Our Family Zoo

Renovation – Craft room – demolition

Judy — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:43:09 +0000

Here is our hall of closets that is about to be turned into my new Craft Studio!

There is a total of 8 closets. We will be ripping out five of them. I can hear girls crying all over the country because of this. But seriously, I am NOT a girl that needs EIGHT closets!

We begin by cutting a new door into our bedroom. The old door inside the hall of closets now leads to the new bathroom and will be boarded up. The door pictured on the right also leads to the bathroom and the rest of the house and that one will be staying.

And now we have a door! or the beginnings of one anyway!

looking into the new doorway, starting to tear down the drywall

in the hall of closets looking out into the bedroom. The white door leads to our private courtyard. Took the doors off the closets and knocking down drywall

looking back into the closets. The drywall is now gone!

individual closets without the drywall

now it’s time to bring down the beams for more space!

craft room before the beams came down. Thats my most wonderful Hubby, workin hard just for me!

View from the new doorway. The Beams are gone! SOO much more room! still have to rip up the beams left in the floor

There is sooo much lighting already in here! YAY!

Look at all that room! There are still three closets behind me in a small hallway. Plenty of room to store Craft and SCENTSY stuff! Now we get to finish the walls, and then paint, decorate, and organise! YAY!

Current BEFORE and AFTER demolotion Pics:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Fall Country Porch

Judy — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:14:03 +0000

Here are pictures of our front porch decorated for fall. I love my porch and the pretty colors. I’m gonna miss them in the winter! We have since added a porch swing and more pumpkins since these were taken.

Renovation: Front Bathroom

Judy — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:12:07 +0000

Renovation update! Here is our front bathroom that I have renovated. This was my least favorite room moving in, and now I can’t stop standing in the doorway to look at it! It is mostly finished. I have plans to hang some of my photography in here, as well as change out the sink and update the faucet, but its mostly done, so here are the before and after pics! They aren’t the greatest photos as the lighting was bad and its around a corner, but you will get the picture! the walls are painted a creamy brown and all the cabinetry, trim, and fixtures are painted a brushed distressed black. (it’s hard to see in these photos) One Room down! YAY!!!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Happy Birthday to my “not so baby” Boy!

Judy — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:44:52 +0000

Fifteen years ago today my baby boy Christian was born. My first baby. It was a joyous yet heart wrenching day. You see my baby was born five weeks early. I got to hold him for about 15 min, and then he was whisked away to the nursery where he underwent lots of tests & hooked up to monitors and had to stay under an oxygen tent. It was all very scary. I wasn’t able to hold him again for several weeks. He was transferred overnight by ambulance to the NICU at The Childrens Hospital of the Kings Daughters. He had many ups and downs and We weren’t sure he was even going to survive, but by God’s grace he not only survived, but thrived into such a perfect & healthy teenager.

Left picture: Christians transport via ambulance, Right picture: the day he came home from the hospital

Fast Forward Fifteen years later. Christian, You have turned into such an amazing person. I could not be more proud of you!

In celebration of your fifteenth birthday , Here are 15 things that I love about you…….

* You are kind

*You are honest

*You always think of others

*You are respectful

*You are funny

*Your gorgeous baby blue eyes that had me at hello

*You are wonderful with children. You have a gift for them.

* You put others before yourself

* You are creative

*You are a talented writer

* You forgive easily

* You love the Lord

*You are a loyal friend

*You love easily

*You are a hard worker

*I love when you ask me for hugs and our late night talks

as you can see I cheated and added a few more because could go on and on about how wonderful you are!

I have so enjoyed these last fifteen years with you! I love the bond that we have. How you are always able to cheer me up when I am down. It saddens me to think about how you are almost grown, but I am not worried about the man that you have become, because I know that you are such a smart and hard working person, you will succeed in all that you do, and because you are so kind, loving, & passionate, you will do great things in your lifetime. I can’t wait to watch! I’m already enjoying watching you as you serve others and spread God’s love to all of those around you. Your future is so bright!

Happy Birthday Christian, you are turning into such a wonderful man! I am SO PROUD that you are my son! I LOVE YOU!!.

Me

Judy — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:11:47 +0000

Our Baptism

Judy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:51:30 +0000

On Sunday October 18th, 2009 My three children and I were baptized. (my husband Mark had already been baptized) Here are the pictures he took of us at our big event!

Christian:

Isabelle:

She was so excited and happy!

Seth: (the water was Cold! you can tell in this photo!)

And Me:

YAY us!

Seth’s 11th birthday party

Judy — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:10:46 +0000

This weekend we had a party at the local skate park to celebrate Seth’s 11th birthday. He had several kids from school and from church come and join the fun. The skate park is huge and luckily INDOORS! Here are some pictures of the kids skating. The lighting was Horrible for taking photographs, and I didn’t have my flash with me. That paired with all the fast paced movement made it difficult, but here are some of the best ones.

