"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. :)

35 weeks

Baby boy has 5 more weeks to hang out with me in silence until he makes his appearance.  In some ways, as I remember from before, its easier to take care of baby while he's still in my womb.  No midnight feedings, no crying, no diapers, etc.  But these last few weeks I end up convincing myself that it would be easier to care for a newborn than to BE pregnant the last few weeks.  I am super exhausted just doing simple tasks (like unloading/loading the dishwasher or carrying laundry down the stairs)...its hard to hold my kids on my lap, they seem annoyed by the large baby bump in their way when they want to snuggle and read a favorite book.  I can't lean over and pick up something easily, the anticipation of baby's birth and figuring out what his name is going to be occupies more of my mind than I should allow.

I am beginning to hibernate...ha...I use that loosely because I purposely put myself in situations where I do not have to be in large crowds of people.  I get really weary of the comments from people...all over.  At church, at the grocery store, walking anywhere outside....there are comments about "the belly".  They all tend to be gawking comments...like "whoa! When are you DUE!?" or people will just say "wow, you've gotten huge!" and immediately start backpeddling knowing that what just came out of their mouth sounded terrible, even though they are referring to just my belly.

I don't mean to write this post like a big complaint, but I have to acknowledge that my "natural bent" is to be a pessimist, which is why Dave is such a good match for me, my natural positive optimist.  I tend to look at the negative side of things first, maybe that's just because I'm a simple, practical realist, not a dreamer.

Calvin's tongue is much better, on the way to healing

When I checked on the kids before going to bed myself last night I did not see a pool of blood on his pillow.  I was immediately relieved.  I did see a trail of blood running down his cheek onto a wash cloth, but it was mostly dried up so I wiped it off his face and went to bed.  His pillow was dry in the morning, no more blood, and the open wound was closed up.  By the end of the day, it looked amazing!  Almost completely sealed up, back to looking "normal"...I was still cautious about what he ate.  Mostly soft food today...more cream of wheat (he asked for it, I swear I'm not force feeding him baby food, lol!), pancakes, sausage links, a strawberry-banana smoothie, piece of toast, and a granola bar.  Thank you Lord!

Calvin gashed his tongue

Violet's new bike riding experience wasn't the only exciting part of the day.  Calvin bit his tongue pretty badly when he jumped off some playground equipment and landed on the ground.  He started screaming, all I saw was blood on his hands and face, and carried him over to the diaper bag quickly and wiped him off, squirted his mouth out with the water bottle I had, and got a decent look at the source for all the blood.  It was gushing out of his tongue and on top of all his screaming, it was a pretty gory site.  I used almost the last of my wipes to clean him up as best I could and get some pressure on his tongue for a few seconds through his screaming to determine how bad it was.  Somehow the cut did not go all the way through, its just a deep cut, about 1/2 inch wide and 1/4 inch deep, his pointy canine must have sunk in upon impact.  I don't know how it didn't get "bitten", just punctured on the top side of his tongue.  I have some pictures but they're disgusting so I'll spare you the sight.  My dad and sis have already taken a close look at them.  Another one of the more frustrating parts of that moment was the fact that my cell phone battery was almost dead and Dave had taken the car cell phone charger with him to Ohio.  It had the "5% remaining" warning with the red light blinking.  I was almost with out a lifeline, so after I got the kids loaded in the car and all our gear (a bike, a trike, and a stroller and two bags!) I made a quick dash to the Verizon store by Farm and Fleet and bought a cell phone charger quick.  I charged my phone on the way to Hy-Vee, that short drive got me 10% battery. 

