Getting in shape?

Haha.. I couldn't resist snapping these photos. The boys see us lifting weights and exercising, and they want to do it to. They were begging to get on the treadmill and walk/run like we do. So we let them get on and walk, with it on slow. They loved it! Can you tell the rainy weather for the past few weeks is starting to make them a little crazy?! haha

I guess this can be a good thing....If we teach them a love for exercise now, maybe it will stick with them when they are older. Notice Levi has on my weight lifting gloves...he had been lifting weights with me before jumping on the treadmill. He also kept checking his muscles to see if they were bigger yet! haha :)

Playing in the Sandbox

I had some sand left over, so I filled in the area under their rope-ladder, at their fort. They have been playing in the sandbox everyday! They love having this! Yea! It has been great for keeping them entertained. :)

Yea! It's almost done!

While I was gone to my cooking show, Stephen and the boys worked on the pool. I am so proud of them. The main thing left now, is getting the "outside" ladder all hooked up. Plus I think Stephen is going to try and build a small deck around the filter system, so the dog and the kids can't get to it and mess something up.

Lighted Steps

Stephen got the light in the steps hooked up tonight also. This was a free upgrade we received, since they didn't have our steps in stock. Yea! This will be really nice for swimming at night in the hot, hot summer! :)

pool fountain

Stephen also got our pool fountain hooked up tonight. Isn't this cool? It spins around, shooting water in the air. The company we bought our pool from, threw this in for Free.

My Silly Boys

Here are my silly boys. They were goofing off, so I snapped their picture. :)

Levi snapped this picture of me and Seth.....

Mommy and Seth

Levi wanted my camera so he could take Daddy's picture...but then he took mine and Seth's! :)

Look at me, Look at me!

I got home from my cooking show today, and I was greeted by this! haha Seth just wanted me to take his picture. He is such a little ham!

The boys had been playing in the pool this afternoon. Daddy had finished putting the pump on, and put the top rails on.

Happy Birthday Train...

We went to a birthday party Saturday, for a friend of ours. He turned 3. At his party, all of the kids got to ride this really cool train all around the neighborhood. Each time it came back to the house, the kids were able to jump into a different car. They had so much fun! The parents got to ride also. It was really fun! Then we came back and had pizza, hit a pinata, and then had cake/presents. The boys really had a wonderful time! They told Daddy all about it when they got home.

Riding the front car of the train. The birthday boy was able to pretend to be the engineer, he got to sit in the "pretend" seat with the steering wheel, and ring the bell. All of the kids loved this!

The man driving the train gave all of the kids these necklaces. Plus all the kids we passed by on the road, the engineer threw necklaces to them also. Everyone had so much fun! This has been all the boys could talk about today!

Strawberry Cake is their favorite!

While buying groceries, Levi and Seth begged to get a strawberry cake. So I got the cake mix and icing, (and to keep the side-tracked from the pool) they helped me make the cake. Seth put the stuff in the bowl and Levi held the mixer. Then I poured it in the pans while the boys licked the bowl and spatula. Then after it baked and cooled, I put globs of icing on the cake and they spread it all around. Here they are, eating cake....and still licking my "Pampered Chef Spreader". haha

Every time the boys see this picture on the computer screen, they start cracking up laughing and can't stop! hahaha

Is the pool ready yet? We are!

We had to go buy groceries today, and of course the boys just had to have some new floaties and masks for the pool! They even cleaned their rooms before we left, and were perfect little angels at the store, just so they could buy these! Yea!

They are definitely very impatient! They are so ready for us to have this pool done. They got in and played, even thought the water was only to about their knees. Are they cute or what!

My Hubby was on TV!!!!!

Tonight my handsome hubby was on TV! He was on the 10pm news tonight (Friday). Did you see it? If not, I may have e-mailed it to you. If I didn't e-mail it to you, ask me for the link...(for privacy purposes, I don't want to put the link on here). I am so proud of him!!!! He looked so handsome, and spoke so well. Wow! Am I a lucky woman or what?! :)

New Pool!

(Don't worry, this isn't the finished product, it is still a work in progress! haha I just wanted you to see where it is at right now)

We decided to use part of our tax return and by a more permanent above ground resin pool. It should last us for a long long time. It even has a warranty for something like 10 years. We went and looked at them on Monday, but they didn't have all of the "parts" in and were going to have some over-nighted from another store.

So we went back and picked everything up on Tuesday around 1pm. They didn't have the correct steps in, so they gave us a free upgrade to these steps that have a light in them! Cool! Then we came back home and were doing dirt work, and were trying to get everything ready to put it up. Boy were we frustrated and about ready to give up...The wind was blowing so hard (we are on a hill and we get a lot of wind!), it was just me and Stephen, and we didn't know if we would get it done or not. Well that evening the wind calmed down and I got the liner all straightened out and ready for water. By this time, we realized that we didn't have it level after all. Stephen had checked it, but we were so side-tracked that we forgot to check it again after setting up the sides and filling sand in the cove. So we were going to be off by like 6 inches from one side to the other. Well, we figured if we were going to have this really nice 24 ft by 52 inch deep pool, we had better do it right so we could enjoy it and not regret fixing it when we had the chance....plus by this time it was after 11:30pm and we were exhausted!

So on Wednesday we thought we would get out there and level it up before Stephen had to go to work. Not so! The wind was blowing so hard, the liner was literally blowing up out of the pool, it was like a hot air balloon! We had to jump in and try to hold it down while putting more water in it to help hold it down. So what to do now? We decided to wait until Thursday (I had watched the weather and it was supposed to be a beautiful calm day with wind less than 5mph! yea! Thank you Lord for answering prayer!)

