HA! What a creative title! Are you impressed? Ya know, like 'Does this make my butt look big'?
We got basement framing this past week and I have been trying to decide if I think it looks bigger or smaller. The only real issue I had was the bathroom....it looks WAY smaller in real life than I have pictured it in my head. The other rooms all look okay. You see what you think.
Looking from the south to the north. You can see the two basement bedrooms.
Here's the safe room. It's going to be so nice to have a safe place to go when the storms roll through. There are braces in the door frame, because the walls still need to be poured with concrete.
Our bedrooms have window wells now. Only thing left to do now is to figure out something to go inside them, so that if an escape is ever necessary, we can do it quickly and easily.
Those two electric poles are new! Won't be long now and our house will have electricity. Kelsey will run underground wire from the closest pole to the house.
Here's that SMALLISH looking bathroom! I have choosing to just have faith and since Kelsey and Brett have assured me that it is big enough, we are going to go with that!
It's a very surreal feeling to be out at the new house.
It's peaceful.
It's beautiful.
It's calming.
It's everything I never knew I wanted.
I was here this particular morning about 9:00 am. I just kept thinking how awesome it is going to be to sit on the front porch and watch the sun come up...or sit on the back deck and watch the deer graze the wheat pasture before heading off to bed down for the day.
We won't be in it in time to enjoy the crisp fall mornings and evenings, but hopefully spring will find up perched in our hew home!
8/28/11
8/26/11
Hot Summer Days
I wanted to post these pictures before the weather turns and summer seems like a distant memory. This HOT summer found us spending quite a few evenings outside cooling off.
Just how do you do that when you are young and free? Why, you take off your shirt, pop the top on a cold beer and turn the water hose on your self and your siblings!!
**Don't worry, Jeremy drank the Bud Light BEFORE we turned Westynn loose with the can! However, once he had it, he wasn't letting it go! He kept filling it up with water and then pouring it out in the flowers!**
Just how do you do that when you are young and free? Why, you take off your shirt, pop the top on a cold beer and turn the water hose on your self and your siblings!!
**Don't worry, Jeremy drank the Bud Light BEFORE we turned Westynn loose with the can! However, once he had it, he wasn't letting it go! He kept filling it up with water and then pouring it out in the flowers!**
8/15/11
Back 2 School
WARNING: HEAVY ON PHOTOS!
Tablescape for our Back 2 School dinner with the Grandparents.
I try to use their school supplies to decorate with. The kids LOVE seeing all their stuff out.
A cute little printable that I found on Pinterest. A quick shot of yellow spray paint to a $3 frame from Dollar General and ta-da...CUTE artwork!
Caught in the act! Trying to take my picture....ha!
Little pink backpack loaded up with supplies, a blanket and pillow for resting....just what a girl needs to start KINDERGARTEN!
Second Graders got to School in SOONER style!
My little poser! It is SO much fun to take her pictures right now.
This guy make me think that plucking all the hairs from my head one by one would be more enjoyable! He HATES having his picture taken.
Hard to believe I have reached the point where I have more than one kid in school FULL-TIME! They can just stop growing now. I tell them this all the time, but the refuse to listen to me.
Unloading all those supplies into the BIG second grade desk....when did 2nd grade desks get so much larger than the ones in 1st grade? Maybe it's just me! Preston didn't seem to notice.
Kindergartner's have cubbies for their things.
I told her to sit down at her table and make a school face...HAHAHAHA! LOVE it!
This is her posing face.
Cambree with Mrs. Jackson, her kindergarten teacher. What a cute monkey!
Mrs. Kay, the second grade teacher, with Preston.
It won't be long and I will have 3 kiddos in school. I am refusing to think about it though. Because, that just makes me want to have more babies, so that I always have someone at home!
Preston and Cambree you guys are going to have a great year! I am so proud to be your mama and I know you are going to have great achievements this year.
Tablescape for our Back 2 School dinner with the Grandparents.
I try to use their school supplies to decorate with. The kids LOVE seeing all their stuff out.
A cute little printable that I found on Pinterest. A quick shot of yellow spray paint to a $3 frame from Dollar General and ta-da...CUTE artwork!
Caught in the act! Trying to take my picture....ha!
Little pink backpack loaded up with supplies, a blanket and pillow for resting....just what a girl needs to start KINDERGARTEN!
Second Graders got to School in SOONER style!
