Breaking records

Tyler had an awesome therapy day yesterday. He walked the entire length of the hallway in a Lite Gait in record time. He has walked the length of the hallway before, several times actually, and it always takes the entire therapy session (30 minutes). Yesterday he did it in 15 minutes. I am so proud of him and you can tell by the video and his expression, he is pretty proud of himself.

Sorry for the shakiness. Kenna decided she wanted to help me video tape.

From Start to Finish

Have you ever seen a house being built from the ground up, well here you go.

Isn't that amazing?

I am pretty much in love with this house. I love the open layout, the exterior, the location. Especially the location. It is so peaceful but still close to town.

Would I do anything different? Yes, but there is only so much in a pocketbook. I would have loved to do more detail on the exterior and do some type of stone with the brick. I would have loved to have a formal dining room (but really how often would we have used it); so that was one of the places we cut when we had to cut back on square footage. I would have loved to have a walk-in pantry; but I have more cabinet space than what I know what to do with. I like to call our house our affordable dream home.

I think one of my favorite rooms is the kitchen. I love everything about it. It's very functional with a lot of cabinet space. I also love that it is open to our living area, so I can still keep an eye on the kids.

 

Some other details that I appreciate:

The tile work around the fireplace  

 

The crown molding around the banister

 

The windows that bring in a lot of natural light with a beautiful view of our lake.

Tyler's room

 

I mentioned the other day that the driveway was the last big task that we needed to finish. But when you own a home you always have a to-do-list. Some other projects that are still on the list to complete are finishing the basement and finishing Tyler's accessible bathroom but those are going to have to wait just a little bit longer.

Playing in the dirt!

It's been 7 months since we moved into our house and everything was pretty much finished and move in ready with the exception of one big task. A driveway and sidewalks. Well that time finally came, no more gravel driveway. Maybe now I can finally wash my car and it stay clean for more than one day, lol!

We had the concrete poured about 3 weeks ago and the asphalt driveway about 2 weeks ago. So all we had left was the finishing touches of landscaping the yard and push a LOT of dirt around. So that was the big task this weekend. My brother-in-law, Jason, brought down his Bobcat and helped us out. And let me say it looks so much better.Jason, thank you so much for all of your help!

Some before pictures of the sidewalk and driveway

I even got the kids footprints. Yes, I know it says 2011, but I wanted to put the year that we moved into the house.

 

 Jason popping a wheelie in the Bobcat. Boys will be boys.

  

 

The kids enjoyed watching Travis and Jason work. Also thanks to Jen, my sister, for helping out with the kids and running errands with me.

The finishing touches of spreading the straw. 

Now let's hope the grass grows!

 

Check back later this week, for one more post of the house--that I have been meaning to post for the last 7 months =)

Last week of school

The last week of school is always a fun week for kids (at least in elementary). Once they hit the higher grade levels, there is testing and finals to be done. So that's not so much fun. So you might as well enjoy these younger years as much as possible.

Tyler's last day of school is Friday. This week, his class has celebrated summer birthdays, had a field trip, an ice cream party and track/field day. Let's just say they have had a lot of sweet treats.

Today was track & field day. There were 25 different stations set up with an activity at each one. You were paired up in a group of 4 and given a Bingo card. Each station was numbered and your group could decide which stations they wanted to participate in, of course trying to get a Bingo. The more Bingo's you completed, the more prizes you earned. So you wanted to try and complete as many stations in the time given. Tyler's group completed 5 Bingo's and they had a blast. Some of Tyler's favorite stations were:

• Being pulled on a sled by his team around an obstacle course
• "Running" a lap around the track (which was a good work-out for mom also)
• Riding on a 2-seater tricycle around an obstacle course
• Trying to pick up marbles with your feet in a pool of water (he pretty much just liked splashing his feet)

Tyler's Bingo group 

(Tyler, Rebekah, Riley & Nathan)

 

 Tyler splashing in the water

 Singing karaoke - a Taylor Swift song (of course, picked by the girls)

 Balancing a wet sponge on his head. He was not to fond of this and kept looking down to make it fall.

Riding on the tricycles

Kenna - 6 months old

This first year seems to be flying by. I can't believe it's been 6 months since Kenna has entered our lives. This past month has been so much fun. I think as each month passes by, I keep saying that this was my favorite month and then the next month comes along and I say no this was my favorite month. It just keeps getting better and better. I love watching her grow and watching her little mind work. I can't wait what the next months have in store. But she could slow down a little bit so we can enjoy these precious moments just a little longer.

She is still fascinated with her feet and even chews on them every now and then. And anything you give to her goes straight to her mouth.

She also loves to roll and loves her belly time. I hate to say this but she is a belly sleeper. As many times as I roll her to her back at night, there is no stopping her. She LOVES to sleep on her belly.

 

What is it about a baby's laugh that is so stickin' adorable? Kenna's laugh isn't just a little giggle, it's got a little evilness in it as well. It's also very contagious, because every time she laughs you can't help but laugh along. That goes for Tyler as well. He thinks its funny when she laughs.