Ari lost her first tooth and she has another one on the way out. The tooth fairy left her a whole quarter, which she took to the play section at Walmart and promptly used in the machines. She can't wait for all of her teeth to fall out so she can make bank! I can't believe that this girl is going to be 5 in 19 short days. Ari starts Kindergarten at the end of the month too! We go to the pool every day we can and Ari is one of my two little fish. One of my other children THINKS she takes after Grandpa Smathers.

Brynli turned 6 this last month. The girl is 6 going on 16. I never thought I was as ungirly as Brynli makes me feel. As a mom, I don't quite know what to do with all the skirts and drama. She wants to be a cheerleader! AUUUUUUGH. For her birthday she requested a princess cake- bedecked and bejewled. I did my best and, all told, it turned out pretty well. The best thing I can say about it was that we had tons of frosting left over and it was good.

Nick took the family fishing. Feeling like a beached whale, and not having a fishing license, I took pictures, read and watched. Chance really got in to it! The boy who doesn't like anything dirty on his clothes or his hands loved playing with the squiggling fish and worms! He took every fish off the hook and hucked it back into the water. The girls enjoyed the catching part, but wanted nothing to do with the worms or the fish once they left the water.

Nick and I just celebrated our 7th year. (Hint: the anniversary usually is closely followed by the girl's birthdays and you just have to know the anniversary year and you can count back to find out how old the girls are). Mom asked me if I was getting itchy- I didn't understand and she had to explain it to me. I must admit that this is not where I saw myself being at this point in my life, when I was younger. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Now we are setteling in to await our new one. The kids are very excited and ask all kinds of cute and embarasing questions!

So.... we've been beyond crazy busy here! I guess a kitchen remodel will do that. We are almost done, just a few minor odds and ends that need attended to. Nick started ripping out cabinets, walls, ceilings etc. in May. I think that he really enjoyed the demolition part! Here are some pre-demo pictures of the kitchen. It was really pretty small for our house and a little dated!

This picture isn't out of focus- that's dust, that I am still trying to clean out of the rest of our house!

We (or rather I) was without a real kitchen from May until just Friday night, when the sink was installed. Utility sinks were NOT designed for pregnant women... but I'm really thankful that we have one. Thanks to everyone who helped with the remodel- esp. Leon. We could not have done it with out you- at least without hiring someone and that would not have happend with our budget. Here are some "final result" pictures for those of you who didn't get to see it all together... It looks great! Even the yellow, that I started having doubts about has mellowed and I really like it.

Our goal now is to enjoy and to NOT start any more big projects this year!