Rain or Shine, The Beach is Fine

Saturday was Jacob's first day off this month and we decided that we would go to the beach. We checked the weather and it said there could be some showers but they won't last long. So we headed out. This is what the parking lot of the first beach we went to looked like.

We ate our little packed lunch in the car, and waited a few more minutes and decided to drive a little more to another beach near by in hopes of better weather. That turned out to be a great decision.

The kids couldn't wait to get out of the van and go play in the sand and water. We immediatley started with building sand castles. This quickly got old when no one could get a castle bigger than 2 buckets.

And so we moved on to burying one another. Everyone took their turn, except mom or course, because someone had to take the pictures.

Once everyone had been buried it was down to the water to wash off and play. We played in the water for quite some time and the kids absolutely loved it.

Kristian then wanted to be buried again; he kept throwing sand on his legs until we got the hint. The kids thought it would then be fun to pour water on the sand he was buried in which he was all to happy to splash in. This of course creating the result of having to be cleaned off again, several times over.

Eventually the burial site was turned into a private pool for Kris to play in on the shoreline that would fill up each time the waves came in. He splashed and splashed and was in baby paradise. Then I noticed that his legs were a bit on the purple side and we decided it was probably time to go warm up.

We headed back to the towels and then back to South Bend. Once there we stopped at Big Lots to get a BBQ (I have missed having a BBQ and making my husband cooks all of the summer meals) and stopped for hamburgers and milkshakes. Oh yes, the kids slept well that night.

All in all, A great first day off!!

Jessica's 3rd Birthday

So Jessica had a birthday party a week ago and between my sister coming and the painting starting somehow I forgot to put this on. Jessica had a blast at her birthday party. It was Princess Themed (obviously) and all of her little friends came dressed up in their princess attire. Too Cute. I made Jessi a Cinderella dress-up for the party. She loved it and looked so cute in it.

We had so much fun with all of Jessi's new friends. We made princess wands with foamie stickers, had lunch (butterfly shaped sandwiches and sides), ate birthday cake, opened presents, and then decorated princess shaped sugar cookies with girly colored frosting and tons of sprinkles. Thanks so all of her friends that came and made her 3rd birthday party a great one.

Sunday was Jessi’s actual birthday. We celebrated by having her pick of dinner (quesadillas) and then opening presents from family and mom and dad. She got a special present from her Aunt Corinne. There is a video of her opening Aunt Corinne’s Cinderella collection that she gave to Jessi for her room. Thanks Corinne, she really loves it. Well our little princess is 3 now. This should be fun.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the days.

The Ranch

I am preparing myself for my first call night without a third year backup tomorrow. Add to that the fact that I'm on again Monday and I have a busy few days. This all comes on the weekend that all my brothers and sisters, parents, and cousins are enjoying themselves at the annual Corry Reunion. My folks own a bunch of property near Navajo Lake in Southern Utah where the reunion is held. My grandfather always referred to that piece of property as the ranch so henceforth I will refer to the Navajo Property as The Ranch. At any rate I am somewhat sad to be missing the reunion both for the company as well as the location.

A week before coming to South Bend we spent a couple of days camping at the ranch and I'm just now getting the pictures off of the camera so without further adu here are some of the pics from that event.

Things Are Changing

So I hesitate to post this as I am afraid no one will ever want to come to visit us anymore. My sister, Jennifer, came to visit us this week and we put her to work. I was waiting to start any of the painting until she got here as I have never painted before. (that is the result of living in a lot of rentals) Anyhow, she has, and is very good at it I might add. So with that said, on with the changes.

Jessica's Room

This is the first project we started and I am glad we tackled it first. I had no idea what I was getting into when I decided on this pattern for the room and what a huge process it would be. However, I am thrilled with the results and am very glad we stuck with it. I still need to buy some shelves to go on the walls so she can display her Cinderella collection that her Aunt Corinne gave her, and I also want to paint her bed, art table, and bookshelf white, but that might be a little while. Just a few more things on the project list. Jacob is also going to put crown around the ceiling and a chairrail where the stripes meet the pink. Without further ado, I give you Jessi's Room. . .

Spencer and Kristian's Room

So luckily this room was a little easier than Jessi's. It did include a trip to Wal-Mart at 2:00 am to get some more green paint. Just FYI, if you ever need paint in the middle of the night, you know where you can get it at. We finished it at about 4:00 am. I am very happy as well with this room. I don't know what I am going to put on the walls yet, but we are looking for bunk beds for the boys and I plan to make matching quilts. I just think that will be so cute. We are also going to put crown molding in the boys room as well. So here is Spencer and Kristian's Room . . .

