Another Delay

Well, there has been yet another delay in the progress in the bathroom. DH's father (FIL) has been in the hospital for the past week. First, he was suffering from congestive heart failure. Then, his kidneys began to shut down. It seems that the medication used to treat the CHF has damaged his kidneys. He is beginning dialysis to give his kidneys a break, hoping that they will begin increasing function. He has contracted pneumonia, which is further complicating things. So, we are headed their way to relieve DH's mom (MIL) and lend a helping hand, as well as some distraction (the boys) for FIL.

Complicating their situation is Great-great-great Aunt Mary, who is 95 and lives with MIL and FIL. She needs assistance and supervision throughout the day. MIL has been caring for her for over a year now, in addition to caring for FIL's needs. At this point, the family has decided that Mary will need to go into a nursing home, at least for a while. So, we will be helping with that transition as well. MIL feels badly about the nursing home idea, but she has given Mary wonderful, loving care for the last year and a half, but now needs to focus on FIL.

Please pray for DH's family, that FIL begins to improve and that Mary handles the transition to the nursing home well.

A side project

I have finished painting the bathroom, so since I am waiting for the paint to dry, I decided to tackle another small project. The laundry room has become a disaster lately, and I need at least one area that is orderly. So, while I ordered the boys around to clean up their part of the basement, I re-organized the laundry room. We'll see how long that lasts.

Tonight is the first of two weeks of swimming lessons. After lessons, we will head to Jake's baseball picnic. Tomorrow I will be starting to tile the bathroom floor. One step closer....

Now that the tournament is over

life can return to "normal". Today we finished out British Soccer Camp, where Jake's team (Australia) won the "World Cup" competition. During the penalty kick portion, Jake was the goalie for his team, and he blocked the last shot, which won the competition!

We headed to Boston's for dinner to celebrate the wins from last night. We also bought paint for the bathroom. We are finally to the stage where we will begin "putting it back together". I hope to prime and paint this weekend so that the floor can go down next week. I am very anxious to get the toilet back in....running to the basement to use the bathroom is getting to be a drag!

Tomorrow is the first time in weeks that there has not been someplace where we have HAD to go. I will probably get groceries, but other than that, I can work around the house. I can't wait to get cranking on the bathroom!

Tournament Update

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!

Both teams won their championship games!!!!!

Josh: Tournament report- 2nd edition

We won!!!! We're headed to the final game!!!!

I did not get to see Josh's game, since Jake was playing in the next town over. DH was at Josh's game, and I got regular updates from another parent. Apparently, Josh's pitching was nothing short of amazing. He threw 71 pitches, and only walked one batter (plus one batter that he hit). He went into the fourth inning, which is longer than any of our pitchers have ever thrown. Once, while at bat, he got hit by a pitch, in the butt, no less.

Josh's team plays tomorrow, same place as Jake's team.

I'm not sure I can take all of this excitement!

Jake: Tournament Report: 2nd Edition

We won!!!! We're headed to the final game!!!!!!

Jake hit every time he was up. He had two really awesome plays at second base, throwing out a runner at first and tagging the base for another out. We play tomorrow for the championship.

After the game, the coach treated them to Dairy Queen. What an awesome team!

Josh: Tournament report- 1st edition

Josh's team played their first tournament game tonight. The team was definitely not on their game. They barely squeezed in a win, 6-5. They play again tomorrow. It will be a juggling act, since Jake plays in St. Joe and Josh plays here in Urbana. Another report to come tomorrow.

P.S. Somehow, I managed to catch a cold. Or maybe I am allergic to drywall mud....

Jake: Tournament Report, 1st edition

Tonight was Jake's first tournament game. His team won 25-5. Jake played a great game. He hit 4 for 4. Two of those hits were triples!! The bases were loaded for his first triple. It would have been a grand slam, if the other runners had been a little faster. All in all, a great game (though I feel bad for the other team).

Josh had a bye tonight, so he'll play tomorrow night.

In other sports news, the boys started British Soccer Camp today. I'll let you know how it goes.

P.S. The bathroom is coming along. I am currently finishing the drywall joints.

Our knight in shining armor....

has arrived! Dale is here! The bathroom sub floor is replaced, the tub is in, and the drywall is going up. Things are moving along well, and we couldn't be happier.

The boys had their last regular season baseball games last night. Both teams won. DH was working, so Dale went with me as we crisscrossed town to see the games, which were at two different locations. I did not time it very well, so we missed most of Jake's game. He hit 3 for 4, which was great!

Josh, my sports prodigy, had another great game. I didn't get to see him pitch, as I was at Jake's game. He didn't pitch a whole inning, which is strange, since he usually can go a couple of innings. He says that the other team was scoring because the defense was not backing him up, but I realize that is his perspective. I did not hear from the coach about his thoughts.

The last inning, Josh caught two line drives right in a row to get the last two outs. Pretty exciting.

So, next week the tournament begins. Both teams are pretty good, and they have a good chance of getting pretty far. Which means that many more games for me to go to...oh well. It's only one more week.

Kids and sports

Last night both boys had baseball games. Jake's game was a practice game,so it did not count for their record. Therefore, I spent most of my time at Josh's game.

