Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Gramma Rue's visit

As always Gramma Rue's visit went by way too quickly. She arrived this last Tuesday and stayed through Sunday. Tuesday night was kind of late and we spent it just touring the new basement catching up and then crashing from exhaustion. The next day Josh and I went to work, and Kenna was really surprised to see that Gramma Rue had been sleeping downstairs! The played all day while I worked and we just had fun at night. The same thing happened Thursday, but I did get to sneak home a little early.

Friday we went shopping in the morning picking out baby gifts for our little boy. Gramma got him a baby monitor for Christmas and a few really cute jammies. Then, we went to lunch at Mojos, one of my favorite little cafes. They use only fresh local ingredients, so you always see a new menu, and it is always good! Kenna was definitely ready for nap when we got home. So, mom and I layed around, watched TV and chatted. After lunch we got groceries and there was more playing and goofing around that night.

Saturday we decorated for Christmas while Josh helped Denny build a fence around their new propane tank. Then we went to dinner at a new place called Biaggi's. VERY yummy italian!

Sunday Gramma Rue had to leave in the morning :( We are still trying to get her to buy a little townhouse in Ankeny so she can just live here in the spring and fall...unsuccessful at this point, but we are persistent! Thanks for coming to visit Gramma Rue! We loved seeing you and can't wait till march when you come for two weeks!

--stalling till dinner came with gramma rue--

--kenna looooooves noodles, just like daddy, but cleaner!--

--saying goodbye before we go to the airport--

The basement is DONE!

Josh has been working endless hours over the last few weeks to get the basement completed for Gramma Rue's visit. His body is broken, his hands are bleeding, and I am fairly certain that some of our friends are avoiding our phone calls because of the favors we have asked of them, but the basement is done!

We still need to do some touch up paint and some final woodworking, but it looks incredible!

--bathroom phase 1--

--bathroom phase 3--

--bathroom done!--

--bathroom done again!--

--living room/game room phase 1--

--living room/game room phase 2--

--living room/game room phase 3--

--living room/game room phase 3 again--

--living room/game room done!--

--living room/game room done again!--

--guest room phase 1--

--guest room phase 2--

--guest room phase 3--

--guest room done!--

--kenna's room under the stairs phase 1--

--kenna's room under the stairs done!--

--tornado shelter/storage area done!--

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Goodbye summer!!!

We have been enjoying 70-75 degree weather since the end of October! Just today the forecast calls for snow this weekend...and it seems we skipped fall right into winter :(

We have had the best couple of weekends! Halloween was wonderful! Kenna was a butterfly princess and did so well! We didn't even have to wear a coat because it was so warm. I explained to her that she got candy by ringing the doorbell and saying trick or treat. I don't think she believed me until she got to the first house and did what she was told. Her eyes were as big as saucers and she said "mommy, lets go to next house!!" It was all I could do to drag her home after we hit about 20 houses! All the kids in the neighborhood looked so cute! We had 150 glow necklaces and by the end of the night only had about 30 left! LOTS of trick-or-treaters!

Last weekend we celebrated the last nice weekend with the Andersen's. Chloe and Kenna had a blast! We had a picnic on Sunday down at Big Creek Lake. They have this HUGE wooden castle play toy. The girls played their first real game of hide and seek....quite a hoot!

For the next two weeks we are focusing most of our time on the basement. The drywall and texturing is done (pictures soon to come.) I picked out paint and Josh and I decided on carpet and a carpet installer. As soon as we are done painting, we will install the tile floor and wood floor, get plumbers out to finish the bathroom, get the carpet installed, and then it is just small details after that! Like building shelves, baseboard, installing bar, etc.

We are so excited to have the project complete and get all the junk that was downstairs out of our upstairs!!!