Solar Installed...

Well this was an exciting week here.  Our solar panels were finally installed!  They started the installation on Wednesday and finished up Thursday.  It was two long days but they look great!

We got 39 panels installed - they weigh about 40 pounds each and are much thinner than I thought they would be.  Here's a picture of the majority of them waiting for installation.

And of course here are the before and after shots.

Now we have to pass the county inspections - both electrical and building.  Then the utility company has to come out to install a new meter.  The last step is turn the system on and be powered by the sun!!

During the first day of installation, I hosted a play date here.  We were exchanging "busy bags" and even though it was loud from the panel installation, the kids still had fun.  Each person ended up with 11 different small activities to keep the kids busy.  I think Samantha's favorite so far is the magnetic fishing game.

The busy bag exchange went well so I decided to host a felt board piece exchange.  Each person chose a different set to make - I decided to do vegetables with a cutting board and knife.  I'm also making the felt boards for everyone.  So I'm going to be very busy!

I started by hand sketching the vegetables and then cutting them out of thick cardboard.  

 
I cut out a sample set and then decided to add a yellow squash and cucumber.  But it gives you a feel for what I'm talking about.

I make a few tweaks after looking at my sample pieces and then traced and traced and traced some more. 

 

It turns out to be a lot of felt pieces (particularly those small green stem/leaf/husk pieces for the pepper, tomato, eggplant, carrot, beet, and corn)!  I started cutting out and stitching the corn and husk together.  Last night I finished up cutting out all the other parts that need stitched together.  The exchange isn't until the end of the month so fortunately I have some time. 

This weekend, Chris brewed some more "award winning" beer.  It took him awhile to get this batch brewed from when he first bought ingredients though!

I worked a little bit on Samantha's play kitchen - I still have a long way to go before it's done.  I finished up installing the shelves for the freezer/fridge, under the sink, and the rack for the oven.  I didn't take pictures of all that yet but I'll be sure to do that later. 

I don't have many pictures of Samantha this week - but I have one of the injuries she sustained.  Learning to walk is a tricky business!  She fell a couple times - one was near the cable outlet in the basement that scraped near her mouth and the other was on top of the little play lawnmower and she got a black eye.  Poor girl!

Hopefully next week we'll have much more work to share (and less injuries to report)!