Thursday morning Stephen got home from work, and it was calm and beautiful outside! So he went to bed to get a little sleep. I went to pick up more sand, but they were gone to lunch (at 11am!), so I can back. When I got home, our water was off! I called and found out they were tying into a new tower and it would be off for about an hour. (more like 2). So the boys played while I worked. Then once Stephen got up, he started working on taking top rails off, and putting stones under the low side, to raise it up. While he did this, I went to get another load of sand. I got back and we pulled the liner back and shoveled sand in to level that one side up. He threw the sand in while I raked it all into place. (over the last few days, I think we have both had way to much experience shoveling sand!haha). Then we got it all leveled up, put the liner back on and the top rail. We both got in and worked on straightening up the liner, to make sure we didn't have any wrinkles in it. Then Stephen had to get ready for work (he only got about 3 1/2 hours of sleep yesterday! my poor hubby!) . So while he did that, I picked up tools and put them in the shed. Then I had to come in and do laundry, sweep sand up out of the kitchen floor (from boys running in and out), clean the kitchen, make them something to eat for dinner, etc, etc. They got out there and played in the pool for awhile, while I shoveled some more sand around the outsides. Then I brought them in and gave them a bath. We were all so exhausted.

Stephen and I are both extremely sore and tired! Whew, this has been a lot of work and we still have a lot to do: hook up filter, finish assembling the ladders, finish putting the top rails/caps on, etc. Right now Stephen is getting some much needed sleep and the pool is filling up with water, so we can finish all of these other things. We have saved a lot of money by doing this ourselves, and it has really been a fun/bonding experience! :)

Oh and of course the boys are impatient and asking us everyday if it is going to be done yet! haha They just want to swim! :)

I will post more pictures when we get it all finished!

Boys Night!

When Mommy is away, the boys will play!

I had my Monthly Pampered Chef Meeting Monday night. While I was gone, Stephen and the boys had a boys night. It started storming, and when it storms, Toby freaks out! He is scared to death of thunder and lightening. So we just usually let him sleep in the wash-room when it is bad out. On this night, since Mommy wasn't home, Daddy and the boys let him lay in the kitchen/dining room floor on his blankey. The boys even went and got their TJ Bearytales and read stories with Toby. He never tried to cross over onto the carpet, and just stayed in here like Stephen told him to. He is really an amazingly smart dog! He is even house-broke, which we didn't know. He would come look at Stephen and then walk to the door when he needed to go out. Of course when I got home and it was time to go to bed, we put him back in the wash-room for the night. But from the looks of this picture, all of the "boys" enjoyed "Boys Night". :)

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Mother's Day was wonderful. Stephen had me meet him at the PD Friday night, on our way home from Levi's T-Ball Game, because he had something for me. I just assumed it was some of his paperwork or an invitation to something, etc. Well, it was this!!!! He had someone sketch this photo of these boys! Isn't this a unique, thought out, and amazing gift?! I LOVE IT!!!!! He has always been an amazing "gift giver". I don't' think I have ever been disappointed with anything he has given me. He is always so thoughtful, and really thinks of me and what I would like. He is an amazing husband and father. I am so blessed!

On Sunday, Mother's Day, Stephen let me sleep in. So when I got up he brought me a cup of tea. Then I ate some breakfast and got ready for church. At church the boys made me a craft (so sweet!), and then after church Levi chose to take me to Dickey's BBQ for lunch (ok, so that is his favorite place to eat...but hey, Kids eat FREE on Sundays so I was happy! haha). Then we went to Home Depot and got some veggies for our garden. (Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cantaloupe, squash, zucchini, carrots, etc). Then we went by the store and picked up some Baby-Back Ribs to smoke on our smoker. We came home, got the boys down for a nap, and started the smoker, and then started mowing. Stephen finished the brush-hogging while I push-mowed. After this, we got the tomato plants in the ground, but a storm was blowing in, so that was as far as we got. Then we came in and had a relaxing evening with the boys. It was a WONDERFUL DAY!

Thank you Stephen, Levi, and Seth!

Love you all,

Kandy

Levi just wanted to be Spiderman

Last night the boys were watching cartoons in Levi's room. I went to check on them one time, and boy was I in for a surprise. Levi had got one of my good pens off of my desk. He was sitting in the middle of his bed, drawing lines on his arms (he had already done his brother's arms, and his own legs/hands/fingers). At first I was shocked and said "what do you think your doing? why do you have my pen in here?" He looked up at me and said "I'll wipe it off". I said "you can't Levi, it's ink. We will have to soak it off in the bathtub." Then I saw the humor of the moment, and I started to giggle because he looked so cute. I said "what were you trying to do?" He said "I just wanted to be a superhero". I couldn't help but laugh! I gave him a hug and kissed his forehead. When I looked at his face he was crying! He said "I want to take a bath and wash it off". I told him there was no reason to cry, we could get it off in the bathtub, we would just have to use soap. I also told him that Mommy was only laughing because he was so cute. He said "Ok, but can I take a bath now?" I of course said yes. Then Seth said "see, brother made me superhero too". He had marks all over his arms, but luckily had jeans on, so Levi didn't do his legs! haha

I couldn't resist taking this picture of him, before their bath. I took a "close-up" also, so you could see his perfect lines...they were supposed to be like spiderman's suit. :)

Here is a close up of his legs. His legs, arms, hands/fingers were all covered in these "stripes". This morning I told Daddy about it, he asked Levi which Superhero he was trying to be, he said "Spiderman"! :)