Flooring, church pictures and 4th of July

Well, our new flooring finally arrived, although it's not put in yet. We are still waiting on THAT phone call. Apparently, there is a different phone call for every step of the process of having a floor installed. I won't go into the fiasco that it's been. I will tell you the very end part--that I called to find out when someone was going to schedule our installation. They kept asking if the floor had been delivered to our house yet. I told them that it was not at our house--it was at their store. MAJOR confusion after that!! They had no idea that it had even been delivered to their store. (I had been tracking it on UPS.com). After that, they couldn't find our order. This is when I literally gave up, and Dennis took over. Yes, our order had fallen through the cracks, just like I had thought and they didn't even know it was delivered. Who knows how long it would have sat there.

So at least we now have our flooring although it's only in boxes. It has to be exposed to the air in our house for at least 3 days before it can be installed, which is why it needed to be delivered to our house. Oh yeah, and Dennis saved us $125 in delivering fees just by getting the flooring himself.

There are 50 boxes. Fifty! I never thought it would be so much.

We have been playing around with some of the planks (just a few) to get an idea of what it will look like. I even walk on it barefoot from time to time, just feel what it will feel like. Ah, nice smooth and cool laminate over the splinters and roughness of plywood! No dust sticking to your feet, no sticky tar. I can't wait.

The great news is that the store gave us 4 extra boxes for free. This is just in case they need to use it for any damaged boards. If they don't need it, we can use it for the dining room! We will probably need a box or more but it's such great news to hear that in a way, the dining room is already "done". I had resigned myself to the fact that it probably would be a year before we could afford to do it.

So other things is that I took a few pictures of St.Bernard's. (Our new parish, hopefully!) Yes, I am that proud of it. You have no idea what it feels like to go back to the traditional church after being in a modern band-playing church for ten years. I have always preferred the traditional churches over modern, not to say that one is better than the other. For instance, Franciscan churches tend to look modern but their focus is on simplicity and poverty, therefore, their decoration and statues are very limited. However, I can find beauty in that as well because it's Christ-centered.

Yet, I love the art, I love the stained glass windows, I love the statues, and I love the majestic arches. I like that churches look so majestic because it's God's house, and it only makes sense that it looks majestic for the King of kings.

St.Bernard's is more of a country church and so it's not majestic at all, yet it's traditional and pretty. I love that it literally sits on top of a hill (the townspeople call it "the church on a hill") and I love that it overlooks a lake. They certainly picked a pretty spot when they were decided where to build the church.

I wanted to go further into the church to get pictures but there were people praying and I didn't want to intrude. But yes, though it's simple, it has statues, it has arches, and beautiful stain glass windows and big framed Stations of the Cross.

Other news, we celebrated the 4th of July yesterday early because since the 4th is on a Friday this year, Dennis has to work. Usually we try to go to the parade and go swimming or something but I find myself very unmotivated to bring all five kids plus a stroller to the parade. And there is no way I'm going to not put Henry in a stroller! He is sweet yet at that very stubborn and independent age and he doesn't like not having his freedom, which means he screams in the stroller if he's sitting parked too long. He also doesn't like clowns, mascots or loud noises (such as fire engines, who never fail to put their sirens on around little kids), so that pretty much rules out the parade. I did buy some candy to have at home though, and every once in a while, I sneak up on the kids when they're least expecting it and pelt them with candy. They love it and really, that is the only reason why they want to go to the parade anyway.

They also get to go to see the fireworks tonight, so it's not like they're missing out completely. It will be Anna's first time seeing fireworks, and she's super excited. She's taking a nap right now so that she can go.

Anyway, we went to Bloomington's July 3rd's festivities. It was the usual mix of chaos and fun--too many inflatable rides in one spot and too many people trying to get around each other. There were a ton of balloons too, which was stressful for poor Max (he's afraid of balloons) and every once in a while we would hear a popping noise. However, he was always happy to see an occasional balloon fly away in the sky--one less balloon to worry about.

Grandma came with us and we had a little picnic dinner at her house first. We then went to the festivities and the kids enjoyed the Kids Concert the best. We got some great videos of the kids dancing and we let Henry out of the stroller where he jumped around, yelling, "Hop, Hop, Hop!" (his favorite word.) The best part was that it was all parents of young children and babies there and no one cared if kids were loud or crying. We all understood and it was relaxed. I wish the rest of the world could be like this--just relax and let the kids be kids!

In the center, Grandma sitting with Max and Luke behind them.

Grandma and Luke dancing.

It's a rare treat to have Grandma come along for our outings since we're so far away from each other. But since we were in "Grandma's World" for once (that's what the kids call it), Grandma said she'd like to come along. She also paid for us. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have been able to go at all, because the tickets were too much for what we can afford right now.

We kept the rides very simple this time and focused mainly on the kids concert. We had the most fun there anyway.

We did let the kids do a few inflatable rides though. It was $2 per ride. That means they got to slide down a slide only one time for $2. Two dollars by itself isn't much money but one ride down the slide isn't much either. Sorry, must rant. It really bothers me how over-priced fair rides are.


Luke, coming down the sunken ship slide.



Anna, way at the top!

Sorry, this post is all over the place, but I forgot to add that Lucy and Anna made a patriotic cake too. We kept it very simple with just premade loaf bread and whipped cream and they decorated it with strawberries and blueberries. They had a lot of fun though and it was good too!

Well, that's it for now. There is always more to tell (life is busy!) but I will stop talking your ear off and save it for the next post. Have a great 4th of July!