Finishing Phase 2!

A while ago, I told you Bob was working on a project at Heathers house.  I'm happy to say that another portion of it is done.  But before I show you that, I'll show you something fun I did with Cassie on one of the evenings Bob was there working.

She's decided she wants to do crafts too, just like her older cousins. So here's an easy one we did at her house. We made inside "snow" and a Spring snowman.

To make the "snow", we mixed lotion and baking soda. We used lavender scented lotion, so it smelled wonderful.  She said it was hard to mix! Then she rolled it into balls and stacked them up. We added a twine scarf, and some cardstock paper circles for eyes and buttons, and of course - a nose!

The "snowballs" settled, but she still had fun making this.

In the meantime, the other project was Heather and Andrews kitchen. You may remember that last year Bob built new upper cabinets for them. Over the winter he built the lower cabinets and now that the weather is nice, they were ready for tear out of the old cabinets and installation of the new ones.

Here's where we left off last time. The top photo is the before, with cabinets that were extremely low and not in good shape. The bottom photo is after the bulkhead was removed and new cabinets installed.

Bottom cabinets almost empty and ready for demolition.

New cabinets going in!

Connor was watching the progress

And...   a dishwasher!  They didn't have one before, so this is exciting.

Time for a little Cassie break

Here's Heather - loading up the dishwasher for the first time!

Here it is! Phase 2 is done. New cabinets, new countertops, a dishwasher!  The drawer fronts by the sink need to be put on and  there will be tile backsplash going in, but not till the next section is done.  That involves taking out the wall on the left and a floor to ceiling pantry being put there.  In the meantime, the kitchen is much more usable with every section that's done!

Memorial Weekend

I'm late, but still wanted to share a little from our Memorial Day weekend. 

On Saturday, my brother, two sisters and I went to the cemetery where my parents are buried to bring some flowers and pay our respects. This isn't something that we usually do together, but we were free that day and it was really nice to remember them together.

My parents stone with Dad's military plaque on the back of it.

We spent some time walking around, remembering people who are laid to rest there. It's a country cemetery, many family members are there, and lots of people we went to church with as kids.  It was a nice thing to do together.

Some of the family stones; Henry was my great grandfather, my grandparents, Peter and Adrianna, an infant that just says infant DeWeerd, and Edna, who was my Dad's sister. She was 1 year old and died of meningitis.

Here's the 4 of us.  My brother Duane, me, Terri and Cheri.  Our birth order is: me, Duane, Terri and Cheri. I'm blessed with a great family!

On Memorial Day, Bob and I went for a beautiful 3 mile hike. This is a trail that goes through woods and then along the Grand River. It was a beautiful day and we greatly enjoyed being out in God's great creation.

Imagine our surprise when we ran into our daughter Laura who was out for a run with their dog on the same trail.  (She's the one who told us about this place, so we shouldn't have been too surprised...)

On our way home, we stopped at the cemetery where Bob's parents and some other family members are buried.

We walked around here, just like I had done with my siblings, and found familiar names of people we remembered.

Bob's parents and a sister that was born with health issues and died before Bob was born.

Bob's grandparents and great grandparents.  Note that on his great grandparents stone Father and Mother are written in Dutch.

Then we came home and had a quiet afternoon and evening.  We watched a movie on WWII in the evening. It was a nice way to spend the day and be thankful for those who gave all for our Freedom.

Friday Funny