Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Caught the kiddo sitting by himself (quietly!) in the front yard;

no doubt pondering something serious...like world peace.

{2}

Justin is competing in his first duathlon this weekend.

Go, hubs!

{3}
I hardly know what to do with myself when I'm on the sidelines of a race.


I wonder if there will be wi-fi.




{4}

I feel like I am discovering something new every week.

First the oxiclean, then steel cut oats.

This week its Nutella.

Oh my yumminess!

{5}

Who needs real bases for baseball when you can just burn the imprint into your grass?

{6}

STOP THE ITCHINESS!

STOP THE ITCHINESS!

I have forgotten how bad sunburn itches as it heals.

Stupid fair-skinned me forgot the sunscreen on our hike last week.
(Hike photos will be posted tomorrow.)

{7}

Currently cannot live without:

my Cool Gear tumblers.




I use these babies for everything now. They help me drink a lot more water throughout my day, and they're great for my homemade frappuccino.

If you don't have a dishwasher (like me), I would not recommend these tumblers for the green monster smoothie - those tiny bits of spinach really don't like coming out of the straw.

{8}

New favorite family pastime: Bocce Ball!
It feels like its been a summer of more yard work than yard games. In an attempt to remedy that fact we dug out our Bocce set this week. Kendry loves it!

{9}

This Week's Blessing:
Getting to enjoy breakfast out on the patio now that we finally have a patio set.

{10}
Getting a three year old to eat while sitting in a swivel chair is comparable to herding cats.

Seeing Orange

It all began with that orange door.

I loved the orange contrast against our house paint color so much that I needed another dose of orange somewhere.

For awhile now this little storage bench (a $5 purchase from my neighbor's yard sale) has been sitting in the carport looking pretty drab.

It has been incredibly useful for seating in that location, but the dingy white was so blah. Not to mention that we couldn't really store anything in it because the bottom board was busted out.

By now you know that I like my furniture to be useful and have character.

Voila!

She got the same orange paint as the door (Bird of Paradise). Then I roughed her up a little around the edges before a final coat of rub-on poly.

Once she was thoroughly dry I installed some new wood slats in the inside so we can finally fill 'er up with some outdoor essentials: gardening gloves and clippers, sidewalk chalk, water guns and a surplus of baseballs.

Can't find the outdoor pillow/cushions your heart desires?

Make your own!

I searched the clearance racks high and low for a pillow in the color/design I was looking for; finally, I took my 50% off coupon to Joanns and picked out a fabric to suit my fancy.

I love how welcoming our carport looks with these punches of color.

Before and After:

This was my first attempt using the paint sprayer Justin got me for my birthday last year.

I would love to provide you with a review of this little contraption but I think I'll need to use it a few more times to really form a final opinion. All I know is that my coats went on too thick for my liking (probably operator error since you can adjust the spray settings), and the contraption started clogging a bit on my second coat. I was not impressed with that mess. However, the bench still turned out great. So until I use the sprayer again I remain an impartial consumer.  (Sorry, Jaim!)

Just Keep Swimming...

I can't remember a time where I couldn't swim.

For the first six years of my life we lived on a lake.

Once we moved to Alaska my mom enrolled us in swim lessons; we were committed every Saturday morning for the next 6 years.

Or at least it felt that way.

Let's just say that my attitude toward taking lesson after lesson was not the greatest. (Sorry, Mom!)

In hindsight, I cannot thank my mother enough. Those lessons upon lessons taught me every swim stroke, how to tread water for extended periods of time, and how to safely rescue/respond to a drowning victim.

What they could never teach me was how to effectively back float. To this day I firmly believe that Binders simply sink. Thats just all there is to it.

You may recall that Kendry did his first parent and tot swim course a year and a half ago. At just under two years of age he didn't learn much. The class was more about him getting comfortable with the water.

2011

This July we were blessed with the opportunity to do in-home swim lessons with an experienced teacher just around the corner from our home.

It was an intensive two week course, with three lessons one week and four lessons the next. (Now you know why I've been AWOL on the blog lately.) At just three and four years of age, the boys in the class did incredibly well.

At the start of the two weeks Kendry would hardly let go of me in the water, clinging to me like a drowning cat. By the end he was confidently walking around in the pool (where he can touch bottom) and plunging himself under the water over and over.

I will share this video with you if you will overlook the moment my son says 'no' to the teacher's instructions. Augh!

