the far end is raised because when we bought the house, the far right corner had a raised concrete area with a fake fireplace on it. When Teacher, Dad, and College Boy put in the raised plywood floor they decided to keep most of the floor as low as possible, but had to raise the far end because of the concrete. It’s not perfect, but it works.

Once the primer on most of the floor was dry it was time to find the midpoints of the floor and snap a chalk line.

The first tiles are down! Don’t they look great?

Each tile had arrows on the back to show which direction the “grain” was supposed to go. If you followed the arrows the grain would alternately run horizontally and vertically, creating a checkerboard pattern. I didn’t like the way that looked so we ran the grain the same way on the entire floor. Don’t tell the self-adhesive floor tile police!

Once all the tiles were in place the directions said to roll them with a 100 pound roller or a rolling pin, using your body weight. Of course I couldn’t wait for all the tiles to be in place, and had to start rolling after a couple of rows were down.

The boys lasted about two hours by themselves upstairs before they couldn’t stand being left out of all the action and came downstairs. They were put to work rolling the floor and looking for adhesive on the front side of the tiles.

Did you notice that this photo has all of the kids except Princess in it? She was in California for Cowboy’s boot camp graduation so she missed all the excitement.

The floor wasn’t the only thing that had to be finished before College Boy’s family could come back; Ken had put up most of the panelling but hadn’t had time to finish before he had to leave.

Little Guy “helped” Teacher measure the panelling for the hole above the window. The egress window was set lower than the original basement window; hence the lack of panelling at the top.

Dad and Teacher made quick work of the panelling…

and got right to work on the ceiling.

Isn’t it looking great? We couldn’t find the last ceiling tile; it was the first one taken out waaaaaay back when Ken was first checking out the job site. We’re pretty sure the ceiling tile is buried on the other half of the room, behind all the furniture from this half.

Are you wondering why there’s a hole in the wall with styrofoam in it? That’s the access to the crawl space under the play room. Eventually that hole will be a shallow bookcase – perfect for paperbacks – that can be removed if/when we need to get into the crawl space. Cool idea, isn’t it?!

Next the window needed trim to finish it off. The first question was: sill or no sill? It only took me about 10 minutes and three trips up and down the stairs to decide on “sill.” That was Teacher’s thought from the beginning, but he wanted me to decide. He’s so sweet, and has the patience of a saint – most of the time anyway.

Hey look, it’s College Boy! He’s actually been helping the whole time; he just managed to avoid the camera.

He went through a phase where he’d dodge the camera every time I’d bring it out. I thought he was over it, but maybe not so much.

Teacher measured while College Boy hammered.

I love watching my two men work together.

Dad followed them with a nail set to sink the nails in.

It’s amazing how quickly this went with the three guys and me working on it.

Yup, I helped out too; I put a couple of nails in the top trim and kept the area cleaned up so no-one tripped or slipped on anything.

College Boy filled the nail holes and we were done!

Or done for now at least; we’d miscalculated the amount of trim we needed so the left side of the window didn’t get trimmed. But overall enough was done that College Boy, Irish Girl, and Love Bug could come back home. Hooray!

The excavation guys even made a special trip over to install the egress window’s cover.

TheTheir timing was perfect – they got it done before the foot of snow Mother Nature dumped on us!

As pretty as it may be, it’s also depressing to have so much snow in April.

I’ll leave you with a happier image: this half is almost done, and it looks SO much better than before.

To borrow a phrase from Peanut, “I luff it!

Tuesday night was one of the worst nights of my life; I’m trembling now, just remembering.

We already knew it was going to be crazier than usual: Z-Man had Chess Club after school until 4:00 and Jo-Bear had play practice after school until 4:30. He’s the lead! Teacher, Princess and I had our usual Handbell rehearsal from 6:15 – 7:30. Jo-Bear and Z-Man’s Pioneers activity was bowling at a local bowling alley from 6:00 – 7:45 or 8:00. Angel Face had soccer practice from 5:30 – 7:30 and Academic Awards from 7:00 – 8:00. Finally, Jo-Bear’s summer soccer team had a meeting from 7:00 – 8:00.

Whew!

We thought we had things fairly well under control, but as usual we were wrong.

