Kimmy

End of the year teacher gifts

Today is Rowan's last day of school! Pics of that later, after the day is over and we've gone to pick him up. The rest of the class won't finish school until Thursday, but Rowan is going to Victory Junction for camp, so he's leaving the class early.
We decided to give the teachers each a wash cloth and a bar of soap from a local farm. So here they are, the Elvish Leaves dishcloth, and a bar of soap from the Mooning Goat Dairy.

First lollipop

Pomegranite Tootsie Pop. She does not know how many licks it takes to get to the center, but she got to have it for about 20 minutes before her bath. Yay!

In which Milli has yet another harebrained scheme...

Sooner or later, John is going to slap tape over my mouth when I start a conversation with, "I was thinking..."
The road to hell is paved with "I was thinkings," some days.
But I had this idea, because a friend of mine has had this back yard pool for quite some time, and when I asked her about it she said that they're really a lot nicer than you would think. And if you do it right, it will last a long time - like hers is on its 7th summer. And we had this pretty flat spot up by the house. And this will be our first summer since Rowan started going to school that he won't be starting the school year in July...
So.
Pool. On sale at Target for $350. It would pay for itself in one summer with $ saved from joining the Y, and we would actually go swimming more than once or twice.

Turns out that "pretty flat" itsn't really flat enough. We needed a nice level spot so that the weight of the water wouldn't buckle the frame. I looked on several websites, and some gardening sites said that you could use a flat shovel to tear up grass and level ground for a pool. So, that's how we started.

This is John, kicking at the shovel to get it into the ground.

Turns out our soil is HARD and is mostly CLAY. We could have kept using shovels, and we also could have kept working for about a month to get all that yard up. You see that one little stripe of dirt there? That is 90 minutes of work. I was dirtier than I have been in a long time, and the road to swimming was looking very long indeed. But I remembered some tool that I'd seen on a website. It was called a sod cutter. I went in and searched, and it wasn't something I dreamed up. It was real, and it was for rent at the home depot.

Sod cutter. $65 for 4 hours. Money well spent.

The sod cutter was very cool. It sheared off tree roots. It cut the grass up to 2 inches deep and then we could just roll it up like carpet. Rowan was highly impressed.

After all the grass was up (and the cable/internet/phone line was cut, whoops!) John had the idea of running the cutter all over the ground again to make it easier for us to dig. So he drove it around a bunch and we congratulated ourselves on using the sod cutter to the fullness of our 4 hour allotment and went into the house to rest up for the next day.

Hard packed clay with tracks from the sod cutter all over it.


Tired John, post shower, wondering what I've gotten him in to.

Turns out that we should have rolled up that dirt right when John cut it, because when we went out there with shovels and tried to hack at it, it was HARD and really wasn't going to move anywhere without a huge fight. We tried to do things with shovels, but nothing was happening, and it was getting hotter so we went to hide in the house in the a/c and formulated our next plan of attack.

Phase two: the tiller. $26 for four hours. This project was racking up the bucks.

It's always like that, isn't it? You start out simple, but then have to do more things along the way and it ends up being even more than a pain than you thought it would be. At least, that's how it is for me. John tries to shoot down my pie in the sky ideas, but then I accuse him of being a pessimist. Sometimes he goes along with it anyway, like here, because he knows it would be fun to have a pool, too.
So anyway, the big idea was to rent a tiller and bust up the soil so we could rake it where we needed it to be and then stomp it down again. He also brought home this rolly thing to roll it out, but I didn't get pictures of that because by then it was raining on us.
Oh yes. It started raining at the end of the day on Monday, and rained and rained and rained. And then we had pop up thundershowers that kept rewetting the ground. The ground that wasn't so solid because we had just tilled it.
And then there was that event with the dog, who when presented with a large circle of mud in which to dig, took us up on the offer that we didn't know we were making. Which led to the mess of mud and dog wee all over the floor in the living room (that was FUN, let me tell you!) which then led to me blocking the doggy door and making all dog visits to the back yard be supervised pee pee only visits until that big patch of diggable dirt was covered by a pool.
The party doesn't stop here, you know.
But FINALLY, on Saturday the ground was dry enough to put down the ground cloth and build the pool. Actually, we tried to smooth it out a bit, pick up any rocks, get any remaining roots, and then John went inside to get a drink while I was unfolding the ground cloth and BIG FAT RAINDROPS starting coming out of the sky! I screamed, "NOOOOOOOOO!" and ran around putting the cover down anyway. God heard my cry, though, and it only did those few drops and the cloud blew away.
Thank you, God. I owe you one.
So then we layed out the pieces of the pool.

