Happy Birthday Nick!

Happy Birthday! 

My parents stopped by to celebrate with us.  It seems like a long time ago, but it's been less than two weeks.  We've been so busy with life, perception of time seems very distorted recently.

Regular season baseball and softball are now done.  It was very anticlimactic.  Both games were rained out and not rescheduled.  The kids were really bummed, so we had a practice at home.  Gracie has still been practicing for All-Stars, and has one final tournament this coming weekend in Concordia.  This is for her little league organization, which is different from the Galaxy team.  Nick is coaching and we will hopefully have a great weekend!

The kids were all ready to go to their games, but they were canceled at the last minute due to lightning and potential rain with already wet fields.

Practicing in pajamas.  Seems pretty normal at our house.

This is normal too, right?

After watching American Ninja Warrior, Owen thought he should climb up the walls, too.

Oops.  He jumped down before realizing it might hurt his bare feet.

Josh and Julie came with Sawyer and Gus for a few days. 

During that time, we visited Rock Bridge State Park and walked through the caves.  Nick also gave them a shortened tour of the Mizzou Sports Park.  It was nice to have them here!

Gracie and Sawyer

4th of July Fun!

This year for the holiday, we drove to the lake for the day after Josh and July packed up to go home.   Luckily it was a somewhat overcast day and not incredibly hot, so the pool and lake weren't too crowded.  The kids swam for quite awhile.  My mom and I went to see Annie and Kaia, then brought River back with us so he could play with Gracie and Owen.  Kaia finally got to go home on July 1, after being at the hospital for three weeks.  I'm sure they were more than ready to have everyone in the same house again!  Annie and Chad brought Kaia into town later and the kids got to meet her for the first time.  They were pretty excited.

River and Owen swimming

Silly kids

Gracie and Owen meeting Kaia for the first time.  They weren't able to see her when she was in the NICU at the hospital.  I had gone to see Annie and Kaia quite a few times, but was never able to take the kids.  They have been very anxious to see her.  I think she weighed almost 6 pounds when she came home.  She's pretty sleepy all the time, still, but I guess she's not even supposed to be born yet, so we'll give her a break.

Gracie with Kaia

Owen holding Kaia.

The Build

Construction is still in progress.  Since my last post, a lot has happened, but it's not as noticeable from the pictures.  The roof has been shingled, the windows are all in (except for the one above the front door), the doors are installed, and trades have started coming in.  The plumbing is almost done and the ductwork has been started.  The electrical boxes have been placed and we are waiting for the electricians to run wire. The tub/showers have been put in place and we are still working on the porch.  We have ordered appliances and still need to figure out flooring and cabinetry.  I feel like those components are kind of important and should have been done awhile ago, but that's where we're at.

7/6 Roofing is done.

6/30:  Still working on the porch. Gracie is learning how to put deck boards on.

Learning from Dad

Owen was practicing using the pliers and taking the tags off the ends of the boards.

Pictures from 7/6

This is a picture of our front entryway.  It's going to look great!  I think the window is not installed because it was broken somehow.  Oops.  We're waiting for the replacement.

You can also see the blue electrical outlet/switch boxes have been put in.

Looking through the back sliding door onto the porch.

This is the mud room looking toward where the washer and dryer will be.  The plumbing has been installed in the bathrooms, kitchen and mudroom.

Master bathroom.  The window above the shower will be great!

Another visit to Iowa to see Grandma.

Last Friday, I drove up with my mom and the kids to see my Grandma again.  We surprised her by coming on short notice and were happy to see her.  We spent some time outside and the kids entertained her.  She has been at Kavanaugh House almost a month now, and is content and comfortable there.  The staff are taking good care of here and are pleasant every time we visit.  During our trip, we introduced my mom to Taco John's and Pizza Ranch.  She had never eaten at either establishment.  We also swam again at the pool with the kids.  I tried to start teaching them swimming again, since I have failed so far this summer at getting them into formal classes.  They lost interest very quickly and just wanted to play.

Owen, Grandma, Gracie, and Grandma Kate enjoying the outdoors.

Owen sitting with Grandma Jeanne.  Although he doesn't look very enthusiastic in this picture, he likes sitting with her for short periods of time.  He gets bored though, and needs to argue with his sister to keep him busy.

When we returned home, letters were delivered from Grandma Deb.  I didn't have to encourage them at all this time to write back.  I think there was a little incentive included in the envelopes.  Thanks Grandma Deb!  We sure miss you bunches!

Still working

Last night (7/10)I stopped by the house on my way home from dropping the kids off at the lake.  Nick was working on the porch still and continued past dark.  I had to leave because the mosquitoes were starting to carry me away.  I can't wait until this is home!

Nick brought out his lights last night to keep working.  The front deck of the porch is done and almost half of the side is done.  It seems like things are getting done on the house, but when I think about how much is left to do before we can actually move in, it's a little overwhelming.  Hopefully the next month will go smoothly.  

Next on our agenda, besides working on the house is Gracie's last tournament this summer.  She has two more practices and then on Friday they play.  It will be a long weekend, but hopefully the girls will do well.  Next week will hopefully just be a "normal" week.  I'm not really sure what that means though.