After the tornado our mudroom no longer had roofing. When Matt re roofed the house he left the mud room tarped because we were planning on tearing down the porch and redoing that too, so we figured we'd just make one giant continuous roof over the porch and mud room all at once. Being a long weekend and Matt having Mon, Tues and Wed off, he set to work. His wonderful brothers came most of the days to help us too! It was so great!

Luke & Heath

 

 It was so hard to keep Heath cooped up in the house most of the time they were here, he wanted so badly to go "help with toowoles" we did get to go out every now and then.

 Sammy boy

 Heath got really good at hammering nails in and pulling them out.

 Eddie

And this is what we've got so far. It is going to be so wonderful once the supports are up and the tin is on!

Thanks so much for all the help you wonderful Uncles!

I've started slowly painting our carport which as you can see is very needed. We go play outside every day we have good weather so I've been painting about a pole a day. 

 Matt picked up a gallon of "oops" paint for the job. Heath really enjoyed "helping" me paint with his water and brush, but kept trying to lick the poles saying they were  peanut butter. It probably didn't help that I used an old peanut butter jar for the paint cup.

The Handyman

The tornado that hit the area in May got to our house too. Rat has been very busy fixing up the damage. Last weekend his brother Ed came to help with the siding and they got so much finished!

In May right after the Tornado.

Today. Yay for Ed and Rat!

Prior to that, Rat had been making some great changes for us. Here's our room right after the tornado. Soaking wet and things strewn everywhere with a huge hole in the ceiling and several in the walls.

The outside of our room right after the tornado.

While I was in the hospital with Texas Rat got to work on giving us our bedroom back.

Rat reframed the corner, then put up sheet rock, mud, tape, and paint all in a few days. He was one tired little man, and then we brought home a new baby. Luckily Texas is a wonderful newborn and only gets up once or twice to eat then sleeps all night. Otherwise Rat would have had a hard time.

Inside.

Outside.

It was so great to have CandyBar in his own room when we brought Texas home. I was so worried about us ALL being up all night with him. Im so lucky to have a husband that can do pretty much anything! He's so wonderful!

"Mormal is nothing more than a cycle on a washing machine" -Whoopi Goldberg

15 days ago I started a load of laundry, then went about other normal mommythings; (pulling CandyBar off the piano, changing mine and Texas' clothes from an explosive diaper, pulling CandyBar off the top shelf of the bookshelf,  juggling a baby and lunch) when I smelled smoke.  I started smelling around the house and realized it was coming from the Mud/Laundry room and that the washing machine was spewing smoke out of the lid. I quickly turned it off and pulled the not yet clean clothes out and hung them on the line.  That weekend Rat pulled it all apart and thought it was the motor. So he took that out, cleaned it and put it back together only to realize it was coming from something else. Sadly hes so busy working and studying for his OAT exam during the week he really doesn't have time to work on the washer or house repairs until the weekend. So there sat my washer for another week all pulled apart.  Happily my wonderful Sister in Law was more than happy to let us do loads and loads of laundry at her house during this time, for which we will be ever grateful! Anyone who has had a new baby knows all the extra laundry that involves.

The bear on the left is BearBear. CandyBar and him are inseparable.  He goes everywhere CandyBar goes, especially when its time to sleep. During this time of no washing machine I was changing one of CandyBar's awful nasty diapers when suddenly he smashed BearBear into the mess below. We tried to wash BearBear in the sink but he was still just pretty nasty. Uncle Jim had given Texas a BearBear just like CandyBar's but as you can see from the picture you can easily tell the difference from all the wear and tear. We tried sneeking Texas' BearBear to CandyBar when it was bed time and the lights were already off, but unless he was really tired he could tell the diference.  So thanks Aunt Becca!

Yesterday Rat had some extra time so he pulled the washing machine apart a little bit more and found this

I guess that is what was caught and making the machine smoke.  So after a discussion about checking and me double checking pockets better we now have a working washing machine!!! Hurray!

Rat also put a door on our Mud/Laundry room! So now the mess and stink of a mud room can stay in the mud room! (notice BearBear)