Bathroom

  I'm sure you're all surprised but I decided to tackle yet another project :)  Our bathroom that most of our guests use is pretty ugly.  There was stick on fake tile on the wall, gross white walls, and an ugly old mirror.  There's also a blue tub and toilet but I didn't fix those things :0

  These two are the before pictures.  Yes that is a toilet brush up there(baby proof :) and behind that toilet brush is the stick on fake tile (lovely, isn't it ?)

  Fluorescent lighting and old mirror...
  Tada!!!  Yellow walls to match the blue toilet :)  No more tile  (and I did find a better place for the toilet brush)
A new light and I framed the old mirror in baseboards, so it looks practically new again :)

Hike at Golden Gate

  We took a short hike up Golden Gate Canyon to look at the changing colors (mostly aspen gold).  Gary and Jaynie went with us, but the pictures with them wouldn't turn around in my computer...so I'll post them another time.  We LOVE fall!

   Lydia now says  "cheese" with every picture...so she usually has this face...

Yawns & Cries

 Remember last post when I said that Lydia was pretty much always happy?  Well, there are exceptions...tonight being one of them.  It is around 2 am and Lydia has been crying since around 10:30.  Dave and I have a system with this but it doesn't seem to be working tonight...  The biggest problem is that I have to take an EEG test tomorrow, which I can't sleep more than 4 hours before.  It's a test that induces seizures to see where my levels are.  So I'm already up, and Lydia feels she should be too.

  All I can say is poor Dave!  He wants to sleep and needs to sleep, but it's hard with a child screaming!  Alex, on the other hand, sleeps like a rock through this.  Hopefully she'll be asleep before I need to fall asleep.

Preschool!

  We started preschool this week!  Although Alex is only there for two hours, he still felt the need to bring his back pack and take a picture before school with it :)

  When I dropped him off he went right into the room, no big deal.  But when I left there were a whole bunch of moms crying in the hall...I guess this is way harder on the parents because I didn't see any kids crying :)
  He came home singing booger songs, so it looks like he found the fun friends...oh my.  Then, this Saturday we went to a parade in Arvada.  We got SOOOO much candy that we actually needed another bag besides my purse to put it all in.  It was like Halloween!

Fruita

  We had a Mauger family reunion in Fruita...it's really close to Grand Junction and pretty much a half-way point for everyone.  Because we're really horrible at getting pictures, this was the only one with Daniel & Michelle (right) and Steve, Kass, & Weston (left).  

  This was a cool bench there (notice Lydia's pigtails!)
  At the dinosaur museum there they have animated dinosaurs, it was awesome!
Driving back we had a little traffic, but the kids did great.

  All in all it was great, we even did one bike ride where I was humbled once again.  It was great because when the kids went to sleep we adults could all stay up and talk and play games, Dave and I had a blast...and Alex was sad to leave.  Lydia's pretty much always happy :)

Arp's visit

  This summer Al has been in heaven.  The Rozeski's moved here and Al has been playing with his cousins at least once a week, which is awesome!  But, sadly, school started two weeks ago and Alex has been in low spirits ever since.  He likes to play with Elijah, but always asks where Jaxen and Madeline are.  So, my sister and her two kids decided to visit from Maryland (I'm sure it was all for Alex :)

  We had to make our trip to Casa Bonita, and although I didn't go, Dave said it was a blast!  Here are a couple pictures he managed to take, Casa Bonita is hard to keep track of your kids...so there aren't many times you can just sit and relax.  The first picture is of Alex and Sonya outside next to the water fountain, and the picture below is during dinner when they have little skits next to the waterfall.  (from left to right) Grandma, Jaxen, Superman (Elijah), Madeline, Alex, Sonya, and Papa.  They don't ever eat much at Casa Bonita, which is probably just fine since the food is the worst part about the whole restaurant :)
  Besides this fun we've done a few things here and there.  Nikki is so fun and relaxing to be around and I miss her more when she visits.  We'll be sad to see her go, but we had a blast while she was here!

Messy

  For some reason I've never been into putting a bib on Lydia...Alex wore one constantly, but Lydia never kept them on and now I haven't put one on for months...can't even find them.  But, now of course she's starting to use a spoon and we like snack packs at our house...so this is the result...

  not too bad right?  For dinner before we had pasta, so this is on top of pasta sauce in her ears and hair.  Her favorite thing to do is grab a glop of pudding and rub it on her tummy, we didn't manage to get a picture of that though :)

recall, fall, prime & whine

  First, let me update you on my neighbor.  The biggest shocker...he was actually only about 5 years older than Dave & I...around 32.  Which is just crazy because he honestly looked over forty.  We're all assuming that he committed suicide, because there hasn't been anything in the news yet.  But no one has come over to his house (siblings, family, friends) so we're still not sure what will happen with the home.

