May Play Time

Early May the kids were having fun with chalk. All kids were outside playing nicely together, briefly.

Gabriel has his big brother moments where he is really sweet to the otherwise "annoying" girls. I had to capture the moment!

We took the kids to a trampoline park. It had a foam pit, trampolines, and a ninja course.

 Ephraim climbs the wall.

 Trampoline basketball

 In-n-Out as a family

We went to the Auto Museum where they were having a Star Wars exhibit. Emma was afraid of the storm troopers but it was otherwise fun.

Elijah had a meltdown on the way out so Gabriel put in his helpful big brother hat and helped the rest of the kids feel good.

 My strong boys!

Ephraim's Day

On April 26 I had the chance to spend the school day with Ephraim and go with him on his field trip to Oxbow Nature Study Area.

Morning classwork before we left

Riding on the bus together

On the Truckee River

Best part of the day for Ephraim: examining the bugs that live in the water that the scientists use to measure the health of the river.

 Ephraim the Gargoyle

House Projects

In May and June we tackled some fun projects inside and outside the house. (I say "we" but it was mostly James doing all the work!)

BEFORE: Ugly brown walls in our master bedroom and bathroom.

AFTER: We picked a medium blue for the toilet room.

Then we liked the blue so much we picked a matching lighter shade of blue for our bedroom walls. SUCH a big difference. The blue is so pleasant and calming for us.

Meanwhile, James started my garden. Step 1 was making two garden boxes with scrap wood from our old fence (which we had recently replaced on one side of the house).

 I filled it with old leaves to give it a base.

 Step 2 was fenceposts in quick-dry cement.

Step 3 was putting up the fence with pieces cut from our old fence. Awesome reuse of wood to save money, but it also matches the surrounding fence on that side of the house so it looks natural.

Step 4 was building the gate.

 Proud handyman next to his beautiful work!