Pool, ready for assembly.

We are experienced babyhandlers, and as such we know all about putting things together that have the little pegs that have to line up with the little holes. Working together we had the pool assembled in less than an hour. Yes, after all that work, the actual pool construction was really very easy to do.

Pool, fresh up. No water.


John checks the legs to make sure they're straight.
Yes, it is near our deck but that gap is pretty intimidating.
There will be no jumping from the deck, at least not at this point.
We had to coax Niall off the ladder.

We started filling the pool on Saturday afternoon, turned the water off overnight, and then back on again Sunday morning. By Sunday afternoon we had this.

And yes, it was a lot harder getting the ground ready than I thought it would be. But it was sooo worth it. We are going to have a fantastic summer. We should have gone out there a few times while it was filling to check the legs, because a couple of them aren't straight up and down anymore, but it seems okay. I'm so glad we did this, and John still seems to like me. It must be love.

Story later, pics now

I'll tell all about it later, but I think Mom, Fran, and Kim will have my head if I don't put pictures of happy children up rightthisminute.

Ruffles!

Someone was in a bad mood when we first tried out ruffled shorties...
But she got over it.

Yay! Ruffles!

Why yes, I have been knitting.

Knitting quite a bit

I've also finished some shorts for Eleri but the verdict is still out on those. I put ruffles on the cuffs but she seems to think that she can't walk while wearing them. I will give her a day or two but if she still hates them I'll take them down and put on plain cuffs.

and yes, there's that whole pool thing. I plan on making a big post about that once the whole thing is done. Let me tell you, it has been a PROJECT, and John deserves husband of the year.

Sweden

Sweden

Sweden is a country located in northern Europe. The countries surrounding it are Finland, Norway, and Denmark. The Gulf of Bothnia is to the east of Sweden, and the Baltic Sea is to the southeast. Sweden is in the northern hemisphere. It is so far north that the top part of Sweden is inside the Arctic Circle which is known as the land of the midnight sun. That means that on the longest day of the year they will have sunlight after midnight. If the sun sets it would be after midnight, or it wouldn’t set at all.
Sweden is a very old country. It was settled in 6,000 BC. That is 6000 years before Jesus was even born! Sweden also had Vikings in its past. Sweden gained its independence in 1523. Modern Sweden is divided into 21 counties. The official name of Sweden is Konungariket Sverige, which means The Kingdom of Sweden.
Sweden’s flag is blue with a yellow cross on it. It’s based on the flag of Denmark. The yellow and blue colors represent the Swedish coat of arms. The cross represents Sweden’s links to other Scandinavian countries.
The main language spoken is Sweden is Swedish. There are two other languages spoken. They are Sami and Finnish. The Swedish alphabet doesn’t have the letter Q in it but it does have three letters in it that we don’t have. Those letters are ä, å, and ö.
Sweden has pleasant summers but cold winters that have snow. Most of Sweden has a mild climate with four season. The southern part doesn’t get that cold in the winter but it is very rainy. The northern part of Sweden is in the Arctic Circle so it is very cold and dark in the winter. It is so cold that they can build hotels out of the ice. Sweden has nice summers that don’t get as hot as our summers here in North Carolina.
Swedish food is known for smoked fish like herring, and meats. They also eat fruit soups and creamy sauces. Sweden is also known for Smorgasbord, which means they put a bunch of hot and cold food out and people pick what they want to eat. On Christmas, people eat pepparkokar which are a type of ginger cookie. On the day of the festival of lights, young girls wake their families up with a nice traditional song and serve them hot coffee and buns.
Most Swedish people are members of the Lutheran Church. It was the church’s job to take care of the people. Now the government takes care of the people and provides everything they need to stay well and healthy. That’s why everybody in Sweden has health insurance.
They play lots of different sports in Sweden. They play hockey and go skiing in the winter. They also go fishing and hunting. In the summer, they play soccer and bandy. Bandy is a game like hockey, only they play with a ball instead of a puck.
I picked to learn about Sweden because my friend lives there. They have very old castles in modern towns. They also have nice and clean lands and they don’t have as many problems with pollution. Their water is very clean. The river in Stockholm, which is their capital city, is clean enough to swim in, but it would be very cold!

