A time for rest...

We have had a BUSY BUSY couple of weeks. From Dan's family reunion and playing with the Boston's, to the Wilson sisters staggering in one at a time, and leaving one at a time, it has been about 2 weeks of CRAZY FUN!!! We are exhausted! (Oh- don't forget Dan working LOTS of hours helping people recover from the rain- he's still working 12 hour+ days.)

A couple of pictures- highlights. (My camera was not out all the time, so I'm sure I'll get my hands on some of my sister's pictures too.)

The weekend in a nutshell:
Wednesday-Sadie comes to town and we play play play!

Thursday the rains came. Dan & I went to visit friends at the hospital- they welcomed their 4th baby! While we were there we got shooed to the hallway because of all of the warnings. Dan gets a call that one of the work vans has a flat tire and they needed a tow truck. So Dan is in limbo all night waiting to see when he needs to go get his guys.
This is the only night where all 6 girls, 5 husbands, Grandma & Grandpa, and all 5 grandkids are going to be together- so by the time we are all there (minus the rain drama) we take family pictures sometime after 10 PM (I'll get my hands on some of these pictures for sure.) After pictures, dinner, play, we go home to find water in half of our basement. :( We start cleaning up the mess.

Friday- Noah's Ark! Everyone makes it, Dan & I are supposed to stay in the Dells with some friends for the weekend, but because of the rain we decide to come home so Dan can work.

Saturday- Dan works all day, I recover at our house and then we go to the lake house with the family. We went on the boat and played in the house- the kids loved it!

Sunday- BIG FAMILY PARTY with some of our cousins. My camera died by then, but we had the moon-walk, kids pool, volleyball, great food, lots of people to talk with, and of course our little monster causing trouble.

We love our life, but we also love the calm after the storm.










2 jobs I cannot do while Jack is awake: sweep and vacuum- he just wants to HELP!!!




Jack loves to smile for pictures. People ask if now that he's walking, if he has thinned out at all. Sometimes I think so, but then I get a nice picture like this, belly and all!

A sad sad story...

I am not a "oh, pity me. My life is so hard" type of person. But just for today "pity me, my life is so hard..."


For the past 3 weeks I have spent countless hours in our basement. Jack's naps, late nights when Dan plays basketball or has to work late, Brewers games, and even working along side Jack on our days off. When I decide to get something done, I do it!

You would look at my basement and think, what took so much time? I didn't finish anything off, did not paint over our green basement walls, didn't install flooring or any other high quality improvements. I sorted toys, old video games, books, clothing, junk, everything! i moved all our work out equipment (that we never use) from one side of the basement to the other. I condensed and reorganized our storage area. I vacuumed rugs, relocated my crafting corner and made a play area for Jack. I swept, I wiped, I cleaned. Pretty much all of the crappy things that our basement was so badly in need of.

I was so proud of myself, and yet I have no pictures to show you. Our basement flooded last Thursday night when the heavy rains kept coming and coming and coming. Only half of the basement- but it was the side I had just set up with toys and games, a train table, Jack's ball pit, and my crafting stuff. It is really depressing to think about.

Dan and I squeegeed water, mopped the floor. My dad came and helped put in a back up sump pump that night to help control the massive amounts of water that kept on falling from the sky. Saturday while Dan sucked water out of other people's basements, i tore apart all of my hard work. Pulling up rugs, the massive 70's carpet that was under our ping pong table. I moved toys and piled things in the dry side of our basement, just so I could begin the recovery process.

I was just downstairs trying to finish moving the rugs. I laid some out in the back yard to dry, and the big one is still downstairs dripping water. Maybe later this week i will be able to put things back together. But until then, just imagine my disappointment. Maybe, just maybe, you'll feel a little sorry for me.

The hardest part- i have no one to blame. In my excitement to get rid of junk, I pushed a recliner (that doesn't really work- I want to throw it away!) in the corner blocking the sump pump. I am pretty sure that it was pushed a little too close and didn't allow the stick/sensor thing to activate the sump pump. It is all my fault. BUMMER...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

On the plus side, Marcia came over to make cards on Thursday during the day and Jack and I played. We got to use all parts of the new and improved area. I like to think we would have lost a lot more, had I not cleaned and organized and found places for things. The only thing we lost was the HUGE 70's carpet that was pretty disgusting anyway. I'm pretty sure we could keep it, if we really wanted. To me, it's not worth the hassle.

I just wanted to write that. I am giving up for tonight.

Haircuts

Jack and I got haircuts last week. I have really been enjoying playing with Jack's hair at night, making it all wild and crazy, but sadly it needed a new do- with the hot weather and picture day coming up we cut it all off. Surprisingly, he did quite well.


Following our haircuts, we had an eventful weekend of playing with Grandma & Grandpa Boston, family reunion, and swimming at the hotel. It was great-we are still recovering!
Jack in his Pepsi shirt from Grandma Diane. She is a big fan of pepsi!!! As is his mom and dad. :)
At the family reunion- we did a "Building a Cardhouse" challenge (kind of like on Survivor.) Dan was in the finals, I lost to him in the semi-finals. Our towers were so tall we ran out of cards. ***A little credit to Dan's aunt who painted plywood and then helped a friend cut about 500 cards on the table saw. They said it took over 2 1/2 hours. ***
Jack napping- for 30 min. We made it through the day, but we were all hot and tired by the end.

Monday night swimming with Grandma & Grandpa. Jack had a great time in the kid pool, the big pool he could have done without. Or maybe it was his Floating Tube/Life Jacket that he didnt' like.



