Block is Down!

One week into the renovation and it's starting to look like something...

In the end, it's going to be about 800 square feet, plus a new covered deck.  This wall will be our closet and it will run the length of the wall.  Seriously...I'm going to be in storage heaven.

If my kids could get in that space, they would try jumping from block stump to block stump, guaranteed.  Before they added the block, there was just the foundation cement laid and I had just about had my fill of inside togetherness so I let the kids go outside and play.  Literally, they ran around the cement like it was a track, singing Katy Perry's "Roar" at the top of their lungs.  

No, I didn't get a video.

Yes, I regret it.  

To the left of Rachel there is a huge dirt pile and they love climbing it.  In their church dresses, obviously.

Why no, we don't have steps to the backyard yet.  *Twitch*  Luckily, the dogs have been really good about going in the front yard or walking around the gate to go in the back.  I will still never take the steps for granted again.

And you wouldn't believe how many people have asked how they got the cement mixer in our yard.  Well, if you can see, the fence is now junked from being taken apart at just about every point.  They're going to fix it in the end and grade the yard and put down seed, thankfully.  

And that bad boy also missed my pitching mat.  (Double thankfully.)

They're calling for rain and storms here for the next few days so I don't think we'll see anyone until the middle of the week.  It also makes me thankful that we don't have anything up that could be damaged.  

Stay safe, my friends!

Cement Day

And, on day three, we got cement.

I walked into the kitchen after doing my Wednesday scavenge-of-toys-I-can-get-rid-of-while-the-girls-are-in-pre-school to see a cement truck staring into my back window.  As in, parked in the back yard.  Our fenced-in back yard.  Yikes!!

So I ran upstairs to get a picture.  (Excuse the screen.)

And then I peeked in Caleb's room to see if he was up from his nap.

He wasn't.

P.S.  I swear he grows every day.

P.P.S.  Spiderman is under the blanket.

P.P.P.S.  He wakes up quickly to a loud cough.

We rushed downstairs to watch the truck fill the holes with cement and my boy was enthralled.  When it was time to go pick up the girls, he called out the sweetest, "Bye big truck!" I've ever heard. Lucky for us, it was still there, getting hosed down when we got back and we got to go check it out up close and personal.

So now the holes are filled and there may or may not be a path of dog prints through one...

...I'm just saying.  I've been letting them in the backyard to do their business from the side gate and they haven't gone near the holes, so I really thought they'd be fine.  As I started on some dishes, I looked out the kitchen window to see Butch running around with front cement paws.  So I ran to the back to hose him off.  (Lord help me if they had hardened...what would you even do then??)  I tried walking over to see the damage, but in the process stepped in dog poop and, when I looked up, caught a glimpse of my baby in the middle of the street on his big wheel with no shoes on. 

Oh yes, mother of the year today.  I think the line of the day came from Elizabeth at dinner.  "Hey!  Sandwiches for lunch AND dinner?!  Yay!  Thanks mom!"

Nothing will say please forgive me for letting my dog in the yard like fresh baked cookies tomorrow, right?!  It's worth a shot...

More to come!  Thanks for reading, sweet friends!

Easter and Home Construction

Whoa.

If you've hung out with Caleb for even a little while, you would know that this is one of his favorite expressions.  

"Whoa!  Big truck!"

"Whoa!  Tractor!!"

"Whoa!  (Unintelligible whatever)!!!"

But this would be a very "Whoa!  It's been a while."

It suddenly dawned on me today, as I was battling ants in my kitchen, that I needed to make a better effort to record the events in my kids' lives.  I hate ants.  And I hate the craziness that keeps me away from writing and I hate that I've missed recording so much here in the past couple months.  Because Lord knows, I've done just a bang up job on their baby books...

But any-who.....I'll catch you up eventually.

Easter was awesome here.  Mom came down and visited and really created some great memories for the kids.  Caleb even gave her a name, which was kind of like "Eh-ma" and sounded like Elmo.  At first I couldn't figure out why the sudden Elmo obsession, until I realized that every time he called it, she answered.  And that just made my heart smile. I remember when I was pregnant with Elizabeth and she was really concerned with what her name would be.  Like what they would call her.  So far, it's been Grandma, but Caleb is so behind on his language, that he really hasn't called her anything.  Therefore, the Eh-ma was especially sweet.

Saturday was our big celebration because she had to go home on Sunday so she and the kids made a bunny cake (which is a tradition my aunt has amazingly done for years) and then she hid 100 Easter eggs in the back yard.  Each egg had a puzzle piece in it and the kids then came inside and did the puzzle with Grandma.  

And yes, the spatula STAYED in the boy's mouth

Mom videoed the whole egg hunt for my grandparents to watch later.  It took Caleb a little bit to catch on.

I don't know if you had beautiful weather this weekend, but for us, it was gorgeous.

Did I mention they tore the back off our house??  No??  Oh, that will come with the catching up part. 

 

 

So it took a while to get the puzzle together because, as seen in this picture, Caleb was on top of the table and had knocked a good half of them underneath.  I liked this tradition way more than candy, because they were all straight crazy people after eating the goodies from their school egg hunt. 

We went to church Saturday night and then had to say goodbye to Mom on Sunday.

Of course, I worked in bunny ears.  And no, the boy would not put his on.  Not that we tried...hard...

This is my "please don't leave, Mom...I'm so tired.  Can't you see that I'm tired?!" face.  She used to cry a little when she left.  Now she burns rubber and waves out the window.  ;)

Speaking of crying a little bit, this was last year.

Why yes, that is the same cardigan.  Don't judge me people.  It's very springy.  And just look at Caleb.  He was so drooly.

Here is was tonight, pointing out the holes in the ground.

OH, YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE HOLES?!  Fine, stop yelling.

Well, of course, I forgot to take a before picture.  So this was last summer and you can see that we have plants and siding and a deck.

This was after today.  They are laying the footers for an 800 square foot addition, that will have our new master suite, laundry room and office.

And new deck. Those are the holes for the base of the deck.  The real rub?  See them stairs over yonder?  That was what was allowing the dogs access to the yard.  

Yes, exactly.

So now I have to take the dogs AND my little children out front to walk and go the bathroom.  Tonight, we went for a stroll after dinner, both dog leashes in one hand, the handle of the wagon containing Rachel and Caleb in the other, and Elizabeth following behind on her scooter.  It was really fine until Elizabeth tried to take a hill too fast and bit it on the way down, skinning a knee.  So then I had a howling 5-year-old bringing up the rear.  It was awesome, really.  I hope my neighbors aren't fans of youtube.

Didn't you miss us??  :)  Much love, my friends.