Where has June gone?!?!

I can't believe that I am posting this and it is already July 8th. This summer has been flying by. We have been busier than I anticipated, but it has all been fun. Here is a quick run-down of our June and a preview of things to come.

When we returned from our KC vacation on Sunday the 13th, we had one day to prepare the kitchen for the floor refinishers. That's right, we totally emptied our kitchen of EVERYTHING and moved out for the week to have the wood floors refinished. This is something we've wanted to have done, pretty much since we moved in this house 7 years ago. The floor were not done well when we built this house. We've always been really disappointed with them. So, we decided just to bit the bullet and have them done, as we were wanting to do other home improvement projects at the same time. It was pretty inconvenient and a big mess, but worth it. The floors are BEAUTIFUL! It was hard being displaced (thanks to both sets of grandparents for taking us in that week), especially since we were busy that week with Bible school. But, we were finally able to come back on Friday evening. We spent the better part of the next week cleaning (there was a layer of red dust over every surface) and putting back the decorations. We also did some other minor things like re-caulking around the sink and backsplash and washing curtains and blinds. I am now proud to say, our kitchen is the cleanest it's been since we moved in. I actually like our kitchen again!

Once that project was done and bible school was over, we prepared for the kids' birthday party, which you've seen a post about. During all of that, we still did fun things like Music & Mozzarella, which you also have seen a post about. We've been swimming a lot at the YMCA (which we joined this spring) and at Firethorn with my mom. The kids have really been enjoying swimming and have been doing a nice job. Grace still is scared some, but the boys are turning into little fish! We also spent some quality time with their new bikes. Brian has started taking them on bike rides where he rides his bike instead of walking along. He almost forgot his helmet the other day, until Will reprimanded him and made him get it. Safety first!

On Monday the 28th, the day after the kids' birthday party, we packed them up, and shipped them over to Grandma and Grandpa Niebuhr for what is turning in to an annual trip to Adventureland. They were so excited and spent a long time recalling the previous year's trip. I'll post more about this later, with pictures. While the kids were gone, Brian took those two days (Tues and Wed) off and we repainted the entire upstairs! Well, most of the upstairs. The living room, hall, and entry. The color of brown that was there we both hated, so we chose a nice Benjamin Moore color called "Sherwood Tan". Let me tell you, painting that much surface area is a huge job, plus it needed 2 coats. Just for reference, it took us 4 gallons! We spent 2 full days painting (9 - 6 the first day and 9 - 4 the second day). Almost everything is put back in its place, I have a few more pictures to hang back up. It looks so much better. My next task is to do some cleaning of things like baseboards and blinds.

The kids got back from Des Moines on Wednesday 30th and were very tired. We stuck close to home the rest of the week, but did some fun things like swimming and we went to the museum. We had a nice 4th of July, complete with an engagement party for Uncle Nick and his fiance Meagan, lots of fireworks and several BBQ's. Although, it did rain on the 4th of July so the annual Firethorn parade was canceled. We were a little bummed, because the kids were going to ride their bikes for the first time. So, instead we went to a matinee showing of Toy Story 3. The kids loved it!

Monday, July 5th the kids started swimming lessons. They have lessons every Mon-Thurs morning for 2 weeks. They are loving it and they're doing great. We're doing it at the YMCA and as luck would have it, they have the same teacher as they did 2 years ago when we did the mommy and me class. They are so much different from those crying, scared toddlers from 2 years ago. The teacher is pleasantly surprised, I think. She is really a sweet girl, not more than 20 years old, and the kids really like her. In addition to working on swimming skills, they have been playing lots of games. They really enjoy that part. We've been trying to go swimming whenever we can, I think they just haven't spent enough time in the water to be totally comfortable. I've really been pleased with joining the Y. They have a great outdoor pool and we've really enjoyed. We've also gotten discounts on a day camp for the kids (coming up in July) and fall soccer.

This post has gotten long, sorry for that! I'll probably hear about it from Chad. But, I felt like I needed to share some of our happenings, since I've mostly been posting pictures. I do have Adventureland and 4th of July pictures I will post soon. I also have some video of swimming lessons my mom shot today. I'll post that soon. Thanks for taking the time to read my super long post. Have a great weekend!