Teacher went to pick up Z-Man after Chess Club, but couldn’t find him right away. Around 4:10 he called home to let me know he didn’t find Z-Man, and asked if he was already at home. It wouldn’t be the first time that we’d had a miscommunication with my Dad and both he and Teacher had gone to pick up one of the kids, but I started to feel a little anxious; I always worry when we don’t find the kids right away.

As the minutes passed my fear increased. After ten minutes I couldn’t stand it any more and called Teacher back, “Did you find him yet?” I was hoping he’d found Z-Man and just hadn’t taken the time to call me.

“No.” His voice was high and tight with panic. My body reacted immediately: heart racing, stomach sinking, mouth going dry, hands turning to ice.

Oh God, no… Please let him be all right…Please God let him be safe… Please God, please let us find him… Oh God… a litany of prayer began in my head.

I only remember snippets of our conversation: I asked if anyone was helping him look; he said there were lots of people looking. I asked if they’d checked the Teen room; he said they had. I said we should call the police; he said there were parents coming to pick up their kids from play practice, maybe Z-Man had gone home with a friend and was being brought back now. I paced from the play room through the dining room, and living room and back again, my whole body shaking.

What did he wear to school today? Was it the black Spiderman shirt? No that was yesterday. Didn’t he have on blue pants? Or was it grey sweats? Why can’t I remember?!

It seemed like time slowed down as I wondered where Z-Man was. Was he snatched while playing on the playground? Lured away by promises of candy or puppies or some other treat? Just a few days ago I’d had the “stranger danger” talk with him. I told him that we would NEVER send someone he didn’t know to pick him up, and even if someone said they were sent by his parents they weren’t so don’t go with them. I told him repeatedly and forcefully that we’d ONLY send people he knew to pick him up. He listened carefully, his big brown eyes looking soberly into mine as he nodded.

I thought of all the places he could have disappeared to in an hour, and tried not to imagine how scared he’d be if someone had taken him, or what terrible things could happen to him. I remembered the softness of his silky brown hair and regretted every single time I’d ever yelled at him.

Oh God please let him be all right…Please God let him be safe… Please God, please let us find him… Oh God…

By now everyone in the house knew there was something wrong; Little Guy, Peanut and Love Bug didn’t know what it was but they could feel the tension in the air. Irish Girl took charge of them; keeping them relatively quiet and out of the way despite their best efforts to be in the middle of things.

College Boy, Princess and Angel Face grabbed their cell phones and asked what they could do. Still on the phone with Teacher, I grabbed Z-Man’s class list and pointed to some of his friends’ names. I threw out more names as I thought of them: the after-school supervisor, the daycare parent from years and years ago who happened to live next to church, other friends.

Oh God please let him be all right…Please God let him be safe… Please God, please let us find him… Oh God…

Still on the phone with Teacher I head a babble of voices from his end of the phone and his voice barking at the principal, “What are your procedures for a missing child? What are you going to do?” he demanded.

Something deep in my gut told me I had to call the police NOW. “I’m calling 911!” I announced to Teacher.

“OK, keep me informed.” he said, and we hung up.

For the first time in my life I dialed 911.

“I need to report a missing child…”

Ten-month-old W, the last daycare child to be picked up, sensed our upset and began to cry. I scooped him up and settled him on my hip, carrying him as I paced desperately back and forth in the living room and answered the 911 dispatcher’s questions: What was his name, middle initial, age, race, what was he wearing… Oh God, I don’t know! How could I not have noticed?

I stopped my pacing by the kitchen where the older kids were making frantic phone calls, “Hey guys – anyone know what he was wearing today?” Eyes wide, they all shook their heads at me.

Feeling like the worst mom in the world I told the dispatcher we didn’t know what he was wearing, but his coat was army green – without a hood – and he had a red and black Spiderman backpack. Please let him still have his coat and backpack.

In another part of my brain I wondered if they’d need a photo of him, and if I had a current one. Oh God please let him be all right…Please God let him be safe… Please God, please let us find him… Oh God…

While I was on the phone with 911 W’s mom arrived to pick him up. Irish Girl took him from me and delivered him to his mom, explaining the situation. Immediately her face filled with concern, “Oh, Amy!” she said, her body tensing, “What can I do to help?” I think I stared blank-faced at her before babbling, “I don’t know – just pray.”

