Mile Stone 2 Complete!

I was off of work all week last week and I managed to get the two shelves installed on the miter saw stand to be almost flush with the miter saw deck.  It's certainly to the point where when the saw finishes a cut, the board will only fall 1/16th of an inch, instead of all the way to the ground.

Also note that I mounted the miter saw almost all the way back on the frame, so that it can pretty easily support a 24" wide piece of plywood.  The saw is able to cut 16", then I can flip the board over and complete the cut.

Where have I Been?

It has been too long since I have posted.  I started a couple of exciting new endeavors this fall and there goes my free time.  After my year off I went back to working my couple hours a week as a speech therapist and became a Jamberry Nails Indpendent Consultant.  In case you have never heard of them Jamberry Nail wraps are vinyl nail wraps that are applied to your nails with heat and pressure and last for up to 2 weeks on nails and 4 on toenails without chipping or fading.  I love that they last sooo long, don't smell, and I can stop mid application because lets face it as a mommy of little people I am more often than not interrupted even if those 2 little cuties are supposed to be upstairs napping.  So if you haven't heard of Jamberry you should really check them out.  http://rbjork.jamberrynails.net/

Okay, now besides working what else have we been up to during my blog hiatus.  Lets see...

We celebrated Rachel's birthday super-girl style

Vacationed in Disneyland and San Diego

Spent the Day in Apple Hill

Yup, that about sums it up.

1 Weekend!

I worked hard all weekend and managed, with my dad's help, to get the frame of my new miter saw stand cut out and put together.  Those are four inch wheels I've there so it rolls around my garage super easy right now.  We will see how it goes when I put some more weight in there.

The next stage is going to be creating the top to be flush with the deck of my miter saw, complete with a fence.  And the third stage is going to be making drawers for it to keep tools and other garage type things.

The Super-Girl Princess is almost 4!

Can you believe it?!  Rachel is going to be four in a little over a week.  I can't.  Four sounds so old, and if you ask her she just might tell you she is old enough to babysit Joel.  So I guess four is pretty mature.

Rachel has been into being a Super-girl princess complete with a super power.  "Rachel Super-Girl Princess with the power to potty-train.  I have no idea why that is her super power, but I hope it sticks around for a couple years.  Then she can be in charge of potty training Joel.  In fact if you want she can potty train the little people in your life too for a small fee.

She has a very creative imagination, so pretend play with her is a blast.  You never know what will happen, who you will get to be, or what song she will come up with.  Rachel loves to learn, especially things in the area of science.  She is constantly exploring life around her and asking why and how.  I love teaching her and learning with her.

Rachel is a blessing to our family.  She and I have grown a lot together in our parent/child adventure.  Because she is always thinking and exploring, she keeps me on my toes.  I never know what she will come up with next.  When I look back over my four years with her I am a much calmer, more forgiving, more playful, slower to anger mommy.  I take more time to enjoy her.  I don't just love her I genuinely like her!

Trip to the Farm

 Last week we took a field trip with my mom's group to Davis Ranch.  We left Joel home and had a girls day.  This was our third visit to the farm.  It is always a blast to ride the tractor out to the fields and pick fresh produce.  After picking in the fields we visited the farm stand and got a few more yummy things.  We came home with tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchinis, cantaloupe, watermelon, corn, green beans, and strawberries.

In other news, Joel is now an expert walker, is getting a 5th tooth, and has added a few more words to his ever growing vocabulary including "all done" and "cat."

Rachel is as spunky as ever.  She would like a pet and continues to ask for one.  I told her we would discuss it when she is older, so the other day she came to me and said, "I would like to discuss me getting a pet."  We discussed it and the end result was she is not quite old enough for that responsibility but someday she will be.  She has now added that to the ever growing list of things she can do when she is older like go to Kansas by herself on a plane, watch certain movies, and be a hairdresser.

Camping

At the end of June we headed up to Sly Park with our church group for a weekend of fun.  Brian never ceases to amaze me with his real life tetris skills.  The amount of stuff he can fit into our car and tent is quite impressive.  We made it another year without a car top carrier or larger vehicle.  Brian even managed to bring up the wind surfer board which was a hit with more than just our kiddos.  Even Joel got a ride around the lake on it. 
  

 

The dirt was dirty, the marshmallows were tasty,  the lake was refreshing, and the rocks were fun to climb on.  A good time was had by all.

Monster Birthday

  Our Little Monster turned one a couple of weeks ago.  We celebrated with the grandparents and some monster themed fun.