Fini

The hard part is finished. Finally... I am sure Kris will post pics soon, but the stone patio is done. After the third trip to HD for more sand (36 bags total), I finished screeding and levelling the patio area last night. I then started setting my stones. I finally finished at about 10:30 last night. I admit for a first timer it looks pretty good. I do have to find some gravel or something to fill the cracks between the stones, but thats easy stuff. I also am going to pour a concrete berm at the end of the pavers to help prevent washout of the sand. But IT LOOKS GOOD.

Lots of fun

I know its been a bit. Kris has kept you up on most things though. Finally almost done with the front yard. The grass is also getting to be a much richer green color. Been working with E on his mowing skills. His bike riding skills are improving greatly. E officially graduated from cub scouts to boy scouts last night. He received his Arrow of Light last night. This is the Highest award a cub scout can obtain and the only cub scout award that can be on his boy scout uniform. J got his tiger cub badge last night so he will officially be a wolf next year. He is so proud of himself. C gets to be a tiger next year. Kris even got a ribbon for her assistance. K is still lovin ballet. L wants to do everything everyone else does. The unborn is kicking I hear. I start my training next Wednesday night. Day Camp starts next week.

Been a while

I know, I know...Its about time. What have we been up to? Not necessarily in this order. Kris is off work until after baby comes. So nice being able to relax with her at night. I finally got my Real Estate brokers license, something I've wanted to do for a long time. The kids only have a few weeks of school left. E will be in middle school next year. E still loves electronics. J has his drawing. C likes Video games but also plays Tball. K is my little ballerina. L pretends to sing and dance. We started at a new church Saturday night. They have a real good kids program. They have the same service three times...Saturday night, and twice more on Sunday morning. We will probably go to the Saturday night one mostly. The kids were not real excited about going when we pulled up Saturday night except for J. When it was time to go home they did not want to leave. The youth pastor apologized that on Saturday Nights they kept all the kids together the wholetime for Children's church because it was a much smaller crowd than Sunday. Funny thing the place was packed for a smaller crowd. If you want to read about the place check out www.considercornerstone.com . We finally finishedthe planting in front of our living room window where we have a flagstone pathway. It looks nice. I am sure pics are coming on Kris' site. We added some Ribbon Grass, SeaOats, and Plumeria. Now just the paver patio and a couple plants in front of that and the front will be finished. I did finally get to moms and fix her timer and rewire her panel..Sorry it took so long mom. We hada very nice visit with mom and dad and the BBQand chili were great. Well thats all I can think of at the moment.

Leaky toilet

Question...How long does it take to fix a leaky toilet. Answer...I dont know its still leaking.

About three weeks ago I started working on the tank on my toilet in the master bath. I could see the shank washer between the flapper and tank had worn a lot so I just figured I'd remove the tank and replace it. I bought the part and took the tank off the stool. Thats when I realized the tank bolts had rubber washers that were wearing too as well as a washer on the line that leads to the tank. So the next day back to HD and pick up those parts. When I wenrt to work on it that evening I discovered the nut on the bottom of the tank had not been hand tightened but wrench tightened. If youve done this then you realize most people dont have a wrench that large lying around, and of course I am some people. SO IT SAT. Yup disassembled. I was going to finish up the next weekend, but that was the weekend of my sisters FIL's funeral. Finally, last weekend, I bought all new internals and washers, and a wrench, and got to work. I got everything replaced and fixed, put it back together, cleaned the bathroom up and voila, it worked, that is until I noticed the small pool of water forming towards the back corner. i am hoping i just need to tighten the flapper nut a little more.

Thats my weekend HOWS YOURS>>>

Big Day

Well, today is the big day. Father daughter dinner dance at the Refuge. Kiara is so excited. It should be a lot of fun. The refuge is the name of a nice restaurant here in Yuba city. Got our taxes back...now we can pay off the Explorer...Lot of good thatll do as the kids are just getting to big for it. We are gonna have to get either an Expedition or a Suburban. Used of course. No van before anyone says it. Kris would shoot me. AND A BELATED HAPPY 1ST TO L...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BOY

CAYLUM is 6 today. He thinks he owns the world. I hope you have an awesome day buddy. You will always be one of my babies. I love ya buddy. HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY>

Come see the presents

I have probably posted about this one before, but it bears repeating.