Some far-off part of my brain felt bad that I wasn’t able to talk to her about W’s day; I always enjoy telling her what he did and chatting with her in general, but I was still on the phone with 911. Unconsciously I paced back into the other room, just walking away and leaving her by the door – obviously I wasn’t thinking clearly.

After getting all of the information she needed, the dispatcher told me that officers were on the way to school and that I should call Teacher to tell him to stay at school until they arrived.

In the background I could still hear College Boy, Princess and Angel Face’s voices on their phones, and noticed that Irish Girl was still keeping an eye on the little ones.

I called Teacher again, and as I was relaying the dispatcher’s message my mom came into the house, closely followed by my brother Jay. “Z-Man’s missing!” I told her in between sentences. “I know; Dad’s on the way to school.” she replied, her face filled with worry.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered who called them. I’d thought about it but didn’t want to worry Mom and Dad – another sign that I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I thought I was. Oh God please let him be all right…Please God let him be safe… Please God, please let us find him… Oh God…

My memory here is sketchy at best. I remember ending my call to Teacher, and I remember seeing Mom and Jay standing in the living room, but the next thing I remember is College Boy answering the phone. I have no idea how much time had passed – it seemed like forever, but was actually 4:45 – just minutes after I got off the phone with Teacher. College Boy listened intently, nodding his head and making “Mmm-hmmm” sounds.

Holding my breath, I drifted closer to him; praying for good news and watching his face desperately for a positive sign. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God… I was very frustrated when second after second passed and he didn’t give us any indication whether it was good news or not.

“Yes, someone can be there in a few minutes.” he said and hung up.

“Did they find him?!” I stopped breathing as I waited for his answer.

Oh God please let him be all right…Please God let him be safe… Please God, please let him be OK… Oh God…

College Boy nodded. “He’s with an officer by the George Webb” (which is barely a mile from our house) and needs someone to go get him.”

Thank God! And thank you, Officer Rice, for finding our Z-Man!

I grabbed a phone to call Teacher and noticed W’s mom still by the door. She breathed a big sigh of relief. “Oh, I am SO glad he’s OK!” she said. I hugged her and babbled again, “Honestly, our lives aren’t usually this dramatic; just this year so far!” She laughed, and said something about getting out of our hair as she went out the door.

I dialed Teacher again, “They found him! He’s with a police officer at the George Webb. He needs someone to pick him up.”

“They found him! I heard him call out. “I’m on my way.” he said to me. I think I told him to drive safely but I really don’t remember. It’s strange how each moment seems crystal clear at the time but so fuzzy when you look back at it.

“Dad’s on his way there.” Mom told me. I vaguely remember seeing on a phone – probably Jay’s – while I was talking to Teacher.

The next thing I remember is our arms around each other as we both wept. “Praise God.” she murmured, “Thank God. Thank God he’s safe.”

I couldn’t say anything; I just sobbed wordlessly in my mom’s arms. She rubbed my back, “It’s OK now. He’s safe. It’s OK.” After a little while I pulled myself together. Mom went home to wait for Dad – she knew he’d be emotional and wanted to be there for him. Jay gave me a big hug and we chatted a bit before he went over to check on Mom. I asked the older children to call everyone they had called earlier to let them know that Z-Man was found.

It’s a 10-15 minute drive from school to our house, but it seemed like forever until Teacher pulled up in the driveway. I ran out the front door to meet Z-Man who had a Sheriff’s sticker on his coat, was clutching a football for dear life, and had tears flowing down his face.

I hugged him and held him for the longest time, then gave everyone else a turn, then grabbed him again and cuddled him on my lap. Apparently he had decided to walk home instead of waiting for his ride, but didn’t know why. He told me he was scared and his feet hurt – no wonder since school is over three miles away.

I’m guessing he won’t make that decision again!

We’re not sure when he left school and how long he was on his own, but the 40 minutes we knew he was missing were among the worst in my life. It’s given me new sympathy for parents whose children are missing for longer periods of time, and those whose children are never found.

They say that “all’s well that ends well” but that seems too trivial a phrase to express the depth of our emotions. I pray that we’ll never have to go through anything like that again. And that our family and friends are spared too.

Thanks and praise be to God for watching over our Z-Man and bringing him home safely.

“In for a penny; in for a pound” seems to be the current modus operandi around here. Thanks to College Boy – aka Latin Student Boy – for helping me spell that correctly.

