Delurking Day!

Well, it is delurking day! So, if you are reading this, please leave a comment introducing yourself (unless you are a regular commenter - then you can just say hi :) ).

In other news, things are going well here. I took the kiddos to the library today for storytime. AJU6 slept the whole time in the sling carrier whilc AJU5 behaved fairly well. It was only girls today, and all are fairly close in age (other than AJU6 of course), so they had fun running around the kids section of the library after the storytime while us moms got to talk. Then we came home for naps and lunch. After that we headed to a friend's house for the afternoon. I had my 6 wk post partum appointment (at 7 weeks because my doctor takes the beginning of January off each year), so AJU5 got to play with her friends while AJU6 and I took care of that. So, we had a busy day!

As for the post partum appointment, I have lost 24 pounds so far. I was hoping for closer to 30, but I am not going to complain too much. Hopefully the remaining 20 pounds will come up in the next few months! I have plans for more trips to the park and hopefully walks in the near future, so that should help. Oh, and maybe I will eat a little better - 3 bowls of cereal in one day is a little much I think :) Oh, and my body is still healing. I ended up with a third degree tear/episiotomy because there was such a rush to get AJU6 out (his heart rate was half of what it should have been). I knew it wasn't completely healed yet, but I was nice to hear my doctor said it is almost healed and should be 100% in the next few weeks.

Tomorrow I may be adventurous and take the kids to a meeting at work. If we go, we will leave as soon as AJU5 starts acting up. I don't have to attend because I am a part-timer, but I like to hear what is going on... So stay tuned to hear how it goes!

Another Party Idea

This Friday/Saturday our church is having a Ladies Slumber Party (slumber optional). There will be lots of scrapbooking going on over the two days, as well as some eating and fellowship. This is my idea of a girls-only party - food, friends, and crafts. I am a big craft person, but I rarely have time to do it. I actually haven't even started AJU5's scrapbook. Luckily for me, she wrote a letter every month for the first year and then one at 15 months. This is going to make it easier for sure!

Another thing I have done is create a collage (using Picasa) for each month a major event. I am having 28 (8x10s) of these printed a Costco (I pick them up this afternoon). I still need to go through here and pull of all of the major milestone dates (as well as emails of these as well). Hopefully I will be able to at least get a good start on the scrapbooks this weekend!

Do you scrapbook? Are you crafty? How far behind are you on your kids' baby books?

Partying Some More!

So, this has been a weekend of partying!

Saturday, AJU5 was invited to a 2 year old's birthday party at Chucky Cheese. It was CRAZY! But, she seemed to really like it. She loved playing with the balls (Skee Ball) and riding some of the rides. She even left the group (while I was turning in our tickets) to play skee ball on her own (luckily we found her quickly). We lost one other kid- he was hiding in the tunnels while Chucky was on stage (he is aftraid of Chucky). Luckily, after about 5 minutes of looking, he came down (as Chucky was done on the stage).

Yesterday was AJU1's 30th birthday. I ordered him a cake Saturday and had a friend pick it up so we could have it at church. It was good to surprise him! He didn't want anything for his birthday (he had already bought himself stuff a few weeks earlier), so that was all we did. But, it was fun none the less.

Have you done any real partying during the Ultimate Blog Party?

What is a perfect party for you?

Home Improvement Saturday - Grout

Well, last week a took a week off from the Home Improvement posts to ski. Can you blame me? There was no home improvement going on at the house, so I didn't post about any of the projects we had completed. But, it is back again!

The last two posts have been about tiling. The last step in tiling is grouting (and sealing). Grout it the stuff between the tiles. For really small grout lines, you use unsanded grout. But, we have only used the sanded grout since we have stuck with the larger grout lines (all floor tile should have sanded grout). The first thing you have to do is decide the color of the grout. There are lots of options! One thing you might want to do is see if the brand/color comes in caulk as well, as it may come in *handy in the future.

Now, for how to grout. First you have to mix the stuff with water (and the big beater bar you used when you mixed the thin set). The bag will give you proportions. BUT, I recommend not adding that much water to begin with. It is a lot easier to add more water as you go until it gets to the right consistency. You want something that is a brownie or cake batter consistency - something that you can move around but isn't too thin. Once you have it mixed (and waited and mixed again according to the bag directions), then you have two options for application. You can put the grout into a bag and squeeze it into the cracks like a pastry bag or you can use the grout floats and just cover the floor. Personally, I like to just cover the floor. But, if you are doing a small area (like an entry), it might be easier. Either way, the goal is to fill the grout lines so that they are level with the tile. Then you want to let it dry a LITTLE. Once a haze appears on the tiles, you can start cleaning them. Use a tile sponge - removing as much water as possible before wiping the tiles. Move diagonally across the tiles so you don't remove too much out of the grout lines. For the first pass, you just want to smooth the grout lines out and get some of the excess off the top of the tiles. Then, once another haze appears, you can focus on getting the tiles a little cleaner. Rinse the sponge out more often and replace the water more often to get a fairly clean looking tile (it will still have a haze though). Let it dry for a few hours and then go back over it again. After 3-4 sponging ones, you can mop it with a fairly dry mop.

The grouting itself isn't hard. But the cleaning can take a long time! It can be a fun party activity though! Just make sure your guests don't like to throw mud...

Up next: Cabinets!

* We are using the caulk where the new floor meets the tile to fill the gap. We also used it in the bathrooms around the tub, etc.

PICTURES TO COME LATER (my computer is fighting a nasty Trojan, so getting to the files is a pain).

Ultimate Blog Party 2009

First, let me introduce myself and the other main characters in this blog.

I am AJU5's Mom. Yes, I do have a name, but I like to keep my blog as anonymous as possible. I teach online math classes for the local community college (I worked full time before becoming a mom). I am also a Christian and very involved in my church. As for hobbies, our house remodel has taken all of our time the last 16 months. But, I used to love hiking, skiing, and crafts (including scrapbooking).

AJU5 is my 15 month old daughter. She is our first - but hopefully not our last here on earth. She is already a big sister with a baby brother or sister in heaven (miscarriage). As for her hobbies, there is the daily walking, playing, eating, and sleeping. She loves to have all of Mommy or Daddy's attention or to play with other kids.

AJU1 is my husband. He works. He is a dad. He enjoys the same hobbies as me (except not the crafts). Other than that, he stays out of the blog...

I have a second blog - http://ssumusings.blogspot.com - where I post about more controversial topics - faith, religion, politics, etc. This blog is a mommy blog. I limit the posts to family, work (since many of my readers are also involved in education), and home remodeling.

Now for some partying!

Get your favorite drink and snack.
Turn on your favorite music.
Dance with your kids and have fun!

The Whole U Gang Last Weekend
(we are on the far right)