The Arch

So I was not aware that my twin sister is a "Master Mudder" but once I found out about it I took full advantage of it. So first we scraped off Jacob's and my first attempt to putty the arch which had cracked everywhere. Then we began the process of mudding the arch for the second time. Jennifer had a lot of practice mudding when she was in theater in college I find and is very good at texturing, which is awesome since our walls are all textured and Jacob and I were pretty sure we were not going to be able to make it look anything like the rest. So to make a long story short, Jennifer mudded the whole arch, matched the texture perfectly, and it looks totally awesome.

p.s. So how long do you think it will take me to get all of the bedroom and closet doors that are in the back of the picture back up in the kids room?

So now onto a few of the other projects I have had before Jennifer arrived . . .

Old Blue

So anyone that has visited our place has had an experience sitting on our couch "Old Blue". Well I guess I should say slouching and not sitting as it is rather hard to sit on Old Blue as you tend to sink into the middle. Well, it was time for a makeover. First Old Blue got a sitting companion that I found at a garage sale and talked down from $175.oo to $50.00.

Next, Old Blue got a nice piece of 3 inch foam under the cushions to help with the "sinkage" issue. And finally, a new slip cover to match the new couch and hide Old Blue. So now we have "New Brown". I am going to recover the throw pillows once I decide what color to paint the room and that will be the final touches to our new couch.

And last, but certainly not least, THE BOAT

Robert, this is for you. I can't tell you how glad the kids are that the boat ended up in the back of the truck. With a little work from mom, and a lot of jokes from dad, I give you the S.S. Corry.

Happy Indepedence Day

This morning the kids and I celebrated the 4th by participating in a bike parade. I had no idea what to expect but geared myself for whatever was to come. We met a lot of the other residents over at the Galbraiths (Resident's at Memorial) and decorated the bikes and strollers. Upon all the other kids arriving I made the observation that Spencer's little bike that we got on freecycle in Yakima was way to small for him. It was about the size of all the three year olds bikes. I guess we know what to get him for Christmas.

All of the kids in the neighborhood lined up behind 2 fire trucks and after a small patriotic performance we were off. Spencer liked it for about the first minute and then realized he was pedaling uphill. He gave it all he had, but whereas he has never had much bike riding experience (shame on his mom) he tended to lean to one side or the other depending on the training wheels, and well, little plastic circle don't work as well as wheels. With a few pushes he continued on.

About 1/2 way through Jessi informed me she needed to go potty. One, I was so happy that she hadn't just gone in her clothes like normal. Two, It isn't the best time to get the urge. Luckily, on of the other residents lived just a block away so we made a quick detour. She made it too. Yea, I am so proud of her.

As soon as I got back to the crowd Spencer informed me he had to go potty. Now you can imagine I am a little frustrated as I just made one detour and didn't really want to have to have Bonnie (the person's house we used) take us all the way back again. So I took advantage of the fact that Spencer was a boy. We found some trees just outside the neighborhood and he did his thing.

When things slowed down we headed back to the Galbraiths house for fun in the sun. Our kids were once again mad at me for not bringing their swimsuits so they could play in the pool. Basically I justify this for two reasons. One, Jessi can't swim with her ears, and no matter how we try we can't get her to keep anything in them so she could swim. So basically pools are off limits to her. So I feel bad telling her no and then letting Spencer go. Can you see the dilemma? Second, I am paranoid around pools. I admit it. I think that is a little weird as I spent pretty much my entire high school years around a pool, but I really worry about the kids even dangling their hands in from the side. So I figure I need to get them in swimming lessons so that I don't have to worry. One more thing to add to the "To Do" list.

Anyhow, we are back home now and at 5:00 we have a BBQ at the Brady's house who also have a pool. (I told Spencer if I can find his old life jacket and if it still fits, he could swim. I am trying to meet him half way I guess.) I am so glad to have such wonderful friends out here. Jacob is doing his first day on-call and it is making it so much easier for me being so distracted and getting to enjoy such great company. Wish I could say the same for him. He called a little bit ago pretty stressed out. I guess that happens when you realize your on your own all night. (I guess he isn't completely on his on as a chief is in-house tonight, but essentially he does it on his on unless he needs help.)

Hope everyone is having a Happy 4th!! Me and the Kids sure are!!

P.S. If you read the last post without pictures, check again. I added some pictures of the wedding and our construction :)