The Stairs... Finally

so, I have a lot to catch up on, but first the long promised evolution of the stairs.

The opening to the right at the bottom of the stairs was a bit of a door for us for a while, I painted the walls, and Jason installed the lighting to the left.
as you can see there is no carpeting, but what a nice job Jason did with the drywall, texture and lights! and i like the color too... all me!
Yay! carpeting! To the right you can see Jason has done the trim, and it all looks great!
FINISHED! finally after way too much time! He does such nice work.
here is a closer look at the banister and railing that Jason hand crafted. He is pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Three weeks ago We were hit with a lot of rain. so much in fact that our sump pump could not keep up with all of the water, even after putting a second pump in the basin, it still could not keep up. yes we got water in the basement, yes it flooded over 3/4 of the newly finished basement and the carpeting, no insurance does not cover it. we spent the next two weeks shop vacuuming, fans running, pellet stove running, space heaters running, air conditioner running, and dehumidifiers running to get as much taken care of as humanly possible. I think it turned out okay, and i would rather pay the 260$ electric bill we had than to replace 1400 square feet of carpeting and padding! This is just 3 weeks of the past two months I have not blogged. so much more to tell! but right now I have to go outside to pick rock.

oh yea, we had an excavator come out and pull the top soil off of the field and dump it in problematic areas in the yard as well as the area we wanted to expand to. well he pulled off 25 dump truck loads and spread it all around leaving the big rocks behind of course. before we could seed it we have to drag it, pick the rock, seed, then roller it. but this happened before the flooding, so now we have to mow the weeds in the area we picked the rock before seeding it. we are almost done with the entire yard, picking rock that is. only about 1/2 acre left. and this is my job at the moment as Jason is working 50-60 hrs per week with a local heating and cooling place and i am the one with no job. (whoopee :p) Well, TTFN, more to come

The Rest of Easter

Finally! I can finish blogging about Easter!

This year we did the Easter thing at Pam n Dave's and the kids loved it even though they could not go outside. Jacob was loving getting all of the eggs, even the ones that were a little easier to find for Ethan. all of the kids dug into their baskets, yes, even Jessica. There was good food and Deviled eggs, which we found that Jacob LOVES. We never did get the chance to hide our own eggs. hopefully next year we will have nicer weather and both kids can enjoy the festivities.

Easter Weekend

Jacob had fun coloring eggs while Jessica looked on, she will have her messy fun next year! His first reaction was awe as I lifted a colored egg out of the water, then he was all about getting in there and making his own eggs! of course he wanted all of them to be blue and didn't like that I was having them other colors.
The next morning Jacob got to see his basket. The first thing he said to me was in the morning, (he went into the kitchen before waking up mommy and daddy) and that was "mommy! you got my Easter basket wrong! you put baby toys in it and baby candy in it!" he quickly learned it was not baby candy or toys and he wasted no time digging right in.
Even Jessica enjoyed her basket, though she will not be able to enjoy any of what it has to offer till next year. Until then mommy and daddy will have to take care of all that pesky candy for her.
Then it was time to get ready for church in our new church clothes. this year we visited grandma and grandpa's church and the kids behaved very well. Jessica pulled the ribbon off of her head before we even made it to the car, but she looked cute anyway.

Jacob was being a bit ornery, and I had a hard time getting him to take a good picture. Perhaps it was all of the candy. Well, that is all that I have for tonight, I will finish our Easter weekend tomorrow, if I don't get called into work.

TTFN!

Crazy Weekend-Sunday

Sunday we had Jessica's Baby dedication. Rich and Joan were able to make it to the service but had to go home before coming out to the house for the food. Travis was taken to the airport by dad since barb was sick and dad was able to join us at the house later for food. we all had a great time visiting and eating while Jessica slept! she did get up about the time everyone had to go and she was in a great mood. she looked so cute! (don't I always say that?) Jacob was still feeling a bit under the weather and also slept through the party. Ethan stayed home with Ryan because they were both ill, and the twins were on their own with Trevor to play with. but otherwise it was fun.

Crazy Weekend-Saturday

Jacob was feeling well enough to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's While Jason and I attended a marriage conference at our church called Love and Respect. It was really good, but the last half of the day got kinda long. Since Jessica refuses bottles still, we had to take her with. she was good for the most part but i had to be in the cry room with her for most of the conference. after the conference we went over to the local hotel to visit with Aunt Joanie and Uncle Rich who were in town for the weekend. Aunt Joanie was able to meet and hold Jessica for the first time and even though Jacob was not there, they were able to visit him at Pam and Dave's with their boys Ben and jack earlier that day. after the hotel we went out to dinner with mom, dad, barb, trav, Trevor, Ariana, and Mia to say goodbye to trav as he was going to leave the next morning to survival training. (pray for him!) then we went home to get ready for the next day, and were very thankful that Jacob was staying the night at Pam and Dave's!

Crazy Weekend-Friday

last weekend was a crazy one. The Twins had their fourth birthday party at chucky cheese's and Jacob had the flu and was unable to attend. Jason stayed home with poor Jacob while I took Jessica to the party.

We found that Jessica loves blue cheese dressing (that's what is all over her hands) and the twins are able to for go their increasing feelings of the flu for a night of fun. Jessica met chucky and even all of the adults had fun playing the games.

basements and toes?

so Jacob was really enjoying the basement all cleared on one half and the walls textured. when he wasn't running around the basement he was riding his four-wheeler.

Jessica continues to baffle us with how "baby like" she can be. every time I change her diaper she grabs her legs and nibbles on her toes. since her toes are clean, I don't mind so much!

We found that Jessica loves carrots... all over her face! Jacob enjoyed a cookie after his dinner and got a kick out of the mess his sister was making. believe it or not we were able to get more carrot in her than on her. Of course it was off to the bath RIGHT away and here is proof that she does have some hair growing.