Busy Weekend

Framing has begun!!! Jon and Chris started on the framing Friday night and by Sunday night, they had made a lot of progress. It looks so great and I am so excited!! It was a family affair this weekend. For the most part, it was Jon, Chris, and their two cousins Josh and Issac that came out to help. Saturday night they had the basement walls framed. Sunday, it took all day to get the floor trusses placed. And with only four guys and me and Jane helping when we needed to, it was a big accomplishment. Those trusses are heavy! Especially when we have Chris (the yay-who) on the end not helping carry. Half way to the house with the last truss Chris says, "Hi Amy" and waves with a big grin as he is walking away from us. I was so mad. He is such a turd.

Madi and I went out late Saturday afternoon and helped finish up. She has so much fun running around in the basement and playing in the dirt and sand. I need to find some more play clothes because she is just a mess when we leave there. I stayed out all day Sunday and helped and Madi was out most of the day. I finally sent her with Dan and Jane for a nap at 3:00, way past nap time. That girl will go and go if I let her. But as soon as we slow down, it's lights out and no fuss.

Madi had a sleep over Saturday night at Dan and Jane's. Chris' cousin Bobby had a Halloween Party. We had a nice time, it wasn't a huge party and the crowd was a bit more tame than what they usually have. Of course it was a costume party. Chris wanted to be a Civil War Soldier, but when I insisted that I cannot make a replica coat and pants in two days, he had to find something different. He went as a railroad worker. I went as a Stay at Home Mom. I know, not a huge leap from the everyday, but it was a lot of fun getting my outfit ready.

Just a couple of pics included here. Check out my photo albums. I have a ton of pics of the progress on the house and of course, more Madi pics.
Love, Amy


Too bad you can't hear the noise she was making.

Railroad worker.

Stay at Home Mom.

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