Slow Going, Slim Pickings and Don't Touch the Ducks

We missed posting for the last two weeks, so this one is a triple post.

The workers got their act together and actually got some work done on the house two weeks ago, so the Car port was half removed and a lot of things were taken off of the walls and more floors were ripped up. We are still not sure how long it will take for the whole thing to be done, however, there was certainly progress made that week.

Two weeks ago we also celebrated Sara's Birthday. Rea and Sara planned it, and threw a Harry Potter 2 themed party at the park. They made a decorations, planned various activities, and invited the Rogers and Wilsons.

The first activity that they did was decorating mirrors (through which you could look at basilisks safely). After that they played "Pin the pixie on Lockheart". Instead of putting their pixies on the cage like they were supposed to, they mostly ended up on his face, but I guess that that is what happens when you are a bad teacher at Hogwarts. They ate ice cream cake next, and then the final activity was beating up a pinata painted to resemble Lockheart's face. 

On the 23rd we met with the builders again, and they had taken more of the car port off, and got a little bit of plumbing done, and some of the wires removed, so the house was still moving forward at that point.

There was a Primary Parade in conjunction with the 24th of July, so we attended that and the kids decorated the Water's bikes and paraded around throwing salt water taffy at the parents. They had a lot of fun doing that, and then when it was over they ate the taffy.

Unfortunately during the time which we were at the Water's house the Plastows and Waters were both out of town, so we didn't have nearly as much fun as we could have because we didn't get to play with our best friends during the whole time. In exchange for that, Alison and the kids went to the pool pretty much every day for multiple hours, which helped them to avoid the heat wave, so that was good at least.

Last Sunday we moved from the Water's house back to the Poulson's house and also attended Treats in the Street, which was held at the cabana park. Treats in the Street is a potluck dessert and sit around and chat with random people from the neighborhood, so Alison and Mike ended up talking with some lady that isn't a member of the church pretty much the whole time.

On Monday we went to a splash pad with the Rogers in the evening, and that took pretty much up until dinner time. The kids had a lot of fun, however, so that is good.

On Tuesday (the 30th) we went to Taylorsville to meet with the builders again, but they texted to cancel at the last minute, and we ended up instead cleaning out the fridge (which was super disgusting, since it had been unplugged by the builders.) Here's hoping that we can get it back to smelling normal by the time that we move back in to the house.

Wednesday we went to Taylorsville again for the young women's activity and then we met with the builders to see if there was any more progress on the house. They said that the county was blocking further progress since they were told that they needed to strip off all of the floors and walls to go any further, so they ended up not making much progress. They said that the inspectors would be back again on Friday, so that is when they will be able to get back to work again.

Despite our best efforts it took us until Wednesday to do the grocery shopping for the week, since we were so busy doing other things every evening until then, so dinners were slim pickings.

Rea's started attending an online math class. It's using the math blocks and Gattegno method that Alison really likes. Rea is not as enthusiastic, but she's a good sport about it.

We also took Rea to get an eye exam so she can get new glasses. We're looking at buying glasses online this time. We'll let you know how that goes!

Sara wanted to do back to school shopping with her grandmas. Both she and Rea got some very cute outfits. :)

Friday night we attended a ward pool party. We went to the local pool and hung out eating food, talking to random people from the ward, and playing in the pool. The kids had a lot of fun swimming in the pool and showing off their swimming skills to Mike. Gideon jumped off the diving board for the first time! Rea jumped off the high dive and treaded water for 2 minutes! Tim jumped off the diving board for the first time a few weeks ago, but he didn't want to do it at the pool party. Elsa finally moved from having to touch the ground all the time to trusting her life jacket and parents to take her in deep water. Sara had lots of fun with her friends.

Saturday in the morning there was a rubber duck race at the park near the Poulson's house, so the kids had a lot of fun decorating ducks and attending that. After we bought birthday presents for Mike's birthday and then went to the pool with the Waters while Mike did the grocery shopping.