Santa Barbara Faire!

Today was the ‘school day’ (free entrance/no rides) and we had a great time.  I hauled my bulky self around okay (though I could have used one of those old people scooters, I think). :)  The things the kids entered did very well!

Max won a 1st Place ribbon for his Peanut Butter Pie –

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Lucy won a 1st Place ribbon for her Chocolate Chip/Strawberry Trifle –

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Max won a variety of 1st and 2nd Place Ribbons for his drawings, like this ‘Ode to Graffiti’ –

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And Lucy won a Best of Show purple ribbon for her yarn potholders!  Big thanks to Gran for the great Christmas gift of the loom and for Yaya’s help as well. 

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And we were ever grateful for our sweet Carpinteria home-school buddies to share the day with –

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Kelly’s Surprise Party!

We pulled it off – had the entire downstairs cleaned and ready for the big day – for her 50th.  A whopping 30+ people came on time to yell ‘SURPRISE’ to her at the top of their lungs.  She almost had a heart attack, and then faked like she was going to run away.  Everyone handed her a rose as they greeted her, and she was super blessed! 

 

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The If-Then Scenario

IF Toby climbs up and down the stairs (at 6 months PG) 400 times in order to move her childrens’ clothes/toys to another room over the course of 4 days, and IF she is dehydrated, THEN she will begin having (mostly non-painful) squeezing contractions and THEN she will have to go to the hospital, get a shot to stop them,… be told that her cervix is fortunately ‘hard as a rock’ (a great thing) and be told to slow down.  Pray that I can cool my jets….  🙂

All Good Things Must Come to an End

After a solid day of cleaning and doing the last detail work (plumbing a sink, putting the electrical plate covers on, etc) the construction portion of the project has come to an end. 

It was just in time, too.  Toby had planned and was hosting a surprise birthday party for her sister Kelly.  Toby wanted the first floor finished for the party.

Here are some pictures of the finished kitchen.

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There is still some detail work to do.  I am in desperate need of installing a water softener and the central vacuum system only has stub-outs and needs to be piped in.  Also, the stairs need some carpet, but isn’t perpetual maintenance what owning a home is all about?

The kids are at Poppa and YaYa’s house for Easter break, so Toby and I will take advantage of the time to move their room downstairs.