  Second, our crib was recalled!  I feel it was a little late, since Alex used this one too, and we got it when he was around 1 year...so that 2 1/2 years later.   But, we got a brand new free crib :)  It's pretty, and it converts into a big kid bed, so we're excited for that.  Now we have an extra crib with no screws (you have to send those back to receive a voucher).  Does anyone know a good woodworking project that's not that hard...maybe a bench?

Third, our fence blew down.  I'm guessing it's about 25 years old because the posts were completely rotted through, and our neighbor didn't even think they were cemented in.  So Dave and our nice nice nice nice nice neighbor worked on it and fixed it in a weekend.  It's strong and hopefully will last another 25 years because we like having our junky side yard hidden :0
  I've finally finished my painting project.  It was the living room up the stairs to the hallway (because it's all one wall) and it took me, oh..., maybe 5 months :)  I have a friend that would always make fun of me when she came over, so it was her inspiration.  The picture isn't all that excited, but I had to have something to document my success right?
 And last, my parents are in Hawaii for about a month and I'm watching their dog (he's not pictured here).  But, another family I usually dog-sit for is gone for 2 weeks so I have a veritable dog watching business on my hands!  I can finally put in our monthly budget that my income is more than just the pennies and quarters I find on the sidewalks (because those absolutely count!)
OH, here's a post script...you gotta have one picture of a kid :)

hodge-podge

  I just have a few tidbits for you all.  First, this is my new craft (not the pillow, just the branch) It's called needle felting, and you take raw wool and kind of tangle it up onto the pillow. (or whatever fabric you want to use)  It looks like embroidery but takes no thread.  It's a really cool, crazy that it works craft.

  Second, Lydia and Alex on their pirate ship.  Pretty much everything is a pirate ship for Alex, and Lydia loves to be included (note her expression).  They also really love this blanket...I found it in the closet from Dave's college days.
  And last, I didn't take a picture because you shouldn't of this kind of stuff.  But, our next door neighbor died yesterday somehow and they put the the crime scene tape up and had the CSI taking pictures until late last night.  He wasn't old, maybe 45, and lived alone...so we're not sure what happened.  But I am a little more cautious about letting my kids play in the yard without me and things like that.  I've seen many CSI and cop-related shows, and I didn't realize that all the CSI people actually do drive big black SUVs that are unmarked.  Why?  I still have no clue.

Summertime

  I guess I forgot the obligatory "What I did July 4th" post, so here's my summary.  We had a BBQ, watched fireworks and got to bed late..it was great!

  On another note, this is my sunflower :)  It's the very first time I've grown something from a little seed and it worked out!  I love it, it's huge (they're dwarf sunflowers) and I'm very proud.  Now I just need the rest of my yard to look like this pot...hmmm.
  Because it's summertime we got the slip 'n slide out, yahoo!!  I did slide and flew right off the end, it's for little kids, so there are no pictures of me doing it.  But the kids LOVED it.  And grandma even got everyone involved in a huge waterfight at the end, the Rozeskis were there too.

   OH, and a quick story.  We got a fish about 5 months ago and Alex has never named it.  I thought he'd be really into it but he doesn't care at all.  Anyway, he was feeding it the other day and I asked him what it's name was.  Alex said something like "compassiovisiondafiter"  or something like that, but then he said "but I just call him FISH". hahaha

Alex

 Warrior Alex!  I wanted to post a few short stories about Alex lately, and this was a pretty current picture of his normal warrior stance.  Right now Dave and Al are "camping" in our backyard.  Alex goes to bed around 8:30 at it is still really light outside, so I think they'll stay up late playing in the tent, or Dave will be really bored in about 10 minutes (hope he got a book).  

  In all reality they'll probably last till 9 when they come inside to fall asleep in bed :)

  So, stories.  Alex is really into giving me hearts and saying he loves me... which I love.  Tonight I told him to stand up straight so I could get him dressed, instead he was hugging me.  When I told him again he said "but mom, I HEART you!"  Isn't that a tween saying?

   Also, in San Diego whenever we would see a black man in a service position, like bus driver, security, trash man, he would say loudly  "Thank you NORVILLE!"  Alex has a loud voice that is quite clear, so the man would always either smile or laugh or act like they were ignoring him.  He kept saying "Look mom, here comes Norville!"  Now, I don't know why, but for some reason Alex thinks that all black men in service positions are named Norville.  It was kind of embarassing but mostly Dave and I were just confused as to where he got this.  Crazy kid.

  Also, Dave told him he was cute and Alex finished with "as cute as can be!"  Too many grandparents around this one :)

San Diego!

If any of you have been around Alex the last couple of months, he probably told you about going to SAN DIEGO!  We told him a little too early, but the day finally came and we were off!

