What we're up to...

Been a busy week at our house. Last week, we went to Ohio & Indiana to visit family and friends. It's always good to go back home, see what's changed in our hometowns, visit with grandparents, parents, and other assorted family members. We spent some quality time with the Garretts in Cincinnati, and went on a totally fun Segway tour of Eden Park. Absolutely a hoot! Chad took some video on his iphone, if you'd like to see what we did.

Emerson had an itinerary for the trip...she wanted to go to the Nature Center with Sophie (check), bake cookies with Grammy (sorta check...she ate cookies baked by Grammy), go to the park & swing (check), and eat corn on the cob & tomatoes with Grandpa (check). She also got to try an elephant ear at the Tipton Pork Festival, have a taste of Sycamore ice cream, and got some handmade necklaces from Uncle Josh to add to her expanding stash of bling. In other words, Em had a blast.

Since we've been home, life's been a little chaotic, or so it's felt. We are in the midst of an upstairs bathroom overhaul, and will also be replacing all the old nasty carpet that upstairs with hardwoods. The hardwoods have been sitting in boxes in our living room for 2 months (all 30 of them!). We've ordered the new bathroom vanity, and I chose the countertop and tile this week. I've still got to pick up a new light fixture and shower faucets. I believe the contractor will start demo work next week. It's going to be very messy around here for a while. He assures us it won't take more than a week, and I suppose that means it will take two. It will sure be worth it when it's all finished, but the process will be a pain.

In preparation for all the work upstairs, we've been sorting through our junk, and are making a huge pile of stuff to sell at an upcoming yard sale. I am trying to organize a neighborhood-wide sale, in order to get lots of bargain shoppers. I'm tired of looking at this stuff!

Emerson has started doing some funny stuff....she sits in the backseat of the van with a little doodle pad and pretends to be a waitress, asking, "what do you want, Mommy?", and "what do you like Daddy?". She diligently writes our orders down, or tells us that she doesn't have "x", but instead we can have "y". We played this game for much of our ride home from Indiana. For some reason, she has decided to try out a new laughing style...it's this deep, goofy laugh that just sort of cracks me up. No idea why she's doing that. She is starting to sing song tunes, but substitute different words. She made us both laugh this week when we heard her talking to her stuffed animals in bed one night. She was chatting, and suddenly said, "I don't think that's a very good idea". Not sure what her elephant was plotting, but obviously, Em was concerned.

It promises to be a rainy weekend here...perfect weather for a trip to the library, and maybe bake a batch of cookies or muffins. I've just signed up to be a library helper for Emerson's class, and will pick up books according to the topic they are covering that week. I'm excited to be able to participate in some way with her class!