Our Sk8tr Boi. He’s had a toy with wheels in his hands every since he could grap with his little baby fingers. It was great to see him in his element

This is quite possible the cutest skateboarder on the planet. She’s so talented she can even skate in a dress!

If you get tired, no problem! Just sit!

This was his cake that I made him. His favorite, lego men, with an ipod

the cake got a bit wet in the rain

Seth opening his very own highly anticipated green Ipod nano.

We all had a great time, especially seth, who declares this was his most awsomest birthday ever

First day of school ’09-’10

Judy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:44:18 +0000

Well today was the big day! The first day of school!! The kids have been sooo excited! all three of them! That was a nice change. It’s fun to prepare for school when everyone is happy about it. No one had any problems getting up this morning (ok maybe I did) and they were all dressed in about two minutes flat. I made everyone pancakes for breakfast, and then we went out to snap some quick first day photos. They climbed on the bus , and all too soon they were gone! I stood there waving at the bus as it pulled away and then thought, wait a min., they’re gone! Thats when the sadness hit. I miss my babies already. We had a lovely summer together and I’m sad to see it end. Now I have to share them with the rest of the world again. Siiigh. Soon I will start making our traditional first day of school chocolate chip cookies. (mark’s favorite part of the day! lol) I can’t wait to hear all about their day! Here are the quick snapshots we took this morning

Lake Vacation

Judy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:45:24 +0000

This past week we were on vacation at the lake. I journaled a bit everyday to keep tabs on what we did. I am just going to paste it all here with pictures of the trip. Fair warning, as usual there are a TON pf photos. If you get any red X’s just right click on it and click “show photo” I promise they are all there, but different computers quit loading at different times, so yours may not load them all the first time.

Day one – saturday- June 27

Today we Went to walmart and stocked up on food and goodies. Bought a book and Got minnows for fishing and we bought me a hammock!! Marky set it up for me as soon as we got to the house. He put it in the most perfect place under the trees at the edge of the water when I can read my book and watch the kids swim! It was heaven. It got to 106 degrees today so I soon decided that i needed a dip in the water myself!

(photo took on my iphone of my car’s thermometer)

So mark an I joined the kids in swimming for a few hours. It was really nice. The water was like bath water on the top and cool a few feet below the surface, so we all Swam around searching for the cool spots .

Mark took the boys knee boarding after awhile. They are really getting good!! They can turn side to side and one handed. Isabelle took her a nap in the hammock and I swam out a bit towards the middle of the lake. I think I’ve decided to attempt to swim all the way across to the other side of the lake before the week is over. I’ll let you know how that goes! I got pretty far today , even after swimming with the family for an hour And a half . After watching the boys for awhile I decided I wanted in on the action too! We stuck isabelle in the boat with the guys, I grabbed on to the board and away we went! I had originally told them that I just wanted to body board. The water felt really funny on my legs while we zoomed across the water! Not long after we started I decided that I was going to try to knee board myself. It took me two or three times to figure it out but I actually got myself up and strapped In! I was so proud so I got up, strapped in, grabbed the handle, pryed it off the board, and the boat pulled me so far forward I knew there was no way I was going to be able to lean back and essentially attempt to pull the boat in reverse by hand as it was hauling butt down the lake in the other direction! I was way too weak after all the swimming I had done as well the previous attempts at hauling my full body weight against the G forces mark was putting me through not to mention I’ve never had ANY sort of upper body strength. I’ve never done a single pull up in my life! Yea let’s hope I’m never stuck on the side of a cliff somewhere! (no pics of my ride unfortunatly!)

I will try again though. Who knows I may build me some muscles, lol. Swimming across the lake would help that!

When we got back up in the house. Christian made us all nachos for dinner, which was so nice as I can barely lift my Arms!

After dinner mark set out his trot lines and is gearing up for some nightime fishing. Oh ! He caught the biggest drum today ! It was the biggest one we’ve ever had. It was a monster! I really hate that we dont eat drums!

As for what I’m doing right now, I’m relaxing in my hammock by the edge of the water enjoying the breeze, listening to the birds and waves lapping the rocks , while watching the sun go down. Ahhhh. Peace and relaxation! Gotta go enjoy the moment!

(pic from iphone)

Day two (sun) June 28

Woke up this morning to mark holding up the nine fish he caught and kept.

I’m glad he had some success today, he loves fishing so much. Mark sat and talked with me as I layed out in the hammock while the kids swam some more. Ah the lazy days of summer.

Today is a day of rest. Mark took a nice nap, I spent the day reading (YES!) and the kids watched movies, read books, and played board games and built things.

Isabelle LOVES to read!

A rare capture of isabelle in an unposed moment. ( I LOVE this pic!)

