"Short, Easy Hike"

We went to Oak Mt. State Park in Hoover, AL. It was beautiful. We had a great time doing family things. It was really nice to just spend time together, without the TV being involved. We had a great time!!!

Here are James and Anna on our "short hike" to Peavine Falls. We were told it was about 3/10 of a mile and it was an easy hike. I think James is questioning that here!! We ended up hiking for about and hour and a half!!! We found out, after we had started the hike, that there was more than one trail. We were on the white trail and we were supposed to merge onto the blue trail. We only found that out after we had turned around and followed the trail back out. We did find the falls on our way back. We had gone at least a mile out of the way. It was a good thing we turned around because we saw a map of the white trail after we were back on safe ground. It turns out that the white trail was a 10 mile trail. Anyway, one and a half hours, half of a bottle of Off, and about 2 gallons of sweat later, we finished the "short hike". I have to say, the kids were great. They never complained!! Of course Luke didn't, because Brian had to carry him the whole time!

Here is Luke after crawling under this log which was on our trail on our "easy hike".

Here is everyone feeding the ducks with goldfish. Are ducks suppose to like goldfish? Well, they did.

An update on the "update"

Well, I was sadly mistaken in thinking that measuring, cutting, and nailing the moulding would be the challenging part. I thought if we just measure correctly, and get it up there, it will be a piece of cake and we will be done in 2 days. WRONG!!! I also was mistaken in thinking that Brian would actually let me use the saw and the nail gun. I did get to use the nail gun a few times, but I never actually used the saw. To tell you the truth, I was just a tad bit scared of it. Oh well......next time, because there WILL be a next time. I have to say, I was so proud of Brian. He did a great job on the baseboards. He did not make one wrong cut. Anyway the actual hard part of the job starts AFTER all of the moulding is up. The next step is to be elbow deep in caulk for about 3 hours. Remember, we did ALL of the moulding in our family room, so there were a lot of things that needed caulking!! We thought, "Wow! Now I know why doing moulding is so hard." Well, we were wrong again. Next, we had to sand, and sand, and sand. I am so glad I had my cool glasses and mask handy. They sure were needed!! Sorry I don't have a picture of that, you will just have to get a mental one! THAT was the REAL hard part. I don't know if I have ever wanted to give something up so badly. I didn't though and we finished the sanding. Anyway, Brian and I both were literally covered in a white dust cloud and so was the rest of my house. My mom came over the next day and helped me vacuum the whole downstairs..... furniture and all!! Thanks Mom!!! The next step was to paint all of the trim. This is my area of expertise. I painted all of the trim and the finished it all up by trimming with the paint color!!! Wow, what a job. The finishing touch will be a new fireplace mantel which we are going to order tomorrow. I am so excited! In the middle of all of this, our family took a much needed break up to Oak Mt. Park and spent a little time with just the fam.. We were gone from Wed. to Friday. I will post pics when I can. Anyway, the family room looks beautiful. It was fun doing a project with Brian. We work pretty well together!!!

"Do-it-yourself-edness"

Well, I just got back from my very favorite store, Home Depot. I am hoping to step up my "do-it-yourself-edness" by learning a new trade. I guess you could call it that. I am planning on putting up new door mouldings tomorrow, with Brian's help, of course. I am so excited. I probably won't be able to sleep tonight, but I can't use a saw in the dark so I might as well try to get some beauty rest while it IS dark. Speaking of BEAUTY, I got myself some gear while I was there. I decided my sunglasses weren't doing the job, so I invested in some safety goggles. They are so HAPPENIN'!!! I also need to protect my lungs, so I will also be wearing a dust mask. I might try to get Brian to take a picture of me in action. I have never cut a piece of wood before in my life, so I am a little nervous. Also, we might be able to borrow our friends nail gun, so I will really be big-timing it!! Anyway, this is another step in my "project", so, needless to say AGAIN, I am so excited!!! I am hoping that I come away from this with all 10 fingers still attached!!!..........This just in......Brian just got off the phone with our friend David, and he is letting us borrow his nail gun, compressor, and mitre saw, (brave soul). He (Brian) also said we could get all of the door mouldings AND the baseboards done tomorrow. I am literally jumping for joy, while typing!!!

Game Night!!!

Sadly, family nights at the Wakefield home are very few and far between. The other night, we managed, all five of us, to fit one into the schedule. It is sad that this is the way it is...but it is. Anyway, you can see us here, enjoying a game of Monopoly Junior. This is really a fun game. Well, I don't know if it is just my competitive nature and that any game is fun to me, or if it is actually that Monopoly Jr. is just a great game. Whatever the reason, I always enjoy a good game with the kids. You can see here that I am doing quite well with the property I have chosen to place my lemonade stands on.....total domination. Not that I am too hard on James and Anna......they win sometimes!!! I do have to add that I did go on to win the game....not that it matters!!! I know, it is sad, isn't it? Well, how else are they going to learn?

Quitting a bad habit!

Well, I had a great time and much success at the consignment sale. I got all but a few things for the kids' winter wardrobe. It is great to get all of the shopping done in one night. I just do not have time to be running all over town, all of the time, shopping. This week, in particular, has been a crazy one. We have been so busy!!! With work, school, piano lessons, soccer practice, the sale, Fun Friday (a home school thing that I am one of the teachers for),and Leslie, Steve and Grant coming for the weekend, I have had just about all I can take. I have had a pretty much constant migraine since Thursday!!! Anyway, we are so glad that Steve and Leslie are here! Leslie and I hit the sale last night and got some good things. We all went to James' first soccer game this morning and had a good time. We are in the middle of a great day of football....my favorite. We always enjoy their visits!!!

Anyway, this bad habit that I am talking about has to do with Luke. He happens to like wearing Anna's princess shoes and a purse around and announcing he is going to work. So, we decided to try to get him interested in something else. I got him these great rain boots at the sale on Thursday, and, to our delight, he has taken to them very well. Since he has been wearing the boots, the purse hasn't come into play at all. The plan has worked!!!