4-H Princess Pageant... 2008 edition

It wouldn't be a normal summer unless I was summoned for "Glam Squad" duties for my nieces. This past Saturday was the annual Clay County 4-H Princess Pageant! It was really a Beyers family affair in that Elizabeth (who is a past 4-H Queen) was the Emcee; Caroline was the out-going Princess; and Rebecca was competing in the Princess Pageant!

Caroline, Elizabeth and Rebecca

I had 3 girls to get ready this time, which proved to be quite a challenge. I'm not sure I've ever curled so much hair, applied so much makeup, and helped them change in & out of outfits so many times in one day...EVER! Luckily, I got ready earlier in the day because we were primping right up until the last minute! I think the word CRAZY describes the day best.

Caroline's hair had a life of it's own...we were ALL scared!

Getting Rebecca ready for her interviewRebecca is all set for her interview! Good luck!

Elizabeth did a fantastic job as the Emcee. Since she had done the pageant for several years prior, she knew just what to do. Caroline was very nervous to give her outgoing speech. She managed to get through all 28 minutes of it! ;o) We love you, Caroline! Finally, the time came to announce the Princess & her court. Rebecca won Miss Congeniality!!! We were all so proud of her!!! For her first year competing, she did a phenominal job!!

Rebecca all ready for the formal wear, and Caroline is ready to go out on stage

Rebecca right before she went out on stage

It's quite rare to have 3 girls in one family that all end up royalty of some sort! Congrats to the Beyers girls!

Elizabeth (former Queen), Caroline (former Princess), Rebecca (Miss Congeniality - 2008)

Me & my beautiful nieces...Rebecca, Elizabeth, Caroline and Katie

As always, I thoroughly enjoy this weekend because I don't have girls to "fuss" over. I'm so glad they invite me to do this each year!!

Enjoy!

Jenni

Catching Up

After my last blog, I was having minor computer issues, which prevented me from blogging about the most important thing on June 23rd...RYAN'S 9th BIRTHDAY!!!

Yep, the big guy turned 9, and celebrated his birthday at Cub Scout Camp! Monday through Friday, both he & Brandon attended. Mike went along on M-W-F; I went on Tues. & Thurs. Needless to say, we were ALL worn out at the end of each day.

Our house is coming along nicely! Our closing date is growing nearer! Only 28 more days to go! Has the panic set in yet? YES. Is the house packed up yet? NO. Will I ever have to highlight my hair again? NO because it will all be gray... I digress.

June 23rd - They finished our ceilings!

June 24th - They finished bricking the outside of the house!

June 30th - They installed our gas fireplace; and put down the first coat of paint on the walls. Also, they delivered all of our trim, interior doors (I think we counted 23!) & cabinets -- that are all awaiting installation while being stored in our garage!

I've been making calls today to get estimates on movers. We had originally thought we'd do it ourselves; but after realizing that we've called upon friends & family members MANY times over the years to help us move, we figured it would be easier on everyone to just hire someone & get it overwith -- without anyone whining because their back hurts (okay, that would be me...); and just the sheer fact that time is an issue & Mike's work schedule can be impossible sometimes. The painter we had planned on can't do our house until mid-August, so it looks like we'll move in & then just have to move the furniture out from the walls for him. As long as I don't have to paint 3200 sqft. by myself, I'll do whatever it takes!! ;o)

Oh... I almost forgot!! Tadpole update: We have 13 tadpoles, not 12. How did that happen?! Funny story. The water was getting pretty funky - though online strongly suggested not changing the water, we had to -- it was stinky & we could hardly see the tadpoles anymore. Luckily, we had scooped up some of the water they were originally in & kept it stored. Mike scooped out the tadpoles into a shallow tupperware. When he was getting ready to dump out the water in the aquarium, he noticed something moving. Yep, another tadpole. He counted again... lucky 13. How we never saw that guy is beyond me. All but a couple have sprouted their hind legs, and the legs are really growing!!

That's our past week or so in a nutshell!

Jenni

It's a good day to be green...

Just thought I'd give an update on our new little darlings... the tadpoles.

All 12 are still swimming along each day, growing by the minute!

I haven't taken any new photos of them lately - mainly because:
1) Tadpoles don't hold still for very long
2) It's just darn hard to focus in on them!

I've done a bit more research on our little critters. I've found out that they're about 5 weeks old. A few of our tadpoles are starting to get sprouts of their hind legs! I swear, they change each day.

They LOVE fish flakes, and that has become the food of choice -- forget the lettuce pieces.

We have one little guy that hangs out at the bottom quite a bit. For a while, I thought he was sickly, but he proved me wrong. He plays the part of Tiny Tim, but is quite the bully when it comes to feeding time! I was feeling sorry for him, but now I think he is capable of holding his own. However, he is a bit behind the others age-wise, and I may end up scooping him out to raise him in another bowl or something -- I don't want him to become a snack for one of the other tadpoles later!

This has really been an interesting venture. However, it has pretty much turned into MY summer science experiment instead of the boys'. Why I thought it would be different is beyond me. Who am I kidding... they have people to take care of their stuff (read: ME)!

We have back legs and growing front legs to look forward to in the next couple of weeks! We'll keep you posted!

Love,
Jenni

Have I Lost My Mind???

Well, the answer to that is simple. Yes.

As if I have nothing else to do, I have now accepted 12 (yes, 12) new pets into my house.

12 pets you say? Well, they're not quite pets yet -- but will be soon enough!

There is a story as to how we ended up with these 12 pets... You see, my kids were staying at my parents' house. While they were there, we discovered that a frog had gotten on top of my parents' pool cover, had layed eggs, and thousands of tadpoles were swimming on top of their pool cover! Since Brandon is totally obsessed with all things frogs & toads, we just HAD to rescue at least a few of these precious pets...

