Sophie made a sign. The house smelled like smoke for a long while…

Mommy made the cake…

Daddy planned an awesome treasure hunt. Lillie’s nemesis, “Bad Beard” buried a treasure somewhere around here and when he ran off he dropped a coin. The large coin had a clue on it and the kids were off…

The treasure was buried in the backyard, the kids dug it up and found pirate swords, eye patches and silly string.

Sorry this one is sideways but it was too cute not to include…

Sophie got a new bike.

She’s been growing like a weed and was very excited to have a bike that fits and isn’t pink.

Shad and the girls made strawberry jam from berries we picked…

We went to Spanaway, WA to visit family for the 4th of July.

We rented paddle boats.

Lillie with the paddle boats

Shad and Sophie in the paddleboat

Shad, Lillie and Rebecca

There are very nice fireworks in Washington, far more spectacular than the ones we are used to.

Uncle Barry helping Sophie light a bottle rocket

Lillie was very responsible with her bottle rocket

The kids taking turns lighting fireworks with Uncle Barry

Uncle Greg won a baking contest through coercion and intimidation. What a nice family tradition!

There were a lot of Fashion Shows.

All summer  Sophie and Cenna dressed up Lillie and made Shad and I watch the little shows they put on.

Cenna, Lillie and Sophie playing Fashion Show

We went to the Cabin a few times

On this day, Shad took the girls to a cabin for a day with their cousins.

Sophie and Julia by the fire in the cabin

Julia, Noah and Lillie

Lillie playing at the creek

Sophie

Shad and Lillie by the creek at the cabin

We had visitors, too…

Aunt Alex came for a few days between work and school sessions and the girls really enjoyed having her here.

Sophie, Alex and Cenna

At Marine Corp Family day with Uncle Poulo, doing a scary, swinging thing to Lillie, a move actually called, “Pouloing”

The girls went to the fair with Granmolly

The fair had a day when you could get in free if you brought a vegetable dressed up. You only had to have one vegetable, but somehow they kept multiplying…

The girls really loved photographing them, if you want to see more, I have about 600 more.

The vegetables passed the “looks like a person” test and the girls spent the day at the fair with Granmolly.

Lillie on the giant swings

Lillie playing a game at the fair

We bunny-sat for the family across the street.

Yes, I let her put the bunny in doll clothes, but only for a minute.

Sophie and the bunny

Dress up parties were a frequent occurrence …

Sophie, Cenna and Lillie having Shirley Temples, pound cake and pretzels.

Lillie, Christina, Sophie and Cenna having a tea party

Uncle Poulo took us sailing on his boat…

(Sorry,  some of these are sideways.)

Shad, Lillie and Poulo

Captain Lillie Morgan

Becky

So that – plus a lot more- was our summer. School starts tomorrow. Sophie is entering 3rd grade and Lillie is starting Kindergarten. More fun to come!

Jason halfway up the tree cutting branches off…

Shad in the tree, taking his turn with the saw…

And so, we thought, how often is there a tree ladder in your backyard, just there for the climbing? We all took a turn, most of them going a lot higher than I did.

Here is Sophie…

And now the pine tree is but a stump. The backyard is so much sunnier! But also now there is a camouflage thing about 10 inches off the ground in the middle of my backyard. Time to get a stump grinder!

The Entry/Dining

BEFORE:

Removed carpet and linoleum, new light fixture, painted walls, removed a cabinet and got new window treatments…

AFTER:

More views:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

From the hallway looking into the kitchen on one side and the living room on the other.

We remodeled the fireplace and of course, paint and carpet removal.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

From the living room looking at the wall by the hall and the entry. Here we removed the huge sliding glass door and replaced it with French doors and a picture window. The desk is a double sided desk so that Shad and I can work at the same time. Sophie does her homework there so that she can be with the family. The large white cupboard is full of the girls’ games and toys (the idea was that it would keep their room cleaner, good luck) We also added taller baseboards.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

MORE VIEWS OF THE LIVING ROOM:

In some ways the backyard feels a little smaller, because it is fully walled now, but I would rather that than peepholes. We can hot tub with no peekers!

The original fence cut out a large part of our yard, basically adding it to the park. When this fence went in, we changed the layout and gained room for a new bike shed – when the time comes.

Lillie picking the winning duck…

Fishing for prizes…

Sophie getting her face painted by the teacher…

The finished product..it’s a snake…

Lillie’s turn…

Lillie’s face…

Momma didn’t get her face painted, but she wore Sophie’s Venetian mask all evening.

Lillie and Daddy…(Daddy who did not dress up)

The girls…

I think it looks even worse now that the blood is gone because you can see a huge gash on my forehead, my nose is caked in a scab and my chin is scraped up pretty badly. My teeth are also loose in my head and may have even been cracked – dentist next week.

Pretty embarrassing.

Here is the after picture, after they washed the blood off…

I always forget to take before pictures, but here is the playhouse as it was with a fresh coat of paint inside and out, but no trim done or any other finishing touches.

Turn your head sideways for a lovely shot of the floor before…

Three days later (the subsequent two days were NOT warm and pleasant at all!), it is done… New interior and exterior paint, curtains, and a painted “rug”. Best part, it only cost me time, the paint was already in my garage, the curtains were a hand me down from a neighbor whose daughter didn’t like them.

Inside, from the little window…

A little trivia game. All of the paint came from my garage. On the floor: one color is my hallway, one my living room, one is the color of the library one the current color of the bathroom, one the color of the bathroom that Shad chose (it lasted one day) and three were candidates for the exterior of my house. Now which color is which?

The girls really want the playhouse to shut all the way up and be secret and cosy. So all of the curtains easily open and shut, ribbon loops I sewed. Here is the playhouse all closed up.

So what did the girls think?

Lillie: “Mama, this is better than you think it is, you painted it too goodly.”

Sophie just jumped around laughing and giving me a thumbs up. She’s thrilled about the curtains I think.

Now I have to go find another project or stumble upon another fixer upper in my backyard.