Mom to mom, what our pool time this summer has taught me is that its important to get in the water regularly so your kiddo's confidence keeps growing. Even once the weather cools I plan to take Kendry to our local pool at least once every two weeks so he can keep practicing.

It feels so weird mentioning cooler weather during a 100+ degree heat week.

Anyone up for a swim?

Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away With Me...

I am so elated I am "sailing away"!

{Did I not mention yesterday that we've been sorting through our old school music collection?}

Why?

Because we finally got the sun sail shade up on the patio!

I've got news for you:

this was not a simple feat.

But first, a little background.

We decided awhile ago that we wanted this type of shade over the patio.

Pinterest

So long ago, in fact, that we had the sail in our possession before the concrete was even poured.

{We opted for the industrial grade 18.5'x18.5' shade as found on Amazon.}

That was way back in April.

If you have followed our (slowly but surely) progress, you know that we poured the concrete in April.

A month later we stained and sealed it.

Along the way, Justin built the back porch.

I think all we managed to finish during the crazy month of June was staining the wood on the porch.

Oh, and Justin yanked out the hideous A/C unit by the back door while I was in Seattle. See?

Let me hear a  'Whoop! Whoop!'

The wicked/ugly/outdated A/C unit is history!

Anyway, then it started getting pretty toasty around these parts.

Try installing a sun sail shade in 90 degree heat...without shade to keep you cool.

Irony anyone?

First we had to install the poles, which required some fairly deep holes. Justin dug these while I was in Texas.

To secure the poles in the ground we surrounded them with concrete.

And rigged them ever so professionally while the concrete set.

After some debate - are we the only married couple that can never, ever decide on the same paint color? - we decided to go with a metallic brown on the poles.

Naturally, we primed first; these poles rust overnight without the proper coverage.

Just look at that beautiful metallic shimmer!

{Pardon the semi-dead plants. Like I said, its been really hot here.}

Justin installed the other two anchor points on the house.

 

It goes without saying that this sun shade sail needs to be secure and taut, and we're praying our efforts will make it just that. Our little ridge can get some crazy winds.

A few weeks ago we had two of our brother-in-laws staying with us; Justin capitalized the availability of extra hands and the three of them attempted to put up the sail.

Project fail.

It simply wasn't tight enough to work properly.

It looked bad. Really bad.

I should have taken a picture but I was too busy being nervous; because when Justin gets nervous, I get really nervous.

When you invest in a $100 plus sun shade, drill holes in your roof, and install two huge steel posts (in concrete!) in your yard, you'd better be darn sure your plan is going to come together.

I admitted to Justin this week (after the project finally came together) that I was worried there for a minute that we had screwed up. He admitted he'd been worried as well.

But sometimes home improvement is about trial and error, right?

We took the shade down so it didn't depress us every time we walked out the back door. Then Justin borrowed a come along tool from Grandpa Rodger and gave it another try.

Perfection!

Once it cools off below 95 we will totally be out there enjoying our new shade!

Two final thoughts:

1.

Did anyone else notice how perfect one of those poles would be for holding up one side of a volleyball net?  Yeah, baby!  Just be warned that we will accept no liability if you fall into our sinkhole mid-match.

2.

My husband is incredibly productive when I'm gone. Perhaps I should get away more often.  (Just kidding, babe!)

Ten on Tuesday

{1}
This is what a Tuesday night looks like in our house:

{2}

Tell me you love the boots. A friend found them at Goodwill and gave them to Kendry:

Kendry loves them, but he doesn't like me calling him a cowboy.

Thank you, Sheila!

{3}

Guess what I have in store for you tomorrow?

Here is a hint:

{4}

Justin and I are finally loading all our CD's onto iTunes.

There is nothing like going through CD's from your teen years to make you feel archaic.

{5}

Justin warned me this squash would take over this flower bed.

Sure enough.

There used to be some basil in there somewhere.



{6}
The hiking boots are out and we're purchasing a Discovery Pass for the vehicle. This weekend Justin and I get to do our first hike together in four years, without the kiddo!

{7}

If you're like me and could never figure out how to make your own iced coffee at home, this RECIPE is for you.

{8}

And speaking of breakfast yumminess, steel cut oats are positively dee-lish!

Am I the last one to discover these as well?

{9}

This Weeks' Blessing #1:
Tomorrow is my Friday!!

{10}

This Week's Blessing #2:

Enough said.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!