Pictures Galore!!

This post is all about the pictures that I should have been posting over the past few weeks, but didn't have all of the "equipment" that I needed (i.e. the correct USB 'thingy' for the camera phones). SO, you are getting them all in this one shot. Enjoy!!! :)

Alex and Daddy running the bases after the games in Loup City.

Alex after enjoying about 4 breadsticks at the Pizza Hut lunch buffet...... MESSY!!!!

Even though Alex seems to show right-hand dominance, he insists on putting his glove on as though he were a lefty......this was one of the rare times he had it on the correct hand.

Alex has developed this new "habit" of putting his foot up on the table as he eats.....I'm thrilled...

Alex trying to lick the last little bit of sauce off of his chin. (It didn't work.....) ;)

When we were in Lincoln for the 4th, we stopped and had lunch at Famous Dave's. Alex NEEDED a clothing change after his lunch, so we used the back of the car. Look at his pose - future model?!!?!?! :)

Alex playing in the new bathtub - notice the "Dennis the Menace" hair in the back - - and how the winkie is carefully concealed!! :)

And now to more recent pictures. Andy's company had their annual family picnic on Friday night. They rented out the local bowling alley, had food catered in, and we had a great time. Here's a shot of Alex contemplating running down the lane (Yes, he did make it down at least twice - Andy chased him once, I did the other time......very awkward!!) He also managed to pull a 12-pound ball off of the rack, narrowly missing those bare toes - we both gasped!!

We went for a walk with Kyle, Amy and Micah on Saturday night. The bugs weren't too bad, so we headed over to the Little Park. I think that Kyle and Amy had more fun than Alex did....Micah was asleep in the stroller the entire time.

Alex tries out the teeter-totter.

Kyle (painfully) shows Alex how to ride the animals.

Daddy gets in on the fun, while Alex carefully watches.

Finally a toy Alex loves - the slide!! :)

A group photo before they had to leave (I'm amazed both boys sat through the self-timer thing on the camera!!) :)

Long story that I am trying to make short - I bought some Golden Grahams for breakfasts, and saw the recipe for the Smore bars on the back. My mom used to make these all the time, and I haven't had them in forever - so I have spent the past few days craving them. Today I broke down and finally made them - and you can see that I did have to taste them!! :)

That's it!! Phew! :) Hope you enjoyed all of the pictures, and I hope that I explained all of them well enough so you know what's going on. :) Baseball tourney starts this week, so life remains hectic. School is creeping ever so closely - where is my summer??!!!?!?

It's DONE!!

...Well, for the most part. Andy and I still have to paint the ceiling and trim, but IT'S DONE!!!!

**Disclaimer to "someone" - the shots of Alex are at the end - so you can just scroll down to the end now. :)

My Mom and Dad came up Sunday night (with Ruby the dog) and left this morning. They completed so many projects, and it was nice to have them here again. I never get tired of having family around - I just wish that everyone weren't so far away.

Here are some pictures of the finished work in the bathroom. We applied two coats of paint, hung the towel ring, toilet paper holder, robe hook, scrubbed the grout and tried to get all of the "extra" stuff off, finished the quarter-round in the kitchen, and Dad even had time to drill a hole in the downstairs shower (Long story - basically, the guy who owned this place before us took the floor drain and closed it off to make a shower. A few months ago when we had the water softener problems and the basement flooded - that may have been prevented if the drain had been able to do it's job.) Dad drilled a hole into the shower - and we have a plug that goes into the hole when someone wants to shower, and then is pulled out when the shower is not in use. Anyway, here are the shots:

Here are a couple of shots of Alex napping yesterday - we all had time to take a nap! (Except Daddy, he had to work...) That's my arm on him - I didn't want him falling off of the couch.

Alex also has a fascination with the box that holds our garbage bags. He has placed them in the dryer before, lugged them all over the house, and this morning he was using them as his own car. He had the sound effects and all! Silly boy!

We're on our own for a couple more days, anyway. Kyle and Amy Royuk, and their 4-month old Micah will be visiting us this weekend. We have a company picnic for Andy's work we have to go to Friday night, and then we will have our guests. Then next week is tournament - - where has my summer gone?!!??!?! Hopefully after tournament we will have a little vacation....we'll see. :)

Hop on Pop

I know it's a Dr. Seuss title, and many thanks to him for having the appropriate words for Alex and Daddy's new game.....

