Tacoma, Tooth Fairy and Tons of Boat Fun!

Here is a smattering of updates from the last several days. Settle on in, it is a long one...

Extreme Home Make-Over, Tacoma Edition

Boy, oh Boy...the bad tenants moved out on Sat and we spent 2 very long days to turn the ugly, dirty duckling into a swan (well, almost). Unfortunately, I do not have any before/after photos (but the before ones would have grossed you out) nor any action photos (but just imagine sweat, blood, tears - plenty of those..). In two days, we:

- repainted the entire upstairs (incl trim)

- Measured & re-ordered an entire set of new carpet after they tried to either burn or grow stuff in the existing set.

- gasped in awe at the science experiment that was growing in the closet after a wet sleeping bag had been left there for most likely three months.

- busted out the 75 year old kitchen counter-top

- cleaned the house from top to bottom (just to give you an idea, the fridge took 1 hour and an entire roll of paper towels to get clean)

- mowed 5 weeks worth of growth in the yard

- etc, etc, etc

As Brett wisely said, we are doing this for our retirement so it does have a purpose!

Tooth Fairy's First Visit

Today, Oli finally lost his "wobbly tooth" (a term that Brett grew up with, which I adore)! Here he is modelling his new 'drinking straw holder' after an afteroon on the boat.

Since the tooth stayed at his mom's house, we had to recreate something to "trick" the Tooth Fairy. Here is Oli's rendition of a zip lock baggie (hence the lines at the top) and his itty bitty white tooth and blood. Think the Tooth Fairy will be tricked?

Summer Day on the Boat

After two days of back breaking work, we relaxed our sore muscles on the boat this afternoon. It was a gorgeous day on the lake!

Oli trying on his new wetsuit for his upcoming water ski lessons (taught by Dad). I love the proud papa look on Brett's face in this first photo.

Oli and I out for an adventure in the "blueberry boat" acting out our very own version of Castaway (I promise we wont get the boat dirty again, so can we come back onboard - please!)

Just Random Pic

Here is the fruit basket I made for Oli's daycare party on Friday. When I brought it in, one kid said, "cool, we get to eat the basket?"

Planting strawberries here. We also planted watermelon, pumpkins, basil, mint, tarragon, sweet peas and of course tomatoes!

Oli'ism #29: While we were on the boat, he asked why there were so many American flags out today. I said, "it is a holiday" and he said in all seriousness and quite calmly, "Oh, a holiday. Where should we go today - London? Paris? Disney?" Of course he knows "holiday" to mean vacation!

Oli'ism #48: At dinner, Brett asked me, "What should we do for Christmas this year?" and Oli quickly swallowed his mouthful (still working on not talking with your mouth full) and said, "I know, we should make lists for Santa Claus!"

Oli'ism #13: While we were attempting to make the drawing of the tooth, Oli screwed up his first try but he thought it looked like a castle so he completed an entire castle drawing (why not?) and as he was explaining it to me he said, "here is the jail, here is the front door and around the outside is the mute"