Dad - you'd be proud!

I put the cabinets up in the basement ALL BY MYSELF!!!! They are perfectly level and awesome.  I will have to get Kris to help me move the bottom cabinets in, attach those babies to the wall and we will be good to go!

Wednesday

I am truly amazed at what these guys do in a day.  It is already coming together

The new locker and pantry area.

 Look at that sink - love it!

 The cabinets are black rubbed - antique look.  The pictures probably don't show you the detail

Kris can't wait - against that back wall will be a large tv.  Waiting for appliances to get delivered and then we have to have the granite guy come and it will be another 5 days or so from then for the granite to actually show up.  Hopefully by the end of next week.  I am so excited just to see stuff in the kitchen!

Tuesday

It has been an eventful week so far.  The cabinets were supposed to come today at 11am.  They didn't show up until 3:30.  Then at around 5:15 we lost power.  We headed to Culvers for dinner since 1)we had no power and 2) it was a St. Pius fundraiser.

 Maddie having her frozen custard

 Hailey with her friend Elle

 Another friend Keri

Hailey dancing in the spotlight of my reading light.

The power did not come back on until 10:30 or so.  Kris and I bailed the water from the sump pump for a couple of hours to make sure with all the rain we didn't have any flooding. We were never so happy to hear the sump pump kick on.

Sisters

Hailey has become very helpful with Kaitlyn especially manning the stairs and doors and all the places she is not supposed to go.  Here she is holding her on the stairs.  Sisterly love...

Days 3, 4, 5

Not a whole lot going on days 3- 5 except for painting and such.  

Kris and I decided we needed to change out the outlets and switches because the almond color just wasn't cutting it.  We did all that this weekend.  We ran into a little trouble with one of the GFI outlets, but luckily we figured it out.   Going to look so nice when all this is done - I just can't wait.

Cabinets come on Tuesday so they will spend the rest of the week installing those.  Then the granite fabricator will come once those are in and scribe the counters so they can be cut.  It will be another week after that before those can be installed, so probably 1.5 -  2 more weeks.  

Report Card Time

Someday Hailey will hate me for posting this - but this way, we can look back on it and laugh.  Her report card is made up of Work Exceeds Expectations, Work Meets Expectations and Work Needs to Improve to Meet Expectations.  Hailey's report card was a couple of Exceeds and the rest Meets.  The best part was her teachers written comment -

"Written Language - Hailey is in the higher end of the "M's".  She is doing VERY well.  Her thoughts are clear and stick to one topic.  I am always excited to read her "juicy" (detailed) sentences.  Keep up the GREAT WORK!"

So proud of the work she is doing and how much she has grown this past half a year.

Enchanted Castle

On Monday for MLK we headed to Enchanted Castle with Nana for a little fun

 Maddie was hilarious - I think she liked crashing more than driving

Day 2

I guess I spoke too soon yesterday.  They are moving quickly, however, just got news that the cabinets which we thought would be ready this week, will not be ready to be delivered until Tuesday next week - uggh.  Ah well, they are going to do what they can to get everything done they can and paint the dining room, front room, hallway, etc at the front end instead of at the end of the project.  

 Started the floors - the beautiful tiger wood floor we picked - love it!  So excited to see it laid out.

Painted the walls - light pewter - LOVE IT!

Day 1 of Construction

Well, they don't mess around -lets hope they put it back together as quickly as they can tear it down!

 All the cabinets are gone - we snagged a bunch for the basement for storage and the pantry as an armoire in Kaitlyn's bedroom for additional storage.  You can see the wall is repaired too - not a burned out section anymore!

 Floors are all up - they just don't have anywhere to put all of it

Ceilings were painted

That's all in my garage - not sure when they are getting a dumpster here - its all in my garage at the moment.  Its a good thing we kept cabinets because they would not have all fit in there.  I think they stopped putting the floor in there because there really wasn't anywhere to put it.