I guess I do get a kick out of their game - although it may be dangerous. Alex hasn't tried jumping off without Andy underneath him - although I guess this boy needs to realize his own mortality at some point. :)

On an un-related note - my parents are up here helping us finish some projects. The kitchen is now DONE - the doors are working properly (some had to be shaved off of the bottom because this floor is up higher than the carpeting) and all of the quarter round is installed. It's absolutely beautiful!! The bathroom is being sponged right now, so hopefully paint will be able to go up soon. Mom and I spent the better part of today sanding, filling, resanding, and looking at all of the dust we kicked up. So, with any free time I have the next couple of days, I will be dusting and cleaning. :) The joys of home improvement.....but I LOVE the results we are getting!! :)

New Game?

Tonight, as we were getting ready to leave for the baseball game, Alex found the Swiffer and was running around pretending to clean the floors. (I need to remember to put a clean rag on it - he may be able to help me with the cleaning!!) :)

Andy thought of a new game with Alex - and he seemed to really enjoy it. I don't think that the people at Swiffer would approve of their product being used this way, nor do I really approve of this game (note the disclaimer in the middle of the video), but the two boys seemed to be having fun.

Enjoy! :)

And here's a shot that I found of the ornery boy on our way to Lincoln the other day.....

Happy 4th!

Hello all! :)

Sorry we didn't post on the actual 4th - we were out of town. Our friends from Alaska (Jason, Anne, and their three kids) were having a big BBQ at Anne's parents on Friday. It was mostly a family thing, but there were some of their other friends there, so we didn't feel out of place. Anne has five sisters, most of whom have at least one child, so it was crazy! Alex took his bathing suit along, and they had a bunch of water toys to play with. Luckily, Andy and I managed to stay dry - although there were quite a few adults that weren't so fortunate! We had supper there, and then left to stay in downtown Lincoln.

There was a fireworks display over Oak Lake in Lincoln, so when we called to make our reservation, we specifically asked for a room on one of the upper levels facing where the fireworks would go off. The show didn't start until 10, and Alex was bathed and ready for bed when we sat down to watch the show. He stayed awake for the first 15 minutes or so, then was out. The noise wasn't too bad, thankfully, and we still had all of the beauty of the lights.

This morning we woke up to rain! After eating breakfast at the hotel, we decided to drop in on Great-Grandma and Grandpa Frank, to take them out to lunch. We spent a few hours with them and then went out to Olive Garden to eat. (I have been craving the soup and salad - and breadsticks - for a while. It was VERY yummy!) Grandma and Grandpa ended up treating us - this was after much debate - and then we headed for home.

We weren't 2 miles away from the restaurant and Alex was OUT! He slept almost the full hour and a half until Grand Island. We stopped for a quick snack, and then the final hour home. We are going to watch a ball game tonight (all three of us - WATCH! Andy won't be coaching!) :) One of Andy's ball players who is filling in for some games invited us to come and watch his team play here in Ord tonight. So, that's in about an hour - and the weather isn't looking too promising...there's some dark clouds coming!

Tomorrow is a relax-day. My parents are coming back up to help us finish up some of the little things that need done in the bathroom and kitchen. They're bringing Ruby (my sister Sarah's lab puppy), so we will see how long it takes Alex to warm up to her. We know we're going to have to lock Squiggles in the bedroom - she doesn't handle change well! We are looking forward to seeing them again!

That's all for now - sorry there are no pictures - I have a few on our camera phones, I just have to find the right cords to transfer them to the computer! Getting things re-organized is one of my goals for this week!! Hope you all had a wonderful and safe 4th!! :)

So Much To Say!

Well, I guess it should be "so much to write" - but you get the idea. :)

I have been putting off this post for a while, because there is just so much to write about!