I won’t be attempting to swim across the lake today, I’m way too sore! I don’t think that knee boarding is going to be the sport for me!

For dinner I cooked homemade mashed potatos and chicken fried steak for dinner. Yummy!

In the evening a cold front blew in and cooled things off to a very nice temperature. Mark and I sat outside for a bit and talked. The breeze felt so good! Then We all snuggled in for the night and watched pirates: at worlds end. Love my pirates!

Day three - monday- June 29

I couldn’t have asked for better weather today!! It was absolutely gorgeous from Sun up to Sun down.

Mark and christian got up early this morning and went fishing. Mark caught an absoultly huge catfish on one of his jug lines, and both caught a few more fish each.

(mark trying to make the fish look even bigger, lol!)

Spent a lovely day reading and relaxing. I’m still sore from knee boarding, and bruises have begun to pop up along my arms from it! got a whopper of one on my leg too! A couple of my ribs are still sore to. Thinking I won’t be trying that again. But it was fun while it lasted!

Didn’t attempt to swim across the lake today , the water was a bit rough due to the wonderful breezes. Hope I get the chance to try it before the weeks over!

All five of us hopped in the boat this afternoon and went fishing. Things were slow at first. But after awhile The boys were pulling them out as fast as they could get their lines in! I caught a few fish myself, then layed out on the boat with my book watching everyone else fish. ( I think my arms just got too tired!)

Just anouther relaxing day. I finished the book I was reading, good thing I brought anouther! I’ve been getting so much pleasure out of my new hammock by the water. The kids Are really enjoying it as well. I just can’t believe it took me ten years to get one down here! I’ll always have one from now on that’s for sure!

I jut love this picture of isabelle relaxing in the hammock. (i snuck up on her again) I couldn’t decide which edit I liked best!

All of the boys plan on rising early to go do some more fishing. Mark is planning a big fish fry this weekend once the rest of the clan arrives. I think we nearly have enough fish already and it’s only Monday night! We are up to 5 quart sized baggies full of fish fillets!

The one down side Is christian started not feeling well tonight at dinner time. I hope it’s not serious and that he feels better tomorrow. I’m thinking he got dehydrated today With all that fishing non stop. We will see tomorrow. Many prayers that he will heal quickly.

Day four – tuesday – June 30

Mark and Seth went fishing early in the morning while the rest of us slept in. ( I love summer!) Christian is feeling back to normal again today. Hallelujah. He thinks he just got sick watching all the fish being filleted. poor guy.

Today we took the boat and spent the day on lake P.K. We explored around the lake then stopped at a beach and spent the afternoon swimming and playing in the sand. Hannah went with us this time. Dont think she thinks much of sand!

We wore ourselves out! I think everyone is going to sleep well tonight!

After we got back we grilled hamburgers on the back deck, they were big juicy ones and they were yummy!

Mark and I sat out during the sunset in this most gorgeous weather. Who could ask for any better weather than a High of 85 with a slight breeze at the beginning of July???

Lovely!

Pics of the beach at P.K. -

Miss hannah on the boat

all smiles

(love the ears flapping in the wind!)

Hey baby!

relaxin in the raft

playin in the sand

what IS this stuff? ugh, i don’t think I like it!

I love this man. I love this man so much it hurts.

Mark knows how to relax!

Swimming? you want me to swim? seriously?

the only pic you will see of me in this post. see! i was really there!

Ahhhh, this is the life for me, tootsies relaxing in the surf. (my feet get more exposure than I do!)

hey mom, can we go now??

anyone who has kids and is interested in photography knows the look of “Photographer’s Kid syndrome” This is it .”Enough pics mom! put that thing away!”

LOL goofy kids

alright woman, I demand you take me back home this minute! I am not amused!

here’s a story for ya:

there once was a cute little alligator swimming along peacefully in a lake

but wait! whats this! she see’s a prey!

Uh oh! She’s locked her sights on an attack!

She slowly sneaks up on her prey……and……

She attacks!

A struggle ensues

and he’s down! the alligator was successful!

the end

LOL

Never fear, he’s fine, see……

Day five – wed – July 1

Slept in. Had breakfast. Now I’m baking fourth of July cupcakes!

Mark and Seth are still out fishing. I hope they don’t get burned! We all got some sun yesterday. It’s nice to finally have some color !

Plan on relaxing more today. Tomorrow is my day on the town, but today will be a day of laziness. Ahhh! Sad our vacation is now half over, but it’s been so relaxing!

Been making plans for our lake house bedroom renovation. I’ve finally got it all worked out exactly how I want it, Inside and out. I am excited to get started on it. But not this week, too much relaxing needs to be done this week!

After marks nap i went and Checked the jug lines with him, caught two catfish. Went over some plans together for a fish cleaning station for him on the dock. sure will be nice for him to have one. It will make things so much easier for him. That way he won’t have to clean fish like this anymore

He’s almost got all the fish he needs for our fish fry on Saturday. I’m glad he’s been so successful. carrying on this tradition of his grandfather’s is so important to him.