So, we scooped 12 tadpoles into some of the yuck water they were in, transported them back to our house, and put them in our old aquarium. It's sort of a summer science project, if you will. We opted for 12 with the assumption that not all of them would make it. Well, we're into day #3, and all are still going strong!

We'll keep you posted on their growth, but for now, here is my running tally of things to care for... 1 husband, 2 children, 2 cats, 1 dog, and 12 tadpoles... and a partridge in a pear tree. Aghhh!!

Enjoy!

And there's MORE!

Here are the latest "happenings" at Hoke Manor...

June 8th - The plumbing & electrical was installed - yippee! We have bathtubs! We have electrical, cable & phone outlets!

The shower & jacuzzi tub in the Master Bath

The tub/shower in the boys' bathroom

I'll spare you yet another picture of a tub/shower from the basement bath... It is identical to the one in the boys' bathroom - and besides, it was too dark down there to get a good picture!

We also got a garage door - Yay! (It's the little things that excite us most...)

June 13th - Our insulation was installed!

This is looking from the outside into the garage

June 16th - Our drywall was installed! We have real walls!

Our Kitchen

Looking from our TV room to our front door area/stairway/dining room

Our Loft area

June 17th - Our drywall was taped & mudded (is that gramatically correct?!), and they started bricking & siding the house.

Looking from our breakfast nook, into the kitchen, and the TV room

Starting to brick on the front

The back of the house is sided, and the screened-in porch is just awaiting a door & screens!

Things are really starting to take shape. We've been given a closing date of July 29th -- just a little over a month from now! Yikes!!

We still do not have our current house listed yet, due to more home improvements that still are being made; and while we're on that topic, I'm convinced that these so-called improvements never seem to end! I mean, we've lived in this house like this for 7 years, why are we fixing it up for complete strangers?! I digress... we're also totally at the mercy of the Lowes installers right now waiting (and WAITING) on our new flooring upstairs. Ugh! Oh well, we'll get it sold SOMEDAY... ;o)

That's all for now, folks! Stay tuned...

Love, Jenni

House progression...

Here is the latest installment of pictures -- I'm a little behind, sorry!

May 29 - we have the makings of a roof!

June 2 - We officially have a roof, start of our screened-in back porch, windows/some doors, a more finished front porch, and the house was wrapped with something (don't you love my technical terms?!), ducting arrived, and I hear plumbing will start fairly soon...

Our front porch

Our screened-in back porch

The house "wrapped" in something...

Here is the downstairs...

Here is the upstairs...

Our new neighbors tell us that the actual construction goes quickly... it's the plumbing, wiring, and drywalling that take a lot of time. Oh well, the more time we have to pack, the better!

As always, as things progress, I'll blog about it!

Love, Jenni

SCHOOL'S OUT!

It's that time of year... school's OUT for the summer!

Waiting for the bus on the last day of school

Ryan completed 3rd grade, and was promoted to 4th grade; Brandon completed Kindergarten, and was promoted to 1st grade. It was a BIG day and a FUN day!

The boys each celebrated in their own way. And while we're on that subject, I just want to reflect on how I celebrated the last day of school in either Kindergarten or 3rd grade. I'm quite sure it went something like this... I rode the bus home, got a snack & played outside. However, for my kids it went a little different...

Ryan (along with several other buddies) was invited by his friend Grant, to get picked up in a LIMO at school, that would then drive them to a local bowling alley for an afternoon of fun. My, how times have changed!! I'm 35 and still have never ridden in a limo -- he's all of 8 (okay, almost 9), and now he's one up on me! ;o)

At any rate, Brandon was pretty bummed that Ryan was invited to do something & he wasn't... so, I picked him up from school, and we went to the same place Ryan went to - along with one of his friends & his mom.

The day went well, and Ryan is STILL talking about how awesome the limo was. I guess we'll have to live vicariously through him until the rest of us get the chance!

Now comes finding things to do for the summer. First off is purging everything possible for our Yard Sale this weekend. At this point, I just want to sell every single thing inside my house because I don't want to PACK it!!! ;o) If it were only that easy...

We're looking at a summer full of swimming, playing golf, going to Scout Camp, packing, and MOVING. Just thinking about it makes me tired...

Talk soon!

Jenni

May 28th

More happenings with the house!

May 28th - more framing, and stairs. We have stairs to the 2nd floor, as well as ceilings throughout most of the house! We have window holes, and windows/doors waiting to be installed sitting in our garage!

We have a ceiling!

Our stairway to Heaven... ;o)

Looking from the back of the house (in the TV room) towards what will be our office...

Ryan & his buddy, Max, who lives across the street -- playing on our enormous dirt pile. This is looking out what will be our front door!

Here's a better view of the downstairs...

Fun, fun, fun!

Jenni

The House Progresses

Our new house is really progressing -- and honestly, each day, there is something new! Here are the latest installments...

April 11th - our vacant lot.

May 5th - they broke ground & started digging our basement! May 12th - they took the frames off of the basement footers & foundation.

May 24th - they put in the back-fill & started framing the basement.
(These pictures just don't do the basement justice -- it's so much larger in person!)

May 27th - they started framing the first floor.
Going down into the basement...

Looking out of what will be the dining room...

From the garage, looking towards the dining room, den, kitchen & TV room (I know, it just looks like a sea of lumber!)...

We continue to be excited as the days progress. It's getting easier & easier to visualize what we painstakingly picked out months ago!!

As more things progress, you can bet I'll blog about it!

Love, Jenni