New Madi Pics

Progress...Finally

The rains held off and we were able to get the concrete poured for the basement floor yesterday. Madi had a ball running around on it last night. She would go back into the concrete room and yell and would really echo. She thought that was the coolest thing. She would just laugh. Chris is loading a job trailer tonight with all the tools and things that we will need to start framing. And he is also loading up the four wheeler, to play. And we should be able to start framing on Wednesday. I don't know if we have anyone lined up to start Wednesday, but I am sure Chris will be out there doing some if he can. DS&O also got the electric service put up. Now we will never see Chris. He will get some lights up out there and can work late if he wants.

Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch. They have a trailer they pull out to see the bison in the fields. Madi loved them. They were so close to us and she could see them so well. But it was so bitter cold Sunday afternoon. By the time we picked our pumpkins and saw the bison, her little hands were purple.





Have a great rest of the week!
Love, Amy

Vacation...Not Again

Chris was able to take half of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off this last week. We decided that we better take a little vacation while we can. We spent Wednesday evening in Wichita with Jason. We took him out for supper and he showed us his new store. He just finished his second week of managing his own Sherwin Williams store in Wichita. They are in the process of getting their house on the market in Topeka and finding a new house in Wichita. Tabatha will finish out the school year in Topeka. We spent half of the day in Wichita on Thursday and then drove to Oklahoma City. Went and visited some neat places. Visited the Memorial site for the Oklahoma City bombing, went to Bricktown in downtown OKC, and went to the OKC Zoo. Friday we drove to Tulsa. Chris wanted to go to the World's Largest Gun Show on Saturday. He was there a whole two hours and then left. He felt guilty because Madi and I didn't stay and we were off on our own. We then left and headed for home. We were ready!

So...after spending three days on the road, in motel rooms, and eating out with a 17 month old, we decided we will not be doing these types of vacations again for a very long time. All three of us were exhausted and cranky. Madi hates being confined to a stroller for any length of time and I get tired of chasing after her and telling her no.

We tried the gun show for about 20 minutes and decided that it was not going to work trying to push her in the stroller down isles that were crammed with people. I was so afraid someone was going to lose their balance and end up falling on top of her in the stroller or hit her in the head with the end of the guns that everyone was carrying around. And she started getting fussy. I told Chris we were leaving and we would come back and pick him up later. I expected him to stay several hours more. So, we found a park to go play at. It was more of a scenic park, they had some swings but no infant swings, and there must have been at least a dozen photographers there with families and kids. It was a park that probably every senior has their senior pics taken there. But I thought it would be great for Madi to get out and run. But of course not, she finally had the chance and freedom to do whatever she wants and she chooses to whine and fuss for me to CARRY her EVERYWHERE. Go figure.




The last pic is right outside of Salina on the way home and Madi was just goofy after spending 5 hours couped up in the car. What a ham!!

Building Update:
Not much to update. Construction has been at a total halt since the rain started a week ago Friday. The basement floor was to be poured that day (the 12th) and by 8:00am that morning it had started to rain. Since then we haven't had enough days in between the rainy days for the ground to dry out enough to get the cement poured. We are scheduled to have it poured on Monday, but again they are calling for rain tonight and a small chance tomorrow. Tuesday through Friday (so far) are clear, so hopefully the floor can be poured sometime this week. All of our framing lumber has been sitting out there since the 12th so as soon as the concrete gets poured and we can give it a day to sit, framing can finally get started.

Have a great week!!
Love, Amy

Our Castle

Sunday night we received 2 inches of rain. Luckily Chris stopped at the house Monday to check on things. He found that our house had been turned into a castle, complete with a mote and waterfall. What a mess. So, Chris and Bob spent the evening pumping water out from around the foundation so that it can still be backfilled and concrete poured this week. Otherwise, it probably would have taken a week for that to dry out and push our framing back a week.

Chris also got all the wood ordered and will be delivered on Friday. The windows and doors were also ordered yesterday. Things are progressing nicely!!





Dan is home now. He is still really tired and all the medicines he is on isn't helping any. They also have to go back to the hospital twice a day to receive a shot that insurance wouldn't allow to come home. They will have to do this for ten days (Jane is already counting down!) What a hassle and it takes so much out of Dan this early in recovery to make that trip. Hopefully after these next two weeks, he will start to feel better and have more energy.

Have a great rest of the week!
Love, Amy

Mom's Daily Words

Thanks for sharing this Linda, this was too great to not share with others!!

Hope everyone has a great week! Check out the new pics.

Love, Amy

Dan update....

Dan is doing great. The surgery went well. They did four bypasses. He came off the breathing machines yesterday and by the evening they had removed all the tubes. He was moved out of ICU last night and has been up walking and sitting in a chair. He was a bit groggy last night when we saw him, because of the morphine. He also said he has no concept of time or what part of the day it is. He should be released from the hospital on Sunday or Monday.