The day has come

The floor has been here since Thursday and tomorrow, Monday, is go time.  They are FINALLY starting the kitchen from our fire on November 4th.  To say we are excited is an understatement.  Not sure we are excited about the chaos that will ensue for the next 2 weeks, but excited to have a kitchen and all our stuff back.  I am also nervous - I hope all our choices come together.  Let the fun begin!

First basketball practice/game

Hailey has joined basketball.  On Saturday she had her first practice and next week they will practice for 15-20 minutes and then have a game for the rest of the hour.  She is pretty excited and has been dribbling all around the house

 This is what Kaitlyn and Maddie did during the practice - ran around the halls.  Kaitlyn especially loved sitting on the little raised floor.

For my next trick...

This kid loves to climb everything.  She loves standing on her chair and moving around.  I keep telling her she is going to fall - she could care less.

Walker

She has flipped the switch and is walking all over the place.  She could physically do this for a long time, but she finally is actually doing it.

Dance Class

We got to watch a little rehearsal.  Hailey was all smiles

Food bandit

I swear, we do feed this kid.  One of her sisters left the pantry door open and Kaitlyn helped herself to some Kix.  She was shoveling it in.

Mmmmm sandwich

 She was digging into Haileys sandwich - yum!  This kid has a crazy big appetite.

Try the videos again

More from Hailey

Hailey cracks me up - she took a bunch of pictures the morning we were leaving and she also shot a couple of videos. (videos now in post above)

View of the TV and fireplace

Kaitlyn and Daddy

Maddie

Maddie took this one of Carson, Hayden and Hailey

Andy - I think many of the adults felt this way in the morning.  Unfortunately with little kids, the morning comes pretty quickly

Erin

Poppers I let the kids shoot off on NYE

New Years Eve trip

We used to have our friends over to our house for New Years Eve, but since kids have come it has been hard to get us back together.  We are in multiple locations (St Louis, Bloomington, Chicago, Lombard) so it is hard to see each other often.   This year we started planning in the summer.  We decided to all come together in Utica, IL at Grizzly Jacks Grand Bear Resort. We stayed in one cabin - all four families and had a blast.  The kids all got along great.  We had Hayden (7), Carson (4), Sophie (18 months), Stella (3), Gage (almost 2) - plus our three of course.

 There was some coloring

 Hayden and Hailey sparked a new friendship - this is when they first met -still a little shy.  I love that Hayden is drinking from a wine glass - it was the only glass we could find.

 There was a waterpark, so it was "operation wear the kids out" at the watermark on day 1.

Sophie (18 months)

Gage (almost 2)

Van Awken family

Maddie having some fun

Hailey is waiting for Hayden to come down the slide

Little trip down the lazy river

Daddy, Maddie and Kaitlyn - every once in a while the pool would turn into a wave pool.  Maddie wasn't a big fan

Hailey fell and was very dramatic - we had to ice and luckily she got over it after 15 minutes or so

It hurts!

Back at it - on one of the slides

Gage going down the slide

Frerichs family

Stella was sick, so they were not able to come until day 2- so happy they were able to come and she is having fun!

Carson and Maddie had a lot of fun together

Movie night in our room for the older kids - Carson and Maddie

Hailey and Hayden

The two playing games on the iPad

There is an amusement park on the grounds as well.  This was day 2 and the first activity planned to wear the kids out.  This is Maddie's dream jumpy - Sponge Bob

Dad and Hailey trying to decide what to go on

This is what Kaitlyn did - she pushed this little guy around back and forth, back and forth

Hailey and Maddie on a ride

Stella and Maddie 

Hailey and Hayden waiting to go on the tilt a whirl

Adults

Feeding time at the zoo

Party Time - Stella, Carson, Hayden, Sophie (in front), Hailey, Kaitlyn, Maddie, Gage

Yea, they were best buds by the end of the trip.

Little dance with her sister

Limbo time

NOW the party can begin - kids are all in bed!  Happy New Year!