Not bad, eh? Mom did a great job making new cusions out of the old ones. We kept most of our seating and gained a good deal of floorspace.
The other need was counter top prep area. The raised cabinet at left gives us a good prep area and added shelf and storage space as you can see below.
We also added storage in the tomb bedroom.
Last but not least - more storage. This is for CD's and DVD's. We had a birthday boy on May 2! Derek was so excited to wear the special crown and bring cupcakes for his classmates, even though it was a couple of days before the big event. 
This is Jimmy, who is Derek's best buddy at school. His Mom told me that before they became BFF's, Jimmy would cry almost every day. But now he looks forward to seeing Derek. From what I gather, their relationship is based primarily on Pokemon.
Part of the kindergarten posse. 
On Saturday, for his birthday activity, Derek chose to go to the park for "...baseball, hiking, and climbing trees." 
Then it was onto Islands for his choice of birthday dinner. He chose an adult-size cheeseburger with a basket of fries and bottomless Sprite. And yes, he polished it all off.
On Sunday, for his actual birthday, we enjoyed cake and ice cream with friends. He decorated the cake and enjoyed all the attention very much!
Turning 6 was never so much fun!!
Broken windows, that is. A fly-killing fist, a golf club, a flying spoon, a hammer (I accidentally hit the window with a hammer!), and now a wild softball pitch have all given Lee a new skill to add to his handyman business card: Window Pane Installation and Glazing. The only repeat offender? Grayson, of course (flying spoon and hammer).
When questioned as to what occurred, Carissa replied that she was using the front brick flower bed as a target for her pitching practice. Hmmmm. "Did you consider that a mere 2 feet above the planter are many glass windows?" (Dumb question, of course she didn't.) 
Luckily, glass is cheap, and Lee is a pro now. But note to self- lock up all softballs, golf clubs, baseball bats, hammers, spoons, and don't punch flies out if they're on a window.
We have been to this farm to pick strawberries many times now, and it just never gets old! The tractor ride out to the fields is always fun, and I personally like how all the tractor drivers are young-ish girls who can pull these massive wagons into tiny little spaces! Grayson and James, his BFF at class, enjoyed it, too!
But the best part about picking strawberries here, besides the delicious berries we take home, is that you can eat as many as you want while you're picking them. For Grayson, that means one in the basket and 3 in the mouth.
Or he just sat down in the rows and chowed.
Unfortunately, Grayson's entire basket of strawberries (except for 3) was consumed during the tractor ride back to the main farm- about a 3-5 minute ride. However, mine survived, and we all enjoyed delicious berries with dinner. Now I'm ready for cherry season!
Kevin had all sorts of altruistic dreams when he agreed to come down on his 2 weeks off and help us roof. On the first day he was ready to go! Wearing his roofing uniform of WHITE shirt, strategically placed bandanas, sweet shades, and of course that enthusiastic attitude, Kevin seemed ready to conquer the whole roof.
Well, that's before the roof smacked him around a little bit.
But still he smiles! All that hard work left 3 grown men half-dead, but in the end, it was Kevin who dominated the roof. ( And apparently he also got a side job as a chimney sweep.)
This is a 40 yard bin, picked clean of metal by the sundry drive-by Mexicans, yet which still weighed 8 tons. That's 16000lbs people! And I personally shoveled a whole lotta that. (The guys at the roofing place thought I was joking when I told them. )
Thanks Kev, Dad, and Mom. Once again, you've saved the day!
A very pretty trail.
