Finally - Lots of Snow!

This post is a little late, but I needed to do some catch up on the blog. We love, love, love snow! Don't necessarily care for the below zero temps, but love snow. So we like to go sledding whenever we can and below are a few picks from our sledding outings. Enjoy!



Ahhh one of the favorite past times for the kids (little and big-Brian), eating snow. Of course it has to be pure white snow, no yellow snow according to Taylor.

I love to sled too and got some serious air time after going over a little jump someone else made.

This was our first year of being home on Christmas morning and not having to be anywhere until 4 in the afternoon. We decided to enjoy the day and go sledding at Brown Deer Golf Course. What a way to celebrate the birth of Jesus, by enjoying everything God made in creation! Above is Taylor and Rafe (Taylor's cousin) playing king of the mountain.

Wow, those hills at Brown Deer were steep and the kids were flying!

Of course there are times when we don't have time to pack everyone up and go to a big hill so we just sled on our little hill in the backyard.

Only drawback of the backyard, you have to watch out for the bushes in the back, as Carver found out!!!

Dancing

A love for dancing by all exists in our house, therefore the only reality tv shows we watch (and also allow the kids to watch) are talent competitions. So we (and the kids) are avid fans of American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance and most recently Dance War. At the beginning of Dance War, Taylor picked her favorite boy and girl dancers. Last night the first dancer was kicked off and it happened to be Taylor's favorite girl dancer. She was devastated and had a complete meltdown! She was bawling (real tears) and just kept muttering/whining that her dancer had to go home. Brian was downstairs getting the boys ready for bed and I had to switch places because I was trying so hard not to laugh at my poor little ones dispair!

BTW - During the wrestling meet, Taylor kept telling Carver he better watch out because she was learning all kinds of wrestling moves, especially the one with the head, whatever that means. :-)

Iowa Iowa Iowa!

Well, we had a Hawkeye weekend (as usual) in our household this past weekend. I took Carver to the basketball game Saturday night, and then Amy and I took all three kids to the wrestling meet Sunday night. Attached is a picture of the kids with Herky at the wrestling meet last night, as well as a picture of our hawkeye snowman we made before the meet.

Taylor and Kinnick loved the wrestling, but Carver was much more interested in the bball the night before. It was funny, at the end of the night when I was putting Taylor to sleep and her prayer involved “Good thing the Hawkeyes one tonight with that pinch”. She was referring to Keddy’s pin in the last match of the meet.

Interior Pics

A look at the basement rec/family room area



Storage and utility room



A look at our kitchen/dining area








Backside boy's room







Front side boy's room w/ the dormer





A view from the window in the loft space

Exterior Pics

The back of the house



View from the garage during the snow



A look at ther dormers and different roof lines, again during the snow



A closer view at the breezeway area

Woo Hoo, Roof Trusses!

The framers are working like crazy and it's especially amazing with this yucky weather we've had. This week they have framed the garage and today started setting the roof trusses. As you can see in the pics they have made great progress just by lunchtime! Can't wait to see what the next few days brings.

We got the official word today that the boys will be able to start daycare in West Branch on June 2nd so some things are starting to come together. We've been busy preparing our current house to sell. We plan on listing it the first week in February. We have a few things left to do, but nothing major, mostly just de-cluttering the house. We have borrowed a storage pod from Knutson and have placed it on site and have been busy putting stuff we don't need in it.

On Our Way Up

Well, despite the ridiculous cold temperatures the contractor keeps on framing and things look great. They started working on the second floor in fact, with hopes of getting the roof trusses on next week. We are amazed that they continue to work in these temps and are excited to see the progress.