My dad called in a Rx for some topical pain killer and some penicillin to avoid infection.  I spent the next hour at Hy-Vee talking to the pharmacist and shopping for groceries while I was waiting for the Rx to get filled.  When we got home I gave him his meds and accidentally poked his tongue injury with the syringe that contained some medicine.  My bad.  He screamed and was shaking so violently he couldn't stop his chin from chattering.  Violet was in tears watching him suffer.  All of us were very, very hungry.  It was one of those moments where I could tell I was about to flip out and start crying along with the rest of the crew from the overwhelming situation or force myself into silent calmness.  Calmness took over, I didn't speak and made the first soft food I could think of, cream of wheat...Violet and Calvin both had huge bowls.  Vanessa had some too, and I ate an english muffin with peanut butter.  Calvin's tongue was still bleeding.  He settled down with a full tummy and laid on the couch holding a wet wipe on his tongue, throwing it away when it was soaked red and getting a new one.  He seemed to calm down well, even laughing at times.  But bedtime was difficult.  I brushed his teeth the best I could with out toothpaste.  Even 5 hrs later its still bleeding.  He is going to wake up looking like a murder scene happened with a soaked towel of blood surrounding him.  If it doesn't improve by the end of the day tomorrow, I may have to take him in for stitches.

Ok, she's riding the bike by herself now!

I took the kids to a park with a big flat cement area she could practice on.  I showed her how to get started riding herself and she picked it up in one try.  She was off and riding in circles and stopping on her own in no time!

I uploaded a video to youtube, here's the link:

http://youtu.be/W8Zwu3_osM0

Dave is heading to Ohio for a missions trip

Dave is going to Ohio tomorrow through Saturday to work for a men's homeless rescue, something similar to Pacific Garden Mission.  This trip has been planned since last summer.  He has the opportunity to teach these men about salvation through Jesus Christ for 15 minute segments.  These men come to the shelter and are fed and housed only if they listen to a gospel message.  Thankfully he no longer is wearing his cast, and his hand is on the way to healing, although its tender in spots and he can't make a complete fist, he feels much better with it off.

Dave is leaving early in the morning and driving with Tony Myers and Jonathan Smith all the way to Ohio, so please pray for their safe travel, the Spirit to guide their words as they preach the gospel and serve in many other ways around the rescue, opportunities to speak with men individually, and hearts to be changed and men to accept Christ as their Savior.  I'm sure the spiritual forces Satan has employed on their behalf are working hard to make this trip a failure.  I'm happy he gets this unique opportunity to serve in such a full way.  Please pray for me too as I hold down the fort for 6 days alone.

Calvin's acorn

This comes from his all time favorite movie right now which is Ice Age.  That movie makes him laugh more than anything right now.  He especially cracks up when he sees the squirrel/rat gets into all kinds of trouble as he chases the acorn through out the whole movie.  He found an acorn tonight when Violet was riding her bike and was pretty excited to show me.

Violet learning how to ride a bike

The bike we got for her on Saturday we chose not to get training wheels, since we both thought she was capable of learning to ride with out them.  She got a  purple bike with 20" wheels and matching purple helmet.  Calvin's blue bike (16") is on order, we can pick it up in a week.  They didn't have the blue one we wanted in his size on stock.  His will have training wheels, but I think he can figure out how to ride a bike with out them too.  He's got great balance. :)  Walks around the block will no longer be leisurely!

Dave helped her practice later that day.  She was so, so, so excited...overly confident...and wasn't scared one bit.  I took some video clips with my camera.  She went from riding shakily with him holding the seat the entire time to her riding independently and stopping by herself in an hour.  She can't start herself yet, and is working on controlling the braking and handling herself when she tips to the side, but she made more progress than I thought she would.  I need to give her more credit than I do!

First attempt:

This clip is tonight's last run after her second practicing session.  I missed her excited arm pumping cheer at the end of the video clip.  Daddy is a good coach!  The kids thought it was pretty funny he was sweaty after all that jogging along side her. 

Relaxing Saturday

Dave and I have been wanting a round 60" table for our kitchen for awhile to replace the one we have been using that belongs to Rachel.  Dave was on his way back from jazz night at Cup of Joe on Thursday of last week and saw a sign in the storefront of AJ August (a men's clothing store) that they were selling a lot of their furniture.  One of the items was a hardwood 60" table for an excellent price.  We decided to go look at it on Saturday and really liked it, so we decided to get it.  Even though our purpose for going to Main St. was over, we decided to stroll and wander in and out of stores to pass some time.  We looked at Sweet Basil Market and picked up some marinade, candy, and popcorn seeds.  We got some cupcakes and gelato at Scratch Cupcakery (turns out what we ate at Scratch ended up being our lunch...it was very filling!), watched lots of people wearing green to celebrate St. Pat's Day, and checked out the Bike Tech shop to find the right size bikes that Violet and Calvin would be.  The weather was really beautiful.  Sunny, windy, but not too hot or cold.  We decided to get bikes for the kids, and I don't think I've ever seen Violet so happy.

