Week in review

Nate had another fun week of football. They had their first real game this Saturday and the one time I did not take spare batteries to a game/practice is the one time I load the camera with dead batteries. Alot of my batteries are getting near the end of their recharging lives so sorry - no pics of the last game.

Lexi started dance class this week too. She had her first class Wednesday. I have not figured out yet if its once a week or Monday and Wednesday. When I find that out I will let y'all know.

Grandmoo was up this weekend so Chris and I went up to my office and packed up my cube. No I have not quit or gotten laid off (yet - on both counts). They are rearranging the cubes in the building and going to a flex-space configuration. Basically they are cutting the cube space in half and there are no longer assigned cubes (though there is a hope in our group that we will have assigned cubes on a project by project basis). Basically all our stuff has to fit in one wheeled file-cabinet/locker which we are supposed to take and find a unoccupied cube each morning and set up then at the end of the day we are supposed to pack our stuff back in the locker and wheel it to a common area so we can retrieve it the next day. I really wonder if companies actively try and find ways of lowering employee morale. If so I give flex-space a gold star!

Nate & Lexi's first week of school

Nate and Lexi had a good first week at school. Unfortunately Nate got sick Thursday but we were able to send him to school Friday. He is running a little warm still and stuffy but hopefully he will be able to go to school tomorrow.

We signed Nate up for flag football Saturday. We haven't heard anything yet about which team he is assigned but there are three teams that practice at L.D. Bell which is just a couple of blocks from the house. I asked Lexi if she wanted to take a cheer leading class or a dance class and she wanted to dance so Chris is looking for a dance/ballerina class for Lexi.

This weekend took down the old homemade shelves on the far wall of the garage and put in a couple of shelves in the workshop. Since Chris wasn't feeling well this weekend I could only put in about 4-5 hours each day but I can finish up in October after the birthdays.

I tried putting up a couple of hanging shelves but the drywall wouldn't support them. I was using 90 lbs anchors but even then if you have 30 year old drywall its only going to support so much. I went with Lexi to home depot and got a stud finder and got them put up. Now all I have to do in the garage is one more side wall and I am done with the garage improvements.

That's it for now.

:)

A week with Bobby and Darlene!

Nate and I picked up Bobby and Darlene at the airport Monday. Their plane arrived at 2:30 so I tried to time it so we got to the airport at 2:30. That part worked as planned but what I had not counted on was the fact that since it was an international flight they would be held up in customs for 30+ minutes. After they got out we picked up some Dublin Dr. Pepper (there were two things they did not have in Bulgaria - Dr. Pepper and Starbucks). And after that we went to Bobby Valentines and ate dinner with Aunt Cherie and Uncle Curtis.

Tuesday we went to Six Flags. The kids had a blast! Unfortunately there were only a handful of rides we could take Lexi on but we were able to go on the mini mine train with her. We actually got Nate to ride on the runaway mine train and he loved it! We stayed the whole time the park was open (11-7) and the kids still did not want to leave.

Wednesday was more of a rest day. We had a meet the teacher with Nate's Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Riggs. Bobby and Darlene took care of Lexi while we went.

Thursday I gave Chris her belated Mothers day present. She stayed at home while the rest of us went to Nana's and Papa's.

Friday was a busy day. First we all drove to Carthage and visited the kids great grandma Yount. Then we drove to Tyler and visited the Cadwell Zoo. The kids had a great time at the zoo. Especially the playground at the end.

Saturday we came home. There is no place like home.

Well today was Nate's first day at school. Chris just dropped him off. Tomorrow is Lexi's first day. Will let y'all know how it went.

Getting ready for Bobby and Darlene

Oh man its been busy :)

I had to work this weekend (boo) but I was still able to get the lawn mowed. The weedeater started to crap out on me at the end but I hope its because the oil/gas mixture is wrong. I am not having any luck with gas powered lawn equipment this year! I have replaced both my lawn mower and weedeater. If I have to replace the weedeater again I am going high end and getting a four-stroke so I won't have to mix the oil and gas again.

We were also able to get the house cleaned up Sunday. We did not get to bed until after 1 - which was bad because I have to get up at 5am to go to work (still have not recovered from that). But most of the prep work for Bobby and Darlene to come over is done.

Yesterday I did some chores outside and put on a "Balance buddy" for his bicycle to help him learn how to ride his bicycle without training wheels. For those who have never seen one all it is is a handle on the back of the bike that I can hold on to while Nate pedals the bike. Sorry since I was Nate's balance buddy there are no pics.

Very busy weekend

This weekend I demolished the shelves and counter top on the far wall of the garage (most of which were sitting on rotten wood) and replaced them all with metal shelves. I still have the other two walls to redo but just having usable space on that one wall has already allowed me to clear alot of the crap we were storing in my workshop.

The kids were feeling under the weather this weekend so that had to stay inside - which they really did not like.

The bricklayer came by Thursday and fixed the hole the plumbers knocked out when they fixed the plumbing. Now the only big project left to do is the driveway (YAY).