My little poser! It is SO much fun to take her pictures right now.
This guy make me think that plucking all the hairs from my head one by one would be more enjoyable! He HATES having his picture taken.
Hard to believe I have reached the point where I have more than one kid in school FULL-TIME! They can just stop growing now. I tell them this all the time, but the refuse to listen to me.
Unloading all those supplies into the BIG second grade desk....when did 2nd grade desks get so much larger than the ones in 1st grade? Maybe it's just me! Preston didn't seem to notice.
Kindergartner's have cubbies for their things.
I told her to sit down at her table and make a school face...HAHAHAHA! LOVE it!
This is her posing face.
Cambree with Mrs. Jackson, her kindergarten teacher. What a cute monkey!
Mrs. Kay, the second grade teacher, with Preston.
It won't be long and I will have 3 kiddos in school. I am refusing to think about it though. Because, that just makes me want to have more babies, so that I always have someone at home!
Preston and Cambree you guys are going to have a great year! I am so proud to be your mama and I know you are going to have great achievements this year.
8/12/11
Basement Bath
Well we had to choose a shower for the basement bath this week.
Okay, we are still in the "thinking" about it stage!
Since it is the basement bathroom, it won't get a lot of daily use right now, but hopefully will be the "boys" bathroom once they are a little older. We decided on a smaller shower, 36 x 36, and it looks like we are going to have room for a 30" or 36" vanity. Obviously, we will also have a toilet!
Below is a rough, rough floor
plan of our basement bathroom. This is NOT to scale, but it gives an idea of how things will be laid out.
I had two things that were critical in the design of all the bathrooms.
1) I don't want to step out of the shower and be standing right by the toilet. For some reason that just grosses me out. Not that our toilets are that disgusting, but I just don't like it.
2) I don't want to be able to see the toilet if the bathroom door is open. Not a huge thing, but if we could work it out, then all the better.
Lucky for me, Jeremy and Kelsey were very accommodating to my needs! HA! Actually they were. They talked it all through and we managed to work it all out. In the picture above you step out of the shower towards the vanity and the door swings in towards the wall, opposite the vanity.
Click on the link below and you can see my Pinterest board for the basement bath and see some of the things I have picked out for it. Of course, these choices aren't set in stone, but I am pretty confident that most of them will remain the same.
Basement Bath Pin Board
I will probably use the shower curtain that we have in our master bathroom now downstairs. It has greens and turquoises in it. Right now the bathroom is painted green, but I don't know if I will do that downstairs or not. I might try to keep it more neutral so that I can switch out the accessories more easily! Don't tell Jeremy....he will consider that an evil plan!
Well, only 999,999 more decisions to make!! Next up...WINDOWS!
Okay, we are still in the "thinking" about it stage!
Since it is the basement bathroom, it won't get a lot of daily use right now, but hopefully will be the "boys" bathroom once they are a little older. We decided on a smaller shower, 36 x 36, and it looks like we are going to have room for a 30" or 36" vanity. Obviously, we will also have a toilet!
Below is a rough, rough floor
plan of our basement bathroom. This is NOT to scale, but it gives an idea of how things will be laid out.
I had two things that were critical in the design of all the bathrooms.
1) I don't want to step out of the shower and be standing right by the toilet. For some reason that just grosses me out. Not that our toilets are that disgusting, but I just don't like it.
2) I don't want to be able to see the toilet if the bathroom door is open. Not a huge thing, but if we could work it out, then all the better.
Lucky for me, Jeremy and Kelsey were very accommodating to my needs! HA! Actually they were. They talked it all through and we managed to work it all out. In the picture above you step out of the shower towards the vanity and the door swings in towards the wall, opposite the vanity.
Click on the link below and you can see my Pinterest board for the basement bath and see some of the things I have picked out for it. Of course, these choices aren't set in stone, but I am pretty confident that most of them will remain the same.
Basement Bath Pin Board
I will probably use the shower curtain that we have in our master bathroom now downstairs. It has greens and turquoises in it. Right now the bathroom is painted green, but I don't know if I will do that downstairs or not. I might try to keep it more neutral so that I can switch out the accessories more easily! Don't tell Jeremy....he will consider that an evil plan!
Well, only 999,999 more decisions to make!! Next up...WINDOWS!
8/10/11
The Walls Came...
