Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

This is a guest post, by Mr. Graff.

So.

Before we road-tripped down to Grandma's house (no, not that Grandma.  Or that one, either! This is the other Grandma…) Icie and I scrambled to finish all of the big projects around the house and then pack what we needed for a few days at the beach and what Icie and the boys needed for a few weeks at Grandma's (yes, the other, other Grandma this time).

I only had so many hours of leave I could use, so I drove home on Wednesday morning.  (Icie and the boys flew out late Thursday evening.)  I got home and got to work on a lot of the smaller projects around the house.  I didn't even think to unpack until much later.

My favorite of the smaller projects would probably be the yard work.  I raked, mulched, weeded and planted.  I won't have time to set up a real garden (and it probably wouldn't be a good selling point, and I wouldn't be around to harvest anything), but the realtor suggested a little container garden for a splash of color, so I went and bought some flower pots, soil, and flowers.  Here I have a calladium and some impatiens.  And a potato.  (Apparently a little piece from last year survived the winter and is pushing up again.  It's growing so nicely!  I'll probably have to pull it up, though, so the garden looks more presentable.  *Sigh*)

My garden

I've installed toe-kicks, caulked, cleaned up outside, patched and painted walls, shampooed carpets, straightened and cleaned everywhere, and made sure the bed was always made and the dishes were always clean (or, at least, out of sight).  And last night, I put in carpet transitions.

If you wanted to make a pretty scrapbook out of flooring materials, carpet transitions would be the metal ribbon you'd use along the edges of the carpet.  It holds everything down and makes a neat edge that people won't trip over.  We've known that we needed to put in new carpet transitions since we re-did the tile in the entryway, kitchen, and bathroom.  It's pretty straightforward to install, too.  You just nail or screw it in place, then there are hooks along the bottom to hold the carpet in place and a metal lip that bends down.

A carpet transition, end view

We still ran into a couple problems.  The first problem is that our sub-floor is concrete.  The second is that the type of carpet transition we were using is somehow obscure enough to not have any kind of tutorials online or in any book that I've been able to find.  I got concrete nails, then a bigger hammer, then concrete patch, then three or four different kinds of concrete screws and new bits for our power drill.  I talked to experts at home improvement stores and handymen at church and the project just kept getting stalled.  Finally, I went out and rented the big artillery: an impact drill!  (And yet another variety of concrete screw, to match the drill bit.)  

The impact drill worked just fine on our concrete floor.  I marked and pre-drilled the holes, then used a regular screwdriver to screw down the carpet transitions.  Once I realized how little time I had before the drill had to be returned (I rented it for four hours, but the store closed sooner than that!), I started scrambling.  I went just far enough to know that I'd drilled the holes correctly and the carpet transitions would go in all right and then skip ahead to the next one.  I got the drill back just in time, then stayed up late finishing the process and cleaning everything up.  It is kind of nice that the last step in the process is pounding on the transitions with a rubber mallet.  (Hey, you have to make sure the metal lip is smooth and flush.  Really sure.)

Ruff ruff, man-grunt.

Icie thought I'd cook a ton of weird food while she was gone.  Maybe I would have, if I'd had more time to cook and less need to clean the kitchen immediately.  Really, I haven't cooked much at all.  Today was Rae's birthday though, and I needed something to celebrate.  I'd been wanting to try British steamed pudding for a while (it's basically a cake that's steamed instead of baked), and not only did I find a recipe with apples and raisins (Rae's favorites!), I found a way to steam the pudding in a slow-cooker instead of in a pot on the stove.  I spent just a couple minutes mixing things last night, and woke to a nice, spiced pudding for breakfast.  I topped it with some caramel ice cream because why not!  The flavor went well with the pudding, and cake and ice cream is traditional for birthdays, and this is a birthday party!  Think of the children.  In…Colorado…

Coming out of the slow cooker

All dished up.  I think I'll skip the apple butter next time.

Adventures at Grandma's

My goal for the week was to take pictures of each boy, each day. 

It worked great. 

Until Rae and Joe got sick. 

But, I'm getting ahead of myself... 

We went to the park a couple of blocks away. Caleb rode in the umbrella stroller; Joe pushed it; I corrected the steering, and Rae led the way. It worked alright. 

We did forget the sunscreen, so Caleb got a little more brown. 

The playground is all gravel. Small, little gravel that's fun to pick up and play with. 

Rae, Joe, and Caleb liked filling Caleb's stroller with gravel. 

Joe liked climbing up and down the red stairs. He works hard at learning how to climb stairs. Joe biffed it down Grandma's stairs this week and got a few bruises on his back, but was okay. So, I learned that if I ever go upstairs, I have to carry Joe back down the stairs. (Joe's my little shadow and he needs to follow me everywhere.) Even though he tumbled down the stairs, Joe is resilient. He keeps trying to figure out how to climb stairs, particularly the front step and the back step. He can climb up the stairs, though! 

Rae also biffed it down the staircase. I heard that one. It sounded like somersaults with, "ah!" thump, "ow!" thump, "oh!" thump, all the way down. Minor scratches, and he bounced back. Though now he does say he wants to be carried down the stairs... No way, buckeroo. I nearly biffed it down the stairs carrying Joe and Caleb.  

Stairs... it's a new thing for us. 

I've also learned how to get to the library. You get to the library one way and have to get home another way. So, I followed my in-laws there and then made up my way home. I only got lost three or four times. 

Can you see all three boys?  

Rae woke up and told me that he needed a hair cut! Score big. We usually don't cut his hair until it's necessary because he acts like it's so traumatic.  Now, I know. I just need to wait until his hair is in his face and he will ask me for a haircut. He didn't want clippers, so Grandma used the scissors on him. 

The tablet is playing Curious George, atop the chicken coop. 

About this point in the hair cut, Rae thought he was done. Ha! 

Joe loves this armchair. Grandma also has a plastic yellow, little chair that I keep in my room. Joe will grab a blanket and climb into the chair. And out of the chair. Back in. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In....

I told Rae that he had to be touching the shopping cart or holding my hand. 

Hence, the shopping luge. 

It's serious. 

Rae told me to take his picture...

And here I took it because... of the crossed legs. And the pillow. And the drink. And the snacks. 

The boy has got it all set up. 

Grandpa got a trailer to take Isaac's stuff up to his new digs. So the boys loved climbing in it. Rae liked the orange ties on the side. The ties have a clip on one end and Rae pretended to scale mountains with the rope and hook. 

Yes, Rae's in his unders. And they're wet. 

Let me explain... No, let me sum up: Grandma. 

Grandma bought sponges. So we could cut them up and put them in a bowl of water. And then throw them at each other. And ambush Grandpa. Well... the ambushing didn't happen, but Rae liked throwing the sponges. So he got wet... so he needed to get naked. 

And Joe... well, pants are overrated. 

Cal's the best dressed of the bunch. 

Scaling the couch...like a boss.  

Caleb's waking up three times at night... STILL. I am grateful that he wasn't doing this as much when we were remodeling. Then add Rae, who climbed into bed with me and puked all over. It made for a long night. But, during the day, it was totally nice because Rae felt so miserable, he was inert. 

Count your blessings where you can get them. 

So, in a miracle of miracles all three of my boys slept at the same time during the day, so I could sleep in a ball on the short couch. 

Then Joe got sick, and we are still working through that one: no church for us this week. We like to share, but we don't like to share germs. 

So, Sunday morning nap for Caleb: 

And a Sunday morning ride for Rae: 

Hoping for a Healthy week! 

Up next, a quick guest post by Mr. Graff!