Our new deck

Here are pictures of our new deck - posted by popular request! As you can see, it's not quite finished yet, but we've eaten several meals outside and the boys love playing on it. It turned out quite a bit larger than we'd imagined, but it's perfect (I'm sure not going to complain)! It still needs the stairs built in the middle indented section and stained along the edges, but that'll probably happen here this next week (hopefully)!

What we've been up to today...

I love the look of concentration on Tanner's face! He got to use scissors for the first time today and it actually kept him entertained for quite a while. He also got to participate in Joy School (Andrew's preschool) today since it was my week to teach. He loved snack time and coloring during art project time.
What's wrong with this picture? Oh, yes, you got it - there's a little boy on the bottom shelf. Our Tan-man keeps us constantly entertained (and on our toes)! He climbed on the next shelf up, too, but I don't have picture of that.

Andrew loves "art projecks" as he calls them. Here he is "scrapbooking" - that's what he told me he was doing. That's my boy! :) I think that is one of his favorite parts of Joy School too - doing stuff with paper, scissors, crayons, and glue sticks. Notice the pen on Andrew's shirt. Yep, he wears his pen just like Daddy. So cute!

So what have we been up to today? Well, here's today in the life of the Applehans' fam.

3:25am: Jesse arrives home from work (yea, he's on swing shift now)

6:40am: Michele wakes up in order to have time to do P90X before the day begins

7:30: Michele finishes exercising and checks her email, showers, finishes preparing her lessons for Joy School

8:30am: Boys wake up, give Mom lots of hugs, get dressed, eat breakfast

9:00-11:30am: JOY SCHOOL I had all 4 preschool kids here today, Tanner, plus I babysat a friends' little girl. We had a house full!

10:30am: Kids are having way too much fun (or my singing is too abnoxious) and Jesse wakes up

1:00pm: Lunch - I made hamburgers, fries, and milkshakes - our big meal of the day since Jesse had school and work

2:00: Jesse was supposed to be at school. Opps, we lost track of time. Be better start setting a timer so he doesn't miss any more classes since he has school everyday this semester.
2:00-4:30: Boys took long naps today. Preschool must tire them out. Mom and Dad get some time to just chill, check email again (I know, I'm obsessed), Jesse does homework, Jesse takes a short nap, Michele finishes ordering Oct and Nov Paper Posies goodies.

4:30-6:30: Boys "scrapbook" and play while Mom blogs, cleans up the house, and thinks about what she should make for dinner.

6:30 (now) until bedtime: I think we'll go scrounge up something easy, yet nutritious for dinner, then we'll take a walk, play outside, and read stories. After the boys go to bed, I'll probably work on my Sharing Time for Sunday and maybe try to scrapbook the cute pictures taken today. Oh, yea, and I'll eagerly look forward to Jesse getting a slow streak at work so that he can call me! :)

There you have it. Just a peek into one of our days. I'm sure I forgot some important stuff, but oh well.