It had to be in the 1970's as we lived on A street.

Charles woke me up about 3 am Christmas morning. " Ken you should see all the presents out there." He'd been peeking. He started describing the haul we were gonna get come early morn. I believe he had a bike out there, walkie talkies, and assorted other goodies. As he described more, I couldn't keep it in any longer. " i want to see". I imagine he struggled with the idea for a bit, It was one thing to describe what he saw but to take his little brother out there and let him peek too, that could land him in all sorts of hot water. Of course he finally gave in, he was ghonna take me to see what gifts were out there. " Don't just run out there I'll take ya and we don't want to wake mom or dad. So we started heading down the hall, but just as i reached the "promised land" I felt his hands suddenly reach around and cover my eyes. Now at this house you could walk through our living room to the kitchen and circle back out the hall and back toward the bedrooms. This is exactly what we did too. The whole time his hands imprisoning my eyes as I am sure I struggled to be free so I could see the presents too. Didn't get to see them until the next morning.

I guess Charles felt he kept his promise to me yet still kept himself out of too much hot water.

Candy Making

Not a lot going on here just a lot of working. It is Candy making season though. I made some fudge for the kids last Friday. Yesterday I made walnut Brittle. The brittle was pretty good. I had my pans keeping warm in the oven while I made the candy on the stove. I followed the directions to a T. After getting the candy up to 300 degrees I had Kris pull the pans out I turned the heat off the stove mixed in the final ingredients and spread the brittle out between the two pans. The one pan started hardening up right away but the other didn't want to seem to set up.
Only when it started bubbling did we realize we had set the pan on the hot burner.

Still turned out ok though

Friends and Family

We had a nice weekend. After work on Saturday we went to my parents to visit with my Aunt and Uncle. They were here visiting from Arkansas. Its always wonderful visiting with them. The kids had a blast too. C wouldn't stop rough housing with Uncle Coy. My Aunt said shes been having such a nice time visiting with her sister (my mom). All shes wanted to do is cook. My mom does love to cook. She doesn't taste test her own cooking though. Uncle Coy helped with there garage conversion too. Its looking good. My Uncle Roy called while I was there, so I got to talk to him a little bit. Hopefully we can get back there to see everyone soon. While we were there my friend Mark and Janel were there visiting for a little bit too. They adopted a handicapped baby. The baby is three now. He gets around though. Very happy little boy. It was great seeing them too. We usually catch up to Mrk and his wife around the holidays every year. The kids helped make apple dumplings. I am not a big fan of cooked apples, but they did look and smell great. Especially when it was topped with a rum sauce. Plus there was Ice Cream Kris' favorite. She found a spoon just her size too. I am sure you can imagine. Unfortunately Kris had to work last night and I had to work this morning so we had to get back home yesterday. She did get a couple hours sleep last night before she had to go to work.
Now its time to start planning our Thanksgiving meal. We are not ham eaters nor that much into turkey. Maybe this year we will stray a little and do something unique. We'll see.

A post about nothing

Happy Birthday Big Bro

Heres to a very happy birthday to Charles. Hope you have a great one.

Random Thoughts...Literally

Been busy times at our house. Kris finished a 7 straight night run at work Sunday night. I did overhauls on kids rooms as far as cleaning putting away toys, organizing movies. We caught up all the laundry, trying to stay ahead of it. Its the putting away thats a pain. The kids have more clothes than drawers.

E goes to his environmental camp next week. a little anxious around our house.

I prefer the King James Version of the Bible to other versions I have read from.

Mondays here

It was a good weekend. Went to a halloween party Saturday night. Lots of fun. Then did some cleaning Sunday morning. Mom and dad came by Sunday afternoon and stayed for supper.

Tonight Kris goes back to work, thats no fun. Seems like we have to rush to feed the kids and get them in bed, so we can get the baby to sleep before she leaves. Then I am waking up in the morning and getting ready when she gets home and takes back over. She doesn't get to sleep though because by then its time to get kids off to school.

The diets going well so far. I am down 41 pounds since Aug. 4th. Kris has lost weight also. Not that she really had much to lose.

