We met Stella Barbara Hardinger last night

Our family made a trip to the hospital in Cedar Rapids where Jay and Molly had their baby girl yesterday morning.  She was born at 12:14 am, weighing 6 lbs 15.8 oz, 20 1/2 in long.  She looks like a perfect little baby girl, I couldn't really tell any specific features that made me think of either Jay and Molly, but she has little features, lots of dark hair, and slept the whole time we were there.  She did make tiny little squeaks here and there but mostly was very quiet.

We got there around 7 pm, and took lots of pictures and took turns holding her.  Violet and Calvin made Stella some handwritten cards.  Calvin wrote "Happy Birthday Stella, Love Calvin" on his card and insisted on taping 2 pieces of gum on his card to give to Jay and Molly when he got there.  Violet wrote something like "Dear Stella, I am so happy you are my new cousin, you are cute and adorable. Love, Violet"

We brought along some Scratch Cupcakery cupcakes because after all, it is a birthday. :)  The challenge in the hospital room was containing Calvin's never-ending energy.  Violet transformed into a little momma, holding Stella with ease and staring at her adoringly and saying how sweet and cute she was.  Calvin held her too, but couldn't keep his hands off her face.  Vanessa wanted to hug and hold Stella too, I helped her for a few moments of Vanessa-affection.

A nurse came in to check Stella's temp and heart rate while Violet was holding her, so she got to assist in those checks.  Violet and Calvin both listened in the stethoscope for Stella's heart beat.

Jay and Molly looked pretty tired, but were relaxed and at ease around us, not worrying about the kids in the room.  We stayed for an hour then left.

Here's some pics!

"1176" was their room number, we wore stickers with the room # on them while we were "checked in visitors" for a short time.

We are the perfect parents

....according to Calvin, at least in his little mind.  :)  He said to me today (while we were at Bed Bath and Beyond getting daddy's birthday present): "You and daddy got married.  And then you became the perfect parents!"

Fun day - family pics and circus!

Our family had the chance to get together with a friend from Bethany, Faith Knepp, who is a photographer.  We got together at a park in Cedar Falls and took over 150 pics of our family together, Dave and I together, and myself alone to capture the last maternity belly pictures I will be sporting.  I asked her to take some pics of newborn baby boy when he makes his appearance as well.  We were at the park taking pictures for about an hour, and then we got lunch at Jimmy Johns and surprised the kids with the news that we were going to the circus at 3pm.  They were absolutely crazy-excited to go!  I think we went 2 yrs ago, Violet thinks she remembers some of it...which means she doesn't remember anything but thinks she is impressing us with her brain skills. 

It was overall worth it, even though it was a complete child-driven marketing smorgasbord.  The cotton candy, treats, junky toys, food, more junky toys, and "stuff" was everywhere, which we had prepared them for...and they knew not to ask for everything.  We did get them cotton candy for a treat.  The show started with the lions/tigers which captured their attention immediately.  Vanessa seemed to enjoy the show, but was restless and climbing around on our laps for the last half.  She did light up when the little dogs were jumping around and pointed to them excitedly.

Calvin told me his favorite thing was the motorcycles in the big ball and the girls that spun in fast circles on the ropes.

 Vanessa took comfort in Violet for part of the show

 Both kids got an elephant ride.  Calvin is peeking off to the side behind Violet.

 All tired out when we got home.  This late nap from 5-7 pm didn't allow them to get to sleep until around 10pm that night.

"The River House" update

The people who bought the river house from us last year called us up a couple weeks ago asking for help on how to put the docks in the water.  At the house's closing before winter, they mentioned they didn't have a clue how to do that so we gladly offered to help them out come spring time, so we were expecting a call.  They invited us to come out on Sunday, last week April 1st and show us the work they've done on the house for the past 6 months and also get the docks put in the water.  They had recruited a lot of guys to help put them in the water, knowing that Dave's right hand isn't very strong still having just gotten his cast off last month.

The house looked great!  I wasn't really sure what to expect in terms of how we would both feel after coming away from seeing it all fixed up.  But the experienced turned out to be really great for our whole family.  The kids knew someone else lived there, we didn't have the house anymore, and they were letting us come see how they've changed it.  All they cared about was getting to swing on the rope swing anyway.

