Boxtown and lots of kisses!

We finally got some time to work in the basement this weekend! We had been wanting to get the main room set up so that the kids can play down there, even though it isn't finished. It is a little more room for them to wear off some energy. When we built the house, we had our builder save us all the boxes from the cabinets and appliances so we could make stuff with them. Brady is in heaven! We spent a good portion of the day, when the Buckeyes and Cyclones weren't playing, cleaning up so that we could set up a play area. Then, on Sunday, Mike went to work making a little town with all the boxes. It was a lot of fun! We were watching the Clark boys, and they seemed to enjoy it, too. We made one of the boxes into a "McDonald's". The pictures were taken before the sign was added, but you get the idea. The boys were going in the box and saying "Welcome to McDonald's. How can I help you?" Then, once again, Bree and Ty were kissing each other good-bye, so of course we had to get it on camera. Today, I caught Bree on camera with her shades on, puckering up, so we thought we would share "kisses" with all of you.

A Kiss For YOU!

It's been awhile!

I know, I know. It has been a long time since I last posted! I have been getting flack from certain people in my house about updating the blog, so here you go. Since I last posted, Brady turned 3, I had a birthday, number to remain a mystery, and we celebrated Halloween. Actually, we celebrated a TON of birthdays. Between Mike's family and my family and our friends, we celebrate 13 birthdays just in October. That doesn't include the birthdays that we celebrate in August and September, so this time of year is full of CAKE! We have been enjoying football season, even though ISU hasn't had a very good season and OSU has lost a few as well. We also enjoyed a day at the Center Grove Orchard with our friends, the Jones'. I am not going to write a ton...just post a lot of pictures, so you can see for yourself what we have been up to.

Home Sweet Home!

Well, I know it has been a LONG time since I have posted anything, but I haven't had internet. I finally have it, so I can finally post again. We are in our house. We moved in July 15 because our contractor was ahead of schedule by 6 weeks, which is pretty much unheard of, but we are so happy to be home! I will try to get some more pictures posted soon, but here are a few.

We have had a great weekend filled with our first Prairie Festival (Huxley's celebration), a Homecoming for a friend who has been in Iraq, and Fan Fest at Iowa State. It has been such a busy weekend that we are all exhausted. Look for more posts now that I am back online. Hopefully will be able to keep up a little better.

Weekend of Fun!

We had a great weekend! Saturday afternoon we played at the park and went to have supper at my favorite restaurant, La Fuente. Love that food!

Sunday, we went to church and Jeff gave a great mesage, but what else is new. Then home for lunch and some short naps and off to the pool in Nevada. It was a little chilly, but both kids actually got in the water, so we were very excited. I love the water, so it has been hard having two kids who don't. Then it was off to dinner with Mike's grandparents, which was also wonderful. After dinner, we found a band playing at bandshell park, so we stopped and let Brady play at the playground and we listened to some decent music. Mike had an interesting encounter with an 8ish-year-old, who felt the need to use the "F" word on more than one occasion. Mike asked him to stop using it, or he would have to talk to his parents. A few minutes later, Mike was pleasantly surprised to have the child come back and apologize for his language! I had the pleasure of visiting with one of the athletes that I used to coach in college, when I was coaching Special Olympics teams from Ames. He didn't remember me, but I remember him. He was and is a very nice young man (not sure exactly his age). Anywhoo, we got some great pics of the kids. Still hoping to have the house done soon. I think they will be done painting tomorrow. Will update when I know more.

Quick Update, Lots of Pics

Just a quick update. We are still trucking along with the house. The painter is there this week. He hopes to be done by Friday, but could be done on Monday. Fixtures are hopefully getting put in next week as well as flooring. Mark, the contractor is working on the deck this week, so that should hopefully be done, weather permitting (not looking good according to weatherman). Every time we go, it gets harder and harder to come back to the apartment, but we will be so excited when we get to move in for good.

Brady and Bree are doing great. Brady is still working on colors. We are having more luck now that we have linked each color with someone he loves. For example, red is Nana's favorite color, so he remembers red (most times). Hopefully the links will continue to help him remember colors. Bree is still working on walking. She doesn't just take off, like we keep thinking she will, but I am sure that will happen soon enough. She still goes between us and from something to us and has started going between other objects, ie. couch to chair. Before we know it, she will be all over the place. She is also getting many teeth right now. One of her molars have actually come in and her front teeth aren't all in yet. Below are a bunch of pictures that I felt like sharing, so enjoy. :)

The drag racing begins!

Front of house with stone.

Back of house with stone.

Front door with stain.

The plastic tape measure that Brady stuck in the oven, when I wasn't looking!

More of the tape measure.

wonderful weekend

We were fortunate to have had a wonderful weekend. While I know many around the state are dealing with loss and destruction from flooding, we are blessed to have missed any damage. We continue to pray for those who have to deal with water in and around their homes.