We are still taking turns reading to the kids from the Bible. They don't let us forget. E and J have been learning about jesus and John while K and C have been learning from Genesis. (I figure need to stress creationism as both major candidates believe in evolution.)

The weather has been great. I love the high 70s and low 80s. perfect weather.

Saturday yay...

Its Saturday. Kris doesn't work again until Mon night. We have our yearly Halloween party tonight at Ben and Hollys. Always a lot of fun with lots of games.

Customer left the store a little while ago after leaving a deposit for an in stock pool. Its been a long drought since the last sale. Thats why had to lay off two very good workers and friends yesterday.

Kris picked up our costumes. I don't think this one will have as much of an impact as people are used to. Pics will come tomorrow I am sure.

Friday?

Its Friday. For some people I guess. Have a Halloween party tomorrow night. That should be fun.

I laid off two employees today. Lack of work. Not any fun there. Not just employees but friends with families to support.

Kids are still doing great. L sleeping better and better every night. I think she has got used to when momma get home and sleeps until close to then.

E woke me up this morning and said there was something green glowing on his bed next to his pillow. Me being the protecting father that I am did what any great dad would do. "well move your pillow to the other end of the bed and I will check it out in the morning." Just light from something I am sure.

Good nights

L has pretty much slept all night the last two nights. So nice.

E may need glasses. Kris is gonna take him to Sears soon and have his eyes checked.

All the kids are doing well though. They are all good kids too. Big Hearts.

Work stinks. I have to lay off 2 guys tomorrow. Both have families to provide for. Where's their bailout? LOL

Monday it is

ITs Monday again. I Know God gives us our Mondays so that we can truly understand our Fridays. Whatever day they fall on for you.

Kris was off last night.. Shes off again tonight. We both get rest that way.

Really didn't do much this weekend. To cold and windy for kids to be outside. Kris was catching up on rest all day. Mostly just caught up on some of our shows we like to watch but don't get to for various reasons.

Kris made the kids tortilla pizzas for dinner last night..They only ate about 4 a piece. LOL

Sunday Sunday

Yay!! Kris is home for next couple nights. Shes gettin a little extra sleep right now. I am sure she is thrilled too. I got up and fixed the kids some eggs this morning. K3 wanted cereal and milk though.Drinking my morning coffee. Now I am talking about actual coffee, not a glass full of creamer with a hint of coffee flavor. The closest I come to that is either buying flavored coffee beans or I put a couple lids of extract in the pot.

Sheri.

You happy now. You got mentioned.

J suddenly has this great interest in drawing and coloring. Hes always grabbin a pad and some pencils and crayons . Certainly didn't get an artistic side from me.lol...

Later all

Good News from Washington

My brother and his wife got some good news finally. God is good. Now hopefully they make the most of this opportunity. How did that song go..."get on your knees and fight like a man".

Mom has been sick. I don't think it was just the flu or cold mom I think it was stress. You have always told us to let God handle things. If you are stressing you are not truly letting God handle it, Let go and wonder at what He can do for you.

Kris has worked 5 straight GY's with one to go, I am tired so I know she is. The good part is L and I are bonding...LOL.

E has been coming out of his shell so much this year. He wants to be in everything. I have been reading to him and J about Jesus and John at night. J asks me every day, Are you gonna tell us more story tonight? "Yes". "Oh Yay". I know as Christians we need the fellowship, but the modern churches have created their straw Gods so I am not sure I trust them to teach my kids.

I started reading Genesis to the younger two. I sat On C's bed last night to read and when I finished K says OK now my turn sit on my bed to read. I will tomorrow night I told her. Sleepy time now . So you know...E and J share a room and C and K share a room.

I am afraid Cay is getting bored because school is so easy for him. Gonna have to keep our eyes open just in case.

Dad.

Hadn't said anything about him and didn't want him to feel left out. LOL

L is such a happy baby. She flies around the house in her walker.

Gonna close for now.

Big weekend

Gonna go to mom and dads this weekend. Kids are so excited. Kris' mom is supposed to swing by there too and say hello. Mom and dad are going to watch the kids tomorrow night since kris and I have a housewarming to go to. That should be fun. Hopefully the weather will start cooling down the next couple weeks.

Kris made homemade chicken tamales last night. They were light, but they were still great. All the kids liked them except Evan. He is our pickiest.