The fun continues......

Now, I need you to bare with me. This may be a long post, but I will try to summarize the best I can! I will tell you about the kid's stuff at the bottom! :) Here are this weeks happenings:

Our excavation project has taken a turn for the worse. We were doing so well. We have a neighbor that was concerned that we were on his property – if you remember from our last post – but we thought we were fine. But our neighbor really was passive aggressive and kept coming over onto our property and talking to the excavator and interrupting him, etc. So finally we decided that the only course of action was to have the land surveyed. So I called the original surveyors, and we got lucky – they were able to come out today and get it taken care of so that we could have the excavator continue working. Well, there was good news and bad news. The good news – it looks like our property extends a little further down the one side (non-excavation side) than we thought. Not that we had major plans for that area (except to make more parking areas for when we had large crowds – Ha!) But it was nice to see. Our neighbor was wrong about his property lines in the front of our house, which was also good news because we had plans for out there as well. BUT – none of that really matters when you get to the bad news. So the plans we had were WRONG. Big surprise. It looks like 70% of the area we excavated was on his property. Yeah. Take that one in. In the plans it shows our house on an angle and the property on that side fanning out like a piece of pie. What REALLY happened is they turned the house to be straight on the property, so now the line up the side is straight. Sigh. We are really sad about it. It was a lot of work done and now it had to be undone. So the excavator spent the day flattening the yard and putting the top soil back down on our neighbors property. Mat is going to talk to the neighbor tonight, and of course appologize for what happened. IT was totally innocent. Town hall did not have the correct plans. This is no ones fault and we are just trying to make it right. So we will see what the neighbor says. To be continued........

So where does that leave us? Instead of 100 feet by 100 feet, we now have 30 feet by 15 feet. So SAD! So we talked to the excavator and he has some thoughts, and I think in the end we will still have a nice yard, just different. I will take more pictures once we have more to show! Not much going on right now! Tomorrow we are hoping to place the rock wall that will serve as the divider between our property and our neighbors and I think that will look really nice.

I wish the trouble stopped there. This week we also had Culligan come out (say it with me “Hey Culligan Man!”) to talk us through our well water system and water softener. We had directions, but they read like Greek, so we wanted some guidance. Good thing he came out. Many things were wrong. First, the filter that, well, filters the system had NEVER been changed in 12 years. Yuck!! It was letting all kinds of things through it too – it was a bad filter. So that was changed. There was a leak in one of the hoses that ran the system and the floor was getting wet at different intervals during the day. So that had to be repaired. Then the holding tank for the water (before it goes through the water softener) is rusted through. It needs to be replaced to the tune of $700!! Now why our home inspector didn't catch that, I will never know. And last, the pH balance of the water is low, and the Culligan man suggested putting in a neutralizer that will control all of the chemicals that run through the system. This will stop a lot of the staining we are seeing in our house on the toilets, etc. (which were there when we moved in). That costs $1500!! What????? The people that lived here before us really did not maintain this house at all. They just hoped for the best that the house would take care of itself, and nothing would break. That is NOT US. We love this house and eventually it will show. :) We want it to last, so you have to take care of it. UGH!

But to add insult to injury, on Mat's way to a meeting this afternoon he hit a curb and blew out a tire. He got out to place the spare and the spare was flat. So he drove to several different places before he finally had a gas station that had air. He was standing there and it wasn't working and wasn't working come to find out the guy at the service station didn't have it plugged in. SMALL towns! Too funny (in a way). But he is at the tire place right now getting the tire replaced. It is almost 9 at night and he was only home for about 15 minutes so far today. Poor guy.

So those are this weeks drama mama moments. The two house things happened around the same time, so I just saw money flying out the window left and right. But things are calmer right now. We are settling down. Let's hope that it stays that way just a little while.

The kids are fine. Mat's mom and dad left on Sunday. We could not thank them enough for everything that they did for us while they were here. It was amazing what we were able to accomplish with their help. And the kids loved having them around. We are so greatful for the chance to live closer to all the grandparents so that we can see them more often.

Arlington is doing great. Today was her first day of vacation Bible school. She LOVED it. She had a great time and loved talking about it all the way home. She even met a little girl and a couple little boys that will be in her Kindergarten class next year, so that was a big hit. Everyone was really nice at the church. She goes every morning this week from 9-12. It gives her something new to do, and she really needed that. I see a much better behavior out of her today. I just need to keep that girl busy!

We also bought Arlington a few new card games that we have been trying out each night for our “game time” with her. She loves Go Fish. We got that, War, Crazy Eights, and Old Maid. She beats us every time – fair and square! She loves to play games. She is good at them too. She has a great memory.

Finley is doing fine. Getting in trouble all the time as usual. Today she decided she was going to dump sand all over her brother and sister while playing outside. She just scooping it on top of them until I had to go and get her out of the sand box. She also is saying a few new things “Bug buzz ear” - meaning a bug is buzzing by her ear. “Freak out” because Arlington said it the other day. Now she says it just randomly. Weirdo. And she loves to tickle people. Arlington will be laying on the floor and Finley will walk over and start tickling her and say “tickle, tickle!”. And she does a good job! Arlington can't control her laughter.

Cainan is fine. Loves to play outside in the sand and dirt. We got him a little shovel and he is constantly digging with it. He carries it everywhere outside. He has also mastered the ladder to the playset (Finley about tumbled off because she is so clumsy). So now he can go up by himself to get to the slide.

So that is the news. We will be getting our NEW playset (thank you to Ben and Sally for purchasing this big thing for our kids!) once we have a better time line on the yard. WE found one we like, so we just have to order it. Sally and Ben and my mom and dad also bought me Cracker Barrel rockers for my birthday, so I am going to pick those up this week (Cracker Barrel is a bit away). Can't wait to start rocking on my front porch at night! Great presents – thank you, thank you, thank you.

Mat's Aunt Betty comes in tomorrow for a week long visit. We love having her here. She is going to help me around the house and play with the kids. We can't wait! Our first visitors have been “sweat equity” and we are greatful for that! Pretty soon they can come just to visit! Ha!

I am looking for baking receipes that are EGGLESS and NUT less. Arlington (and Finley) both have egg and peanut allergies. Arlington loves the idea of baking, but we can never do it because of her allergy. So if you know of something good that we can bake together – we are looking!

Today I only have one photo. After a long couple of days, I decided to take a picture of Arlington “reading” to her brother and sister. They prefer her to me any day! I look at them and think how lucky we truly are.