Had ourselves a nice sun shower when we got back to shore. It was enjoyable and It cooled things off nicely. Which is nice as it warmed up a bit today.

Yikes! My car reportedly got to 111 this week but I didn’t get a pic of it. Scary hot!

Watched more movies, kids worked on their knex machine. It’s getting big, not sure how we will get it home!

Day six – Thursday – July 2nd- Went into town today, got groceries for everyone this weekend, bought a swimsuit for isabelle for summer camp.

Felt the need to be productive today so isabelle and I scrubbed the kitchen floor on our hands and knees. It’s funny, you could always tell when I was pregnant because I would scrub the floor by hand. It was my favorite nesting chore. now its the only way I do floors. Nothing else works as well. I know I won’t be able to do that forever though!

Mark and the boys caught a ton of fish! We officially have more than enough for the fish fry! Now he’s working on our stock for home.

so heavy!

Checking the jug lines -

Day seven – Friday – July 3rd

I officially miss my bed at home!! Marks building us a frame for our lake room bed so hopefully I will sleep better tonight! The clan starts arriving today. Sad our vacation is almost over!

Got all of our laundry done, most of our stuff gathered up, and Christian packed for camp. We are leaving early Sunday to take Him to church where they will be leaving for summer camp.

Started baking our fourth of July cake. Hope it turns out well! It will look pretty neat if all works out! the boys wanted to help so I got them to use their muscles and work the fondant for me

We made quite a mess!

Been too busy to attempt my swim across the lake. Not sure I will get a chance to attempt it this go round. That’s a little sad, but the lake’s not going anywhere

Isabelle with her cousin’s puppy (nope! no more doggy’s for me!!!!)

Day eight – saturday – July 4th

got up, and once mark got back from his early morning fishing he and I cooked breakfast for everyone. Bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy. Made too much as usual, lol. My stomach wasn’t feeling good so I didn’t eat. I think it’s stress again. Not ready for our vacation to be over!

Finished the fourth of july cake. It’s adorable! my favorite one yet!

Ran into walmart with stacy. Bought the cutest summer dress for Lilly!

Got back to the lake and crashed. I didnt sleep well last night at all. (bed frame hasn’t been built yet) I need my bed at home!

After awhile I pulled myself off the couch and started on getting ready for our fish fry. Peeled and chopped potatos and onions for french fries. Got the teens to shuck all the corn for me. I really started to not feel good. I hadn’t eaten anything all day so I think my blood sugar got really low.

Mark fried everything up.

There was so much fish! it was wonderful. We had too much! We fed 17 people and there was still left over fish, NOT including the couple bags of fish we didn’t even cook! I am certain we caught all the fish in the lake! Mark did such a good job!

When it started getting dark the kids got to light their smoke bombs and other little firecrackers

Our little fire dancer (she looks so tall in these pics!)

My baby girl is growing up too fast!

At last it was time for the big fireworks! I ended up with a ton of photo’s as usual, so here are just a few of my favorites

I couldn’t believe I got sunflare on firework pics!)

Hope everyone had a safe and fun fourth of july !!

I’m going to regret this

Judy — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:12:23 +0000

Yesterday we spent more time on the lake. It was such a beautiful day I couldn’t resist joining in on the fun. I jumped in the inner-tube and off we went. My stinker of a husband grabbed my camera and snapped away while my son drove the boat. I’m seriously considering posting those pictures of him jumping off the swing right now, but hey I’m the one posting these so I guess he can’t be held accountable, lol. I know that I am going to seriously regret posting these pics, but hey, I’m a fun girl and I gotta laugh and make fun of myself sometimes right. (this is for you mom)

My son drives likes a maniac. He will be learning how to drive my car very soon. I’m even more nervous about that now.

And I leave you with one more priceless gem of me……

Ok now that that’s over with, (ya done laughing yet???) I’ll have you know that both my son AND my husband tried to throw me, but I prevailed! I would not be thrown! Though my husband did succeed in drowning me a little!

Now it was time for the boys to use the Knee board for the first time

We finally found Seth’s Thing. He had a blast and was really good at it!

He had some great runs. He even starting learning to do tricks

Oh yea, he’s addicted now

Rock on Seth, Rock on

Then it was christian’s turn

As good a ski’er as he is, he met his match on the knee board. Apparently the smaller you are the easier it is to pull yourself up. For a long while we thought he was just going to body board all day!

But he finally made it up!

He did an awsome job too. He’s getting good at jumping waves.

Mark did attempt the kneeboard, but I was too busy driving the boat to take pics. Maybe next time. (he wants a month to pump iron first anyway

I forsee a nice long water logged summer for this family!