My Best of Show

The award for best of show for the 2008 Home Show goes to....Character Homes by JCorp, well not officially but in my eyes it won hands down. Carl and everyone at JCorp worked so long and hard on that house and it is gorgeous. Now if only we had 690,000$ so we could move in:) We went to the park dedication Thursday night and the boys got teddy bears with Prairie Trail shirts and then we went to BBQ at the house and get a little orientation on questions we may be asked during the homeshow. Last night we had builders night and were able to walk through some of the other houses and the awards were given. Our house didn't win any official awards but in my eyes it is awesome and something everyone at JCorp should be proud of. We are so proud of Carl for all his hard work! Here are some pictures of the finished product as well as the park dedication Thursday.








The house from a distance
Carl and the boys in front of the house

The Side of the house


The garage and carriage house(above the third stall of the garage)the kitchen looking into the dining room
The two-sided fireplace that seperates the kitchen and living room

Looking from the living room at the fireplace and kitchen

Looking out from the upstairs hallway

Master Bath

Looking into Master Bedroom


From Back of Kitchen



Basement Kitchenette

Basement Billiards and Game Room


The Theater Room
The Screened In Porch

So it Begins...

The homeshow starts this weekend! We have a park dedication to go to tonight, which I will try and take my camera to and get some pictures of the house as well. Then tomorrow we have builders night with a dinner and awards after and then Saturday it is open to the public, Carl is very excited and from what I've heard the house looks amazing. I will try to post some pics soon. Saturday Carl and I are scheduled to work at the house during the day so we have a busy weekend coming up. On a kid note Ty has learned to do so big, he will usually comply if you ask him how big he is but sometimes it takes him awhile. I will post a video of it, I think it is pretty cute but I may be a little biased. It has been very rainy here this week so our outside play time has been somewhat limited. In that case you have come up with your fun which is what Gabe and Ty did yesterday afternoon. I have posted a video of that so you can see for yourself. If you get a chance to check out the homeshow do it, there will be a lot of cool houses to go through, one in particular is way cooler then the others in my opinion though:) Here is the link to the website with information on times, place, etc. http://www.desmoineshomebuilders.com/hba-events/home-show-expo.html
Carl's company is Home #5 Character Homes
Maybe we'll see you there!

Feels Like Groundhog Day

I say that because if you've seen the movie you know that Bill Murray's character wakes up and does the exact same thing day after day, that's what it feels like around here. We have still been very busy and still have the sickies:( On Friday afternoon town was absolutely crazy, we had gotten a lot of rain in a short period of time and half the town was flooded so traffic was nuts. In the midst of the nuts traffic I thought Ty felt awfully warm so I took his temp and sure enough 102. I called the Dr. right away and they could get him in that afternoon and with Carl being sick earlier in the week I thought it best not to wait for Monday. Sure enough poor little Ty had double ear infection, the Dr. said they were nasty ones, too. The picture of him in the chair is right after our appointment, he doesn't really look like he's feeling well either. He got some medicine and by Saturday morning he did seem to be feeling better. We were supposed to go up to Algona Friday night but since Ty had the ear problems we decided it best to stay home in case he had a bad night. Saturday morning we got up and he seemed to be doing better and no more fever so we headed up to Algona, dropped the boys off at Carl's parents house and Carl and I went to the Memorial service for my dad's cousin and then out to lunch with some family afterwards. While we were away Gabe helped Grandpa Matt plant a few trees and got to drive around the tractor and mower, he had lots of fun! Ty helped Grandma Nancy some. When we got back Gabe was just finishing up his lunch but was ready to move onto more tractors and go see Uncle Bone. We got to the farm and Gabe immediately asked to ride the tractor. The fields were rather wet so no working in the fields on Saturday but Gabe got a tractor ride down the road and that was good enough for him. He also got a mule(the motorized type) ride and just had fun running all over the farm. We left mid afternoon from there and drove back to Ames just a little late for our friend's little girl's birthday party. We had two very tired little boys on the ride back. When we got to the birthday party Gabe caught his 2nd wind and he and Brady had fun playing with the backhoe in the sand and got pretty dirty so bath's for everyone that night. Sunday we met some new friends who just moved here from South Dakota at church and were able to show them around and then met my parents for lunch. Then we headed down to Huxley for an open house of a friend and someone Carl used to work with, he just got done building a new home and had an open house for his new business. That afternoon we came home and gave the boys much needed naps and then took them over to my parents place to play so Carl and I could finally go see Prince Caspian and run a few errands, that's when all the fun started, when we got home from Sam's with all our freshly bought produce and meat we discovered our refrigerator and freezer were not working, everything in the freezer was mush and had to be thrown out and the fridge was not as cold as it should be. Carl plugged it into a different outlet and thought it felt as if it were getting cooler so thought maybe our outlet had just blown, as it is a brand new fridge and we put the groceries away, went to the movie and then got a few more things at Hy-Vee, this morning we discovered it was not working right and Carl is in the process of calling about getting it fixed now. I am trying not to be too upset about wasting all that money on groceries, but so far this morning I am not too successful at that. It is still under warranty but it doesn't replace the 200 dollars worth of food it ruined. Anyway on a happier note we have new flowers blooming in our yard everyday it seems, here are a few pictures of our back yard. Hopefully my next post won't revolve around being so busy and sick boys(and broken fridges)!

