Fun at Lowes!

Once a month Lowes has a workshop for kids called Build and Grow.  Today was my first one and I went with Daddy.  We built a Toy Story car using wood and hammers.  It was tons of fun to do with my daddy and I got this great work smock, toy story patch and safety goggles to bring home.  Next month I am going to build the plane El Chupacabra from the new movie "Planes".  I can't wait until my smock is full of patches from the classes I attend!

Art

Some of my animal artwork:

 Top - Dexter (with Shark hat) - America

 2nd row - Gazelle, Africa; Juno - N. America; Iguana - N. America

3rd row -  Penguin, Antarctica; Zebra, Africa; Owl, Asia; Llama, Asia

Bottom - Walrus, Antarctica; Kangaroo, Australia

We do some crazy art projects at school and at the end of each week I bring them home to show mommy and daddy what I have been up to all week.  July's theme has been animals and tomorrow I am going on a field trip to a zoo to see some real ones (at school I see the guinea pig - Tiger.)  Montessori schools are really big into textile learning which is why my art has so many different elements like feather, buttons, cotton, yarn, etc.

We hung some of the art up on the wall next to the TV because our house is lacking in art and color right now!

Blessings

Dexter says this blessing at school prior to lunch, and now at home prior to dinner.



Thank you for our happy hearts and rain and sunny weather.
Thank you for this food we eat and that we are together.
Bon Appetit, now we can eat!

Window Film

We finally put a window cover over the front door window today.  We went with a decorative window film that was super easy to put on and actually turned out really pretty. 

Settling in

Dan has been home for one week now, our visitors have all left and I start work on Monday.  We are all officially settling in here in Gainesville, VA.

Ophelia and Bosley love the grass but with temperatures 90-105F and high humidity they have not been able to just hang out like they want to.  Bosley has trouble getting down the stairs so we decided to get an invisible fence and give them a chance to walk out the front yard and side yards

My dad bought us a beautiful 55" TV that makes watching Star Wars that much easier!   Dexter loves to dress up like a jedi complete with sharpie marks on his face to look more like Darth Maul.

Even the compost worms are settling in to our new home.  We will eventually plant some flowers, trees, etc around the yard and these little guys will help reduce our trash waste and feed our garden.

Dexter really likes his new school.  Here are some things he did this week.  Built a structure out of sugar cubes and icing, built shapes out of straws and pipe cleaners like the pyramid, and made lots of animals like snakes.  Next Friday they have another field trip this time to Leesburg Animal Park and Daddy is going to be one of the chaperones!  We are in the process of getting him into the county speech therapy program as well.  We gave them his New Mexico report and filled out some paperwork, they should call next week to schedule an evaluation of him and see if he needs more therapy. 

The playroom is coming together also.  We have my desk and chairs for coloring.  All the puzzles and toys are set up.

This week we installed the garage door openers, ceiling fans in most rooms, set up the home gym and many other little things.  I start work Monday morning and Dan has one more week off before he starts back on the 29th.  Hopefully this weekend we will finally check out the pool, it is hot out there!

Race Day!

 This morning we woke up bright and early to drive into DC and have the big race!  I was very excited to wear my race shirt and my number.  It was however kinda boring waiting with Daddy for the adults to finish and let me do my kids race. 

Here we are before the big race - Nana walked 3 miles, I ran/walked 1 mile and Mommy ran 6 miles.

Sweaty and Stinky mommy - it started to get pretty hot towards the end

We all did great!  Mommy finished in 56:34 (17th of 98 in her division).  Nana finished in 51:36 (5th of 11 in her division).  My race was not officially timed, but mom's watch said I did my mile in 20:30.  We all got medals, water and bananas after we finished.    I wasn't sure what to expect with my kids run - but I did great.  I sprinted out the first 50 yards and then I saw I had a long way to go and alternated walking with occasional bursts of runs or splashing in puddles.  I never asked to be carried and finished strong with a dash into the finish line to collect my medal. 

My day

Today I went on a field trip to a printing press.  I got to see several large printers that make books.  My class got to make photocopies of our hands at the end as well - that was great!

My bedroom - before shot

My bedroom space mural!!

My arts and craft station in the playroom 

After the school field trip mommy went home and back to work on the house.  Today mommy and grandfather put up an awesome space mural in my room and hung up lots of arts and crafts stuff on the playroom wall.   Next up for the playroom is to get a desk for under the window and then a TV stand or cubbies for toy/book storage on the other wall. 

Workers

  Ever since we arrived in Virginia is has been non-stop projects, todo lists and trips to Lowes.  Grandfather has been an amazing helper (and so have I)

We have hung curtains on almost all the windows

I got to hand screws to grandfather and put the poles in the curtains.

Just one of the many, many windows in my house - the Dining Room

 

I got to help paint the garage walls - cool gator orange and blue racing stripes!

Here is what it looked like when we pulled the tape off.

Today we placed 3 rainbarrels around the house, these 2 are under the stairs.  We had to dig down several inches to lay pavers and rocks and level everything under the barrels.

Here they are so far.  We still need to add more rocks around the pavers and connect the gutter diverters

This is in a little nook right when you enter the house from the garage (thanks IKEA),  A little bench for putting on my shoes and a couple floating shelves for putting wallets, keys, supermans, etc.  Mom is going to add some hooks for backpacks or coats.

We also mounted an American Flag on the front of the house.  You can also see the other rain barrel we placed.

 Overall we have been very busy!  I get to help around the house which I love, but I wish I had my tool box with me (it is on the moving truck)  Grandfather will be here for a few more days and the projects seem to have no end in site!

Maryland and Virginia!

I had a nice weekend in Maryland - I got to drive a big dump truck around Gram's yard, I went to the beach with my cousins Ben and Nicole, I had ice cream and yummy dinners and then finally after 6 months of hearing about it I got to see my new Virginia house!!! 

I love my house, the first thing I said when I went inside was "This is awesome!"  I love my room and my personal Spiderman bathroom.  I like eating breakfast and dinner on the fireplace mantel because it is the only place to sit right now until we get some furniture!   Our first meal was Mac & Cheese :)