KAYAKS AND LEMONADE

we had a garage sale this last weekend and aubrey set up a lemonade stand.  the weather wasn't hot and sticky but she did suceed in selling about four quarts of lemonade.  she sold it for a quarter a cup.  three or four people even gave her money without taking their lemonade....

she had a ball!  AND learned lots about running a business as an eight-year-old.

later that day we went shopping for a new kayak for aubrey.  now we can all three go out in the lake at one time.

after shopping around we found one we could "live" with at the farm and fleet store.  it was blue.

sunday after church we went shopping around for a paddle.  as we were paying for the paddle we noticed in the sale flyer at the register that the kayaks that we had looked at the day before where now on sale. 

after hunting down a sales clerk we dedided to take back the one we bought the day before and get this different one.  it wasn't a hard sell for aubrey to exchange....you see this new kayak is hot pink!  and you know....if your a girl, it is generally all about what color it is!

with new kayak and paddle in hand, daddy headed off to return kayak number one while aubrey and i shopped for a new life vest......

then it was time to load up the three boats and head out to west lake......

in she went paddling and handling her kayak like a pro!

all went well until the end when she became tired and hungry.  hint for the next time?  drinkables and snacks!

FINALLY COMPLETED !!

the kitchen is finally finished!  what started as a stove that was needing to be replaced ended in the replacement of also a dishwasher, countertops, sink and finally the microwave.

here chuck is installing the microwave.....he is actually "reading" the directions! 

aubrey and our neighbor morgan are creating with her pottery wheel while we work in the kitchen

chuck was away for the weekend and i though it would be a grand idea to get started on the tile work.

i went to lowe's the day before to buy a few more tiles......i just had this feeling that it would be wise to have some extras on hand....just in case......

but, they were out!

so, when i got started on the project i decided to lay out all the tiles on the countertop to get a general idea if i would have plenty to work with.  i ended up calling the store to find out that the reason they were out was due to the fact that the tiles were discontinued.  would have been nice to know that earlier!  but, the boy was very helpful and we found some in iowa city.  so, with two boxes extra on hand i felt so much more comfortable about cutting into the tiles that i had............as it turns out i had only one tile left from the original purchase!

i've tiled flooring before but this to me was a bit more difficult to do.  concept was the same, i just had a few more issues with gravity!  i did about double what you see in the above picture then decided i needed to wait till chuck was home.  i felt it was best to work on this together.

we spent two evening finishing up setting the tile..........

then finally we had a saturday free to grout.  i wasn't such a fan of this step either.....that whole gravity thing!  but after a bit i got the hang of it and it went much smoother.

cleaning off the film of the grout is one of my favorite steps of the whole project.  it is that first time you see the completed project and it is very rewarding to step back and realize what you've just accomplished.

on the home stretch of grouting.....the final couple feet!

and then

the finished project!

with everything back in it's place and nice and clean and shiny we went out to eat!

next project?  painting our bedroom and eventually the family room and this kitchen........oh and i think i do want to change out the window treatment above the sink......someday.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO................

a few weeks ago we had our AWANA award night.

aubrey had a good night......we couldn't have been prouder of her!

here she is getting her awards for book one and book two for sparkies.....

and here is her award for book three.....the JOHN 3:16 award.

since this was her first year in Sparks (which is a three year program) aubrey started with the first book and just keep working at it until she had finished all three.

she knew she would be getting the two ribbons and the trophy but she didn't have any idea that there was such an award as the "clubber of the year" award......so, needless to say she what quite shocked when they called her name for that award!

i have to say i'm quite proud of all the work aubrey did this year on her Bible memory. 

on another note i have to say that i'm especially proud of the example that she is setting with her friends.  each week i would drive two of aubrey's class mates from school to AWANA with us. 

picture in your mind three giggly girls in the back seat....i know....not a stretch for kevin and thresea.....but for me it became quite loud at times!  BUT, i devised a plan.....a scheme if you will.....that the 20 minutes that it took us to drive to church was to be used as study time.  they would all whisper to themselves their verses and at time would recite John 3:16 in unison together at the TOP OF THEIR LUNGS !!  one time two of them were needing to learn the books of the Old Testament......so, in goes the CD that came with the book and all three girls would sing the Old Testament song ALL THE WAY TO CHURCH !!  in 20 minutes i think you can sing it about 18 times..

BUT, by the end of the year those three girls had completed eight books between them!  yep, so proud!