Fishing

Da original bums (Al, Lori, and Travis) went fishing today on Lake Big Jessie up near Grand Rapids. They had an AMAZING day. They caught the limit of fish (eighteen) even after throwing back several that they couldn't keep because they were TOO BIG. Lori was the best "fisherwoman" of the day catching the biggest walleye and the biggest perch. Check out this video of Lori "holding" the biggest fish of the day.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7159323684188526897&hl=en

After you stop laughing...check out the pictures of the big catch:

Painting Done

Despite Zach and Travis' best efforts, the painting of the Kingston house didn't get finished before Zach left last week. Part of the problem was the weather. We had 100% humidity and rainy weather the weekend before Zach left. We decided to paint anyway...which was not the best decision. The paint in the kitchen kept running down the walls because the air was so wet. So, Zach and Travis decided to roll the paint again...and it ran...again. Four coats later, the beautiful red paint now looked kind of scary (think lipstick red). Thus, we decided to try a painting technique called Bellagio Faux. That took two coats of faux and then another coat of sealant. Altogether, we figure there were eight coats of paint in the kitchen!

Sheinah's bedroom was another problem. We wanted to do something special with multiple colors. Travis taped the walls to paint the squares and it looked beautiful. Then, when he went to pull off the tape...the paint came with it...not once, but twice. UGH. Anyway, after some extra work, Travis got her room all nice and pretty. Enjoy the pictures of the finished product.

Kitchen, with two coats of faux paint...it's looks much more "pink" than it is in real life.

Sheinah's room (picture taken from the door). The wall you can't see is blue.

Sheinah's bathroom/laundry room. That white thing in the corner is a shower.

Living room. That's Eric working on the trim.

Master bedroom...all the trim is done in this room.

Silly Songs with Larry

Melissa's parents bought Sheinah a DVD called Silly Songs with Larry (from Veggietales). Sheinah has several Veggietales movies and her favorite part is always the silly song section so we all figured Sheinah would enjoy a whole DVD of Larry. As soon as we put it on for her, she started dancing. This particular dance is to the song "The Dance of the Cucumber." If you listen carefully, you can hear the song is sung in spanish by Larry the Cucumber with translation by Bob the Tomato. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4760493162453609035

Canal Park

We took Uncle Bacqua (that's Zach) down to Canal Park on Sunday. Sheinah loves birds so we figured she would get a kick out of feeding the seagulls. Zach thought it would be cool to see if the birds would take the crackers right out of his hand. They did! Then Sheinah wanted to give it a try. Check out the videos http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5254428256788979963 and http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3300781079683331966

House Update

Travis' brother, Zach, arrived on Tuesday night to be our painter. Wes, Eric, and Travis have been working hard to get actual walls up for Zach to paint :) They ran into some troubles with inspections (plumbing still won't hold 5 pounds of pressure) but passed the electrical inspection on Friday. Here are some pictures of the progress. There is actual drywall up in the kitchen, no more hole in the wall in the living room, and Zach got serious paint on his eyelashes. We especially like the one of Zach's eyelashes :)

Eric in the living room finishing the "hole in the wall"

Zach poses before they hang the "rock" in the kitchen.

Good-bye to Nicole

Our babysitter, Nicole, will watch Sheinah for the last time on Thursday. We knew this day would eventually come since Nicole is one of Melissa's students so she eventually has to move on...although it would be cool if she could just babysit forever! Nicole has started her fourth professional year which means she will be in Washington state and Wisconsin completing her experiential rotations. We won't see her again until graduation next May :( Thus, in her honor, we are posting the only video we have of her and Sheinah (how sad is that). We took this video back in January when Sheinah was going through a phase where she liked to bounce on the exercise ball. This was just two weeks after we got Samson when Sheinah had justed started using words (like puppy). We will greatly miss Nicole!! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8109910179289671569&hl=en

Bedtime Story

Part of our nighttime routine with Sheinah is to read her several bedtime stories. One of her favorites is a book called "I Love You Through and Through." It is a story with a little boy and his bear. It was a gift from the staff at the Vineyard when Sheinah was born, but we only found it a few months ago. Anyway, we created a bunch of "actions" to go with the story to help Sheinah be more interested in the book. Now that she is talking more, we decided to video tape the reading of the story. We're actually going to have to do it again because Travis accidentally skipped a page (fingers and toes page). For now, enjoy the video! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7596049320176076710&hl=en

P.S. When we turn the book upside down it is because the Teddy Bear is upside down in the picture. Sheinah always wants to turn him right-side-up.