House Update

This summer we worked constantly on the house. By "we" I mean everyone, even the kids. At this point, we have most of the electric done, but still have more to finish. We shifted gears and started to work on getting the outside done. We really need to get the soffit finished and the place closed up before it starts to get any colder. When you think about building a house, you generally don't think of all the little things that have to get done before you can see any "progress". But all those little things take a lot of time. Some of the progress you can see now is that we've started the stone work on the pillars and the chimney. The picture below is what it looks like before.

 This is the side entrance to the house on the driveway side, with the pillars done. We will wrap the posts so it will look like the front pillars.

After the pillars are done, but before the steps are finished.

And now you can see the chimney taking shape. The shakes are also up on the east side of the house. The are other areas we have worked on while they were doing the stone, like the west side of the house and a lot more painting of trim and shakes. 
We are still hoping to be in before Thanksgiving. But really, it's hard to say when we'll get in until the electric is done and the drywall is up. I think it should go pretty fast after that. Every time I go over to work on the house, it's harder to leave. Some days I just want to throw in an air mattress and rough it out. We could make it an "adventure". What do you think?!
~ Misty

The Rest of Summer

I truly thought I would do more blogging this summer. Apparently having five kids at home all day, everyday, makes it difficult to sit down at the computer and do this. After reviewing which pictures I wanted to use, I also discovered, I don't really have that many. I guess when I'm not taking a picture a day, it's easy to forget to grab the camera. In short, this summer was mainly about hanging out at the pool during the week and working on the house. The house took up a huge amount of time, so an update on that will follow this post. 

 We didn't do much sports wise for the kids this summer. I wasn't sure how much time I would have or how to manage schedules, so we kept it simple. Annaliese did t-ball, Hailey did track and both Hailey and Jackson did golfing again. Hailey met a friend, Nika, at golf. They hit it off really well and it made a huge difference for Hailey to have a friend to golf with. Next year they'll do intermediate and hopefully I will be able to make it to the course more to "practice" with them.

Piper has continued to GROW! She's walking now, finally, but still has her chunky little legs. This is one of my favorite pictures of her. I say, "Raise your hand if you're cute?!" and she raises it really high. Yes, she's definitely cute!

 
My brother, Ronnie, made it home from Afghanistan. We are so happy to have him home safe and sound!

We made it to the end of July and had the Westendorf family reunion. Hailey was on vacation with my sister and fiance, so she missed it. It was very hot and sticky, but we had a nice time with everyone. Annaliese is always up for a picture with a great smile.

Before I knew it, the kids were back to school. Starting school in the middle of August makes for a short summer. Hailey is in 5th grade, Jackson is 3rd grade and Annaliese is 1st grade. They all love their teachers. It's nice to have a regular schedule again.

 

I hosted Michelle's bridal shower at our house, in spite of it being a construction zone. Elke was the co-host and she was a huge help with everything. We tried to dress it up as much as possible. The deck was done, so we had everything except the food outside. I had a huge picture of Michelle and Dustin in a frame and everyone signed the mat around it. I think that was her favorite part. It was a great success, I just wish the house would have been done before the shower. All in good time.

Later that day, we had Anderson's birthday part at the house. I figured I had it all ready so why not? This was a neat picture of Jackson giving Anderson a baseball he had bought for him. He had the whole family sign it ahead of time, very thoughtful. Anderson is 5 now!

The very next weekend, Elke and I headed to Minneapolis for Michelle's Bachelorette party weekend. We had a lot of fun. I wish I would have taken more pictures. This was the first night before everyone arrived. Another one of Michelle's friends took most of the pictures. We did everything from Lawn Bowling to the Twins game. A great weekend!

Finally, Anderson started his second year of preschool. He has met some new friends and really likes his class. Even though he turned five before the deadline for preschool, I just couldn't see him being ready for it.  So, three days a week for 2.5 hours, it's just me and the Pipe! 

