Thoughts and observations midweek

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly our weeks fly by!  I usually start the week at work, so that's a "lost" day.  At least to spend time with the kids or get stuff done around the house.  After I come home in the evenings, I have to get right on my classwork or I'll be behind. My first post of the week is due Monday night.
Thankfully, this is the last Monday of the year that Tommy will be home (unless there's a snow day).  SCA received the OK from the inspectors that the children are safe to be in the building.  Praise the Lord school will start next Monday the 17th.  They had to add on a week at the end of the school year to make sure they have enough days of learning for the year.  Tommy will be overjoyed to get on the bus for the first time come Monday.  He's been ready for 3 weeks to start school!
Josh has been hard at work every evening this week and the past weekend.  We are making the "push" to finish the remodeling in our house and be DONE!  July 31, 2011 was the day it all began.  We added a shower and closet in our downstairs bathroom.  Josh did the work himself other than the plumbing installation.  Through most of that were some of his darkest days health-wise.  Once he felt better, he taught himself to put ceramic tile in the shower and finished up in January 2012.  Then, the upstairs bathroom was gutted, insulated, drywalled, wired, tiled, and painted.  Sounds easy and quick?  Nope, that process took 5 months.  Those were some very hard months for him.  He was teaching a college course, a seminary course, still directing the library full-time, teaching Sunday school, being a great husband and father, AND still struggling with his health.  He was a trooper.  I helped where I could, but I don't do all that he can.  We knew the importance of getting the moldy walls out and insulating the very drafty bathroom.  Our house is 112 years old.  Most of it has been remodeled and insulated.  Not all of it was done before the previous owners moved out.  This summer, we paid college students (and I did some too) to gut Ethan's bedroom.  It is the last of the uninsulated, non-remodeled rooms.  Work on this room has gone faster due to Josh's good health the latter half of the summer.  Our goal was to be done before school started, but that didn't happen.  There's only so much work that can be done in the evenings.  So.... this weekend we arranged to have the kids go to their grandparents' house in MD and we are going to work hard on the room and finishing up odds and ends of the other remodeling projects.  We will be switching the kids around, so I want to paint Tommy's "new" room.  Ethan will have the attic room with all the toys.
One very nice thing about having boys is the haircuts I can give them for free!  Last night, I cut Tommy's and Ethan's hair.  The twins were too tired from the day to stay up for this.  All the kids have gotten used to these and don't move around quite as much anymore!  I can't believe how "old" my kids are looking!  The baby days are definitely gone!

Tommy is such a little boy now and a great BIG bro!  He is SO good about helping me around the house and is always volunteering to do things for me.  He carries the groceries in from the van (unless they are too heavy), puts them away as best he can, he gets his own cereal and fills his water bottle.  He can shower and brush his teeth alone.  The funniest surprise was coming in from outside yesterday and Tommy had put Ethan down for his nap!  Next thing I know my boy will be driving! :-/   He is so excited for school and has been reading a lot the past few weeks.  He reads by himself now and if I ask him to read aloud, he reads nearly every word perfectly.  My guess is he's at a 2nd-3rd grade reading level judging by the books he can read.  Can't wait to see what he learns this year!
Now, he's not perfect- we are definitely working on attitude with him!