Let's see - I left off on Friday night, when we had just finished laying the final boards for the kitchen floor. Saturday was a blur, because it was the final day that Dad and Grandpa were going to be here, and there were a bunch of things that needed to get done. We started off in the bathroom, because the tile on the walls needed to be "grouted," and that was going to take a while. After some frustration, we finally finished the project, and my arms and shoulders were so sore from all of the scrubbing! We also worked on installing the toilet (YAY!), the vanity, the mirror, the vanity lighting, priming the walls in the bathroom, moving all of the appliances back into the laundry room and kitchen, and installing the quarter round in the kitchen. We worked so hard that we skipped lunch (except for Alex - he was getting really cranky, so he was fed.) :) Andy and I, as a BIG thank-you to Dad and Grandpa, took them out for a nice steak dinner at the Country Neighbor that night. It was nice to just sit for a while! When we got back, we began right away trying to finish the quarter round. At about 12:30 AM, we just decided that we needed to go to bed - Dad needed to drive back to Missouri in the morning, and Andy had two baseball games on Sunday. We were beginning to make some silly mistakes, so we left it half-finished and are going to get back together in a couple of weeks to finish up. It's functional now - and that's the important thing. We just have quarter round to finish under the "bar" area, around the stove, and to the doorway downstairs. But, it all looks so amazing!! We also need to have a couple of doors shaved off of the bottom, because this floor is higher now than the carpet was. The basement door won't close at all, and the back door needs to be lifted as you open and close it. The bathroom walls need to be sanded and filled, and then painted. We need to do some touch-up grout work on the shower walls, fix the windowsill in the bathroom, prime and install the baseboard in the bathroom, install the shower rod, and I am sure that I am missing about 30 other things, but I just can't think of them now. I have a list - - it's two pages long now. :) BUT, it's all "cosmetic" things, and my folks are going to come back up in a couple of weeks and help us finish it all up.

So, you are wondering - - here are the pictures!! :)

The kitchen floor looking out from the hallway..

In front of the stove..

From the "dining room" into the rest of the kitchen and laundry room..

The laundry room..

The shower

The vanity, mirror, and lighting..

Sunday morning all five of us left and headed to Grand Island. There was room in Dad's pickup for some of the extra supplies we needed to return. We followed them to Grand Island and stopped at the Home Depot. Dad and Grandpa left from there. It was so hard saying goodbye to them - they did so much for us - that's the bad thing about having family living so far away. Andy and I picked up a few more of the things that we needed, and then headed to Loup City for his two ball games. After the games, we still needed to grab a few things, so we headed to Kearney from there. After supper, we headed to WalMart and got the rest of our stuff. All that, and we were home by 8! :)

Monday I spent scrambling cleaning, shopping, and getting things ready for our company Monday night. Our friends, Jason and Anne and their three kids came over for supper. They are visiting their families in Nebraska for a few weeks (they live in Alaska), and took time out of their busy schedules to have supper with us. It was so nice to see them, but the time flew by way too quickly.

This morning Alex was up about 3 hours before I was ready. I think that the past three weeks are really catching up to me, and my body isn't happy with all of it. So, Alex and I went shopping today - to return a few more things and to pick up a couple of other things. One of the things that we needed was some new shoes for Alex - he was quickly growing out of his sandals, and his feet were STINKY when he took them off! :) So, we got some new shoes!

Once we got home, Alex HAD to put them on! Now he loves running through the house, hearing his little feet slap against the new floor. But now that we have new shoes.....this all has changed!! :)

He did stop running just long enough for me to snap a shot of the new shoes (I especially love the "deer in the headlights" look that he's giving me) - he had about 5 pictures taken before this one, so he knew I was taking them - SILLY BOY!!! :)

Well, that's all I am going to write for tonight.......my fingers are tired. :) Enjoy the pictures, and if you want to see it in person, just give us a call to arrange a "viewing" - meaning that you come and visit. :) (Sorry, Andy's brother is a funeral home director, I had to use the "viewing" pun) :)

So Cool!!

I have a picture for everyone tonight - Alex sitting on the NEW KITCHEN FLOOR!!! :)

Yes, Dad and Grandpa (my dad and grandpa) finished the floor tonight. YAY!! Alex was up until about 10 (an hour past normal bedtime) because they wanted to finish, and his bedroom is right down the short hall from the kitchen. So, he was a little cranky, but we snuggled and he went right down at 10. Here are a few pictures from the day.....

"How wide is my mouth, Mom?"

"Would you believe that this is a moustache?"

The new floor - looking from the hallway towards the 'dining room' and the rest of the kitchen.

From the 'dining room' to the laundry room (where Alex is with his ruler-bat-moustache)

The laundry room (ruler-bat-moustache left behind)
And Alex (right before bed - notice the cork he is donning) - he LOVED the bare feet on the new floor!

