Home "improvement"???? projects

Well in typical Melissa fashion, what started earlier this week as a quick project that should have only taken a couple of hours, has turned into a HUGE, drawn out pain in the butt! There is this little area at the end of the entry hall that was closed off and previously used as a pantry or storage closet. It had become really jammed full of stuff, because when people were coming over we just kinda threw stuff in there. It really needed cleaned out and organized. Well when I took everything out I decided that I wanted to make it into a little entry way area instead of a closet. There is even a little window in there. I took off the bi-fold door and started to take down the shelves that were screwed into the wall. Well, the crazy person who had hung the shelves had over-tightened most of the screws and stripped the heads. I couldn't get them off. Jason worked on them when he got home and then we patched all the holes. I found a place for the extra junk that was in that closet and made plans in my head for a curtains, and a bench with matching cushion. Today, Jason painted while Audrey and I went fabric shopping. I was trying to think of some ingenious cheap bench that was narrow enough to fit and Jason was finishing up painting the trim and baseboard when the unthinkable happened. Jason tipped over the gallon bucket of white paint and spilled a large amount onto the hallway carpet. Now I'm not especially in love with this carpet, but it goes all through the hall, in all of the living room, up the stairs and in the upstairs hall. If we replaced it we would have to replace ALL of these areas, and that really isn't an option right now. I was really trying hard not to loose it and scream or cry. After scooping up as much as we could with paper towels and a dust pan, and ruining a little carpet spot cleaner, I got online and googled "how to get paint out of carpet". We then began using dawn dish soap and water. Then Jason worked on it for quite a while with our big rug cleaner. It is much improved, but isn't completely gone. I don't know if other people will really notice it or if I just do because I know it is there. Anyway, it is now day 5 of the project and we aren't even close to finishing. Oh, and I invited people over for dinner after church tomorrow!!!

Snowman

Last week Marilyn from Audrey's school came over to sled in the golf course. All the kids near us play on the 4th hole that is right in front of our house. There is a partial snow fort there and a couple of sled tracks. Well, we decided to build a snowman. It turned out that I mostly built the snowman. It has been a long time since I have built a snowman and I had forgotten how much work it is! The snow was perfect for it and we had a HUGE carrot that we had been saving for just this occasion. Here are a couple of pictures. He is still there and Henry talks about him every time we leave the house.

Having a Ball

Audrey went to a bowling birthday party on Sunday afternoon for a little friend from school. This was Audrey's first time bowling as it was most of the kids there. It was hysterical! They were all proud and excited if they knocked down any pins at all, and the bumpers were up! Sometimes the ball making it to the end of the lane was an accomplishment!

Matching outfits

Great Auntie Barbara (AKA GAB) made these coordinating sweaters for the kids for Christmas. She even sent matching turtlenecks and pants for them. Henry was really funny about his sweater. When I first tried it on him I just put it over his pjs. I started to take it off and he was screaming. I thought he was getting made because his arm was stuck or something, but it turns out that he was screaming because he didn't want to take the sweater off. I put his arms back in and he happily wore it around the house over his footie pajamas for almost an hour! Thanks so much GAB! Sorry it has taken me so long to get the pictures up. Audrey loves to pose for the camera and Henry loves Audrey's Barbie castle (much to Jason's dismay). He really did get lots of "boy" toys for Christmas.

Some Christmas pictures

Making cookies for Santa with her Webkinz dog

Grandma Kay with the kids on Christmas Eve after Church

Looking under the tree on Christmas Morning


Henry the Airplane Pilot

More Webkinz

YUCK!!

Wow it really has been awhile. I have a good excuse this time. Last week I wrote that Henry got sick all over the living room, just once. Well he got sick just once, but that started a round of the stomach flu at our house that took it's toll on some of us more than others. Friday night I started to feel a little nauseous and started to have diarrhea and threw up a couple of times. I got out of bed at about 12:30 to get sick again and couldn't stop heaving and started to black out. Jason ended up calling an ambulance because I was confused and laying on the bathroom floor. I had my first ever ambulance ride and ER visit covered in diarrhea. I still am not really sure why they have to send 5 young decent looking guys to respond to a call of a girl laying in her own poo on the bathroom floor, but it was pretty horrible! Jason stayed home with the kids, who miraculously slept through the whole EMT thing. The ER was really busy and there wasn't a free room so I got to lay on the stretcher in the hallway while a nurse tried 4 times to get an IV started. I was feeling pretty crappy, both figuratively and literally, but wasn't really scared until the nurses started getting nervous about my blood pressure being 90/40. I guess it was because I was so dehydrated. Well after a shot of zofran, 4 IV bags of fluids, and 7 hours later, I was feeling better and got to go home. Audrey ended up throwing up and running a fever on Saturday and Jason had a slight fever and diarrhea for a day too! Jason's dad and brother came and picked up the kids on Sunday morning so we could have some time to recover. They have been there all week because the weather has been really bad. We are going to go pick them up tomorrow. So that has been our exciting week. Hopefully we are done with illness for the winter.

So I am having a hard time getting back into the swing of things. We got a new camera and there are Christmas pictures on it that I haven't gotten the time or energy to upload. Audrey started school up again on Tuesday. I had to first drag myself out of bed and then both of the kids. We were all in slow motion. Henry had a doctors appointment on Tuesday at 12:30 so we went straight there from school. He just had a follow up for the ear infection that he had before Christmas. His ears are fine and he weighed in at 32 lbs! We had a long wait at the dr office and didn't get home until close to 2. Then the kids had to have lunch before naps. As soon as Jason got home from work I had to drive to a neighboring town, in the freezing rain, to deliver supper to a family from church who have a new baby. I didn't get home until around 7. It was a long day. I wasn't feeling very good this morning and Jason worked from home so that he could take Audrey to school and pick her up. It is really awesome that is able to work from home sometimes! Just after he left to go get her Henry projectile vomited all over the floor and love seat. It was pretty horrible. This was the first time that he had ever thrown up and it freaked him out. So today there was laundry to do and a lot of clean-up. We still haven't quite got the smell out of the living room. He didn't act sick before or after and has been fine the rest of the day so I'm not sure what it was all about. Hopefully it was a one time thing. Well I better try to get to bed a little earlier tonight. I'm glad tomorrow is Friday!