They changed the lay out of the rooms completely.  The old laundry room is now a bathroom, the two bedrooms on the main level were torn down and turned into a second living room area, and two bedrooms were constructed upstairs on the second level balcony.

The house is perfect for them.  They have three older boys, one is married and has kids.  The other two boys living with their parents are really excited to get on the water this summer.  When I was there managing the kids outside and inside while Dave was working, it was very clear to me that this house would be too stressful for me, having such young kids by such dangerous water.  

 Added a closet to the "master" bedroom:

 Finished the walls to the ceiling, like we always wanted to do:

Kitchen remodel project

I just realized I have written nothing about this!  Where do I even start?  We got some new appliances on Black Friday last year after Thanksgiving, and I think that is what kicked off the start of the kitchen update.  I don't even know what to write because we made so many decisions so I'll make it short.  We made some design changes, added a cabinet here and there, took one out, replaced the island with black cabinets (to go with the new black refrigerator/dishwasher), added a small sink next to the coffee maker on the other side of the kitchen, got new countertops, and we plan to get a new tile backsplash in the next few weeks.  We love the changes and can't wait for it to be finished!  For close to two weeks things were a bit crazy and difficult, because 80% of the kitchen contents were stacked on the dining room table and I had cardboard countertops.

Choosing the countertops (back in January).  Since we got rid of the white and went with black appliances, we wanted countertops that were darker, but still incorporated some tan/white to go with the existing oak cabinets and white tile floor.  This looked beautiful!  Its called "Cosmic black".  We found this at Midwest Granite and Tile in Des Moines.  The countertops were cut from four slabs of granite:

Sort of a "before" picture but the fridge/dishwasher were older and white, this pic was taken the day the countertops were cut off:

Cut out the "appliance garage" in the corner, yay, I get the corner back!

Island cabinets/new 36" range, switched from electric stove top to gas.  Oven is still electric.

Extented the length of the countertop all the way to the door frame on the right, added 2 new cabinets below, one for a 2nd wall oven, one new upper cabinet to fill in the space.

Countertops measured early March, installed late March:

Martha's birthday was April 3rd

We decided to help celebrate her birthday by taking her out to eat at Sakura Saturday night when we got home.  It was also a "thank you" for watching our kids.  She had never been to a hibachi style restaurant before, so it was a fun experience for her.  The guy doing our cooking was super funny and made us all laugh.  Calvin and Violet were excited to see the fire.  Vanessa was a little scared but just leaned her head on either Dave's arm or Martha's arm to comfort herself.  Violet was giggling non stop at the guy making jokes and being funny with his flipping tools.  He made lots of fire, flipped a flaming bowl onto his chef hat, and the staff sung happy birthday and gave Martha a picture.  I asked him to take a picture with my camera too. 

Dave and I got to go away for 2 nights

Dave worked out a "little vacation" for us.  He asked his mom to come babysit for 2 nights so the two of us could get away for a short time before this baby arrives.  She was quick to say yes and he chose the Thurs and Fri before Easter to go.  Violet didn't have school on Friday so that made for less running around for Martha.  She arrived Thurs evening the 5th, and we packed up and left pretty late.  We drove to Galena, IL and spent Friday and most of Saturday checking out the town and its plentiful array of unique shops and restaurants.  The "getting ready" for the trip seemed stressful because its not easy to pull me away from home, let someone else take the reigns, and explain a lot of things about what they are allowed to do and how some things work.  But it worked out just fine.  Martha did a very good job and she said she enjoyed it too.

Dave and I did a LOT of walking, which was fine on Friday, but super tiring on Saturday.  Friday we went up and down Main St in Galena most of the entire day, doing whatever we wanted.  It was so odd....yet really nice.  The weather was beautiful.  We sat in a lot of coffee shops, parked ourselves on a lot of benches, ate some yummy treats, and bought a few things.  Friday we walked up all the steps to the upper streets of Galena which proved to be enough of a work out for me.  My legs were burning by the time we got back to the bottom.  I was glad for the break and especially to have the undivided attention of my husband for two days, that was the best part! 

A few pics from the trip:

These are the stairs that connect Main St to the streets above:

A view from the top:

 

I am assuming these are "bleeding hearts" flowers.  These we noticed half way up.

 

That's my side profile. :)