Progress

Our basement remodeling project is coming along this summer. The sheet rock is up and the plumber and electrician have done some work. The windows have also been installed in the girls' rooms. We are waiting for the walls to be completed. The toilet, vanity and sink in the bathroom need to be installed. The ceiling still needs to be completed as well as the final touches on the electric. Todd and I will have to make a trip to Grand Forks to buy floor tiles for the bathroom, rug/carpet for the rooms and paint. I am sure there are other things I am forgetting about! Of course, Todd is getting ready for harvest and I will have to begin preparing for school. I am hoping we will be able to switch houses before the late fall. We are going to wait until the winter before we paint anything upstairs. New carpet upstairs will also have to wait until the budget allows. The girls are VERY excited to get into their very own space! Here are a few pics to give you an idea of what we are doing:

Here is a picture of the Bathroom. You can see the shower in the corner on the left. We are going to have a large sink-less vanity installed across from the shower. You need one of those with 3 girls (whor are going to be teenagers before we know it!)

Here is a veiw of the Family Room (with Rachel's room in the background)

This is another view of the Bathroom. The toilet and sink will go on the left of the shower on the little ledge. The ledge has to do with a new style of toilet we had installed so our brother-in-law didn't have to break-up the concrete floor. Don't ask me to give an indepth explanation!

This picture was taken from the stairs. The door on the left of the black pole is the Bathroom. The entrance behind the pole is a large Walk-in Closet. The other two doors are the Bedrooms for the girls.

Here is a shot of one of the Bedrooms. You can see the new window that was installed. The picture doesn't do justice to the size of the bedroom. It is actually pretty large. It will be nice for the girls to have more space to grow. Sarah and Jordan will share the bigger room and Rachel will have the other one.

Here is another view of the Family Room. This picture was taken from the bedroom. It will start off as a playroom for now. We will eventually move our current living room furniture down there when we save some money to purchase a new set for the upstairs. The door in the back of the picture leads to a much needed Storage Room!

We are looking forward to having this large project completed. Neither Todd or I have been involved in a project such as this so we are very thankful to have a brother-in-law in construction and does this type of thing for a living!

This 'n That

Here are few "this 'n that's" from the Wieland Farm this summer:

1) Sarah learned to ride her bike without training wheels!! Once she got the hang of it, there was no stopping her (until she ran into the shed - no injuries or tears - thank goodness)

2) Rachel was able to attend a Horse Day Camp through Girl Scouts. She loved it!! The girls learned how to ride and take care of horses. This is about as close as she will get to having a horse of her own because we have enough animals around here!

3) All three girls are taking swimming lessons again this year in Thief River Falls. It is really nice because all three can go with their individual levels at the same time in an indoor pool. No rescheduling!

4) We took the Youth Group and our girls to Valley Fair. My father predicted warm weather for the day. It was pretty cool when we arrived at 11:00 and I almost called to give him a hard time but it warmed up to a nice 78 degrees in the afternoon. The girls loved the rides and Waterpark. It is such a nice family outing!

5) We attended the 100th Celebration in Oklee, MN where I sang with my Heart of Worship Group. It was really HOT but the kids have fun going on some of the rides and walking around.

6) The 4th of July brought us to our neighbor's house for a mini "parade" with the kids on bikes and 4-wheelers and a great potluck lunch. We can't light fireworks at our farm for fear of frightning the cattle and there isn't a display in Red Lake Falls so we took the girls to Dairy Queen. They thought that was just fine!

7) The girls are working hard doing chores for Uncle Al, Mom and Dad to earn a Wii this summer. They have also saved their birthday money and pooled it all together. So far they have $143!! I told them if they meet their reading goals this summer, that Mom and Dad would pay for half of it. It is good to see them working so hard for something they really want! Dad thinks they should put some of their earnings in the bank. We may have to put a little away in the bank accounts :)

8) The biggest news is that we are probably going to switch houses with Uncle Al this summer! Our brother-in-law has started working on the basement. We are putting in two bedrooms, a BIG bathroom, a walk-in closet, living room area and storage room. We will be excited when it is finished so we have a little bigger space to live in.

Here are a few pics from the last month:

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Father's Day!