The project will enter it's final day tomorrow - Dad and Grandpa have to leave - it's hard to believe that they have been here for two weeks already. The time has gone by way too fast, but they have worked so hard and it all looks great! The toilet and vanity will go in tomorrow - I AM SO EXCITED!! :)

House Update...

Sorry, "somebody" - no pics of Alex here, so you can just go ahead and stop reading.

For the rest of you - - :)

The bathroom floor is "finished" with the mortar at least. All of the tile is laid, and as of tonight, it could be walked on - but the guys will probably finish tackling that tomorrow. Could I have a toilet by tomorrow?? Oh, happy day!! :) Going all the way downstairs in the black of night is getting a little old, but I am NOT going to complain - this is turning out really cool!! :)

So the guys worked on the kitchen today. The first obstacle was getting the glued-on carpeting up. I tried to help the guys, but they wouldn't let me - - but with a pair of vicegrips and a utility knife, they made short work of that ugly carpeting.

This is what was left behind.....

Everyone had to wear shoes, because you STUCK to the floor! Stick, stick, stick!! :) And if you stayed in place for too long, it really took an effort to move again. All of the appliances from the kitchen are now in the living room, plus the dryer. The washing machine is on the back patio, covered in garbage bags because it's pouring outside. Here's what my living room looks like....(notice also the countertops in the pictures above - I have no space left!!)

Then it was on to the "green stuff"- underlayment or something - that has to go down before the wood floor goes down. Here's a shot of the "first plank" - -

This is as far as the guys got tonight, they had to make a few difficult cuts, but the floor is in front of the sink, and will continue into the laundry room.

There's our update from today - I am going to bed now!! :)

Bob!

There are more pictures of the little man today, because "someone" jokingly mentioned that they read the blog to see pictures of the family, not of the bathroom. SO, here you go! :)



The past few days there has been a "bob" (dog or puppy to the rest of the English-speaking population - but "Bob" to Alex - remember the post about my sister and brother-in-law's dog named Bob? - That's where the name has come from. Bob is a memorable dog - a St. Bernard and something mix.....anyway, he's huge.) Okay, back to the pictures.....

The past few days the dog from the house behind ours has a dog that has been getting out of his gated yard, and has come over. The first day he and Squiggles had a close encounter as Squiggles tried to escape into the garage, where this dog already was. I think that poor Squiggles lost 2 of her 9 lives then.....ANYWAY (I am getting de-railed a LOT tonight!!)

Alex has been slowly warming up to this "bob" - at first he needed someone else to go with him, and he would giggle and act silly, not at all petting the dog. Today, Alex was the bold one and didn't need help at all - he would go over and pet him, and followed him (I am assuming this dog is a boy) all over the place. Here are a few shots of their adventures....

We gave the bob some water - he was a HOT dog!!


"No, Bob! This way!!"

Nice puppy!

"I think that if I talk to Mom real nice, she will let you come in - we can chase the cat, she has it comin' to her!!"
"Mom, look what I found! Can I keep him?!!??"

Then the bob took off - not heading towards home, but down the street towards Homer's house. Alex followed him as far as he could - and I took off after him. You can barely see the bob turning off of the sidewalk - almost under the blue car. By the time Alex got down to the end of the sidewalk, the bob was no where in sight. Alex began BAWLING! Uncontrollable, tears flowing, no consoling, just give me my dog cry. He had only napped for 1 hour, so his emotions were already on his sleeve - and his sleeves were short! :) We'll see if the bob returns tomorrow.

Now for pictures of the bathroom - they have the shower DONE - and it is "resting". I guess the tile has to rest for 24 hours before you can grout it, and they are nearly done with the floor now (it's 10:00 and they are still working). I think that the schedule is to work on the kitchen floor tomorrow because the bathroom floor will be "resting" - and Dad seems to think that it won't take too long. I hope that these guys will talk to me after this is all over with - they have been putting in long hours and working A LOT! So here's the shots of the finished shower.....

Andy was MIA tonight, he had a ballgame in Sargent. He just got home, and he said that his Juniors played the best they have ever played in the 3 years he's coached them! They won 10-0, and had a no-hitter!! Yay for them! The Seniors on the other hand - played a good game - but still lost. Three more games - Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday, and then the season is over - just the tournament to go! :) Where has the summer gone!?!! :)

More pics of Alex and of the bathroom (and maybe some of the kitchen!) tomorrow! :)

Progress!