And- My favorite trick. Enjoy!

3 1/2 years in the making...

3 1/2 years ago (almost to the day) we bought our house. Signed the papers, and ran over to our new home to change the locks and take an inventory of what we were going to do before the big MOVE IN day. We brought over the big screen tv, a recliner, and a card table so that we had something to do when we were there for long periods of time. Isn't it funny where our priorities are-note we weren't smart enough to think "we won't have cable at the new house yet, so why bother with the tv???"

Rewind a little over a month- We put an offer on the house. The next day we found out we had an accepted offer. The next day (my birthday) Dan had hernia surgery. It was an eventful couple of days- and what do I do when life is exciting and/or stressful??? I start a project. Shopping for fabric, picking a pattern. etc. Well- I took over a year to find all of the fabric, before I started. Then I started and stopped. When I wanted to make Jack's quilt, I made myself finish the top to this quilt (that was 1 1/2 years ago) and just this last week I put it all together, quilted the top and finished the binding. HOORAY!!! It is done and on the bed.

Sadly, I don't love it for summer time, but it will grow on me. :) If anything it is there to remind me that I can do it and maybe I'll make a brighter, more summery quilt. (Hopefully Dan doesn't read all of this, I'm not sure he'd be thrilled with another project... I'm pretty sure he will stop reading by now.)



Jack and I made cookies last weekend- it was NOT a success. Fun to say we did it, but cleaning up the mess, dealing with a stubborn"I want more flour" attitude was not nearly as fun as I thought it might be.
Jack loves our shoes, and his shoes (not sandals though). He always messes with them, but this is the first time he got them on the right way! He worked really hard at this.
His favorite thing to do in the morning, no matter how soon we have to leave for school, is climb into the glider and read books. He prefers to be naked, but I try to put my foot down. He is happy though.
Sorry for all of the lame pacifier pictures, both of them are before breakfast- I am hoping to drop the pacifier next month! Wish us luck!

And a new toy that Dan and Jack were playing with. I have videos where he says "go" after I say 1-2-3, and some where he actually gets the rocket fired off, but none with both. Go figure.

Just to hold you over...

Very very soon, we will have all of our far away family in Wisconsin to visit. We are getting very excited! Here are a couple of pictures to fill the gap from now until you are here to see me (Jack)!


Jack's first McDonald's ice cream cone. He loved it with the spoon...

The hose is a new favorite toy- he is pretty funny!
Watching fireworks at the 4th- he loved it. We were helping him "ooh" and "ah."

And the sand table at our friend's house, playing on the 4th. This little toy gave mom and dad a little time to socialize and relax. :) THANK GOODNESS for fun activities that hold his attention!

And another swimming, splashing video. We love when he shivers. :)

Here, There and Everywhere

It seems like every time we turn around, there is something fun and exciting to do- whether we are out and about, at a friend's house or at home.

A couple of highlights- Last week Jack and I got to hang out at school. My friend Betsy (the singer) had some GIGANTIC marshmallows that she was chucking at her kids, and me, earlier in the morning. Well- Jack had a special giant size marshmallow for snack. (HUGE marshmallows, not just your normal big marshmallows.)



At school the kids have "Water Play Day" once a week. We have yet to get Jack to wear water shoes or sandals without socks- so we decided to give it a try in the sprinkler. He loved the sprinkler and even wore his shoes without socks.

In case you wonder why I "torture" my child with a hat all the time- I guess the scarring will be worse on his head if it get's sunburned. So we keep it sun screened & wear a hat, just to be extra cautious. Jack loves it, even if there is a little bit if special maneuvering when playing in the water. (He did figure it out later...)

Laundry day may be Jack's favorite day of the week! He loves to crawl over neatly folded clothes and he picks out his favorite piece and insists on wearing it over his head, around his neck or even on. This is Dan's Hawaiian shirt that he just had to wear- awesome fashion sense. He is kind of attached to Hawaiian shirts- just like his Papa Russ. :)

And as a special surprise, Grandma Cindy filled the kid pool for Jack. The water was cold but HE LOVED IT!



He couldn't get over just wearing is swim trunks-no diaper. (I am too cheap to put him in a swimming diaper every time we get wet. We just clean out the water after every use. It's like an outdoor bathtub!)

Just the beginning

Happy Summer! We have been extra busy enjoying the nice weather and spending time with friends and family.
A couple of highlights...

We had SEVERE weather on Monday night- we decided to head down to the basement. We made a nice bed on the floor, and TRIED to move Jack downstairs without disturbing his sleep. That lasted 3 minutes and then he was one PARTY ANIMAL! The great thing about it all-we went back upstairs at 10:20 and he was drowsy and went right back in his crib without a peep.
We are all safe- so is our house. We are THANKFUL!



Our cousins came to visit from Illinois. Jack and Cade relaxing in the recliner at Grandma & Papas. The big boys went fishing, and the girls and these two went out to dinner at Red Robin- very good food but Jack is not so fun at restaurants.

Just a silly picture.
And- how can I forget that I am playing in an Ultimate Frisbee league with Dan this summer. What was I thinking??? It is a lot of running, good thing I am there to be a girl body and only play just as much as the other girls ABSOLUTELY NEED ME. The first point or two is VERY painful, but after that it is A LOT of fun. Last week we had to take Jack with us so Dan I never got to play on the field together. It just just nice being out as a family!

And that is just the beginning of our summer. We are looking forward to sneaking in a lot more fun in between the necessities of life- eat, sleep, and of course work.