Busy Busy Busy and the Sickies

It has been extremely crazy around here lately. As predicted we did have a very busy Memorial Day weekend, with a beautiful wedding on Saturday(Congrats Nate and Christina!) in the Quad Cities, a birthday party a barbecue and one sick Daddy. Carl woke up very early Sunday morning not feeling well, so we stayed home from church because I needed to get a few things done anyway and he thought he felt better by the time we went to the birthday party, not so much he basically slept on the couch all through the party and then it was time to go home. That night we went to a barbecue at our friends house and Carl thought maybe he was doing better but still not right, when we got home I took his temp, it was at 103 so the next morning I called urgent care here in town to see if we could get him in. Luckily we got him an appt and found out he had strep throat and an ear infection, man it's like he is one of the kids or something. He is feeling much better now but needless to say our fireplace wall still looks the same as this. The rest of our week has also been rather crazy, between trips to the gym, play dates, cleaning and trying to catch up on laundry I can't believe it's already Thursday! This weekend we are heading up to Algona for my dad's cousin's memorial service, while we are there we are hoping to make a trip out to the farm so Gabe can have a tractor ride, this next week also kicks off the home show house in Ankeny, you can see very old pictures of it here. Carl needs to get some new ones posted as it has come so far since these were taken. The boys are continuing to do well and everyday make me laugh when they play together, which is happening more and more now, it is so much fun. Ty has mastered crawling up our two stairs between the kitchen and living room and between the entry and living room, no where is safe now! Speaking of climbing up things Gabe loves to climb in Ty's crib(which most of the time I don't allow but lately Ty just finds it hilarious so I have let him) Gabe will jump up and down and Ty just laughs and laughs.

Photo Friday

We have a busy weekend coming up so thought I would share some pictures from the past week since I most likely won't be on all weekend. Tomorrow we have a wedding in the Quad Cities, Heather and Mike generously offered to take Gabe with them to the zoo since Curious George and Super Why are going to be there for IPTV Kids Day, he is very excited. Mom and Dad are keeping Ty and then will get Gabe after the zoo. We didn't think a 3 hour car ride and then sitting for a wedding and reception and then a 3 hour car ride home would be a real fun thing for the boys so they are staying here. Sunday we are going to celebrate our nephew, Clark's first birthday and we have a BBQ for our connection group that night and Monday as of now we are planning on working on the fireplace wall(maybe Carl has been extremely busy with work so he may just want some down time) A Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone!

All About Me?

So I don't normally write a post all about me so this is a little strange for me but Steph tagged me so I guess I'll do it.

I am…shy
I want…to get our house finished so I don't have to look at the ugly wall anymore:)
I wish…I could predict when my kids would wake up from nap so I could know if I have time to do just that one last thing before they wake up.
I hate…snakes and anything that crawls with more then 4 legs
I miss…sleeping in
I fear…my kids, Carl or I getting sick...yuck
I feel…relaxed at the moment, both kids are napping and the house is picked up, life is good
I hear…the dishwasher running
I smell…nothing my nose is stuffed up for the bizzillionth week in a row.
I crave…jomocha shakes from Burgies yum:)
I search…google for random news stories and interesting facts
I wonder…what it would be like to have a girl around here
I regret…many bad choices with money
I love…my husband and my kids
I ache…after raking out my flower beds, man you use muscles you never thought you had.
I care…for my boys
I always…am up for hanging out with friends and family
I am not…artistic
I believe…that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
I dance…to ring around the rosie a lot.
I sing... Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star at least 3 times a day.
I cry…at sad movies
I don’t always...make my bed
I fight…with Gabe consistently on not going outside without shoes
I write…my blog
I never…enjoy it when the boys wake up from nap early
I listen…to my itunes
I need…to fold clothes and put them away
I am happy…when I get to spend time with my family and watch my boys play with their daddy.

Okay so now I am supposed to tag someone else so Heather you're up.

Tuesday Troubles part Doo

So our afternoon after nap time started off very well, Ty woke up from his nap a little early so I brought him downstairs to play with Brenna( I watch her on Tuesday afternoons, so her Mommy can get some work done) Ty LOVES Brenna, he crawled right over to her and started giving her kisses, Brenna took it pretty well considering he was slobbering all over her:) Ty isn't normally a big kisser, he will do it sometimes but he was just a man possessed. It was after Brenna left and Gabe woke up from his nap that the rest of our Tuesday Troubles began. All was going smoothly, I was just starting to get supper ready when I looked out into the living room to see Ty's mouth and hands completely covered in a brown substance. I suspected immediately it was not chocolate but was wishing that it was. A sniff test confirmed my fear and Ty was immediately taken upstairs, he did have a poopy diaper, however on inspection of his big brother it was found he had some trace evidence left behind also. Both boys were thrown into the bathtub for a good wash down and when they were out and dried and dressed (Ty at this point was on his 4th outfit, Gabe on his 4th pair of underwear) I went downstairs and did an inspection of the play area, I found two very small little droppings and that was it, I cleaned those up and went back upstairs to get the boys. We are still feeling some effects from the incident this morning as Gabe found a couple of our toys with suspicious brown smears, all our toys are being sanitized as I type. Yuck is all I can say(at least Ty was giving Brenna kisses before he ate poop, right Steph?) On a happier less disgusting note Ty has learned to clap, it is pretty cute so I have a video of it, it took awhile to get him to do it for the camera, but once big brother Gabe helped out he did it right away.