Finally! Up to date!!

Yay!  I'm finally to July!

Here's what we've been up to this month:
(Ahem, okay, in full disclosure, I'm now obviously not up to date, as July is over tomorrow...but am going to stop whining about it and just get blogging.  Okay?  Okay.)

Those chicks are getting big!

In an earlier post I talked about doing some agility stuff with Brin.
(I also mentioned something about optional clothing, which my kids take very seriously!)

Brook was excited to teach him "Over!"

He's a smart dog, but only when treats are involved, ha.

My fruit boy.  Pre-haircut.
Unfortunately, I don't have a post-haircut photo yet, which I'm bummed about because I did a great job!  We were literally walking out the door, a half hour late to visit our friends and Sam says, "I need a haircut."
HOLD.THE.PHONE.
We turned ourselves right around and head right to the bathroom.
It's not every day (or month. or year.) that this boy asks for a haircut, ya'll!

I started on my First Real All-By-Myself woodworking project (the blue/stained stool I showed in a previous post).
The kids needed an end table downstairs, and I wanted to make something out of 2x4s so it wouldn't be super expensive or anything if I messed it up.

Let me tell you, just looking at this photo, I am amazed at how much I've learned in just the past few weeks alone about woodworking. 
I was terrified I would screw something up on this dang end table (I did.)!!
But after building it, I was so ready for my next thing, ready to spread my wings just a tad more.

Aaaaand I chose a freaking 2-story fort.
I didn't just spread those wings, I strapped each wing to a child and then they ran in opposite directions.
Those babies STRETCHED.
But I now know how to level a structure, brace a structure, and use a framing nail gun.
But I did not learn math.  Because I forgot ten 2x6's...more stretching...

Thank heavens Russ was there to hold my hand (and re-nail my boards) every step of the way.

"I want some ice cream.  You want some, Mom?"

This is how I KNOW my wings stretched.
Because I made THIS!
It was my second I'm Going To Do This By Myself With NO Help project.
And I couldn't be happier (even though mistakes were made and cuss words were expressed)!
I was really glad that I got enough wood for two...even if the dog does like to use them as chew toys... (more muttered cuss words).

P.S.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of that view...have I mentioned that I love living here??  :D

Oh, this pup...one moment I want to smother him with love, and the next moment, a freaking pillow.
If we had had him longer before naming him, I think he would be named something like Shadow, because he's always 1/8th of a step behind me...which isn't always the most convenient of places.
Alas.  He loves me.  And I love him.

Our almost-daily dance in the rain.  Seriously, every time it rains.  We must dance.

I had my birthday!  And Russ surprised me with these which smelled up the entire upstairs!

Two weekends ago, Russ made the trek to California to retrieve the rest of our belongings.  I was so grateful when Corinne said she'd meet him in Oakland and help him load up and ride home with him.  Along the way, they also got to stop and hike Mount Whitney, which I cannot find the photos of.
Sad day.

But while he was gone, I was determined to try and quench my thirst for projects.
These are the lights that are in each of our bathrooms.  And I'm sure that this is the "updated" fixture, given that it's a nearly-50 year old house!

Well, it took me FIVE times to get this sucker installed (mostly) correctly.
SO much better!  Especially since it's a new $60 fixture that I picked up at an auction for $14!
WOOT!  Plus, I was pretty proud of myself, learning how to re-wire a fixture and all that...especially in a pitch dark room...this bathroom has NO natural light, so I had to do it all with a flashlight.

Love this boy and his sleeping abilities.

I also got Brooklyn's magenta paint on the fort's wall that will have climbing wall holds on the other side.  Now to get a roof on it so we can paint the underside Sam's sky blue color.

I also figured out how to install the zipline!
Unfortunately, I didn't really think it through and put the dang thing too low and on the only pole of the fort that wasn't supported!  Ugh.  Need to redo it all again now.

Ack!  Another chair bites the dust!!
Thankfully, Russ got home the following day with our old, much sturdier chairs!

This was my birthday present to myself--a 10 pack of soft-close dampers!
I was SO excited to install them...until I got my screwdriver aaaaand no hardware included.  What?!
So I waited until our next trip to Home Depot to pick some more up (which was this past weekend).  Russ surprised me by installing all of these for me!...and also in telling me that the hardware WAS included, it was already in place on the dang dampers.  Sigh.

I seriously underestimated how much I would love these little guys.
The downside is that I only had 10 and we have 20 cabinets in our kitchen alone (I want these babies in the bathrooms too!).  And I did not install them.
This means that I can not for the life of me remember which cabinets Russ installed them on!
Those suckers are LOUD when you aren't expecting them to slam!

We had these round segments of wood (and one 8' one) that I've been eyeing since we moved in, trying to figure out what to do with them.  Then I was looking into play structures and BAM! it hit me, a lava pit!!

So I put 10 logs and numerous rocks to create this "parkour course" as the kids call it.
It's great because this is the area that our property drains to when it rains.  Just yesterday it monsooned and only the top 6" of the closest poles were sticking out!
Also, that balance beam goes across a nasty fire ant nest...

Ack!  Now that I'm caught up, I need to take more photos!
Off to do just that...