Hitting has never been Josh's strong point, though this season has gone much better than last season. But, as you know, defense is as important as offense, and Josh excells in defense. His two regular positions are second base and pitcher. Josh has this sixth sense about sports. It is almost like he knows where the ball will go before it makes contact. Then, there is his deep understanding of the stratgey of the game. Most kids who catch a pop up have stop and think where they should throw it for the double play. Not Josh. He seems to automatically know what to do to make the best play. Last night, he caught a ball for the first out, then winged it to home for the double play, preventing the runner from scoring. I think if you could see inside his thought process, you'd see a diagram of the field, the placement of players, etc. Several years ago, his coach described him as the most analytical player he has ever coached. Hits the nail right on the head.

Last night, Josh also caught a great line drive at second for the out. Then, at the end of the game, when we needed one more out to win, the pitcher was struggling, big time. He couldn't get anything near the strike zone. The coach put Josh in, and the hitter stuck out. The game was over, and we won.

I love to watch my kids play sports. I have never been a true sports fan, in the sense that I would choose to watch a game as my choice leisure time. When it comes to my boys, however, I could watch them play anything. They amaze me. And they are mine.

Monday ramblings....

Kind of a busy day here for me. DH headed back to work after 11 days off, so I was sad to see him go. I made a pact with myself that I would be productive this week and not lay around in pj's all day. So, I started by getting myself and the boys going this morning. I had a few things to drop off for my students at summer school, then took Josh to basketball camp in Champaign. He goes everyday this week, for one hour, forty five minutes. He seemed ot like it. He didn't know anyone there, but said he made a few new friends.

While he was at camp, Jake and I did a little shopping around on that side of town--Hobby Lobby, Big Lots, etc. I have been wanting to get rid of the flower arrangements on the top of my cabinets, since they are so hard to keep clean. So, I found a few things to replace the flowers. Now I will need to come up with something new for curtains....sooner rather than later. The sun is killing me in the evenings.

Jack (Josh's best buddy) came over after camp, since his mom has to work one more week before summer break. He ended up staying over night. His grandmother is having surgery today (she's been in the hospital with heart problems since last week) so his mother headed out to be with her. It was nice to have Jack here to play with Jake while Josh was at baseball practice. Jack is just like one of the family. He just fits in. He is really great with Jake, like with Josh was at practice. It wasn't like he was "stuck" with the little brother. They play really well together.

I have been cleaning out and purging today. I went through the bathroom stuff and my bedroom and threw out a bunch of garbage. I have to get the house in presentable order before Wednesday, when Dale arrives. So, instead of just cleaning, I am decluttering too.

Enough ramblings....good night.

We never knew how valuable Gameboys are....

Until both boys failed to charge them before a long car trip. We just returned from a three day trip to Cinncinati and Louisville. We had a blast, and I will share pictures soon.

On the way down, Jake's Gameboy battery died. Shortly after, Josh's died as well. And neither child remembered to pack a charger! Amazingly, both boys, as well as Mom and Dad, survived the trip with no casualties, despite the lack of anything for the children to do.

P.S. Recently, while preparing for a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house, I let the children pack their own clothes. I checked their bags before leaving, and that was a good thing...Jake would not have had anything more than three pajama tops and one pair of shorts. Guess now I will have to check their toy bag, too.

Bad news..

While cleaning up the dust from the bathroom demo, I discovered that the subfloor had some significant water damage, and would therefore have to be replaced. The really unfortunate part of all of this is that we have NO IDEA how to do this. Therefore, we sent out a plea for help to our dear friend Dale, who agreed to join us next week to help us take care of the problem. Dale is a high school buddy of Ken's. He has his own contracting business, and was the one who replaced our windows after we bought this house. While we are very disappointed about this setback, we are excited to have Dale visit for a few days.

Jake's end of the year picnic

I took the afternoon off to go to Jake's end-of-the-school-year picnic. It threatened rain all afternoon, and the temperature was a bit on the low side, but that did not stop the kids from having a good time. Water fun was a big part of the afternoon, with super soakers and water balloons.

One fun game was finding a piece of gum in a pile of powdered sugar. Apparently, this is a tradition for the third grade teachers. It's kind of like bobbing for apples....Here is Jake....



He can't have bubble gum due to his orthodontia, so he ended up with pop rocks....



It looked like so much fun that Belinda (Jake's best friend's mom) and I had to get into the action.....



(That's me on the left :)

Unfortunately, Jake missed the instructions to not inhale. So, he spent about 5 minutes coughing after breathing in a bunch of powdered sugar.

All in all, a fun time was had by all. The best part...it was the last full day of school.

Bathroom Remodel...

Yesterday was the first official day of the bathroom remodel. In the past two days, we have removed the tub, sink, and the ugly green tile from the walls. Now we need to get the place cleaned up so that the new drywall and tile backer can be put up. I am so excited about being able to redo the bathroom. Here are the before pictures...










But, there has been a stall in the construction...due to Josh's sleepover. Now, why would one plan a sleepover during a large project such as this???? We didn't!!! Josh managed to invite over two different kids for a sleepover without asking us first. Yes, I was mad at first, but, considering what a genuinely good kid Josh is, I decided to let him go ahead with the plan. I did, however, drill it into his head to NEVER DO IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

Jake is at a friend's house, and will be joining us later in the evening. While the boys hypnotize themselves in front of the PlayStation, DH and I will be removing the rest of the drywall.

BTW, thanks for the congrats on the grade....I am SO HAPPY!!!!!