Sorry, I don't have time to write much tonight, the guys are scrambling to try to finish up the walls yet tonight (it's 10:30 now) - so I am going to offer to help since the little man is off in dreamland. :)

Here are a few shots from throughout today - the tile is going up!!

And a shot of Alex - he has been especially tired and cranky lately - I am wondering if he is not getting more teeth in - - he won't let me look in his mouth, so we'll have to wait and see! This was a shot of nap #2 today (he's been napping only once for at least the past 6 weeks - - who knows??!!!??!)

Pool Time!

WHERE has this weekend gone? It seems like just a couple of days ago it was Monday, and here it is going to be Monday again tomorrow!

The three guys got a LOT done on the bathroom this weekend - I bet Andy feels like he didn't get any time to relax at all - that's okay, because once this is all done, there will be plenty of time to enjoy it all! :)

Because it was going to be a day where Alex needed to stay out of the bathroom, we inflated the pool this morning and let the water warm up all day. Right after we filled it up - he was in it!! I can't imagine how chilly the water was, but he was having a blast! Luckily, his clothes were dried by the time we came inside - but his diaper was a little clunky! :)

Here are a few shots of Alex after supper playing in the warm water - and a video, too! :) He wasn't too fond of sitting in the water - but he put himself there!! Splash, splash!!

Here are a couple of shots of what the guys got done today. ALL of the cement board is hung, and all of the drywall is hung. They finished up on the mortar around the tub and on the floor, and got all of the joint compound on the tape and nail holes. It's drying now, which is why you have "door shots". It will dry tonight, and they hope to begin on the tile tomorrow morning. Once that is laid, we have to stay off of it for at least 24 hours - so tomorrow afternoon we are going to go down to Grand Island and return some of the extra supplies we won't need. We then will head to Ravenna for a baseball game. Andy has had this past week off because his guys were at football camp, so it's been nice to be home for a while. I think that Andy is ready to get back out on the field, though. The end of the season is coming up too soon - tournament will be here before we know it!!

I am getting REALLY excited to see what it's all going to look like - I have a vague idea from piecing together the tile and countertop and such - but it will be so awesome to see it come together!! :)

On a really unrelated note - when I was fixing supper tonight, I thought that it was super-hot. I looked at the temperature gauge on the wall, and this is what I saw.....

Time for new batteries!! :)

Weekend Updates

Hello all - sorry I didn't post last night, I was absolutely exhausted. Today's not much better, but I am getting it done earlier in the day - -

Yesterday the guys began working on the cementboard - that goes everywhere that might get wet - around the tub/shower and on the floor. They got a pretty good start on it, and had all around the tub and floor done by bedtime. They even stopped for a pie break. :) Grandma Le also had to leave yesterday morning, leaving me the only woman in the house. I guess I need to get used to it - but it was very nice having her here. My sister Sarah is leaving for London on Monday, (please keep her safe travel in your prayers) and someone needed to watch her new lab puppy - Ruby - so Mom had to head home. *By the way, Sarah, I still need pictures of Ruby and your new house!! :) Pray also for Mom's patience with Ruby, she is all puppy and Mom is very thankful she didn't get her new carpet last year! :)

Today Andy was working with the guys ALL day, and they have all of the drywall hung now. It took quite a bit of time because they had to cut every single piece - for the light switches, heater control, vanity light, window, lots to do! Here are a few pictures before they hung the last couple of pieces - -

Overlooking the tub - -

The corner where the toilet will be - - (yes, I am without an upstairs toilet for now)

Corner where the vanity will be - -

Alex has been such a trooper through all of this - I was a little worried how he would handle the changes, but he has been outstanding. A few times he has battled for his nap, but he will eventually go down.

Today I worked on cleaning the house - even though I know that it's going to get dirty again (it's already dirty), it needed to be done. I am very sore tonight from lifting and such, and I had to run through the weeds to catch Alex because he thought that running away while I was hanging sheets on the line would be funny. I was not amused - - thankfully, he hasn't tried his "getaway" since. :) Grandpa Dave did nickname him "sparkplug" though - I think it's a pretty appropriate name, espeically given what he was wearing today.....

He's also been into hats - because all of the guys are wearing them. He knows which hat belongs to which guy, and even wore Grandpa Dave's hat for a while! What an adorable smile!! :)