Home Updates

A couple of weeks ago, I put some clothes in the dryer, and kept turning it on because it would finish and not be dry.  That wasn’t too uncommon, as I usually have to run it for two full cycles to get it dry, but this time, they weren’t even getting close to dry. I finally realized that our dryer was not working.  We had just replaced the drying element about six months ago (“we” meaning Shane), and since the washer/dryer set was an older one we had bought for really cheap off Craigslist when we bought our house five years ago, we decided it might not be worth putting another heating element in.  We had discussed a few times trying to get a full-size, front loading washer with a dryer that could stack on top.  I went to five different stores, and I was lucky enough to find an LG set at Best Buy that was an open box one and an amazing deal.  It even included free delivery and installation!

With the washer and dryer stacked on top of each other, we now had a lot of extra space in our laundry closet.  I should have taken some before pictures.  Shane has already built shelving into three of our other closets, so I enlisted him once again to do some more shelves.  He put in three shelves, and we got some nice drawers from Ikea to put on the bottom.  Shane also put in a holder on the side wall for the brooms and mops (which previously were tossed in the garage), and he moved the drying rack we had in there onto another wall.  Now I just have to organize some items to put in the basket drawers below!

   

Another project I did this week was one I had started awhile ago.  Back in September, I painted Landon and Davis’s bedroom tan with a thick blue stripe and a thinner green stripe to match their duvet covers.  I had been wanting to try out using starch to put some cut out animals from material that I had left over from making their curtains onto the stripe.  It was so easy, and so cheap!  The material I already had, and the starch cost me 97 cents.  I didn’t even use the whole can.  The hardest part was just cutting out all of the animals.  Once they were all cut out, I laid a plastic bag on the ground, and put one of the cut-outs on top of it and sprayed it with starch.  Once it was nice and wet, I put it up on the wall, smoothing it out until all of the air bubbles were gone.  I had a damp rag with me too so that I could wipe up any starch that dripped down the wall.  That was it!  The whole thing went pretty quickly.  Here are a few pictures.

   

Our final project was to make a cover for our sandbox.  We have just had a tarp over the top of it, but it blows off and usually our sand is completely wet.  We bought a piece of wood that fit over the top, and Shane cut out some notches for where the sides of the sandbox came up.  We then bought a tarp, and used a staple gun to staple it to the board.  It fits just perfect over the sandbox, and now our sand will stay dry!  An added bonus is that James and even Davis can’t open it by themselves, so they can’t sneak in the sandbox and get all dirty without me knowing.  I’ll have to take a picture of that project in the morning when it’s light outside.

Quick Grandma and Grandpa Visit–OMSI and Spaghetti Factory

For spring break this year, our plans weren’t as exciting as last year – but how can you top Disneyland?  We did have a few fun things planned during the week, but the boys (and me!) were especially excited to have Grandma and Grandpa Morris come for a quick visit to start the break off.  They stopped by on their way from Lincoln City out to Utah to visit Camille, Bryce, Becky, Nate, and family for their spring break.

They arrived Saturday afternoon, and we spent the afternoon with them at OMSI.  My mom has a membership to Science Works in Ashland, and her membership got almost all of us in for free.  It was a little crowded, but lots of fun!  There are so many great hands-on activities to do there.  They also had a great Lego exhibit with some pretty neat Lego statues.  My favorite was the one of the solar system, and Landon and Davis especially liked the crayons.

One of the favorite rooms of course was the ball room!   We spent awhile in there.  

   

Left – a big wheel you can put a ball in and spin it around to see where the ball will come out.  Right – a wall of tubes with air blowing that you can put a ball in a move the pieces around to move the ball.

   

Middle – James loved putting balls in this tube with Grandma, and then watching them all fall out on the floor.  I think he would have stayed there for hours doing that!

   

Grandpa and Landon figured out how to put the balls in a tube hooked up to an air blower, then let them all go at once. James thought this was even better, and he would laugh and jump up and down each time.

Another favorite area was the water area.  They had some fun boats you could experiment with.  The boys had fun trying them out and having some races.

 

With these boats, you could change the size of the windmill pieces in the back, and the wind it up with a rubber band to make it go.

 

James liked trying to see what was going on too!

 

Grandpa and Landon getting ready to have a boat race, and Grandma and Landon experimenting with a sail boat.

 

We also had fun building this arch.  We had to put all of the pieces together in a specific order or it wouldn’t stay up.  The boys liked it so much they wanted to build it twice!

 

After a great time at OMSI, we headed to Spaghetti Factory for dinner.  In typical Spaghetti Factory fashion, they told us it would be a 45 minute wait when it ended up only being ten minutes.  We were glad we didn’t have to wait too long!  We had a great dinner, and the boys loved it as always.

 

The restaurant was too crowded for me to get a great shot, but here is everyone enjoying their dinner, and a picture of Davis too.

Shane got a picture of me and the boys – not a great picture for anyone, but it shows that I was there.  :) 

Saturday night, Mom and Dad watched the boys while Shane and I went to see The Hunger Games.  It was really good!  It’s just too bad I didn’t make Shane read the book first!  Sunday, we relaxed and enjoyed having Mom and Dad here before they had to leave for Utah early Monday morning.  We’re glad they could come and visit!

Snow day

Two days before Spring Break, we woke up to two inches of snow, and a delayed start for school.  The boys were excited to go outside and play.  First though, I had planned French bread and hot chocolate for breakfast.  Perfect breakfast for a snowy morning!  Davis ended up with a chocolate mustache and wanted me to take a picture.

  

As soon as they finished eating, we bundled everyone up, and they headed outside to play.  The snow was nice and wet, great for making snowballs.

               

The snow didn’t last long, and was melted by the time Landon came home from school that afternoon.  I was glad he had a delayed start so he had some time to play in it!  While I was making dinner, James found the pile of snow clothes still in a heap by the sliding glass door.  He grabbed his hat, put it on, and yelled “Mama!  Mama!” until I came and opened the back door for him.  I loved how he looked with his crooked little hat on, so I had to snap a few pictures of that too.