The first day we drove up to Liz and Ethan's church had saw their little girl Madeline Rae get blessed.  She is adorable (sorry the picture is far away) and it was SOOO fun, and completely surreal to see Liz again.  We lived together for my whole college experience, except the one semester I was married.  She is still the best hostess even with a newborn and her and Ethan have one cute little girl!
The rest of the trip was filled with SeaWorld, Wild Animal Park, the Zoo and of course beaches.  This top picture is after the dolphin show at seaworld, if you look at the hair and our shirts you'll see that we're totally soaked!  WE were in the "wet zone"  The below picture is Al feeding the Lorikeets...his highlight.
And the beach!  Does anyone know how to get fine sand out of swimsuits, blankets, towels, and hair?  I don't!  Lydia rolled in the sand like it was her favorite blanket..she even kissed it and licked it, YUCK!  And Alex enjoyed the water a little more, but got his fill of sand in the mouth and every other place.  I'm sad to say that I wasn't able to recreate his "perfect" sandcastle the whole trip...maybe papa can do that with him when he's older :)

We had lots of fun, happy to be back, and not too sunburnt.  Good trip

gymnastics

Alex had a gymnastics class this spring, and they ended with a little show for all the parents and grandparents.  I forgot to invite all the grandparents (oops!) so this blog is for you!

           Balance beam kicks, and flipping on Alex's favorite thing, the monkey bars!

Above is an action shot of Alex doing a summersault.  This took him about 6 weeks to learn, so Dave and I were cheering really loud here :)
And he got a ribbon and stamps on his score sheet...that made him proud too.
About a week earlier Alex told me that he didn't like gymnastics and we even left a little early before stickers and stamps (that's a big deal).  So we probably won't be doing it again any time soon.  I was amazed by how some little girls could do flips and jumps with little to no effort.  Alex would try and try and could hardly pull himself up on the monkey bars...I think he's got genetics against him on being a gymnastics star :)

Utah

          We started this weekend with Jaynie's graduation from CU Denver nursing school.  It was full of stormy weather and excitement when the chairs would blow over (it was outside).  So the kids paid attention for longer than expected.  Then, when the weather got too bad, they moved it inside and we decided to leave before actually seeing Jaynie get her diploma.  I heard she still got it.

  Then we drove to Utah and got in around 12:30 am.  Why such crazy hours?  Because we wanted to spend as much time as possible with Weston Mauger...our new little nephew :)

Adorable isn't he?  He was blessed on Sunday and we actually managed to get an OK picture of the whole family with their eyes open.  Which is a feat for the Mauger side.
Then on Memorial Day, before driving home, we took a quick trip to the grand metropolis of Tooele to visit a couple old roomies.  Here are me, Anne, and Jenn...we lived together my junior year (Jenn is sure it was our sophmore year, but she just took longer in school :)  And Jenn's little baby Maddy.
Then we drove back home and got in around midnight.  Our kids did great, the weather was terrible and we loved seeing everyone.

Lydia's Birthday

  Lydia turned 1 year on the 15th (thursday)  I failed to post anything because we somehow totally forgot to take any pictures of her at her actual birthday party :)  We got video, and I know some of my family got pictures, so we'll be good.   Now that she's a little older we're starting to see her personality.  Mom and Dad say she's Kendra's child, which is good because Dave's parents always say that Alex is Dave's child.  So, now we both get what's coming to us :)

    Lydia has no fear.  She'll climb, try new things, and talk to anyone who will listen and smile.  She's is EXTREMELY social, only acting shy for a moment to flirt.  She'll eat anything!  Even sidewalk chalk, rocks, dirt, and tree buds that fell on the ground.  (Don't judge me!  She's fast!)  She also is sure that she can not just walk but she can run, jump, swing, and kick.  Her confidence is astounding!  She's slowly getting more hair, which is mostly just exciting for me.  And, like Alex, she loves being the center of attention :)

You've done well, my young grasshopper

Dave finished our bathroom!!!  Sorry we don't have a before picture, but here is the final product!  Picture a blue toilet and sink, an old metal window, a mildew covered old glass shower door, a smaller shower where the base is uneven so there's always a pool of water in the shower, and huge water stains on the linoleum (sp?), that dripped through the floor onto our TV downstairs....yuck!  Was that a good enough picture for you?

  The biggest thing is that we didn't actually hire anyone to do this!  Dave did it with lots of help and advice from Gary and Ed...but I'm very impressed.  I now call him master craftsman :)

Pictures!

            Alex found that Lydia sometimes has some good ideas...this was her house until he moved in.  She looks OK with it though :)

           It's beautiful here in Colorado, we even got a little sunburnt.  This is in our backyard.

   This last picture is really only for Jen, although everyone can look :)  She wanted to see a picture of the living room after I finished all the walls and the couch and piano bench.  There ya go Jen!