Hopping, hopping and more hopping

Well, one thing is for sure...Lexi is dedicated. Whether it be her absolute insistance on wearing princess skirts (NO TROUSERS ALLOWED) or her love for hopping, she is unfaltering.

Tonight, Halliburton hosted a family night at a local interactive farm, Soma Gård. We have been there a couple of times before. It is loads of fun for kids as they have a well-maintained, huge area with many different farm animals to see or pet. They also have loads of sand boxes, tractors to sit on, tractors to drive, all kinds of trampolines, plenty of playground equipment, etc.

Lexi bypassed all of the animals and proceeded to run around to every different kind of trampoline or jumping castle that they had. We did manage to take a wagon ride (pulled by a tractor) and she sat on a pony, but had NO DESIRE to take the pony ride (sorry Kris!)

When I was talking to her this morning about going to the farm to see all of the animals after work and daycare, she said "not Mark Thomas? and not Uncle John or Kristy." This was kind-of a statement as the last time she visited animals, it was a couple of trips to the Tulsa zoo with Cousin Mark. Uncle John never got to go; so, I wonder why she included him. However, that is the second or third time she has mentioned Uncle John here recently. I can't remember what prompted her to mention Uncle John the other day, hmmmm, must think...

To culminate the rather fun evening (which included hot dogs and ice cream), she joined the big kids in the hay loft where they could jump and swing, etc. She loved it!

Continuation of princess...

Same theme, different days...

Wednesday

Baking cookies with Dad

Thursday

Walk-through of the boathouse

Another weekend spent in Feda working on the boathouse. Thought everyone might enjoy some video clips.

First floor...

2nd floor...

Loft...

Umm, princess?

I had the best intentions to take a picture of Lexi every day this last week to further illustrate her princess obsession, but I just didn't do it. However, I think these three pictures best illustrate Lexi's daily attire. She now refuses to wear trousers. A dress, skirt or one of her princess skirts are acceptable, but trousers are not. We are starting our 4th week of this trouser boycott. She has even removed all trousers from all of her baby dolls and refuses to wear her pajama bottoms at night. In one of the pics below, you will see that all of her Barbie dolls are also in princess attire - no trousers are allowed. I seriously don't know where this is coming from. I jokingly said in June that our "princess phase" had begun. Boy did I not know what was coming. Her favorite DVDs are Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty or The Little Mermaid. We have gotten out the "princess" Golden Books (thanks to Brenda and/or Mom & Dad). She wants to read either Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast or Snow White every night. We normally set a limit at 2-3 books and paraphrasing is well practiced.

It is also fun to hear her speech development and to hear my most common phrases thrown back at me. I sometimes have to stop and think where she learned it from before I realize that I say it ALL THE TIME. She says "Oh my goodness sakes". Now, I say "Oh my goodness" and my mom says "Oh my goodness sakes"; so, no question where that one was picked-up. She also says "That's not very nice" or "I'll be right back". I am trying to teach her to ask for things politely instead of demanding as per her norm. So, she will demand something "more juice" or "get Harley" and I will say "You need to ask Mamma nicely" and she will say "nicely". I seriously can't win....

Here is Saturday's outfit...
And Monday...

And today (Tuesday)... you do get the general idea?

We spent the long weekend (Friday night through Monday evening) in Feda. Monday was a staff planning day for Lexi's daycare; so, we took Monday off and spent it in Feda. Lajla and Tom were in town and helped to entertain Miss Princess so that I could help Tim a bit more with the boathouse. They tore down the scaffolding this weekend. This picture was taken as we were leaving town which is why the doors are all barricaded up. (We haven't treated the pine paneling yet and don't want the sun to start coloring it before we get it treated.)

First floor bathroom walls that Tim tiled last weekend. Still needs to be grouted.

Had I ever posted a picture of the staircase?

We spent quite a bit of time on the kitchen this weekend. Tim cut the oak countertops, tiled the back splash and installed the paneling on the bar side of the counter. I installed doors, shelves and did some painting around the boathouse.

Tim is going to build an elevated bar that extends out over the paneling so that we can have barstools and an informal eating area.

Picture from the living room looking down the hallway towards the bedrooms. Tom put the base coat on the hallway paneling this weekend and the first coat of antique white.

Boathouse update...

Well, I am delinquent in posting the blog from last week's trampoline purchase (see entry below), but I have a fairly good excuse. Tim took off with the camera when he went to Feda for the long weekend (Fri-Mon) to work on the boat house project. He took a couple of pics for me to share...

The exterior painting is complete and they have torn down most of the scaffolding. We've not done anything yet with the front entry steps (or need to build steps) and our plans to lay some outdoor stone to avoid having anything green (er, um, I mean zero maintenance).

His primary focus this weekend was tiling the walls in the downstairs bathroom and getting started on the upstairs bathroom. It's hard work because we were impatient and couldn't wait to order the proper wall tiles that we wanted; instead, we bought heavy-duty floor tiles that we are hanging on the wall. Takes a long while to cut them....

Here's a picure to show that one of the upstairs bedrooms has been painted a shade of white (Thank You Tom!) As you see, we still have to cut and install all of the trimwork. Notice my use of the word "we" :)

Here is a pic showing the kitchen cabinets installed. No doors yet and not all appliances are in, but you get the picture. Oh, and this was a "we". I helped assemble several of the cabinets :) Tim plans to panel the back of the counter with the same wood as you see on the walls and build a bar (similar to what we have at the condo in CO)

Well, we couldn't wait...

OK - yes, we are complete softies as parents. We knew that we would get Lexi a trampoline next year, and when a decent size one came on sale, we bought it ... fully planning to store it until next spring. The problem, you might ask? We bought it while Lexi was with us. She grudgingly accepted that we were not installing it the same night we bought it (last Monday). Grudgingly = plenty of whining.

So, we head to work and daycare on Tuesday morning as normal. Every Tuesday, I have a conference call from 3pm-5pm; so, Tim tends to pick-up Lexi. So, I get home around 5:45 to find Tim and Lexi in the backyard - er, um... installing the trampoline? Apparently, they came home with their pizza (another benefit of "dad time") and Lexi nagged Tim until he caved. I don't think it was a long process. Anyway, here are some pics taken last Tuesday. This first one was taken before we finished getting the safety netting up.

I love this pic... except for the peanut butter or whatever food she has on her face. Grrrr.... for once, she actually smiles at the camera (something to do with the trampoline high?), but her face is covered in food.

Not a good pic of me - looking a bit washed-out after a day at work and an evening of trampoline assembling, but the birthday flowers from Mom and Dad are gorgeous. Thank you!

Well, I managed to take a video clip to demonstrate Lexi's LOVE of hopping...