concrete

the excavation was completed on monday-along with the rerouting of the gas and water pipes. you can see the new pipe going into the front of the house in this first picture. but then it rained and has been too wet to do anything else. until today! when the truck arrived after lunch i was very excited that we might have some progress. the two workers laid the frames for the footings and then the concrete arrived. it went incredibly fast-anneliese was here to watch, but they finished before grant and emily came home from school. hopefully the weather will cooperate so the walls can be started soon. 

grant's 8th birthday

it was a really great extended birthday weekend. grant and emily had a half day on thursday, and both friday and monday off of school. my mom, and becky and the boys came up to help celebrate-so we stayed at my aunt beth's. it is so fun to play games in the evening and wake up to eat breakfast with everyone. grant's day started with birthday pancakes and eggs, then a basketball game with the biggest cheering section yet. the game was close, but grant scored a goal, played great defense and his team ended in victory. after the game, everyone headed over to lifetime fitness for pizza and more activities. the boys played kickball and dodgeball. the party room was huge and filled with all sorts of fun times for the rest of the kids. ashley's cake pops were a huge hit (thank you ashley and the sugar beats bakeshop!)
after the party the cousins came back to the farm for more games of football and "try and make me laugh"
thank you to everyone who had a part in the planning and implementing of all the birthday festivities. it is a lot of work-but very worth all the great 8 year old smiles :)

 there was another birthday adjoining ours-one for a 3 year old. halfway through kickball, spiderman and batman showed up (to help with the other party) see if you can find grant's reaction to them coming into the gym.
troy's comment was "well, they have to work out somewhere."

the girls were happy to help with the gift opening
 troy led anneliese and delaney through rigorous hurdle exercises

no one was successful at cracking emily-she was determined not be smile :)

construction!

i've been very hesitant to mention possibilities of construction for fear that it would keep getting delayed. we have lived through construction before and it is always slower and more complicated than i expect-so when the guys came with their bulldozer this morning at 7:45am i was very excited. last night when we looked at the weather we found that the chance of rain was 70%-so i was unsure if the monday start would actually happen. danny (the bulldozer driver) was ready to go. kenny (the plumber) said he needed to run to the store to get the right fittings for the gas and water pipe reconstruction. i am very accustomed to the last minute trips to home depot but i was kind of expecting he would have these with him (when am i going to learn to expect as many delays as possible?)
but, it is now 11:15 am and danny is back with hopefully the right parts to reroute our lines into the front of the house.
here is the progress so far...
we should have plenty of dirt for our raised garden beds :)


see that dinky gray pipe? that is what has caused some problems.

 lots of roots

trench for footings and walls

taking out the cedar tree stump

extended area for this years raised beds-soon to be filled in with all the dirt from excavation process

winter

watch the video: emily's basketball season

on my birthday, anneliese had a friend come over to play. we went out to lunch and then they enjoyed playing outside together. i love watching friendships grow.

we played a game of 'kick the ball down the hill and then run down and try to catch it'

snow. finally a respectable amount-not enough for school to be closed though :(
so sledding had to wait until after school.

happy valentine's day!

friendship

after turning 34 on thursday i had the opportunity to go spend the weekend in st. louis with a couple of life-long friends. two years ago i made that drive to welcome amanda's twins into the world and it was awesome to see how much the family has changed. we spent the whole weekend surrounded by 5 kids-loving the smiles and chaos (i took anneliese with me so she could join in the fun).

making the time to spend a weekend with friends is difficult-and it has been a long time since we were able to share so many hours together. i always come away wondering why we don't make it work more often-because it is such an energizing experience. amanda put up blue balloons and made blue cupcakes and they did a mini baby shower. it was very unexpected and made me feel special and loved in a way that doesn't happen very often. i was again reminded of how amazing it is to have good friends.
i knew i wanted to try and get some pictures of the twins for their birthday-and we hauled 3 cars to a nearby park to try and capture a family portrait. it was cold. anneliese was a wonderful assistant-handing out fruit snacks to try and keep everyone happy. i have very high hopes of compiling the pictures from the whole weekend-but here are a few to start.

anneliese the assistant

emily's dance performance

in the fall the piper high school cheerleaders sponsored a clinic for the younger girls in the district. emily was so excited to cheer at the football game. since then, she has been waiting for this week. the week the dance team sponsors their clinic. she attended practices all week, and on friday night she performed in between the girls and boys basketball games. i just can't get enough of her happiness. love this video!
watch it here

happy new year

i'm in the process of compiling my favorite pictures of 2011-
here are 2 from one of the last days of the year. a christmas break that feels more like a spring break-it has been awesome.