 

They bit into an apple at the same time.

Nessa was just being goofy

Spring Break 2012 (summer weather!)

The highs for the days during spring break were in the 80s!  Every day.  So of course, that meant, LOTS of outdoor play.  The time change gave us more sunlight in the mornings.  Violet (and I) enjoyed not getting up early to get her to school.  Most mornings Calvin got up first at 7 am, and the rest of us by 7:45-8:00 am.  I wasn't mentally prepared for so much outside time.  They spent a lot of time playing with our neighbor, Kinzie, who is also 6 yrs old.  She drives around a truck, our kids drive around their green car, they switched cars a lot, swung on the swing sets, played in the mud (from the fallen pine tree), jumped around the gazebo, re-arranged rocks, watered flowers, played with water, and rode scooters.  Vanessa wanted desperately to join the older kids outside, which I let her do occasionally.  She loves being outside like the others!  The kids got almost daily baths from being so filthy, and were exhausted by the end of each day.  Dave was supposed to travel for work to American Samoa (an island near New Zealand) but his trip was transferred to another Calix employee.  So, both of us were thankful he did not have to go there. 

Thursday of Spring Break my mom came down and we went to the IA City Children's Museum at the Coralville Mall.  It was a very fun packed day!  We got there around 11 am, spent an hour or so in the mini-shopping mall, the kids made (fake) pizzas and served us lunch, they changed costumes a bunch of times and danced around a kid theater, then we got lunch at Panera.  Violet and Calvin got a chance to try out ice skating in the arena in the mall.  My mom got on skates and took them on the ice.  I think they spent more time on their bottoms than on their skates. :)  It was an adventure.  Violet doesn't give up easily, she is one determined kiddo.  She went out on the ice a second time by herself and only fell a couple times, but managed to scoot around a bit on the ice.

We headed back to the museum and explored the airplane exhibit, the kids spent a lot of time making their own stomp rockets out of paper, going down the slide from the 2nd to the 1st floor, sitting in airplanes, hot air balloons, and blasting air out of the air gun.  We sat down for story time, drew some pictures, explored the train room, played in the room for younger toddlers (where Vanessa could run around), and built things in the Lego room.  Never-ending things to do there!  There were a few rooms we didn't even get a chance to go into.  I could tell Calvin was getting tired from the sudden outbursts of crying and anger for reasons that usually wouldn't have gotten him so upset.

After beef sandwiches from Arby's and a ride on the carousel, we decided it was time to go home.

The kids watched Pinocchio on the way home in the van. Vanessa took a nap.  Daddy misses us but got a ton of work done.  It was a wonderful day!

They saw the ice arena when we first walked into the mall and admired the skaters for awhile.

Making change with Grandma Jo at the cash register.  Calvin stood there forever and concentrated on pushing buttons.

Violet constructing her perfect pizza in major concentration:

Dress up

Trying out the ice skates:

 Vanessa and Grandma Jo

Vanessa running around in the toddler play area:

Train world

To the air control tower (aka: top of the slide)"

Busy lately....

I haven't blogged much even though it seems like a lot is/has happened.  Rachel visited for 5 nights, and our kitchen is torn apart, a couple new cabinets added, some new appliances, and hopefully on Friday (but probably Mon or Tues of next week) the new countertops will be installed.  Sawdust is everywhere, and right now we are getting by with cardboard countertops. :P. Its a bit crazy.  Spring break is this week.  I enjoy "sleeping in" since the time change works out in our favor....and no school drop offs/pick ups which is nice.  Calvin likes having Violet at home for someone to play with.