Tomorrow morning a giant hole will be dug in the side yard, right next to the foundation of our house. Hopefully within two days we’ll have a brand spankin’ new egress window in our basement family room.

I know it’s dorky to be excited about an egress widow, but I can’t wait!

When Teacher and I first learned that Princess and Peanut would be moving back with us while Cowboy was gone we planned to have them move into the recently-redone basement room.

The saga of the basement room redo is whole ‘nother story, best saved for another time.

The more I thought about things the more I worried; how would Princess and Peanut get out if there was a fire? To get from the basement room to the stairs you need to pass both the furnace and the laundry area – both of which are likely places for a basement fire to start. I doubted that Princess could reach either of the two small windows in the room; much less open one, break the storm window, tear out the screen, and hoist herself and Peanut to safety in time.

I wasn’t only worried about Princess and Peanut; the basement room doubles as a “guest room” when Teacher’s parents or College Boy and his family, or anyone else visits overnight, and Jo-Bear and the little boys spend hours down there watching TV, playing on the computer, or playing with Legos and Playmobiles. What if a fire broke out when they were playing down there?

Teacher and I decided we needed an egress window, for the safety of everyone.

We’d originally made the decision in December so I was hoping the window would be done before mid-January when Princess and Peanut moved in, but the estimate was more than we’d anticipated, so we had to wait.

When we learned that College Boy, Irish Girl and Love Bug were moving in with us until they found an apartment the egress window became top priority. Teacher found the rest of the funds we needed, and I called to schedule construction.

Before any construction could begin we had prep work to do. First Teacher had to remove the fence to allow access to the area.

I thought it would be a difficult job but Teacher had it done in no time at all.

The day after Teacher moved the fence a small bulldozer came to push the snow away from the area.

I wanted to take more photos but the moment I moved the curtains to get a shot all four construction workers whipped their heads around to stare at me and freaked me out. I ended up taking this photo from a different window, by sneaking the camera lens around the edge of the curtain.

Look – I think there’s grass underneath the snow! It’s almost hard to believe that there’s so much snow left at the end of March, but this IS Wisconsin!

The next day the guys from Digger’s Hotline came to mark the ground.

Woo hoo – progress!

Next we had to clear out the end of the basement room where the window was going to go.

I had hoped to have the window in before College Boy and his family moved in, but we couldn’t schedule it that quickly. They moved to my parents’ house and their stuff moved to the upstairs hallway where they could access it fairly easily.

Wondering where everything else went?

I would have bet that it wasn’t going to fit, but Teacher is a miracle worker and got it all in the other end of the room.

And sealed the whole area with plastic and painters’ tape to try and keep the dust out.

Next we had to take down some of the ceiling tiles, the panelling, etc. By “we” I really mean my dad, Teacher, and College Boy. My job was to make sure there wasn’t anything underfoot that they’d trip over – my dad is notorious for getting so involved in a task that he doesn’t watch where he’s walking – and sweeping up, and generally helping out without getting in the way.

Teacher started on the ceiling tiles. As excited as I was about the egress window it was kind of depressing to watch them taking down everything they’d put up just a couple of years ago. At least it’s only temporary!

Dad and College Boy started on the panelling…

They were being very careful because we wanted to put the panelling back up with minimal to no paint touch-up needed.

Don’t mind the specks in the picture; it’s the dust in the air, not my lens. Whew!

They made it look easy!

College Boy removes the remaining nails before starting on the next section.

The second section came out as quickly as the first, and the guys took a short breather as they decided what to do next.

They took all the insulation out before starting any more destruction.

College Boy was elected to remove the window frame…

And Dad pounded the nails out.

It’s almost done!

One final check to make sure all the nails are out…

And it’s all set except for the waiting.

Is it tomorrow yet?

I can’t wait!

With all due respect to the creators and actors of the original TV series…

Are you kidding me?!

Three adults and three children do not a Full House make.

Try five adults and six children – now THAT’s a Full House!

Several months ago Princess and Peanut moved back while Cowboy is off learning how to be a Marine.

Three adults and five children aged 2-14 is a fairly full house. Three generations makes it even more interesting: poor Peanut has both a mom and grandma bossing her around, and poor Princess is stuck in the middle being both a mom and a daughter.

But wait, it gets better!