That's the summer wrap up. Hopefully, I will be better about blogging, but we know how that goes. I need to make it part of my weekly schedule. Of course, we're in full swing with fall sports and that brings it's own challenges for my weekly schedule. For now though, I'm trying to just enjoy the chaos~

~ Misty

Summer

The start of summer means I haven't really gotten into a schedule yet. Thus, the delay in posting anything lately. The kids are all out of school now. Summer is in full swing and it's been either very cold and rainy or very hot. Where's the happy medium?! Here's a little of what's been keeping us busy~

Anderson completed his first year of preschool. He made some great little friends. The picture of the four of them above, Sybil, Luke and Julia (twins) with Anderson between the two. I have so enjoyed seeing Anderson have his own friends. And even more than that, I have made two great friends out of the deal as well, Gretchen and Sarah, their mothers.  

We have been doing park play dates. Cedar Falls has quite a few nice parks. I  think there are even some that I've never been to, we'll fix that! 

Work on the house is never-ending. But, the garage is mostly done now. We still need to get a few windows in the upstairs, but it's so nice to have that additional space to work in.

Hailey discovered it was flag day. Her and the kids threw an impromptu Flag Day Parade. They made flags using paper, bamboo skewers and masking tape. They gave us all invitations to the parade and even provided seating (as noted on the invitation). It was all very cute. They are so creative! 

We just finished VBS. The theme this year was Super Heroes. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

They look pretty strong don't they?! 

We went golfing with Hailey and Jackson for Father's Day. Hailey wanted to wear matching shirts. We did it as a best shot and had a lot of fun. It's hard to beat golfing with the kids. After finishing golf, we picked up the other kids at home and went to the Brown Bottle for a late dinner.

 Brad said it was the best Father's Day ever. It's hard to argue with that. 

~ Misty

Second Story

The second story went up yesterday. This is all they were able to finish before the rain started. I snapped it quick before I hustled all the kids home. They were a little frightened with the storms. Unfortunately, they called a rain day today so it's looking more like Friday before it will be done. The two open spots are where the dormers go. There will be two on the other side as well. I'm hoping the stairs get done sooner than later so we can start storing some things up there. I almost took a picture from the upstairs so you could see the view, but it was pouring this morning and there's currently no roof, so that will have to wait.
We chose to put this room above the garage because we had to fill in our basement. And looking at it now, if we were able to have a basement, I don't think we would have this room. This is our "basement" with a view!

~ Misty

May Update

I think I delay updating until I have something substantial to share. I/we do have a lot going on, but I keep thinking well, when this gets done, then I'll post. Or, when we finish this, I'll post. You know how it goes. So, this is an abbreviated update of the last couple weeks. And yes, I do have something big to share - literally BIG!!!

Foot Pedals!

I have been catching a lot of grief over these. But, I love them!!! I originally read about them in a Food Network Magazine. They were in Guy Fieri's home kitchen, I thought, "Those are awesome!" After some research online and talking to Brad, he agreed that they would work for the island sink. I absolutely love them! It's just another touch that makes our house unique.

 

I made this picture a little larger so you could see Piper's expression. She clearly doesn't like this cage/kennel as some call it. Technically, it's a "gate" but I bought it for the front steps. It makes into a kind of pen that also works to keep her contained. But, she's not a fan. 

Our yard is far from being landscaped. However, I did plant some flowers around our mailbox. At least we can have one little bright spot until we get everything else done.

I wrote about this on facebook, but didn't post here. The shakes have been a nightmare for me. We decided on one color and after I had painted a double coat on quite a few of them, we decided to put them up. Only to discover the coloring wasn't right. So, Brad picked another color. I double coated those and after putting them up, it's the right color. BUT! The ones that were already up have to be painted while I'm up on the ladder. That's a long way up! I was able to get these painted (on the left) but that was as far as I could get without moving the ladder. Round two should happen this coming weekend.

We received a playset from our good friends, the Dekoster's. We took it down and carted it to our house earlier this week. We plan to attach it to the current playset in the background. Eventually, it will all end up in our enclosed back yard. In the meantime it will be in the open part of the back yard. Thanks to John and Ange!