...NOT tumblin' down! Rather, they went up, up, up!!
Kind of weird to see all those foam blocks put together Lego style and filled with concrete!
Jeremy said it was really windy and the west {left} wall kept blowing around before they got it poured and leveled. YIKES...probably a good thing I had to work this time around.
The walls took 6 trucks....WOW!
Twice as much as the floor or footings.
So far, 12 trucks have made the long trek from Pratt to 4384 U Street, Mullinville KS!!
That's a whole lotta concrete!!
Kind of weird to see all those foam blocks put together Lego style and filled with concrete!
Jeremy said it was really windy and the west {left} wall kept blowing around before they got it poured and leveled. YIKES...probably a good thing I had to work this time around.
The walls took 6 trucks....WOW!
Twice as much as the floor or footings.
So far, 12 trucks have made the long trek from Pratt to 4384 U Street, Mullinville KS!!
That's a whole lotta concrete!!
8/9/11
We have a floor!
This past Friday we got basement floors! The kids and I headed out to the house to watch since Kelsey told us it was pretty neat to watch.
The kids didn't think it was near as much fun as exploring and climbing the dirt piles, so they did that while I watched and took pictures.
Cement started flowing in the northeast corner and there was NO turning back!
Jeremy helped...:)
He really did get those big ol' boots dirty and broke a sweat! Kind of neat to think that when the house is finished, his hard labor made part of it happen....how many people can say that?
Lots of raking and direction giving to the cement boom operator. It was pretty neat because he had this little remote control box that he used to move the cement from the truck to the basement and then navigate the boom over the floor. Kelsey and Brett did a great job of giving him direction and making sure that things didn't move too fast or too slow.
After each truck was finished {there were 3} they would have to vibrate the cement to get it smooth.
Here's the boom. It was so tall that Janis said she could see it from their house. It must have intrigued them, cause the showed up about 20 minutes before they were done. I was actually standing quite far away in the photo below...the old homestead for those of you who have been there...and still couldn't get the entire thing in the frame!
Below is one of my favorite pictures from the day.
And here's the final product! No sooner was the last piece of concrete poured and it started to rain!
I couldn't help but ask Kelsey about the rain and how much was too much....and what happens it if rains too much....and he politely tried to put me off and then I asked, "Should I just not worry about it." He replied, "That would be great!" HA!
The basement sort of looks like a jigsaw puzzle right now....don't you think?
Tomorrow it is basement walls and then after that framing the basement! I hope that by the end of the month we are seeing some "above" ground progress. :)
The kids didn't think it was near as much fun as exploring and climbing the dirt piles, so they did that while I watched and took pictures.
Cement started flowing in the northeast corner and there was NO turning back!
Jeremy helped...:)
He really did get those big ol' boots dirty and broke a sweat! Kind of neat to think that when the house is finished, his hard labor made part of it happen....how many people can say that?
Lots of raking and direction giving to the cement boom operator. It was pretty neat because he had this little remote control box that he used to move the cement from the truck to the basement and then navigate the boom over the floor. Kelsey and Brett did a great job of giving him direction and making sure that things didn't move too fast or too slow.
After each truck was finished {there were 3} they would have to vibrate the cement to get it smooth.
Here's the boom. It was so tall that Janis said she could see it from their house. It must have intrigued them, cause the showed up about 20 minutes before they were done. I was actually standing quite far away in the photo below...the old homestead for those of you who have been there...and still couldn't get the entire thing in the frame!
Below is one of my favorite pictures from the day.
And here's the final product! No sooner was the last piece of concrete poured and it started to rain!
I couldn't help but ask Kelsey about the rain and how much was too much....and what happens it if rains too much....and he politely tried to put me off and then I asked, "Should I just not worry about it." He replied, "That would be great!" HA!
The basement sort of looks like a jigsaw puzzle right now....don't you think?
Tomorrow it is basement walls and then after that framing the basement! I hope that by the end of the month we are seeing some "above" ground progress. :)
8/7/11
Celebrating my Town of Birth
A fact most people probably don't know about me is that I was born in a rinky-dink little town in Texas.
That's right, I am a Texan by birth!
My parents lived in Amherst, Texas on May 29th 1981. Amherst is where my Great-Great Grandmother, Bertha Thompson, my Great-Grandparents Joe & Hattie Brandstatt, my Great Aunt, Marie Sawyer, my Great Aunt and Uncle, Marilyn and Glynn Brandstatt and numerous cousins lived {and some of them still live today}.
