Basement Kitchen Install

Back in May of this year, Tom and I decided we wanted to spruce up the basement.  It really needed some hlep...we had my couch I bought right after college and it's coordinating chair, along with a tv and our office furniture in a fairly large walkout basement family room.  It was a mish-mash of old stuff that we have accumulated and used over the past 9 years.

We first decided to have the concrete floors stained.  A crew came and ripped up the carpet, scored the floors to look like tile and stained them a caramal and dark brown combination.  Then we ordered some furniture, designed the kitchen and entertainment center, bought a tv and speakers, and prayed it would all come togther nicely one day. 

It is still a work in progress, but starting to take shape.  The floors are done, the entertainment center has been built and delivered, furniture is here (along with a new rug) and the speakers have been wired, installed and hooked up to a new tv.  It's a lot more fun down here now!

The kitchen cabinets were installed today.  Next step is to have black granite countertops installed.  We also need to put the drawer pulls and door knobs on and pick out a sink. 



The openings towards the top right corner are for an ice maker and a small refridgerator.  The top middle cabinet above (it's raised up about 6 inches) has four stem glass holders.  The cabinet opening underneath is for a micorwave.  To the left, in the corner, will be the undermount sink.







This is the raised up bar top...still needs some black granite going across. We will have 2 or 3 bar stools here.

 I'll post some other pictures of the floor and the rest of the room soon.  It needs a bit of a cleaning right now.

Pumpkin Patch

Last week Clara, William and I along with a friend and her 2 kids, took a trip to a local pumpkin patch.  We rode on a hayride behind a big, old tractor to the pumpkin patch where Clara and William found some pumpkins.  There was also a bouncy house, corn maze, pumpkin painting, and a train ride.  We all had a blast :)

Buddies

I took these today in the front yard.  William really likes Chelsea and she is so good to him too.  She is gentle with him and doesn't mind him messing with her ears or pulling on her fur.  When I see William being a little rough or messing with her face, I tell him to give her 'nice pats' and he immediately will start patting her head and back.  It's really cute!

Can you see the hay bales in the background?

Trip to the Corn Maze

This past Saturday we took a little trip to a local corn maze. A man with some extra acres next to his house planted the corn and mowed down the paths for the maze.  He is working with his church's youth group to raise money for their mission trip and half of whatever proceeds he makes will go to them.  Pretty cool idea. 

The checkpoints along the way were bible verses and thank goodness for those checkpoints! We could coorelate those with the map checkpoints to figure out where the heck we were going.  We might still be wandering through the corn without that map :)

It was fun for Clara  - she would run up ahead and whenever there was a fork in the road, she would stop and yell back to Tom about which way to go. 

William sat in the hiking backpack and was happy as a clam.  It was a tad on the hot side out there...where did our Fall go?


Getting William into the backpack

He loves it in here and I love this picture!

Starting out on our a-MAZE-ing adventure.

"C'mon Mommy and Daddy! Hurry UP!"

How do we get out of here??

11 months old!

Can't believe my sweet baby boy is one month away from his first birthday!

William is growing up too quick...he's pulling up on the coffee tables, the wall, my legs..however he can get himself in the standing position.  Then he lets go and just bounces up and down and balances all by himself!  He are encouraging him to try and take a step, but so far he hasn't made a move.  Won't be long I'm afraid.

He also is babbling quite a bit, saying dadadada, nininini and pointing at objects and having little conversations with us about them.  He especially likes the chickens.  It's cute when he spots a chicken - he points and starts getting excited.

Sleeps great, good eater, puts up with his sister's antics...overall a super wonderful little boy!!

Riding in the hiking backpack at the corn maze this past Saturday.

Riding Sassy

This blog post is dedicated to Clara's Auntie Ann in honor of her first horseback ride :)

Clara got to take her first horse ride yesteray on our neighbor's horse, Sassy.  Gary and Mary have 7 or 8 Missouri Fox Trotter's.  We frequently drive the Ranger over to their barn and check in on them.  Yesterday, Mary's nephews, ages 2 and 3,  were down for the weekend from Kansas City and were going to ride.  They asked if Clara would be interested in riding also and she said yes.  Tom and I both thought she would chicken out when it actually came time to get on the horse, but she climbed right up and sat with Gary.  They went on a nice trail ride around the perimeter of their 10 acres. 

Clara really enjoyed it and we were pretty proud of her too!

This was taken right after she got on Sassy





I like the little smirk on her face and how she's holding on to the reins.



Feeding Sassy some grass after her ride.

Mid-September Update

Hello! It is starting to feel like Fall here and it's just beautiful! The weather is cool and breezy, but still warm enough to have shorts and a t-shirt on most of the time.

Clara is still loving preschool. I am so thankful it is going well. Today was picture day and I'm curious how well she cooperated with the photographer. It has been nice to have the mornings to get things done (or not) while William naps and Clara is at school. I am car pooling with my neighbor which has been great because the school is about a 45 minute round trip drive.

Today I took some pictures before nap time. Both kiddos are looking more grown up these days. So are the chickens. They are really pretty, surpisingly. I'm glad we have 5 different types. Their feathers are so different and striking. Not sure if I have put it on the blog, but we ended up with one rooster. He is protective of all his hens (we call them his harem) but headstrong and domineering of us too. We have had to put him in his place (i.e. whack him on the head a few times) because he comes after us. It's kind of scary and funny at the same time.

Also, did I mention my parents are building a house in Arkansas. Here's a link to their blog which they update about once a week with progress on the house. It is coming along so well and is going to be such an awesome place! http://www.lakeviewdream.blogspot.com/


Anyways, here are some pics.

Almost 11 months...getting so handsome!  He has been eating so much lately!  I am crossing my fingers for another great eater like his big sister. 

The black and white chicken is the silver wyandot...pretty cool pattern on its neck and back.

I love  her curly blond hair.  So pretty!

Caught her in  a thinking moment.

 

Cute little girl!! 

 

I like this picture.  It looks like William took off with Clara's flip-flop and she is in the background looking at her bare foot.

First Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Clara's first day of preschool.  She had such a great time and was so excited to be there :)  We have been building this day up for a while now and when it finally came, Clara could not wait to go.  Here are some pictures

Getting her back pack ready.

Showing me her lunch box.

She was already tired of my taking her picture in the car.

She was already tired of my taking her picture in the car.

We're at school!!

Walking through the parking lot.

d

In the hallway by her classroom.

Tom and William came too. 

Clara asked several times if William missed her and did he cry.  He knew something was different because when we came home and I put him down for his nap, he just cried and would not settle down! I guess he was missing Clara a little :)

Here are the latest pictures of Clara and William.  They both did so well this time.  Clara was cooperative and really tried her best to smile and stay still while I played peek-a-boo behind the photographer to get William to look at me.  The hardest thing about this whole process was shopping for outfits that coordinated 15 minutes before my scheduled appointment.  I usually wait till the last minute and work best under pressure!

Anyways, Clara is 3 years old and William is just a day or two shy of 10 months.  Such precious babies!!