Beating August

Nine days ago we came home from our church meetings, changed clothes, and started dinner. I came downstairs to get potatoes - I'd left them in the basement guest room because our cold storage room isn't properly sealed and it was too hot in there. When I opened the guest room door, I could hear water splashing. Then I could see water splashing behind my Grandma Carol's sewing machine near the window. I rushed back upstairs, passed Brian and Bridget, ran out the back door to turn off the hose that Emil had set on top of the window well cover and turned on about an hour before we left for church. Four hours of water pouring into the window well. From the inside of the window it looked like an aquarium. Full of leaves and dirt and grass. There went our perfect day.

The rest of our Sunday was a frantic attempt to clean up, children weeping in their Sunday clothes, borrowing wet/dry vacs and fans from neighbors, moving furniture, and Brian vacuuming and pulling up carpet. That whole situation ruled the rest of the week for me. We had Servepro come in and finish what we started, as well as cut holes in our drywall and take baseboards off. Sad. They put in a de-humidifier and more fans and came to check on the room every day. While that was happening, we did some other stuff.

The boys played Itty Bitty Soccer at the Rec Center! The huddle was the best part.

"Gooooo GERMANY!" That's right, they played for the Germans. Winners.

The gym was set up in six stations for the six teams of 3-4 year old kids. Emil loved this part.

You won't see what happened next because taking pictures was really hard.

Hahahahaha! Mo.

Colin loved every single thing about soccer. He could do the little drills for days and he was always in the pack of boys chasing the ball all over the gym during the "games."

While Colin was running and having fun during the games, Emil was at my side. Always so different. Emil didn't like the chaos of the games, but he did like the structure of the drills.

Doesn't this photo make you wish you had twin boys?! Sometimes they are so cute it makes me cry with happiness.

They did it!

Twin boys also come with this action. The carpet was too heavy for us, so we put chairs under it to try to get it dry. All the stuff from the room is in the hallway in this photo. (I've since moved it into the family room and the storage room so we could accommodate Grandma and Grandpa. We use that room every three months and it was flooded the weekend we needed it. Of course.)

Bridget finished up her sewing camp last week, too. (She does have a make-up lesson today.) It was raining hard, but I still took her picture.

Her class was near a splash pad, so I took the boys there during one of her classes. Not the day I brought the camera. Don't make me laugh. A camera with me while I'm keeping track of two 3 year-olds at a crowded place with water?! What is wrong with you?!

Bridget made everything she's wearing. Colin is making that face because he is tough.

This makes me laugh.

We passed this yard four times a week taking Bridget to and from her sewing class. I love that someone made that awesome scarecrow and put it next to a sunflower patch. We watched the sunflowers get taller every week and I knew it would be awesome when they were blooming.

And it was awesome.

I also finished this little quilt last week. I haven't done a Grandmother's Flower Garden in YEARS.

I found that back fabric and could not resist.

So, August is trying to break me. Our insurance is covering the rebuilding of our guest room. Everything could always be worse. That's what August didn't count on - I'm an optimist.