Funny Pictures

Last night I searched all around our computer for funny pictures, and this is what I found... Oh and there would be a few more, but lots of them were of Carsten, who does NOT like pictures of himself anywhere.

Carsten Drinks Space Invader Ice Water!

Isn't it great to have space invader ice cubes in our freezer??

testing if they're ready. . .

very cool. . .

If they'd been any cooler, he would have needed his space invaders jacket!

Bringing the river (rocks) into the house and keeping the spiders out

We now have river rocks in our entryway.

They are very much like the river rocks in our kitchen, except these have been cut flat on one side so it's not painful to walk on them.

To glue the rocks with the cut surfaces flat, I weighed them down with backerboard and a set of encyclopedias: proving that, although Wikipedia may have great linking capacity, all households still need a set of encyclopedias.

Here they are, glued in place.

Mixing the grout. . .it's impossible to feel the finer lumps in the cement through the nitrile gloves. I had to use my hands. The texture was something between pancake batter and natural stonewear clay.

No turning back now. . .six people arrived at the door during this stage and midway through I needed to take a daughter to the store because she had immediate need for purple nail polish. It was a frantic afternoon, trying to clean off the excess before the cement hardened on the rock surface. It took about eight hours to clean residue off the rocks.

Owww.

The skin had been damaged the previous week from the varnish remover that had eaten through my nitrile gloves. I think the cement actually helped by exfoliating the already-dead skin.

Keeping the grout wet for 48 hours for good cure. Doesn't it look like rain? I did a bit of plaster sanding before painting; and the dust on the rocks, it looked like snow. Maybe the dirt kids track in will look, well. . . like soil?

Testing them out. . .they feel quite smooth and cool.

Sealing the grout. . . and preparing the molding:

I still have to sand and finish the banister. But the entryway is finished, including caulking under the molding to discourage covert spider activity.

Plinths are so cool. They remind me of chess pieces.

And here is Pascal, sitting on the step and meditating on the river rocks:

This isn't recent either . . .

Athena

Happy Father's Day

Secret Agent Does Last Day of School

I'm not sure which detail I liked best: the Cal Young pencil in the pocket, the outfit underneath (underarmor, shorts, soccer shoes) so he's set for after-lunch soccer, or the role of Scotch tape in his pocket in case the rose or mustache needs another strip to keep it in place

:)

Congraduationadulaudation to Frances Marie!

Gramma, Athena, Opa. . . and Mom and Dad all watching Frances say good bye to eighth grade and to her life as a middle school student.

Stopping by to say hello and get hugs and other items from family before rushing off with friends to catch a shuttle school bus to the late-night wild adventure party!

Here she is receiving her promotion certificate with miscellaneous awards. None of these awards were very surprising to her parents. We already knew she's spectacular and deserving of many awards.

Yesterday, middle school student. Next week, U of O math student. After that, she'll take over the world.

Maybe Frances will give her piano lessons one day. . .

Sorry the video is sideways. I always forget that we don't have software to rotate video.

Changes

(The thing got so hot that it almost caught fire)

Mom's been working to make the entry way have different flooring. it used to be some ugly old wood, but now it's a pretty stone floor.

Good job, Mom!!!:) Look at His feet and you'll see it...

Secret Agent Milkshake

Pascal has been hardly ever seen without his sunglasses lately. Here are some pictures of him being "cool":)

(He got the mustache at the dentist)

Mom Makes Kids Giggle

I couldn't find any video with Frances giggling but here is a photo of her jack-o-lanterns giggling at their grumpy companion who was snacked on by a raccoon . Will keep looking. . .David was the one who always got her to giggle.

These are from last fall. Background music selection by Pascal Konyn.

I swear I'm not tickling Carsten. He's just that happy. (Lucky boy:)

Through Carsten's Lego Camera. . .