Everything going quickly now that the plumbing is done

A couple of weeks ago it was finally dry enough for the plumbers to come out and lay down some new pipe from our laundry room and kitchen out to the sewer. Unfortunately they just showed up without calling (Chris is still upset about that).

Once that was done we finally had the landscapers out to fix up our sprinkler system and get a bid for laying sod over the area that the plumbers back hoed to lay the pipe (they will be back next week to sod the yard). We had 3 leaks (I knew of two of them) I thought we had three zones out but only one needed rewiring - the others were just the controller misbehaving. I am replacing the controller when the landscapers are out next too - I wanted a controller that could be controlled over the internet but I could not justify the extra $500.

A brick layer was out today to look at fixing up a hole in the kitchen wall the plumbers had to knock out to lay the new line and he will be out tomorrow to do the job.

During all the rains a large section of track for the Texas State Railroad was washed away - we had purchased tickets for late August and they called us and refunded the money. So Saturday we took Nate and Lexi on the Grapevine Railroad and ate at Risky's Steakhouse. I just posted the pics in our photogallery.

BTW - before I forget we switched over to AT&T U-verse as our internet provider and TV. A little bit faster for a little less money - I wished we had Verizon FIOS though. To keep from losing my webpage everytime we change internet providers I bought the conwayfamily.name domain and it is being hosted by a company called 1on1 for $5 a month. Our new website is www.conwayfamily.name and I can be reached at scott@conwayfamily.name

:)

Busy weekend

Friday I took a half day off so we could take the kids to get there passports (in case I ever do get sent overseas again Chris and the kids could go too). The weather Friday was good enough that I actually got to mow. Saturday I went and got a new grill and cooked up some ham, sausages and chicken on it - I burned some hotdogs but hopefully next time I will do better.

Sunday we went over to our neighbors house to swim. The kids really had a blast.

May update

Well I took the kids to see my parents two weeks ago (first road trip in the minivan) and we got to Tyler when we got the call that Chris' aunt Gail passed away. I went ahead and spent a couple of days with my parent, and the kids got to see their great Grandmother and great, great Grandmother. Both the kids got sick afterwards so I stayed with them while Chris went to the funeral.

Nate had his pre-school graduation last week. All the age groups sang (Lexi was a laugh riot). I posted the videos on google and will try and get them linked with fotki today.

This week we had new floor reinstalled. I am still tired from being up until 2am unwiring all our computers. The good thing is that by starting over I was able to replace three power strips and two extension cords with three squids. The floor looks nice. The kids hated being cooped up for a couple of days and, of course, made us share their pain. but afterwards they liked running around on the new floor.

April-May update

It's been a very month.

We put together a play set for the kids. It took the two of us about nine hours over two days to put it together. Two of that was just labeling all the wood and parts and putting them in separate piles - which really sped things up. Both of us got a real bad sunburn out of that but the kids really loved it.

Then I took the second row seats out of the minivan and got wood for a new gate (see below) then went to WalMart and picked up a new picnic table and umbrella for outside where the old play set was. The kids really love eating outside now.

We got the DVD player in the minivan and the kids do love it. The problem there is with the wireless headphones. Lexi has a tendency to pull them off and back on but when she does that she keeps hitting the on/off or the volume wheel. I am considering getting a normal set of headphones for her.

We took the Corolla over and signed it over to Carol so she as a newer car now :)

We bit off more than we could chew the last couple of weeks. I built and installed a new gate in the back yard to replace the ones that were rotting. And I cleared off the counter tops and sealed the granite. We just finished both of those today.

I am also trying to clean up my desk area and rewire it. We are having the floor replaced on the 21st and the 22nd and I we will be swapping desk so I want to get all the power strips, USB hubs and routers that are attached to my desk attach them to the wall so it will just be a matter of switching desk and plugging everything back in. Then when we get Chris' fathers old roll top desk (old as in the printer drawer has a slot to feed a dot matrix printer ) we will only have to move/remove one desk instead of two.

Right now I am typing this outside while the kids are playing in the sandbox. The weather is a little warm but there is plenty of shade and a small breeze makes it comfortable.

I will try and get some pictures of the kids on their swing set posted tonight. :)

Got rid of the stump finally - no luck on the floor

I rented a large chainsaw from Home Depot this weekend and finally cut down the stump in our back yard. It was a five foot diameter seedless/fruitless mulberry (that's right - five feet) that was there when we bought the house but it had a split down the middle going all the way to the roots. After talking with several tree places we picked one to cut down the tree but left a waist high stump figuring we would make a picnic table out of it (that never happened). I was able to cut it down to just below ankle height.

Hopefully this year I will rent a stump grinder to get rid of the rest. If not I will try and make a large planter out of it (and watch the kids destroy it).

Chris found all the original paperwork for our floor last week and has called around to see if we can get a replacement. Unfortunately they don't make our brand/color/locking type anymore so she is trying to call the local floor/builder warehouses to see if they have any old stock. If not we have to get back with the insurance and replace our old floor. I hope we don't have to do that as its a pain to move all our stuff out of the den.