Here's the Google version of where Amherst is:
View Larger Map
It's in the panhandle of Texas...about a 6 hour drive from Coldwater.
Each year on the last weekend of July the town has a "celebration" and my family has sort of adopted this time as our own little family reunion. It has been so much fun getting re-acquainted with my Dad's side of the family and introducing them to my kids. The last time we went Cambree was about Westynn's age. I sure hope it isn't that long before we are back again!!
I am going to keep the rest of this post relatively short because it is HEAVY on pictures!
My Brodie and his girl, Krisit! They are getting married...how is it that my cousins are old enough to be getting married?
Biker babe in the parade!! She rocked it riding with Papa Rusty in the big parade.
My Great Uncle Glynn Brandstatt. My Grandma Betty's brother.
Here come's Preston!
Westynn caught a ball from the cheerleaders parade float...he was THRILLED!!
Me and the girl!!
The boys crashed our photo...only to give goofy grins!
Jeremy and I...Cambree took this!
Westynn thinks he is one HOT SHOT sitting on the tractor for the tractor pull.
There she goes pulling with all her might!
Preston pulled and pulled.....until the upped the weight to 80 lbs....almost double his size!
Papa Rusty and the two big kids!
I got caught busting a move on the volleyball court. I am sure our losing had NOTHING to do with the fact that I spent more time dancing that playing :).
Brodie tickled Cambree until she was red in the face....and she LOVED every minute of it! This girls loves those Reed boys!
A secret with Noah!
Papa Rust serves it up at volleyball.
Grandma Betty got all tuckered out from riding the Class of '51-'52 float in the parade!
Cambree loves Larry!
Noah digs into the dish where all the ice cream paddles were placed! I didn't think we were going to get him out of there!
Mmmmm! That's good ice cream!
It was a FAB.U.LOUS weekend and I am already looking forward to next year!
That's right, I am a Texan by birth!
My parents lived in Amherst, Texas on May 29th 1981. Amherst is where my Great-Great Grandmother, Bertha Thompson, my Great-Grandparents Joe & Hattie Brandstatt, my Great Aunt, Marie Sawyer, my Great Aunt and Uncle, Marilyn and Glynn Brandstatt and numerous cousins lived {and some of them still live today}.
Here's the Google version of where Amherst is:
View Larger Map
It's in the panhandle of Texas...about a 6 hour drive from Coldwater.
Each year on the last weekend of July the town has a "celebration" and my family has sort of adopted this time as our own little family reunion. It has been so much fun getting re-acquainted with my Dad's side of the family and introducing them to my kids. The last time we went Cambree was about Westynn's age. I sure hope it isn't that long before we are back again!!
I am going to keep the rest of this post relatively short because it is HEAVY on pictures!
Preston and Gavin (Clinton and Connie's middle son) on their bikes ready for the parade!
Me and Westynn hanging out on Main Street waiting for the parade to start!My Brodie and his girl, Krisit! They are getting married...how is it that my cousins are old enough to be getting married?
Biker babe in the parade!! She rocked it riding with Papa Rusty in the big parade.
My Great Uncle Glynn Brandstatt. My Grandma Betty's brother.
Here come's Preston!
Westynn caught a ball from the cheerleaders parade float...he was THRILLED!!
Me and the girl!!
The boys crashed our photo...only to give goofy grins!
Jeremy and I...Cambree took this!
Westynn thinks he is one HOT SHOT sitting on the tractor for the tractor pull.
There she goes pulling with all her might!
Preston pulled and pulled.....until the upped the weight to 80 lbs....almost double his size!
Papa Rusty and the two big kids!
I got caught busting a move on the volleyball court. I am sure our losing had NOTHING to do with the fact that I spent more time dancing that playing :).
Brodie tickled Cambree until she was red in the face....and she LOVED every minute of it! This girls loves those Reed boys!
A secret with Noah!
Papa Rust serves it up at volleyball.
Grandma Betty got all tuckered out from riding the Class of '51-'52 float in the parade!
Cambree loves Larry!
Noah digs into the dish where all the ice cream paddles were placed! I didn't think we were going to get him out of there!
Mmmmm! That's good ice cream!
It was a FAB.U.LOUS weekend and I am already looking forward to next year!
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