Rainy day

Hey rainy day, what do you mean we can't go outside?

Oh wait, rainy days mean I get to play wii!

Funny thought

I was just looking at the banner at the top of this blog.
It struck me as funny.
We no longer live in that house with that window.
The plant is dead.
The yarn has been knitted.
That glass got broken.

But I still have the knitting needles, and they're still in that little cup!

Niall's prize

The library had a drawing in the kids' section for a pillow buddy.
They're getting ready to kick off their summer reading programs.
It was one entry per child, and I almost didn't enter them, but then
we ended up going back to the library because Rowan changed his
mind about what country he wanted to do for his school project, so I
entered them then.

And this evening we got the call that Niall won one! They were giving 3 total.
He was SO EXCITED. I was going to wait and get it at storytime tomorrow
but that was much too long to wait.

He was hilarious when we went to pick it up. We got to the front desk and he
says, "Now what do I do?"
So I told him, "Say who you are."
So he looks at the librarian and says, "Who you are!"
I barely kept from laughing and told him to tell them his name.
They were laughing and telling him what a lucky boy he is, and how nice it is,
and they hoped that he had lots of fun reading with his pillow buddy.

I'm still laughing over "who you are!"

He took the pillow to bed with him.

Rowan is 8

He's getting so big!

Rowan had a fantastic birthday. We took cocoa krispy treats to his school on his actual birthday, and then had his party today. He got a bike from us, a helmet from Pop and Fannie, a wad of cash from Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Ruben, and lots of fun games and books from his friends. It was a good time.
I've been working on details for his party for the past couple of weeks. He wanted a Harry Potter party, and as we all know - it's the details that make it happen.
We had to have wands from Ollivanders, (we lucked out because this guy is right in town and let John come pick up a bunch) potions class, Honeydukes, and a hunt for the Sorcerer's Stone.
Oh, and a Snitch pinata that refused to be broken.
The first thing we did was have Potions class. I'm a much nicer professor than Snape is, so we did a fun potion to make goop! (Our recipe came out of the kid's concoctions book, but that link will show you how to do it.) All it is is a mixture of troll boogers (glue), distilled phoenix tears (water), dried doxie venom (borax), and dragon's blood (koolaid powder with a little water).
If done in the right way, you get fun slime! And remember, the doxie venom is poisonous, but the phoenix tears neutralize it so it's okay. Just don't eat it.
Then the kids went and played a little while in the yard, running around, being boys.
After that we did the pinata, and I must be either really great or really awful at making them because this thing just would NOT die. John ended up pitching it to a couple of kids, and then one of the other dads ended up pitching it to John before it finally broke enough to get the candy. But it was necessary - because also inside was the first clue to the hunt for the Sorcerer's Stone. I set them up in an order that would have the kids tearing all over the house, front yard, and back yard to figure out the clues and track down the stone. The crowning moment was when Rowan spotted the stone in the fireplace, grabbed it, and held it aloft while all the other boys clapped and cheered. He really had a moment in the sun there.
Then more playing and finally wizard cakes to top it all off. It was a great time, and I had a lot of fun making it happen for him.
Pictures are all up here and it's set to public so you can see. I love this age. Little signs can turn candy into something magical, and the koolaid powder in water really could be Dragon's Blood... but only if you believe.

Benefit auction going on now

Click this button.
It will take you to a benefit auction for a very worthy cause.
Our friend Stephanie was suddenly stricken with paralysis.
She is now in a hospital far away from her children.
You can help.
Her story is here.

Going for that cool Mom award

Here's the invitation to Rowan's party.

And here's the ticket. The destination will have our address filled in.

Paint!

It's SO much prettier than the builder's base.
And soooooooo much cleaner!

So cute and funny

I can't find my pixie anywhere. I've been looking all over. Where did she go?

Dying laughing...

Mom, this is the kind of thing you're missing on Facebook.
For the rest of you, let it be noted that Frances is my mother in law, and Jennifer is one of my best friends. And of course, John is my hubby. And yes, I did say that. Stupid trees...

Quite possibly the neatest picture I've taken in a long time

I learned something new today!

I learned how to make a shell edging. :D

These are the britches I made for the Pixie for her birthday. They still fit in the body but are too short in the legs, so I took them down into shorties for this summer. And now that I have a little girl, I need to learn some of those fancy edges. I watched a youtube video over and over to learn how, and then I did it!

Friday flick!

I have it together today!