Friday, we got to spend the day with the Sklenars. We miss having them in Ames, but at least they are closer than they were when they were in Burlington. Brady and Jackson had a great time playing together. Jackson even gave Brady a tractor to take home when we left. Jacky took some great pictures of the boys, and then they took a tumble off the step they were standing on. Brady took the brunt of the fall. Jackson is a bit bigger than Brady, so having his weight and Brady's weight caused much distress for Brady. He scraped his forehead and in his hair, but he is "tough." While we were there, Uncle Dave brought Shelby to meet us so she could stay with us for the weekend and attend the Iowa State Women's Basketball camp. When she arrived, Brady took off running down the hill toward her. Before he knew what was going on, his legs were going faster than he wanted. He had a look of terror on his face as he wasn't sure he was going to be able to stop. Once he got to the bottom, instead of trying to stop, he just jumped at Shelby. Thankfully she caught him and received a huge hug from him. On our way back to Ames, we crossed the dangerous Des Moines river. It was amazing to see how high it was. It was at least to the bottom of the bridge.

Saturday, we attended the wedding of Sarah Bohnker and Travis Smith. It was a beautiful wedding. Sarah had written a song that she sang to Travis before she walked down the isle. She has a beautiful voice and the song was amazing. She did a great job. I know I wouldn't have been able to keep it together at my wedding to do that. Paul Sabino, the family pastor at our church, officiated the ceremony and did a great job. We are so blessed with pastors at our church. They all do a wonderful job teaching.

Sunday was an extremely busy day. It started off with dropping Shelb off at camp. Then I ran home to help get the kids off to church with Mike. Then back to camp to watch Shelby compete in the competitions that she had made to the finals. She did a great job and it was fun to see her compete. My parents and sister made the trip up as well, so it was fun to see them. Mike and the kids joined us at camp when church was over. We went to lunch with them after at Old Chicago, which is a great place to eat. After lunch, we showed them the house and they headed home.

For us, the day wasn't over. We headed to Story City to spend some time with Mike's family for Father's Day. Since they have had a lot of flooding, the guys weren't able to do their usual golf outing, but we had a great time anyway. Before we had supper, Grandma decided to get the slip and slide out. As you can see, the "kids" had a great time! It was fun to see Mike being Mike again. This is the first time since his knee surgery that he did something spontaneous and I was so happy to see him doing stuff like that again. He will always be a kid at heart, which Brady loves!

Now we are trying to get back into a schedule, which seems almost impossible during the summer, especially with the construction of a new home. Hope everyone had a great Father's Day!

Cabinets and more

I know it has been a long time since I have posted, but things were a little busy last week with Bree's birthday and going to Winfield for the weekend. We had a great time celebrating Bree's birthday. We started the day off with all three of us going into her room and singing the birthday song to her and she cried! I think it was because no one was picking her up, but it could have been the singing. :) Mike had the day off due to a golf outing for Wolfe Eye Clinic, which got cancelled. We had an appointment at the Electric Wholesale to pick out all of our light fixtures. Wow, there are a ton. Then we went to Perkins for breakfast and Bree's first taste of pancakes, which she loved! She ate a whole pancake. Then we went to Huxley to play at the park and Mike went golfing with his dad and two other doctors at TCI in Polk City, which he said is a very hard course! We did have cake and ice cream at supper time, and Bree likes to eat cake, but isn't really crazy about getting it all over her hands.



We had a great weekend with the fam. My sister that lives in Wisconsin was home also, so it was good to see them. I can't remember when the last time we saw them was. I know it was before they went to Florida, in March, so it has been a long time. The plan was to celebrate birthdays. Alex, my nephew turned 17 in May and Bree turned 1 last week.



We got there about 9 on Friday and had a great meal. At about 4am, Bree decided she didn't want to sleep anymore and since we are in the same room, I didn't get to either. Finally, at about 6, I decided to try to give her a bottle. Wrong! I forgot the formula at home, so we jumped in the car and ran to Mt. Pleasant, which is about 15 min away and the closest place to get formula. Of course, as we got out of town, she fell asleep. The rest of the day was filled with garage sales and the school carnival. Brady got spoiled by both of my sisters and Nana that day. He was filled to the top with sugar and carnival toys.

That night, we celebrated birthdays. Bree got spoiled, yet again and the rest of us were spoiled with great food from my sister, Dawn. She is a great cook, so it was delicious beef tenderloin and shrimp on the grill.

Sunday was filled with yet another great meal and getting ready to go home. We decided to skip homemade ice cream so we could get back to assess any damage Ames was having due to flooding. Luckily for us, there was none in our neck of the woods, so we dodged a bullet that time.

Last week was a quite, yet busy week. We have been getting more cabinets and trim in the house. It is starting to look like you could live there, minus some flooring. Each time we go, we don't want to leave because we just want to live there. God is definately teaching us patience in this adventure! I will try to post pictures later. My camera and computer are not cooperating right now, so will try again later.