Look at All of the Pretties Popping Up Around Our Place

Swimming Pool

We were so excited to start putting up our pool this holiday weekend. Then last night, a call from someone on our home owners association board called to talk to Roger about the pool.

First, we don't know how exactly he found out about it because only one neighbor knew. We can only speculate that this neighbor called the board to tell them about the pool, but we don't know why she did that exactly. Was it for our benefit and to keep us safe from any kind of trouble we might get in, or some other reason? Why didn't she talk to us directly about going to the board for permission.

Second, we didn't know we needed permission to put in an above ground pool. The board member told Roger where in the covenant this was talked about and let me just say that it is very vague, but we will not ruffle feathers about it. There is an improvement clause and a pool is not mentioned specifically. We are guessing that they are considering the pool an "appurtenance" which is a word I have never heard of before and had to look up the definition. You can look it up yourself if you want.

The board meets the second Tuesday of each month so Roger is submitting our desire to them to put up a pool, and we're going to go ahead and try to receive permission to put up a certain type of fence.

Yes, if you know me at all, you know that I was feeling pretty irritated by the whole thing--just because of the vague language of what the clause states. Oh well. Roger and I discussed it, and even though we don't know the specifics of how this board member found out, we are deciding to thank God for the call last night because if we had just begun to go ahead and put the pool up, we may have gotten ourselves into big trouble by the board. So, God saved us that headache and heartache by in His timing having that board member call us to discuss the pool before we began work on it. Thank you God!

In the meantime, we have a nice pile of 10 tons of sand sitting in our front yard that was delivered this morning. Plus, one of Roger's friends will be bringing over his tractor tonight for us to use this weekend for not just the pool, but other yard work we want to do. Even though we can't put the pool up yet, we can still level the ground and distribute the sand. Hopefully and prayerfully the board will approve our appurtenant improvement and in a couple of weeks we will have our pool up to enjoy this hot summer.

Our Mini-Vacation

Last week the kids and I got to go out of town with Roger to Olathe KS and Washington MO. Even though we didn't spend any money to go sightseeing, the kids enjoyed swimming at the hotels, going to Bass Pro Shop, and playing at parks. We were very money conscience and did a great job of it. The company of course paid for the hotel rooms, and the hotels had free breakfasts. We bought groceries for lunch, and ate out at dinner. We rented a car to save wear and tear on our vehicle, but with the money Roger will get paid back for mileage and gas, it will pay for the rental car cost, plus I think he will make money from it all.

In Olathe we went to Bass Pro Shop twice. Roger and I both tried out shooting a bow and arrrow, and guess who did better--me! It was fun; someday I will get myself a bow and arrow. Unfortunately Roger got zinged by the bow and got a pretty bad bruise on his arm. It made him a little nervous and he wasn't sure he wanted to purchase it, but then when he saw that I did okay, he went ahead and bought it and wants to use it for hunting next year. Roger and Evan got their seafood fix by eating at Joe's Crab Shack. We also ate at Oklahome Joe's BBQ--one of the best BBQ places I have ever eaten at. Another thing to note about Olathe, it has to be the pothole city of America. Potholes were everywhere, and some were incredibly deep, I couldn't believe they had not been repaired.

In Washington, MO we were only there for one night. We found a nice Italian restaurant to eat at. During the day, the kids and I went down along the Missouri River to look around, but it was flooded. I found out that Washington was on the Lewis and Clark Trail and is in a wine valley. We went to Walmart and there was one entire grocery aisle with nothing but wine bottles. The town was beautiful. There were many parks to discover, which the kids and I did, plus some of the streets were very hilly like you would see in pictures of San Francisco. There is a tiny production plant there that is owned by the company Roger works for. He asked if he ever had the opportunity to be head of the plant if I would consider moving. This is the one place I would consider it--I loved the area that much. Washington is 30 minutes south of the interstate, and maybe that far from St. Louis.

The kids and I had not been out of town since Thanksgiving, so it was so nice to get away!!!

Scouting

Lauren's last Girl Scout meeting was last Thursday. We will be taking next year off and will think about joining the following year when she would be a Brownie. Not sure if that will happen, though. I think we will try a program called Keepers of the Faith. I've known about this program for a few years, and think I would like to try it. In this picture of her troop they are all holding bears from Build-A-Bear--their last activity they chose to spend their troop funds on.

Tonight Evan graduated from being a Cub Scout Bear to a Webelo (We Be Loyal Scouts). They had a fun way of promoting them. There was a long box that they entered wearing their former neckerchief, and on the back side there was an opening they would stop in front of, a leader would help them quickly put on their new neckerchief, and then they would come out on the other side of the box "magically" wearing their new neckerchief.

Swimsuit

Look at this adorable swimsuit that a friend MADE for Lauren. Lauren actually got to pick out all of the fabric to make the suit, but didn't it all turn out great?!

Birthday Party Time

I'm so glad my kids' birthdays are within a month of each other--it sure makes planning parties for them easy sometimes. This year they celebrated together at Chuck E. Cheese. Do I really need to say how happy and how much fun they had; after all, it's the place Where A Kid Can Be A Kid!

Little Diva

Lauren has been waiting to turn 6 so she could go to my salon and take part in the Little Diva package they have. She got her hair curled and pinned up, got to pick out what color nail polish she wanted (who knew there were so many shades of pink?), and got a makeover. She had a blast!!

Awana Awards Night

This year in Awana Evan finished his first book in T&T, and Lauren finished her first book in Sparks. They both worked hard and were so proud.

The closing program happened to fall on Lauren's birthday and Gma and Gpa Merriman were in town and got to attend the program. After that we went to Freddy's Frozen Custard and got some ice cream to celebrate.

Tanganyika Field Trip

One more field trip with our homeschool co-op group. This one was in May to Tanganyika Wildlife Park. I took other pictures but am only posting these because this was probably the most exciting part of the trip--feeding the lemurs. The kids had to sit very still and the keeper came along and gave them some food in their hands. Then the lemurs would just walk across their laps to eat the food out of their hands. The kids loved it! What a neat experience.

Rocks and Gems

Another field trip in April with our homeschool co-op was to the Rock and Mineral Show. The kids had fun looking at all of the different gems, digging for rocks, and sifting through goodie bags for treasures.

Eagle Valley Raptor Center

With our homeschool group we took a fieldtrip to the Eagle Valley Raptor Center in Garden Plain in April. The grounds are beautiful and Jeff the owner is very knowledgeable about his birds. The kids found it so interesting. Not everybody got a chance to interact with the birds, but luckily enough we were chosen to be the only ones to say HI to one of the eagle's by opening our mouths very wide, and the only ones to get pictures taken with the eagle. It was a great experience, but I felt so bad that not all of the families got to do it. There were more birds to take pictures of, but my batteries ran out of juice.

Busy Tooth Fairy

A few weeks ago, the kids and I were eating ice cream cones at McDonalds and out popped Lauren's loose tooth.

The very next day while eating a chip during lunch, out popped Evan's loose tooth.