The "Joy" of an older house - day out with thomas

After the second flooding of our playroom we decided to have a camera run down our sewer line to see what was causing it to stop up so easily (we needed to have it roto rootered four times in the last three years). When we got the camera down we saw that the bottom of the 40 year old cast iron pipes were gone. Fortunately the sewer line comes out diagonally across our front yard so the plumbers think they can run the kitchen line outside the house and connecting it in the front yard (as opposed to jackhammering up the floor across the entire length of the house).

I took Nate to a day out with Thomas Friday and he loved it. I posted pictures in the photo gallery - enjoy.

Had a fun weekend

Carol came over for the weekend so Saturday I was able to take Chris to Cowtown Sushi for a belated Valentine's treat. Then Sunday Bobby and his friend Matt dropped by (I have not seen him in a looooong time) and the kids had a blast with him.

I have uploaded pics of the weekend and hopefully tomorrow I will have the video of Bobby chasing Nate while carrying Lexi. Matt had a an Olympus digital camera (I believe it was the Stylus 810) and the video quality was AWESOME! Matt boasted that he was able to go through the video frame by frame and see a plane's moving propeller without blur - after seeing some of the video he took in the car with Bobby driving to Dallas I believe him.

Double the birthday - double the fun

This week we celebrated Lexi's and my birthday. I took Friday off and we cleaned up the house and Saturday we had everyone over. Lexi had more fun opening the presents than playing with them - as soon as she opened a present she put it aside and immediately grabbed another present to open.

Mom and Dad gave me the best present. They stayed home with the kids while Me, Chris, Perron and Malina went out to the Reata for dinner - its been over a year since we went out so we stayed out until midnight just talking.

Sunday we went to the Verizon store to get new phones. We have had our phones for almost four years and the batteries were starting to drain quickly (even after replacing them). Chris got an LG VX8300 and I ordered an LG enV (VX9900). I should get it in a couple of days - I can't wait!

I posted all the birthday pics to our photo album. Enjoy!

Got the drawer front on

We did not get too much done this weekend because we were all getting over the crud. But we did get the drawer fronts finally put in. It was a bad job to say the least but at least the drawers are functional now.

Chris took Lexi out today to pick out her cake and theme. Look at the fotki site next week to find out what she picked.

:)

I got an email from Ed Bagley Jr.!!!!

There is a new show on HGTV called Living with Ed. Its a reality mini-series about Ed Bagley Jr. and his wife Rachelle. Ed is VERY environmentally conscious and despite being a movie star lives in a early 1900's house that he has made as energy efficient as you can without rebuilding the house. Complete with adding solar panels to the roof and adding a generator to his exercise bike so he can add power to his house system while exercising every morning. No wind power though - I guess there is not enough wind where in the neighborhood where he lives.

Anyway after watching the first two shows where Ed and Rachelle were arguing over new rain barrels that Ed got I had to write and suggest painting the barrels and asking if LCD lights were more available/cheaper in CA than they are here in TX.


Glad you are enjoying the show.

Rachelle and I are still in discussion about the rain barrels. Maybe the color change would make it possible to keep the barrels as a permanent fixture in the yard.

I don't use LED lights in my house because I find they are too expensive. When the cost comes down a bit, I may make the switch. For now, I plan on sticking to my fluorescent bulbs.

Thanks for the great suggestions,

Ed

Now granted I posted the question on the show's "ask Ed" page but its still nice to know he is taking the time to read the emails himself and answering them (and a more than a little honored at getting email from a movie star). The hilarious thing is though that after about 4-6 months they are still arguing over the rain barrels.

:)

Year in review

Its seems like every time I post here its with an apology for not blogging enough. Its not that there is nothing going on (with a two year old and a five year old there is alot going on) its just at the end of the day I am typically to tired to write it all down. I will try and do better - no new years resolutions though. If I can I will if not then tough.

The main reason I got back to writing this is that I was visiting my step mother-in-law in Minnesota in December (great trip by the way) and she got on to me about not keeping the blog up to date. This floored me in that I had no idea anyone was reading it. I mean its all published for public consumption but since there were never any comments and blogger doesn't show number of views on a blog I just thought no one was reading it.

At least I kept our photo gallery up to date so you can see all the pics.

Well for a quick review in April Lexi broke her arm and that put our kitchen remodel on hold. We did finally get around to cutting all the doors for the kitchen cabinets but we have never installed them (they are currently taking up a good chunk of my workshop). We have all the drawers finished but have not yet gotten around to installing them.



In June we went on the Texas State Railroad in Rusk, TX. If any of your children love trains I would highly recommend it. I would also recommend getting the climate controlled cars in the Summer as it is money VERY well spent.

Nate's Birthday was in October and Chris and Nate went with the Grandmothers on Nate's annual Train ride on Puffy Train.



November and December was of course Thanksgiving and Christmas respectivly but we also had a great trip to Minnesota. Unfortunately it was also the third warmest December on record with no snow whatsoever the entire time we were there.

Well there are a couple of more things I would like to post but I am stopping now as its late and its time for all good Dads to go to bed so they can alert in the morning when the kids wake up.