::bow to your sensai::

BOW TO YOUR SENSAI!!!!!

Max has been begging me for karate lessons for a long time. At least a year now. So when I saw that there was a little karate studio very close to our house (and believe me, there's not much very close to our house) we had to check it out.
And of course, checking it out led to signing up. The awesomeness of month-to-month membership didn't hurt.
He started yesterday. Today was his second class, and he felt very very cool.

I had nothing to do with these poses--I just held the camera. He's hilariously serious about this stuff.

Look out. His body is a lethal weapon. And once he develops some coordination, he might even figure out how to use it. In the meantime he's just concentrating on as many illegal ninja moves as he can.

::more before & after::

Megan was right. Once you start spray painting furniture it's hard to stop. Last week we did some more.
We have an old desk that we don't like. In fact, a couple of times we've almost gotten rid of it. After painting the TV stand we thought we would try painting the desk and see if it helped. Blue this time!



I don't have a before for the desk--Kris was too quick at getting it started. But it was just old brown particle board basically.
Max got in trouble for something, I have no idea what he did now, but I know he did some time out in the garage. Little stinker.


I was sitting out in a camping chair on the driveway watching the spray painting. It was extremely entertaining actually. Watching that paint go on and the color change is super satisfying.
After Max was excused from time out he and Sultan came and sat with me too.

And no, Max isn't pulling Sultan's ear like it appears. He's making it so Sultan looks like he's "listening." Max thinks it's cute so it happens a lot at our house.

When Kris was about done with the desk I thought of another item that would benefit from some cheering up. It's a little side table thing that we've had forever. We've used it for a zillion things, moved it a zillion times and it's just beaten up and tired.
Here's your before:

It has a drawer too, but the drawer was already out and painted at this point.

Kris is getting to be an expert spray-painter, and Sultan doesn't mind the fumes. (Can you see him there in the shadows? He's all camouflaged.)

Afters:

The desk is WAY more fun and interesting now. And the spray paint finish won't last forever, but neither will the desk, so it's all good.

It's hard to see the color on this one because of the bright evening sun, but doesn't this little table have so much more character now? I like to look at it. The blue makes me happy.

So there's some more "home improvement through spray paint" for you. We like to do it. Now what else can we spray......?

::intruder::

We were getting ready to leave the house yesterday evening for a night on the town when Kris spotted this little intruder.

See him?
He's the first lizard I've seen out here, though Kris and Max claim to have seen more--Kris claims to have seen big ones. He's going to have to prove it to me before I believe it though!

He wasn't very fast, so Kris was able to nab him with a cup and some paper and put him outside.
I guess that's the price we pay for keeping the doors open for the lovely cool air to flow in.
But I don't mind that little guy. I thought he was pretty cute. Now, a big snake? That I would mind.

Then this morning Max caught a lizard in his room.

Yes, the lizard was made out of stretchy rubber, but he was a lizard nonetheless.

Silly.

::halfway through::

This is a hard and fabulous post for me to write for many reasons, but let's just get to the meat of it.

Baby #2 is finally due to come to our family in November. This has been such a long time coming. We are so glad and excited and I'm so relieved that everything is going well. We're a little more than halfway through (22 weeks) and that feels great! November 11th is the official due date!

It's so hard for me to make that announcement for a couple of reasons. After nearly three years of struggling with "unexplained infertility" I've been rubbed pretty raw. And then add a miscarriage in there (pretty early) and I've been frightened the whole time that something was going to go wrong. So talking about it seemed overly optimistic and almost arrogant. I just didn't want to tell anybody so I wouldn't have to explain why I'm so "cautiously optimistic" to put it mildly.

Also, after dealing with all those struggles and feelings for a few years I know how it feels to never have success month after month. And every friend/acquaintance/stranger that has good news breaks your heart--even if you love that person to death and you're truly very happy for them. It's almost as if it feels like there are a finite number of babies in the world and everybody else is using them up before you can get to them. And like time is running out. And like your 1st will be 20 before he has a sibling (if it ever happens). And a zillion other things mixed in there. It's really complex.
So I would hate to cause anybody pain.

And if anybody is reading this who has been struggling, I hope you can take our story of a 2 plus year struggle with a successful outcome (so far) and think of it as an encouragement.

I haven't ever talked about this on the blog before because I just didn't know where to start. I'm also not a great writer, so I can't express myself super eloquently like some of my friends do. Anyway, it's just not something I've ever wanted to get out there--which is another reason why it's been hard to write this post. Where to start? Where to end?

But anyway, it's great news for us. We're so happy and excited!
Thanks for your support and love everybody, and we'll keep you posted.

(also...this may not be big news to some--it's already been out in the cyberworld because I had to make the facebook announcement earlier than I was thinking. But at some point it was necessary to tell people that actually see me, so they didn't just think I was overeating or something.)

::mail boy::

Our mailbox is way down at the end of our curvy dirt driveway.
So these days, if we want the mailbox checked we have to call the mailboy.
If you "call" him on the pretend phone, he will check the box for you. He does it on his bike, helmeted of course, and usually takes his awesome green backpack to carry all the mail.
He's good at his job.
And he's very serious about it.
And it occupies him for at least a couple of minutes, and right now that's very nice.




He's too big for his bike now, isn't he? When we bought that bike I thought it would fit him forever. Time files as they say!

::more skies::

Here are some fun sky photos I took after a rainstorm the other night. The sky looks different like every 10 minutes out here!
From the dining room french doors, looking out over the garden.

Looking down the turny dirt driveway.

No, it's not a volcano--just clouds over the garage!


Some pink sky over the neighbors house. We just found out he's a blind sculptor. Max loves to go and visit them on his bike.

And to end it all, another crazy sunset.

This place is beautiful!

::before & after::

We have this TV stand that Kris found for a killer price at some point. I think it's hideous. I never want to use it in the house because I feel like it clashes with our taste so bad.
But we felt like we needed to use it for this house, rather than drilling intensely into the wall to hang the TV.

So we thought we'd pull a Megan and spraypaint the dang thing! I figured I couldn't like it much less, so the paint could only be an improvement.

Before:


During:

Kris is utilizing the desert for a good spray-painting space. Can you see Max camouflaged in the bushes?

I guess this space Kris is using could be termed our backyard. Crazy to have a huge amount of desert as your backyard, but we've got it!!

After:

I like it so much more now. It's still not my favorite piece of furniture by any means, but at least it has some character and adds something to the room instead of making me feel like I'm living in a crummy bachelor pad.

Spray paint is awesome, that's all there is to it!

::happy 4th::

We were lucky enough to be able to get together with some new friends from church for some yummy food and fireworks viewing tonight.
Then we let Max do a couple of sparklers in his PJs.

I hope everybody else had a great Independence Day/weekend.

::tonight::

After I put the little guy to bed this is some of the stuff that I saw.

Muddy muddy feet after a bike ride.


Flowers from a friend.


A different angle on the house for you--in the dusk.


Just for Linda-see? We do have neighbors! And Kris and Max met a couple of them today and they were very nice.


And then the sun set and I went inside.