Making Progress

We have been busy making this house our home.  We have multiple projects going on right now!  It's exciting and exhausting!

The biggest project is finishing the basement (I will post pics soon).  It's been a large undertaking to say the least!  We decided to finish roughly 1400 of the 2000 sq ft we have down there.  This weekend the painters should finish up, next week the kitchenette/wet bar will be installed, then the wood flooring/carpeting, stone backsplash for wet bar and fireplace are after that and then just the finishing touches!  So in roughly 2 weeks it should be wrapped up!  Amen!!!  We're looking forward for it to be done!

Andy is also tackling some outdoor projects. 

One big thing is painting the trim...we've both had issues with the red trim from the get-go. 

Here is the before picture:

 

The work in progress...

 

Looks SO much better already!  I'll post pics when it's 100% completed!

 

Andy has also been tackling some landscaping and he will also be re-doing the deck.  Fun times!!!

Tivoli Fail

Memorial Day weekend is Tivoli Fest in Elk Horn/Kimballton.  It's always a super fun weekend and this year was no exception!  We headed back Friday so Andy could golf in the annual golf tourney.  The boys and I hung out, went to the park, etc.

Then on Saturday we headed up for the parade, which was great!  We walked around a little, talked to friends then headed back to my parents for lunch and so Mason could nap.  While Mason napped we headed back uptown to check out all the vendors and get Brady a treat, etc.  There were so many great vendors and the streets were so full!  After that we headed to the Beer-in-Hand Wiffleball tourney.  We decided not to play this year but we did go and watch and Brady got to play a little (no beer involved of course). 

After that we got cleaned up, ate some dinner and then headed back uptown for the band and the Iowa Craft Beer Tent which was great---for those that like beer (not this girl).  Once again, we were able to see old friends and just have a fun night (the boys had a babysitter).

All in all, it was an awesome Tivoli!  Only one problem---I took literally NO pictures!  Ha ha!

 



 I snapped a few of Mason before the parade and that's it...aghh!  There's always next year I guess! :-)

So Proud!

On Sunday (after a busy Tivoli weekend) Brady and I headed up to Churdan for the High School graduation.  We were excited to go for two reasons.  My brother Chris is a high school teacher/coach there and was asked to be the commencement speaker and he was also being awarded with the Teacher of the Year award (which he didn't know about).  My family went up there to surprise him. 



Receiving his award...SUPER blurry IPhone pic!

Giving his speech--he did a great job!

We are so proud of you Chris!

A week of lasts...

The past week Brady's had a lot of lasts...

The last time Mommy took him to the bus stop this year

 

Today was his last day of Preschool...(of course Mason had to get in the picture!)

 

 

 

Such a big boy!

We got to spend most of the day at Jester Park where the kiddos put on a program, we all ate lunch and the kids got to play for a while.  It was a great end-of-year day.

Can't believe he's going to be a Kindergartner next year!

We love the weekends!

We had another great weekend!  Brady had an off week for Tee Ball so that meant no practice or games.  On Saturday our good friends Bryce and Meggie were moving to their new beautiful home in Waukee and Andy helped with the physical move and I took Luke so the boys could play and Bryce and Meggie could get settled in a little. 

We had a great day!  We started off at the Polk City Fire Department.  They were having a lot of fun activities for the kids. 

There was coloring...

Checking out ambulances and eating lots of yummy fruit and yogurt parfaits

Then it was time to ride in the Fire Truck!  The boys loved it!

Then we headed to the mall for some play time.  After working up a sweat, we went to Scratch to pick out cupcakes and then Chik-fil-A for lunch and more play time in their indoor play place.  Then we headed out to the Fuhrman's new home.  I know they will love it there!!!

We filled up the rest of the weekend with many family walks, park time, grilling, chatting with neighbors and enjoying the beautiful weather!

Hope you had a great weekend too!

 

Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day Weekend! 

Saturday started off with an early-bird workout for me and then I showered and headed to Hoyt Sherman to watch some of The Best of The Midwest Bikini and Figure show.  More on the reason behind that at another time.  But it was awesome!  Then I hurried back home in time to meet the boys and head to the baseball field for Brady's team pics and game. 

The game was great!  Brady played 1st base and he did SO good....he was even saying before the game that he hoped he'd get to play 1st base.  He stopped a lot of the throws and he also really hit the ball well!  He is loving tee-ball!  Love that we have a small team (8 kids) and they all get along so great!



 

After the game we came home, had lunch and then Brady and I headed out west to run some errands, etc.  Then we spent a relaxing night at home.

Sunday was a great day!  We started the day off with a yummy brunch at Market Grille---it was SO good!  Highly recommend it!  Then I headed out to do some shopping.  I got to spend a few hours shopping and it was glorious!  After I got home we went on a nice long family walk, played outside and grilled out.  It was a great end to the day! 

We are so lucky to have 2 wonderful moms in our lives and I'm one lucky lady to be Mommy to these two! 

We hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day as well!