A floor of a thousand miles begins with...

...a whole lot of laminate from IKEA! After Wesley was sent home from the doctor with symptoms of breathing trouble we decided to replace our old carpet. It had flooded right before we moved in a few years ago and was musty I think ever since. Wesley being so sick helped us decide to finally get rid of it.


It took hours and hours of work. Josh and I were so sore!
Annie wanted to help, so she grabbed Wesley's plastic hammer and started banging on the baseboards like Dada was doing. She always wants to help, it's so precious. :)
step 1. pull up carpet and baseboards
step 2. get really really sick from pulling up the carpet without wearing a mask
step 3. wash the floor
step 4. make multiple trips to IKEA and Lowes to find laminate
step 5. get the materials finally decided upon.
step 6. lay plastic down over cement and add squishy foam on top of that while your wife takes the kids to various stores and playgrounds in between nap times. *note: if laying foam or plastic requires cutting you must employ the resident cutting-in-straight-lines expert, aka Jessica.
step 7. decide how many inches exactly to use on the very first row-last-plank so you can "stagger" the planks. *note: this could take an hour since IKEA instructions are made for people who cannot read and are fluent in pictures.
step 8. decide to finally just cut the last plank against the said instructions and continue laying flooring. *note: try not to wake up your sleeping kids with the mallet hitting the boards in place.
step 9. decide to do the hallway and baseboards a different weekend!

We really like how it looks and are very grateful for the Lord's provision. :)

I also have to say...guys really are better in general at construction type work. I work out and strength train a lot, but I had lots of trouble getting tack strips up with a mallet and crowbar - and Josh made it look easy! I couldn't hold the saw cause my hands were too small to turn the safety off and push the on button at the same time (so it wouldn't even turn on for me). Then I couldn't place the boards very well since it required a long arm span and muscly push to get them in place. It was funny to me seeing the difference, but I was able to help Josh some and make it go a little bit faster than if it was just him. Yay for teamwork! :)

So Happy Together

I caught a rare moment of the little ducklings playing together without screams erupting. (Annie doesn't understand why Wesley grabs her to "play" and Wesley doesn't understand why Annie screams about it so he, in turn, will yell) I'm pretty sure they will be able to play better soon now that Wesley can walk and imitate Annie.



Here's Annie tickling Wesley. She says "tick tick tick!"
Wesley loves any kind of attention from Annie. :)

Tigger is now tickling Wesley. Annie was saying "Here's your Tigger, Wesley!" I love how they both giggle exactly the same.

Taking a break to breath.
Annie is contemplating her next move.

More tickling ensues. :)
I love watching them play together. I also think it's hilarious how Annie tells Wesley things I will say. Just tonight before Josh came home she ran over to Wesley with his jammies saying "Awight Wesley-Wes, it's time for your jammy-jams!" and ran after him. Wesley of course ran away giggling. :)

Happy Birthday Wesley Wes

Wesley had his very first birthday yesterday!

I love how inquisitive Wesley is. He also likes to get into stuff on purpose and run away with it.

This is his stinker face. haha He does it to make me laugh or when he is frustrated that he cannot have his way.
Wesley's cake. It sort of melted. But it tasted yummy, so that made up for it.
Wesley loves to play with balls, especially this one. He is using it as a pillow right now. He likes to bang it against his mouth and say "BWAH!". Speaking of him putting things in his mouth: He likes to lay on the floor every now and then and lick it. I have no clue why it's fun to him, but it must be. I have to keep my floors clean or my little vacuum will find it.

He loved his cake. :)
Sweet boy. :)
He liked all his presents. They made noise and had big blocks. Everything a little boy needs.
I don't know why these pictures got out of order. I'm too tired to fix them right now, so I shall leave them as they are. :)
Annie had to show Wesley how the whole cake business was done. She was so excited about his cake that she could barely wait for dinner to be over. She is now talking about her birthday and how she will have HER cake soon. In the meantime she is content to help Wesley enjoy his new toys and play in the backyard with her Tigger.

One morning when I got her up she told me that Tigger was giving her hot dogs. And that Tigger gave me one too. I guess it was a dream. She sometimes comes up with funny stories after naps...And just tonight she said there was a man in her closet. Hmm We investigated and there was no man. Just lots of clothes. We prayed and she seems okay. Imaginations can getchya if you aren't careful. :)

Wesley had his one year checkup today at the doctor. He is doing really great. He's healthy, going on in his motor skills and super tall. I think I will be surrounded by tall people in this family. At least they will help me when I can't reach the vanilla at the top of my cupboard. ;)

Annie likes to help me at the grocery store a lot now. She's my little shopping buddy. She will walk with me and help me put vegetables in bags and in the cart. She talks about how we need to get buggy yogurt each time we visit Sprouts. It's her special treat for coming with me and helping. It's just kefir, but it is in a cool little bag she can sip in the car on the way home. Love it.

Speaking of shopping, I didn't realize how quickly the anti-shopping gene surfaces in boys. Wesley really has trouble sitting in the cart unless he a. has a snack or b. is moving If I stop for a little while he gets into mischief. I was looking at something and turn back to see Wesley standing in his seat turned around to pull Annie's hair in the cart below him. haha I love how he is so different from Annie. He is always making me laugh with his antics. Then again, Annie is always making me laugh with her funny ideas. God knew I needed some laughter in my life when he gave me Josh and then the little ones. :)