School's Out!

• I am completely done with the courses I was taking. It is nice to have my evenings and weekends back, no more homework! I finished the courses with a 90%, 91% and 96% so it went well and I learned a lot. I had last week off work and we went back to NS last weekend to fill in at the church we were ministering at last. It was so nice to see everyone again, hard to believe it had been a year since we were last back.

• The kitchen renovations are going well but slow. We now have all the cabinets installed but are still waiting for the door hinges and drawer slides so it is just open shelves right now. At least I can use the kitchen now! I bought a nice light fixture set off of Kijiji for $40! It was such a good deal, it came with a chandelier and two pendant lights and they will go perfect in the new kitchen.

• Jim is still going through the paperwork to getting his business set up and we still haven't started the renovations on the barn (to turn it into a workshop) but some baby steps have been taken. Jim has his website up and going (though still under construction) and the business name chosen. The website is www.theoldbrooklynwoodshop.com if you are interested in taking a look. Another area we are adding to the business is furniture refinishing. Jim has refinished many antiques over the years and it is always neat to re-purpose furniture to be used for many more years. I'm excited about finding great finds that we can refinish, give new life and sell. We have already collected, for free, a set of chairs that will look so nice when they are done and then Jim can make a table to go with them. It is all so exciting and scary at the same time! So much to learn about running a business that it sometimes makes my head spin but it will be worth it in the end, I hope!

• Back at work tomorrow until August where I have another week off planned. The boys love being home for the summer but they sure make quite the mess when they are home all day. They aren't so used to spending all day together but they seem to be now figuring it out, not driving each other crazy... as much.

• So far a busy summer. Hoping to be able to make some time to go the the beach, we still haven't made it out this year yet. There are always so many projects and cleaning to be done but I'm going to have to make it a priority. There are only so many weekends left of summer. I'll have lots of time in the winter when the weather is too miserable to go outside! I hope you are enjoying your summer so far and are doing a better job of making time to do some fun things with your family while the weather is nice!

Blog? What blog?

Oh yes, this blog!

I haven't forgotten that I have a blog, I've just been too busy living life and enjoying summer! I have been enjoying summer but at the same time, not doing anything special, just taking it easy!

Right now my kids are all gone to visit Grandma and Papa, my in laws who just moved closer to us (can I get an AMEN! No kids for 10 days!) so I have a bit more time on my hands! Actually, I'm finding it quite boring with them gone. Of course, the week they are gone, nothing but rain! It is supposed to be nice this weekend so I imagine we'll be hitting the beach.

Tomorrow evening I'm going to be enjoying a girls night with a friend and I get to buy the school supplies this week. I am happy about it because the boys won't be there begging for what they want, it should be quick and easy!

We will join the boys next week and get a visit in and celebrate our 12th anniversary and my (*cough*30th*cough*) birthday. We are going away for the night on our anniversary and I'm so excited. We've not done anything on our anniversary for years because we always have the boys with us so this will be nice. I'll have some pictures to share of the Hotel, it is beautiful. It is a renovated mansion from the 1800's and is done up so nice with lots of antiques! I hope you all (the 1 or 2 of you that read this blog!) are having a great summer!

(My crazy boys that I miss!)

Random, but at least it's a post!

So far, our new Kitten is fitting in nicely. She is pretty cute and the boys are quite taken with her. She has her moments, she can be pretty wild and likes to bite and scratch, but she has now directed that to Sammy. Sammy (that cat that previously ruled the house) is finally playing with her, instead of hissing at her. He can get a bit carried away and is so much bigger than her so I like to keep an eye on them when playing! But he keeps her busy!

The weather is slowly warming up! Actually, it was quite hot yesterday, a promise of what is to come I hope!

Lots of big things happening this month. My dad and his wife and their adopted son are coming to visit for two weeks. They arrive tomorrow, It has been two years since I've seen my dad and I look forward to meeting my new brother. My mother, father and brother in law are moving to our side of the country and I'm so excited. We go years (I'm talking 3 to 4) in between visits and I'm happy that we'll be able to see them more and meet our one year old nephew.

I haven't been taking many pictures of the kids. I'm not sure why but I'm vowing to get back at it! I'm going to have that camera attached to me all summer and hope to share some of our memories with you. This poor blog has been pretty neglected and I can't promise it will be any better now the nice weather has rolled in, but I will try to stop in from time to time!

I can't believe the boys are done school for another year! Next year they will be in grade 6, 2 and 1. Time sure flies. We are taking a break from sports this summer and plan to take time to be together as a family, no schedule, doing what we want! I'm looking forward to it!

I hope your family is healthy and enjoying summer!