Sports, Projects, Haircuts, Instruments...and More!

School has been out for almost two weeks now and we are enjoying being able to sleep in and not worry about homework anymore....mostly Nikki who struggled this past semester. But she made it through with passing grades so we're relieved.  There's so many things that have been going on the past couple weeks that I'm not sure where to start so I guess I'll just start with the most recent stuff and work my way back in this post.

Yesterday was the first day of t-ball and softball for Alice and Charlotte. I wasn't going to sign them up but Charlotte said she really wanted to play t-ball again this year. She hasn't played for two years. Her age group is actually when they start softball so that's what she's doing. And of course if Charlotte really wants to do it then so does Alice. At one point they had still needed a coach for Alice's team so I thought I might have to go ahead and volunteer this time but by the time I called it was already taken care of. Both girls got on the A's teams so they'll be wearing the same color of hats and shirts. Even though I didn't sign up to coach I did end up helping the coach last night at the practice since he asked for someone to assist. There's an assistant coach also but they were gone this week. Anyway, Alice did a good job hitting and running. Charlotte was standing by Alice helping her know what to do. Curtis says that Alice did good at running to the next base after someone hit the ball. Charlotte has a good throw and she was able to hit the ball also. She really enjoyed playing and can't wait for practice again tonight. Since I was helping with Alice's team I didn't get a picture of her yet but will next week.

I also recently found an old dresser for free on Facebook Marketplace. We had to put a new back panel on it since the original was warped like it had been wet or something.  The bottoms of the drawers were bent down a bit also so we replace them with stronger wood panels. After sanding, painting, sanding again and repainting 3 of the drawers we finally finished. We resanded and painted 3 drawers because I decided to buy new handles after painting the old handles didn't work out. There weren't any handles the same width apart as the old handles so we filled the old holes and made new ones.

Here's what the dresser looked like when we got it:

And here's what it looks like now:

They had the job of attaching the new handles.

We were going to alternate drawer colors but Charlotte wanted hers to be both purple and so Alice got both pink. They love it!

I should have taken a before picture but their closet looks so much better now that their clothes are inside a dresser instead of in a wire cubicle where you can see everything. The clothes kept getting pulled off and making a big mess. They also stacked lots of other things on the cubicles like papers and clothes they took off but didn't hang up. That green basket on the left used to hold Alice's socks and underwear. I have now made it a hat basket. We're going to use the wire cubicles to create a safe movable place for the rabbit to run around in the back yard.

Last week was the week for getting haircuts for the kids. I was going to take Garrett into Sportsclips to get his hair cut so we could change his look a little but I ended up doing it myself again because he wanted me to do it. We left it long on top and cut the sides short. I usually just used a #6 on top with the clippers and then went shorter from there, #4 and #2 and trying to blend it all. This time I didn't even touch the top. And I think I did a #3 & #2 on the sides. He likes how it turned out. We ended up doing the same for Jack but for some reason I didn't get a picture of him that day. I did however get a picture of him today with his new cut and new trumpet! He really wants to do trumpet in jazz band next year so his band teacher let him try one at the school and he thinks Jack will be really good at it. So we found a used Yamaha student trumpet on Facebook Marketplace for $300. It was a in great shape also so it was a great deal.  So far, he is doing well for learning on his own at home. His teacher did give him a book before school got out also. As for new instruments, we helped Garrett buy his own saxophone. He's saving his lawn mowing money to pay us back. He just really wanted to learn how to play one. I don't think he'll do it for school band. He's doing really well also for having learned on his own. Our house is filling up with instruments and music....and I love it!

He'll still play the flute in concert band and do trumpet for jazz band.

Garrett loves jazz music. That's one reason he wanted a saxophone.

As for the girls, I made a deal with my friend that I babysit to just trade labor basically for this month. Since I'm only babysitting her girls for half the month I told her that she wouldn't need to pay me anything since Garrett will have 4 piano lessons and if she would cut my girls' hair. Originally it was just going to be Alice and Charlotte but Nikki said she was ready for a cut also. So we did all 3 on the same day. I didn't get a picture of Nikki since hers wasn't a dramatic change.

Before

Before

Charlotte begged for short hair like Nikki. I wasn't willing to go that short so we compromised with this.

My pictures uploaded out of order so they will jump around. Charlotte actually had her hair done first then Alice.

Nice and short for summer with plenty of time to grow back by winter. She likes it but said she already wants it to grow back, ha ha.

And I went a little longer length for Alice. So cute!

Charlotte also got a visit from the Tooth Fairy twice in the last month. Her two front teeth! The 2nd one ended up falling down the bathroom sink in our kitchen because she kept going in there and wiggling it and trying to get it to come out. Well it did! The Tooth Fairy almost forgot to deliver on the 2nd tooth but thankfully got there around 6:30am. Charlotte even forgot about it until Curtis came home from work and asked if the Tooth Fairy had come. Whew! 

Toothless!

This was after the 1st front tooth came out.

This face was just too funny! You can tell her other tooth is loose also.

Last month for one of our activity day boys activities we decided to do an archery and planting night. I had my old friend that I grew up with come out and show the boys her hunting bow and teach them a little about it. I hadn't seen her in over 15 years! I was a little nervous to ask her at first because she left the church and drinks alcohol and stuff now so I wasn't sure she would even want to be near a church. But I'm so glad I did because she did came and it turned out great! Because we couldn't shoot real arrows in city limits I had brought the toy set that Charlotte got for her birthday for the boys to shoot. In fact, Charlotte and Alice had come with me that night anyway. The other part of the activity was planting seeds in cups. Charlotte planted a cantaloupe seed and Alice did carrots. They are both small sprouts now in our office window.

Seeing old friends can be great. So glad I got to see her!

Well, that's all I have time for today because we're getting ready for a trip up to northern Idaho to visit family and go to Silverwood theme park. It's going to be fun!