Ready for a "Girl's Only Movie Night" (Dad went fishing with our church's Men's Club)

Rachel riding her horse at Horse Camp

Twin Cities Trip

The Girls and I enjoyed a long weekend visiting family in the Twin Cities. We were able to spend time with aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. My aunt, uncle, cousin and her family came to visit from MO! I haven't seen them in 9 years so it was really good to catch up. The MN Zoo and the Mall of America were some of the places we visited as well as spending time at my step-sister's (Lisa) house. The girls had a great time with their cousins and getting to meet Colton, our brand-new nephew. Here are a few pics from our trip. All smiles at Grandpa Printz's house with the Nelsons. The kids sure had fun playing together!
We were able to eat out at McDonald's with Uncle Andy and Auntie Darla.

Great-Aunt Linda and Great-Uncle Rocky came for a visit from Missouri.

A picture with Nicholas (cousin Casey's son), cousin Landon, baby cousin Colton,

Auntie Heather and Uncle Jason.

Rachel holding Baby Colton.

Sarah taking a "wolf ride" at the MN Zoo.

Jordan had to catch a ride too!

Jordan holding cousin Colton.

The kid crew at the MN Zoo.

Two wild and crazy monkeys!

Summer Drama

The Red Lake Falls Children's Theater presented the musical
"The Hundred Year Snooze" as part of our Summer Rec Program. We had a cast of 26 students who worked REALLY hard throughout the 8 rehearsal we had. The show was awesome! It is always amazing what the children can do in such a short amount of time. Rachel was Grace #2 and had a solo, dance and speaking parts. I was very proud of her and what she did!

The Cast (at least part a majority of them) of

"The Hundred-Year Snooze - the Story of Sleeping Beauty"

Rachel and her friends, Madison and Brooke

Rachel posing proudly!

Graduation

Congratulations to the class of 2022! It was our school's first year of all day/everyday Kindergarten. I believe that adding two extra days into our Kindergarten schedule was an important move for our school district to make. Todd and I have noticed how much more Sarah seems to be able to do in reading and math compared to when Rachel was in Kindergarten. We are looking forward to seeing her improve each year!
Sarah received her Kindergarten diploma from her teacher and the school's principal.

All ready for 1st grade!!

Rachel received several awards during the awards portion of the ceremony (sorry - no pics - she was moving too fast!). She earned a Reading Award and AR Point award. She also received an Outstanding Attendance Award. She has only missed 1 day this year. Actually, that was the only day she missed in the last 3 years!! Report cards were sent in the mail and both girls did very well. Each scored very well on their NWEA testing. Sarah accomplished all of the Kindergarten markers on her report card and Rachel earned an "A" for each subject. Okay - I will stop bragging but I am a proud Mama! Now to keep them reading and working on math during the summer. Each girl has a reading challenge to meet by the end of the summer as well as a math workbook. I think we may get them a Wii if they can meet their summer education goals. It wouldn't be too bad a prize for Mom either ;)

Piano Recital

Rachel had her piano recital at the end of May. She played one of her festival pieces by memory and another piece using her music. The performance was terrific! (That is coming from the music teacher side of me - not the mother side!) She worked very hard all year and we are very proud of her (that is the mother side comment). She also earned 5 points at her festival which is the highest rating a student can receive per year. She has participated in the festival 2 years and has a total of 10 points. If she earns 5 points next year, she will receive a gold cup. She really wants that gold cup (especially when she saw the trophy another piano student received.) Rachel has also started to play piano for the offering during church! I love to hear her play. Great job Rachel! We plan to start Sarah on piano in the fall. I don't think she is too excited about it yet. We will see what happens!

Look at that hand position!
Rachel with her piano teacher - No I don't teach her!

Lost Tooth

Sarah lost two of her teeth within a week. The first one was lost on her school field trip and was never found. Her teacher and I think she swallowed it! We wrote a note to the tooth fairy asking her to pick it up in Thief River Falls but to leave the money at home ;) She pulled out her second tooth on her own while sleeping over at Auntie Deb's house. The tooth fairy left money there too. Two more teeth are loose so we will have to see where the the tooth fairy will have to fly next!