"helping" Daddy around the house

Rodney and David are off from school all this week. So the have been home with me. Today I got them busy “helping” me around the house. I had them do some cleaning of there rooms (witch is moving toys from one spot to the other with out putting them away). Then they shoveled the drive way (pushed the snow around the drive way rather than remove it from the drive). Then they helped me paint the walls in our master bedroom leading into the bath (they moved the roller long enough for me to get a photo).

MLK Day at the Henry Ford

The Rosa Parks Bus

1st day of school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have a big 2nd and a big 1st grader now, who are in school all day....

Huray for me!

Happy 4th of July

Well today we were going to go to Kensington Park for the day but it was going to rain all day. So we changed our plans and went to my parents. We had lunch there then went to see the Transformers movie. (the kids were really looking forward to it) After we got back we had a cook out of all American hamburgers and hotdogs. The big bonus all of the kids were at a different table. After dinner Charlie and I geeked out and played Star Wars Pocketmodels TCC Game.

We then came home and lit of fireworks in our front yard. It was a good day even thought it only rained a little bit in the morning. And was sunny and clear all night.

I have Veggie growing!!!!

Moving things around

This week end we spent it clean out the boys room and moving Rodney to the other room. It was time for them to each have there own room. Mostly for all of our sanity. One thing I did to help them clean their room that seemed to work well was to sweep every thing on the floor in to the center of the room. I then told them that if they wanted any thing in the pile they had better putt it away or I was going to through it away. I really worked they picked up most of the toys and I got to get ride of some of the clutter in their rooms. We also took advantage of the mild weather to go to the park with the boys after we were done.

Also my dad and I are progressing on the bathroom. We have stared to add the wall boards. Go to my flickr account to see all of the images of the work we have done. You can see note on the Images by clicking on them.

Rodney new room

Davids New Room

Walls!!!!

Ware Have I Been?

Well I have not posted since Monday, June 11th (more then a week). I have been really busy and this is the first time I have had the energy to sit down and write a new blog. So I’ll be give my updates by event

Tuesday June 12th was Amy and mine 8th Wedding anniversary. All it was the last day both boys would be in school all day. Amy took the day off for a dental appointment, and time for us together. This was the one thing we really wanted was to spent time alone with out the kids. We had a god day together. After the boys got out of school we took them to their therapy appointments the to dinner. That night we had scouts. Some ware in there I had time to work on some design work for my biggest client.

The next day was David’s last day of kindergarten. He only had a half day and I went and sent some of the time with him at school. The kids were all very quite a reserved, even David my ADHD child. I think each of the kids were a little sadden by this being there last day. David even got a great big hug form his teacher that almost brought him to tears. By the time we got home I was ready to sit and do NOTHING.

Thursday was Rodney’s last day and I once again went up to see him for his last day. Rodney being different about handling his emotions from David. He was not really sad and just continued on like it was another day. He even didn’t really say goodbye to his teacher or any of his friends. We did however see a lot of behaviors here at home this week. He is one of those kids who do not handle change very well. His life has been full of change. After school I took both boys to Burger King.

Saturday we had my parents of for a cook out and some family time. I spent the whole day getting ready by cleaning and getting the food ready. It was a nice time.

Sunday was fathers day, I got to sleep in and had breakfast in bed. My day was spent puttering around the house. I can’t wait until the boys are old enough to do some of these things (like mow the lawn)


So now on to my big project of the past week. Friday my dad came down to help my look at the damage to my bathroom. We stared by removing the garden tub, then some of the walls then the sheet linoleum. Boy was there a lot of water damage. So we went to Home Dept to get a game plan and work out coast. We got a few supplies and took them back to my home. So Saturday and Sunday I worked on cleaning up and pulling nails from the walls and floor.

Both yesterday and today we worked on finishing the pull out of the bad wood and insulation. (The Garbage Men are really going to love me)I really got a chance to see how poorly modular homes are put together. Then we put in new plywood and isolation. Then we stared to add some water proofing to the room so I would never have to do this again. Today we added cement board to the floor. I'll be putting all of the photos Of the bathroom here

Also my Cone Flowers are staring to bloom.


And to top off our day to day we had a little visitor… and ugly visitor

Slip slidding away

Some photos of Rodney and David on our new slip and slide

Does any one have $1000 we can borrow?

Well the boys’ school is about to come to an end for this year. And I have to tell you I am looking forward to them being done. I could really use the rest. Yes having them home may not be all that restful, but I will not have to run all over the place. Also I was volunteering at the school a lot this year. I need a brake from that.

So this summer I will have both boys home and will need to put them on a schedule. But not one like the school gives them. I think kids should enjoy their summers off. However my kids need to have some sort of structure or they will drive everyone insane. I plan to have work books for them, and take them swimming. Also we will go to the library and the comic book store once a week. However they will not just sit in front of the TV.

Also this week we found that we have lots of water damage in our bathroom. This is from a slow leek under the tub due to poor pluming. My dad came down to help me fix the pluming and work out what to do. It looks like I will have to replace 3 or 4 of the wall panels and most of the floor around the tub. It would seem that when this modular home was built they really went cheep on the material. The floor should have been water proof and the walls.

I call my home owner’s insurance about the damage. I need to call them any way because of the boys. We came to find out last week that they had scratched the neighbors new van with there bikes. This was on the same day that David got his new bike. We had told them both to stay out of other people’s drive ways and yards, and not to ride their bikes near cars. So one of them was riding next to the van and hit it with the handle bar of his bike. The other yelled at him not to do it. So the other one said he was going to do it again, and did. To make things worse then the other did it to. The coast of the repair will be over $800. We were just dumb founded over this. I at least have a $500 deductible. We also took away their bikes and the privilege to go out side with out an adult for a wile.

One would think that two six year olds could just play out side of the house. We do however realize that our kids are an exception. This could be contributed to their being adopted or just plan old being a kid. Being a parent is a lot of work. We also will have to stay close to home this summer. We need to pay for the repairs to our home and the neighbors van.

To blow some steam off I spent a lot of time this week in my garden. And I have some new blooms growing. Things will get better and next week I’ll take the boys on a bike ride.

A Day a School With My Boys

Today I volunteered at Rodney and David’s School for the whole day. We started the day with Amy dropping us off at the school a little early. (Having one car we some times have to do things a little different.) Because we were at school early and it was a nice day I took them to the play ground to get rid of their excess energy. As any one who has boys can tell you, this was a futile effort. David as always was full of energy today.

So I was there to help out in David’s class room in the morning. I then got to have lunch with both boys, and then I got to go out with them for recess. (My first recess in years) After recess I had some time to help out more in David’s room before Rodney’s IEP. (Individualized Education Program) Wile in David’s class I got to go out side with him and his 5th grade buddies to read. I was a perfect day to be outside, and I got to help with redirecting David.

After the hilarity with David I went in side for Rodney’s IEP. The meeting was mostly to talk about getting Rod through the rest of the year. (last year was very hard for him for the last weeks of classes). We he also has had a few problems with aggressive behavior towards the staff and students. How ever we all were in agreement that he is doing much better than he did last year.

So it was a great day with my kids, and as a stay at home dad I have to say this is something I would not have gotten to do when I was working.