Madi update....

Madi just got another molar. She now has two molars on top and one on the bottom. She should have no trouble eating whatever she wants really soon. She has also become a little mocking bird. All the way to the hospital last night she would repeat what we were saying. At the hospital she said doctor and ice. It's really cute but we definitely need to watch what we say now...Chris!

Building update....

The basement guys finished putting up the wall forms on Monday, it rained Tuesday, and they poured the walls on Wednesday. We went out last night and they had already taken all the forms down. It looks awesome!!! They will start backfilling against the walls on Tuesday and get the pipes down for the sewer next week. The floor and roof trusses will be delivered Tuesday. Sometime late next week they will finish the concrete work by pouring the basement floor and the garage floor. By Saturday of next week, the framing will begin! Chris' brother Jon is taking a week off from work and getting a bunch of people to work on the framing. The plan is to have it framed by the 22nd (as long as the weather cooperates).

Have a great weekend and I will hopefully have some pics posted this weekend sometime.
Love, Amy

Just a quick post....


Madi's baptism went great on Sunday. She did an awesome job at the church and we had a nice morning visiting with family. I'll post pics later.

Dan, Chris' dad, was admitted to the hospital last night with chest pains. They did a heart cath this afternoon and found blockage. The pain he was feeling last night was not related to his heart and they found no damage to his heart. But, he will be having a triple possibly a quadruple bypass surgery tomorrow afternoon.

I will keep you posted.

Love, Amy

Building Update....

The whole for the basement was dug Saturday and Sunday. We have two massive piles of dirt out there now and a very large whole. One of the piles will be smoothed out for the shop pad that will eventually be built sometime. The other pile will be used for back filling around the basement walls.

Monday, the basement guys started setting footings. Hopefully they can finish putting all the footings together and pour concrete this afternoon. Chris is hoping they can then start on the basement walls by the end of the week.

Backside of the house, looking toward the road.
The square of dirt that isn't dug into will be the garage.
Footings, day 1.


Madi's fourth tooth on the bottom came through this weekend. Thursday and Friday she didn't sleep well at all and she started with a runny nose again last Monday. So, I was glad to see it come through Saturday. It must still be bothering her because she didn't sleep well again last night. But neither did I, my allergies are just horrible right now. I got some Claritin yesterday and took it before bed. I slept good for about two hours and then was up most of the night blowing my nose. I need to get some Benadryl and take that at night, it always knocks me out pretty good. But I'll have to wait until Madi is feeling better and sleeping all night again.

I've been getting ready for a busy weekend. We might try to go to the Central/South football game on Friday. We have Chris' moms family reunion Saturday. Sunday is Madi's baptism. It will be a fun weekend, but busy, busy, busy.

Have a great day! I also have more pics in my photo albums to share.

Love, Amy

Finally got my camera connection fixed so I could download some photos.

Madi's new big girl toothbrush.
She loves picking the sunflowers out at the land.
Jumping on the trampoline. She new exactly what to do when she got on.


Chris put in the driveway last week and we received our building permit. Yeah!! The basement is supposed to be started tomorrow, but with all this rain, it may not happen until later in the week or next week.

Happy Birthday to Ella and Emily, and Thomas, Linda, and David T. last week! Have a good one!!
Love, Amy

Love This Weather!!!

It has been so nice this week. I have had the windows open since Sunday and it has been great. Plus, the electric bill will be going down, another big plus!

Last weekend Madi and I went to the lake to spend time with mom and dad, Jason and Tabatha. Jason and Tabatha bought themselves a boat and we all went out Saturday. It was gorgeous out, no wind, sunny, a beautiful day to be on the lake. Chris had an auction to go to and then helped Bob with his Taxidermy booth at the Gun Show on Saturday. Sunday he took a back hoe out to the land and dug a trench so the Health Dept. could do a test to determine if we can do a lagoon or a septic tank. Of course, we want to do a lagoon, but we still had to have the test done.

We had the test done yesterday which was supposed to give us our building permit today. But now we find out that we have to have our entrance done before we can get our building permit. It sure would be nice if someone could tell us what we are required to do in the order that they need to be done. It's not a huge undertaking to get it done. We just need to push some dirt into the ditch and lay rock down, but we could have had that done a long time ago if we had known. We also got our loan approved and paperwork signed. And we are now counting down until next Wednesday when the basement contractor can get started!!!!

Madi is doing well. She runs everywhere she goes and is non stop most of the time. I have some new pics, but my USB cable isn't working. I hope to get that fixed and new pics on soon.

Enjoy the great weather!! Happy Birthday to Grandpa Tom!!

Love, Amy