A Beautiful October Day...

Lauren's 2nd Grade class went on a field trip to Jester Park. It was a gorgeous day! They were catching water bugs, snails and everything in between.. this was a big yuck factor for me.. I tried to be brave but don't care for the slimy stuff.
(Top right photo: Maisie, Kennedy and Lauren)

This stations they were sweeping for bugs.. instead we picked up every bur possible and I spent the entire time picking burs off of the kids as they were complaining.

This station was a nature hike and they learned about "decomposers" and found all sorts of treasures.. centipedes, spiders, beetles, ants,crickets.. you name it.. at least they didn't find any snakes!

Lauren's buddy from soccer and school.. Lizzy (Bean) Alsteen.

This station they learned about insects, made a masterpiece and played some games.

Lake Ahquabi Bike Race

Getting our numbers!

Warming up on the road.

The girls rocked it! All 3 girls were the first to the dirt trail.

This part was really tough and they did great. It was up and down hill with tight turns and on grass. It was really difficult to get any kind of momentum up the hills.

This kid was sooo nice. Lauren couldn't get up the hill well so he got off his bike and gave her a boost and said "good job".

You can see the course they had to wind through at the end of the race.

Getting her Silver Medal

Lauren was a little bummed she didn't get a medal. But in all honesty.. she was in second place the entire time and then when the windy stuff came along she kept trying to pedal up and all the boys ran past her walking their bikes up the hill... if they all tried to bike.. she would have been third if not second easily! So proud of them both.. they loved it.

A little note of sweetness...

So my little Lauren (who isn't so little anymore) left me a note before she left for school. I am always gone before they are up in the morning so I can be home after school. Beginning of the school year always wears the girls out and this is what she left me.
" Dear Mom, I was wondering when I get to have a play date with Kennedy K? p.s. I am tired"
So.stinkin.cute.

More Soccer

Here are some more videos of Miss Lauren.. I know it seems like a lot but it's where I can store the videos and find them easy when we want to see them!

Our fish in the water!

Elise's last day of swimming lessons.. level IV.. and she passed with flying colors.

Doing her back stroke.. she was so graceful...

I love that she is smiling the entire time she is swimming.. she loves it!

Elise doing her Butterfly... I am impressed.. that is a LONG pool and she is rocked it!

Soccer Galore!

I know there are a ton of videos but I have been so busy lately it just all has to go on one post. The movies are quick but got some great shots of Lauren working her tail off.. love watching this kiddo play. She is #3 in the grey shirt.

Homecoming Parade ~ 2013

Johnston's Homecoming Parade

The girls love walking in the parade, throwing out candy and Frisbees and of course.. socializing!

Dragon Spirit Cheer leaders!

Elise's buddy Haley Cross.

Miss Avery Peterson

It was an absolutely GORGEOUS night and there were so many kids out for the parade.. a good time.

The Doors and the Bead Board.. not fun.

So we debated if we should paint these first before we put them up.. we decided to paint and that was fine.. but, they still got pretty scuffed because we ended up having to cut the board because it was going to be too high and be above the vanity.. so that was another set back, and then my paint job was scuffed. I think I can just do touch ups but I will have to wait and see.

I had to paint everything inside because it was SOOO hot and humid I knew it would take forever to dry.

Next stop.. the doors. I was originally going to just paint the doors we had but they are pretty cheap and doubt they would have looked nice painted. Eric thought we should just replace them for the 6 panel doors for and updated look. I agreed 100%.. but.. the doors didn't quite fit. They wouldn't close.. so.. we had to take them all over to a friend of Eric's dads who has the right kind of saw and trim the doors down. Oh.. and before this, Eric was just going to chisel out the area for the hinges.. well.. 2 hours into it with a lot of sweat and maybe some cursing.. we opted to by a router with a template for the hinges.. took at the most 5 minutes.  Money well spent when we are replacing all of the doors.

Getting close.. it's all up.. but needs a lot of TLC to make it looked finished. I do love it though. It's very bright and cheery!

So for this corner and along the base board will be corner round to seal it all and finish it off. We just haven't gotten that far yet.

This really is not white and yellow... picture just turned out strange. A few nicks here and there but I think I can fix it.

This was the biggest problem. Our walls are not square so we had to shim the chair rail to get this to even remotely line up.  I am really hoping the caulk will hide this... of course this is the one corner you can totally see when you enter the room.. no way to hide it.

Corner round will cover the majority of this gap.. and then more caulk.. I hope.

So now everything is bright and cheer but now the vanity counter top looks like crap. I tried to pick up some of the white swirled in it but it just looks yellow now.. really mad because there isn't anything I can do about it besides replace it and that is just not going to happen.. at least right now.

All the doors on the main floor have been painted (TWICE) and installed. I painted all of the handles the same as the hardware in the bathroom.. forgot to take a photo of the beautiful brass that they were before I painted.. I will get one on here eventually. So now all of my doors are done and have the lovely look of honey oak trim still. This will be a good winter project to get all of the trim done.

SOOO much better than the brass.

So that is it for now on the bathroom. Projects to finish will be the corner round for the base boards and corners, caulk, caulk and more caulk, wood fill the nail holes, trim out the mirror... and decorate!

Oh.. and did I mention that my husband is really thrilled with "my" project. I don't think we will be doing much more of this stuff any time soon! :)