Cuties in the Sandbox

Last weekend we went over to Cindy & Jackie's for a barbeque. It was a beautiful evening to be outside and we all had a great time - especially Isaac - he got to play in the sandbox with Trey!

Fire Station Fun

This weekend the Greater Brighton Fire Department had an open house at each of their stations. The station that we visited had not only fire trucks for the kids to climb around and in, but a MedVac helicopter too. Isaac got to sit in the pilot's seat of that as well, but the helmet was a little heavy for his head! He had a great time exploring the station and all the trucks! (oh, and that squinty look he has in some of the photos is his new "cheese" smile - nice, huh?)

Construction - end of week 6

Week 6 of construction is finished. Our contractor finished the painting on Saturday - both the walls and trim are finished but you can't see it from these photos because the trim is all taped off. Outside the 2 new window wells are in (we had to increase the size of the window wells in the bedrooms because of codes). Now, if we could just get rid of all the dirt...

Family Room



Bedroom



New window well

Date Night (on a school night)

My non-alchoholic hefeweizen at dinner (it was pretty good!). We took this picture because the foam was making a cool shape as it faded back into the beer.



John & I getting cozy at the concert



Maroon 5



The Counting Crows & friends


Last night John and I went out for a date night (yes, during the week) to the Maroon 5/Counting Crows concert. He got me the tickets for my birthday back in July. We enjoyed a nice dinner on the patio of a Brewery near the amphitheatre and then made our way to the concert. It was great weather and we had great seats - far enough away that the music didn't shake up the baby too much, but close enough that we still had reserved seats. We had fun trying out my new camera (the zoom is much better than my old one) and even got some good shots in the dark.

In other news - we had our OB appointment for week 27 today. Everything was fine - they found the baby's heartbeat right away and it was great. The baby was kicking the doctor when she was poking around with the monitor! We go back in 3 weeks for another appointment and then after that will go in for a visit every 2 weeks. It seems like this pregnancy is going by so quickly!

Bump on the head

The fun of car washing was just about over in this photo. You can just make out the bruise over his right eyebrow where he hit his head on the car door and the dirt under his fingernails from sticking his hands in the tailpipe.

At the car wash

Sunday was another beautiful sunny September day. We decided to wash the cars in the driveway since it had been months since either of them had a bath.

"Helping Daddy wash the car"



"Taking a break to play in the water"



"Hmmmm...it's fun to step in the water, but more fun to lay in it!"



"Daddy - my shirt is wet! How did that happen?"



"Mom - get this wet shirt off of me!"

Weekend

This weekend we went to a local Oktoberfest in Parker. It was a small festival but they had a great band and some German dancers, lots of activities for kids, a great playground, and of course - beer. I didn't get to enjoy that, but I did have a huge snowcone. The weather was great and it was nice to get outside to enjoy the fall weather. Isaac got a lion from the balloon man - here he is trying to figure out exactly how that guy made this!

Construction - End of week 5

The photos don't look drastically different this week, but there is progress. The drywall is finished and textured and the contractor installed all of the doors. He is working on all the trim and painting should happen next week. It won't be long now!

Hallway



Family room (looking west)



Family Room (looking east)



Door Trim

Lions and hippos and elephants, oh my!

Here's the artwork I've been working on for the baby's room. I was having trouble finding something that I liked, but I found these animals decals that almost matched the bedding I bought so I thought I could just make something. It's a 24x30 canvas with acrylic and the decals glued over. The larger spot at the bottom is for the baby's name that i am going to add once he/she arrives.

I had so much fun making it that I thought it might be a great thing to do on the side...who knows - maybe other people are looking for the same sort of customized/personalized artwork for their nursery/kids room? Next on the agenda is one for Isaac's room.

Bubbles

There was a time when Isaac didn't like bubbles in his bath...in fact, he was almost scared of them. That all changed when I bought him the "Cars" bubble bath. Now he has to have his bubbles in his bath every night and sometimes he holds this bubble bottle through the whole bath just so he can look at the pictures on the label. It's the best $2 I've ever spent...I think I'm going to stock up on that "Cars" bubble bath.
Oh - and on his head? That's one of my headbands that he had to wear so that he could be just like mommy...and he didn't want to take it off. You can tell he's very pleased with himself for getting his way!

Like father like son...

We enjoyed a nice quiet couple of days at home this past weekend. After John traveled 4 of the 5 days last week, we were ready to just spend some family time together. (except on Saturday, when Isaac and John had some father-son time and I actually got to go out and do some shopping on my own). Here's a photo from Friday night of Isaac wearing John's hard hat that he wears when he visits the jobsite. He thought he was big stuff!

Construction - end of week 4

We have drywall! This week we passed our drywall inspection and the contractor started taping yesterday. He was hoping to finish today, but it's very rainy today and things are not drying well. He may have to finish the taping this weekend or next week. Then it's on to the wall texturing and trim. We're halfway through the 8 weeks our contractor told us it would take to complete this project. (Cross your fingers that he gets done early!)

Bathroom (and no - we did not install a blue shower...that's just the protective plastic)



One of the bedrooms



Family room (looking west)



Family room (looking east)

Kitty just wants to nap...

John snapped this photo the other morning. Jasper had just been fed and was settled in for his morning nap, but Isaac wanted the kitty to "play". (note: Isaac didn't bring the kitty just one toy, but the basketball, soccerball, AND football)

Silly boys

On Saturday night my cousin Cindy and her two boys came over for dinner. Trey and Isaac are almost the same age (Trey is 5 weeks older) - they figured out that if they push each other around on Isaac's airplane it is much more fun than playing with it alone. The second photo is when they got giggling so hard they could hardly stop!

Fishy

Here are some photos from our trip this weekend to the aquarium. Dad and Suzi were here for a visit and Isaac enjoyed showing us all the fish and turtles. He wanted everyone to see what he was excited about - even other kids at the aquarium and one of the aquarium guides. At one point he grabbed one of the guides hands to take him over and show him a certain fish. Luckily it was a very patient guide and he was very good with Isaac. Isaac even got to touch some very starfish in the petting tank. On Saturday night, Cindy, Trey and Brody came over for dinner - I'll try to post some cute photos of Isaac and Trey tomorrow.

Construction - end of week 3

More progress for week 3 of construction on the basement... This week we had the first inspection (which we passed with flying colors). Today they did the insulation and installed the shower base. On Monday they are going to stock the drywall and then the drywall will start going up on Tuesday. Our contractor told me today that he hopes to be done with the drywall by the end of next week, so the next round of photos should look quite different!

Bathroom (with the shower base)



One of the bedrooms



Family room (looking west)



Family room (looking east)

Labor Day weekend

On Friday we traveled to Illinois for the long weekend to stay with John's mom. John's sister Jean & brother-in-law Chuck came for a surprise visit as well, bringing with them John's niece Emily from Holland who is staying with them in Louisville (attending her senior year of high school there). It was great to see everyone and we were in for even more surprises on Saturday when John's mom Alice hosted a surprise baby shower. John's sister's Tina & Inez were there as well as some family friends. We had so much fun catching up with everyone! I'll post some more photos of the shower later, but here are a few from the weekend.

Isaac on his big boy bike that Oma picked up at a garage sale for him



John and his niece Emily at the park



Our family with Emily before church on Sunday