The garage is getting built! That's the big news! They think they will be done by Wednesday. I think the second floor goes up tomorrow. There will be a "man cave" above the garage. It will totally change the look of the house. I can't wait to see it all done!

~ Misty

New Growth

Last summer I transplanted a bunch of hostas from our front yard to a side yard fence. I was hoping to save them even though it wasn't the ideal time to transplant. Here is what they looked like after I transplanted them last summer.

                          

 I have been holding my breath this spring waiting to see if they made it. Everyone else's hostas have been coming up and even have some small blooms already. I checked and checked on mine and nothing. Then,

finally, we have new growth! 

I know there are some obvious parallels to my life right now - these hostas made it through the flood, being transplanted, and are growing strong again.

********

 In other house news, the garage trusses were delivered today. The windows are being delivered on Friday and the doors will be here next week. After the garage rebar is tied together (I think that's my job?) the floor will be poured and they can frame the first floor of the garage. We are having Steve do the trusses and second floor. It's really going the change the look of the house - in a good way, trust me. I don't have a timeline for that yet, just sometime in May. Stay Tuned!

~ Misty

Update & Easter

It's been a few days or so since I last posted. Besides my guilt reminding me, I was on a friend's blog that shows mine as one she follows, and if that wasn't a reminder enough - it also lists when I had my last update. Eek! (Thanks Johnni!)

So, here's a quick update. It's not the one I intended as I had hoped to have more to report today, but that seems the way it goes lately.

We celebrated Annaliese's birthday as a family and ended up with this pic of me and girls

Last Sunday we had the Gerdes and Junker families over for a grill out. It was a little chilly! We moved the party inside and with all fourteen kids and six adults, it stilled turned out to be a fabulous get together!

Fast Forward to Easter... We celebrated with Brad's family in Sumner and then headed back to our house. This is Piper in her new wagon. Brad found a great deal at Scheel's on this Trek Trailster. It is the best wagon EVER! Piper absolutely loves it and I think we're renaming it "The Pipester"

We tried a few times to get a good shot of all the kids together. This one is just with ours. Totally impossible to get all the kids to look at the camera at the same time. The one of Anderson on the go is one of my new favorites. I think it's something about the angle?

After heading back to our house, we told the kids there were no eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's because Aunt Michelle wasn't able to be there with us. As we drove up, I thought for sure they would see all the eggs, but they were clueless for far too long! Several encouragements later for them to look around and they got the idea. They were soooo excited! This is Hailey and Jackson after the hunt - what a great sister/brother combo :)

This is where the part that I had hoped I had more to show would be. We did work on the house all weekend, besides the Easter things. However, it takes so much longer than we think and every step requires thought, more rethought, and then final action but only after second guessing the previous thought process?

The upside was this stump that has been in the way. Our friend Bugs offered to bring over his equipment and remove it for us. Look at how small it seems - in comparison...

Yeah - now we have this!!!! That thing was HUGE! We lost the stump, but also half the driveway. So now instead of hitting or driving over the stump, I can just drive into this hole the size of Big Woods Lake. Thanks Bugs!!! (No really, thank you so much!) We are very fortunate to have good friends willing to help out. I will try to get more done to show progress on the actual house.

 But don't hold me to that, in case it's a while until my next post?!

~ Misty

Windy Day

It's finally starting to get nice out, albeit sporadically. I have been trying to get the little ones outside more during the day, usually around lunch time. Early last week we went to the park and were nearly blown away! Holy Wind Gusts! We did get some time on the swings and I even let Anderson take Piper down the slide. It was a short trip, but so nice to get out in the sun again.

Action Shots!

Look for us this Spring -  we love Seerley and Look Out Park!

~ Misty

Birthday Princess Annaliese!

Annaliese will be 6 years old on the 19th. We have celebrated her birthday twice already this week. She had her friend party on Wednesday. They did a princess party complete with hair styling and makeup. It was such a neat experience for Annaliese. All the girls looked great and had a lot of fun. Happy Birthday Annaliese!

 All the girls posing after their styling.

Dee Dee, Katelyn, Ella, Jordan, Annaliese and Madison

~ Misty