Bear in the Pool!!!

"There's a BEAR in our pool!!"

This is what I heard at 6:30 yesterday morning as Scott came running into our room.  I tell you what - that comment will having you jumping up from a dead sleep no matter who you are.  Now what he actually said was "Bear is in our pool"...as in our neighbor's dog named Bear.

Apparently the friendly girl decided she needed to go for a morning dip and seeing how Scott finished that nice deck (swear I will take some pictures of it someday soon) that you can literally walk right into our pool from, our pool was the perfect place to do some morning laps.

Actually Bear is deathly afraid of water and we are guessing that she thought it was a solid surface what with the solar cover on it and all. She was so scared we couldn't even coax her out - she just kept swimming in circles.  Scott had to jump in (guess it's a bit nippy at 6:30 in the morning after we've had 49 degree nights too) and physically lift her out.  I'm pretty sure this whole ordeal is not going to help her get over her fear of water.

Thankfully we have a gate we can close...which was meant to keep out our girls/neighbor kids for safety purposes, but we can now add dogs to that list :).

Graduation Day

Lilly's graduation celebration was Wednesday and I cannot even tell you how dang cute all those preschoolers were.  There was singing, story telling, dancing, crafting, cake eating, hugging, tons of picture taking and maybe just a few tears :).

Lilly later told me she was very nervous once she walked out and saw all the people in the crowd.

Here she is getting her graduation diploma.

What would a graduation party be without cake!?!

Nolee was so excited to be "part" of everything and it just melted my heart the way Lilly automatically grabbed her hand and included Nolee with all of her friends.

Although Nolee was pretty darn excited about that cookie too - she cracks me up!  I don't know why she does that when she is eating something she really likes...she looks like she is trying to fold herself around it...or just preventing mommy from sneaking in and getting a nibble :).

Then it was time for crafts.

After this next picture Nolee proceeded to wipe that bright pink stamp ink all over the front of her dress...yup that's my girl :).  In her defense there were not any paper towels on the table handy so logical thinking would say your whitesh dress would work just as well...right?

Then it was out to greet Papa driving bus.  Something that absolutely never gets old.  Lilly looks forward to it everytime I have picked her up and Nolee got a pretty darn big kick out of going on the big kid bus to give Papa a hug as well.

And finally a picture with her 3 amazing teachers.  She has loved this year of school so much and I know that I probably should be sad because it did go by so fast and she is growing up so quick, but I'm actually the opposite.  I'm just as excited as she is that she is starting kindergarten and how much she is already learning and how she seems like she is 4 going on 10 most days.  She amazes me how quickly she catches onto concepts and how that brain of hers is always working on overdrive and how she misses nothing (seriously n-o-t-h-i-n-g).  I find all of her accomplishments and faults so interesting and so her and think she is one of most interesting people I know.  These are such fun ages and I'm just excited to enjoy them and see what comes next :). 



Spreading the Straw

After Scott got the yard all leveled out, top dressed with black dirt and spread the grass seed it was time to get som insulation on those new sprouts of grass.  We were lucky enough to grab a few bails of straw from the farm and had 2 eager helpers to make the job go quicker.

I don't know how much straw spreading this one actually did...but she did love running through it.

Then somehow we got into a game of hide & seek around the yard.



It's Official...We Have A Pool!!

With LOTS of help from others (thank you Grant & Joe) and the expertise of my cousin Heath and Leon of BlockCo we got the pool put up last Saturday.  It was a very interesting process to watch (I wasn't allowed to help as I was on kid watch duty).

Once the professionals got there the guys got busy measuring the level of the sand with some fancy tool...actually I think it was just a level...but it made these beeping noises when it was level so that makes it fancy :).  Once the sand was all nice and level the guys started putting down the cement paver thingys (technical term I know), the wall track and re barb (sp??) to hold the sides of the pool in place as they put it up.  I'm told that metals is heavy and the task of unfolding it is not easy - which is probably why it took all 5 of the guys.

Once all the sides were up the guys had to push the sand up against the sides from the inside to ensure the walls were stable.  While Scott and Grant tackled that the other guys started placing the beams around the outside.

Don't you know you can't watch a pool being put up without being in another one?  Kind of ironic yes, but it was around 90 degrees that day...the guys were so lucky to have some shade!

Once they had the sand pushed up in the middle and the beams on the outside attached it was time to get out the liner.  Heath said we needed to lay it out in the sun to let it bake and become more pliable.

After the liner had baked they (carefully) started putting it in the pool and pulling the lip over the side...kind of reminded me of putting a new trash bag in the wastebasket...but on a much bigger scale.

Watching is hard work...this one was plum tuckered out :).

But not this one...she kept asking me when we could get in the new pool!

Here is the first truck of water being dumped in.  You can see the hose thing on the left hand side and the guys lined up taking a much needed break!

It took two whole milk trucks (7,000 gallons in each load) and then a bit from the hose to fill it.

Man the rest of our yard is a mess right now...but don't worry we'll get right on it (seriously I think we have forgotten what the word relax means sometimes).

So...gazebo - check, rug & shade curtains - check, pool - check.  And Scott has been working his tail off spreading a top layer of black dirt over the remaining areas of dirt in our yard and seeded it the other night...so black dirt & seed - check!

I even got in it last night to vacuum for the first time...by the time I was done my feet were numb as it was only 68 degrees...but we have a clean pool :).  I was also the smart one who jumped in the day after it was put in...when it was 60 degrees...talk about refreshing!

This weekend...we are going wood shopping for the deck materials.  I am SO excited to see how that turns out and I am just as excited to see my hard working man take a break!



Just Some Hams

And here is little Grayden...isn't he just the cutest!  He is doing so well since his surgery and is so much happier and more comfortable.  I know his mommy & daddy are so very happy everything went so well and that their baby boy is able to breath easier.  My brother was making him crack up - I just love those little gummy smiles :).