Last weekend Teacher and Grandpa went to southern Indiana to help move College Boy, Irish Girl and Love Bug to Wisconsin.

Guess where they’re staying until they find a place of their own?

You got it – with us!

Don’t get me wrong; I’m THRILLED to have them back in Wisconsin again. In fact, I’d be over-the-moon-happy if they’d end up living within walking distance – or next door, that would be good. Not that there are any apartment buildings that close, but a grandma can dream, right?

In the meantime I’m going to fully enjoy having all my children and their families under our roof, despite the inevitable bumps in the road and adventures.

Bring ‘em on.

We’ve got a REAL Full House – and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

As you’ve probably guessed, Uncle Jay and Dee are getting married! The whole family is so happy and excited for them that we’re looking forward to the wedding almost more than they are.

Uncle Jay and soon to be “Aunt” Dee are trying to include as many family members as possible, and asked Teacher and I to be attendants. We’re thrilled and honored by the invitation – not only because we’re so excited about the wedding, but also because it gives us a chance to dress up. Teacher gets to wear a tux – which he looks totally hot in – and I get to wear a bridesmaid dress.

Wait! I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not like that.

I know, I know – bridesmaid dresses have earned a well-deserved reputation for being U.G.L.Y. and I’ve seen some that would win awards, but not this time. For the record, I’m not talking about any bridesmaid dresses I wore in friends’ weddings; those were pretty at the time, although now I wonder what we were thinking back then – yikes!

As I said, this time is different.

Cupcake Lady isn’t a Bridezilla; in fact she’s so laid back about everything that it’s unbelievable. Instead of picking out a specific dress she asked each of the bridesmaids to go to David’s Bridal and pick out our own bridesmaid dress. We could pick any dress, as long as it’s full-length and the color “Apple”.

How sweet is that?

First I tried on this one. I liked it a lot, but it was more expensive than most of the other ones and not on sale so I wasn’t sure.

Then I tried on this one. I convinced myself that it would be just fine; it looked pretty good on me, was cheaper AND was on sale. Besides, I was just the bridesmaid so my dress didn’t matter so much.

Right?

After I told Teacher I wanted the second one I had to try on the first one again – just to make sure. I’m sure you can guess what happened; I changed my mind.

I felt OK in the second dress, but the first one made me feel beautiful. How can you not get something that makes you feel beautiful?

Right now it’s at David’s Bridal for alterations, but it should be done next week.

I can’t wait to dance with Teacher in this gorgeous dress. Isn’t it wedding time YET?

If you haven’t figured it out already, food is an integral part of our family life. Some families go to movies, play sports, or have a family game night together. We cook!

One of our favorite things to cook together is homemade pizza. The kids love it because they get to play with pat and roll out the dough and put on their own toppings. Teacher and I love it because we don’t hear “What’s that? I don’t like that! Can I have peanut butter and jelly instead?”

We made homemade pizza one recent Friday night and I had Princess snap some photos. I was going to have her write the blog post too, but she’s been too busy with homework. Someday though…

We always start with a homemade whole wheat dough, then divide it into individual portions so everyone can make his or her own.

 
Princess starts working on the crust for the pizza she’ll share with Peanut.

Peanut practices her rolling technique. She’s hoping Princess will leave their pizza crust unguarded so she can hit it with the rolling pin a couple of times – literally!

Angel Face and Teacher are each putting toppings on their own pizzas. Tonight the choices are fairly standard: pizza sauce or garlic olive oil, turkey sausage, turkey pepperoni Princess and Angel Face don’t eat beef or pork so we use turkey products most of the time, mushrooms, red peppers, black olives, and mozzerella and parmesan cheese.

 
Peanut is making sure the cheese tastes good. “Hey Peanut, save some for us!

Mmmm – those are looking good already!

 
Princess and Peanut’s is done, and it looks like Peanut’s already gotten into it.

Yup, Gramma called it!

“Is it yummy, Little Guy?”

“What do you think, Z-Man?

I think he’s thinking Take this picture already so I can get back to eating!

Do you ever make homemade pizza? What do YOU put on it?

Shhhhhhhh! Wanna know a secret?

I’ll give you three hints…

Hint #1

Hint #2.

Hint #3.

Did you figure it out? I’ll bet you did, cuz you’re super-smart.

Post if you think you know what the secret is; I’ll let you know if you’re right!