Home for the Holiday

One thing that stinks about loving where you live so much is that it's hard to be anywhere else sometimes.  Since the 4th of July was on a Monday this year we decided to come home earlier so that we could enjoy time at home and neighborhood fireworks.

There didn't seem to officially be any plans but that never matters.  A quick conversation in the driveway and within minutes Family Dinner was in progress.

Everyone starts to pitch together what they have at home and before you know it a feast is prepared.

Mike and Joe entertained the kids across the street with some land dwelling fireworks and as soon as it got dark the sky was lit up. Fireworks in any direction you looked.  I think it was more fun then going somewhere to see a large display.  It's like a treasure hunt this way.

Happy 4th!

Sight Seeing

Today we started our day with a family walk.  It's nice to get out and feel like we are getting some exercise instead of just sitting and snacking and napping on the deck.  However, there are so many of us with dogs and strollers that the walk is much more of a stroll.

 


A few sites we saw along the way. 
The Bait shop.  No longer open.  The guy who owned it passed away and it looks like it hasn't been touched since.  I am not sure if he actually made any money there but the shop was on his property so at a minimum he had one of the world's shortest commutes to work.
The current situation at our fire pit.  Those couches need to be burned.  I am sure they will sit here for at least a few seasons, they provide a lot of seating at the nightly fire but there is absolutely NO reason to have a couch outside at the fire pit.  It looks so trashy.  Hopefully sometime this summer we follow through and complete the demolition of these guys.
Davis.  The cutest baby on the planet, enjoying his time in the pool with mommy.

 



This Guy is all Smiles

Davis is by far the happiest little dude I have ever seen.  He is constantly smiling.

It might have something to do with the fact that everyone that looks at him is smiling at him.

It doesn't take much to get him to smile.  Make a crazy noise, wave your hands over your head, talk baby talk to him or just act like a fool.  It gets him everytime!

We got to spend the better part of the afternoon down at the lake today.

Hailey enjoyed soaking in the sun and floating most of the day. This girl loves the water and will stay in it all day.  Hannah likes the sand and the beach.  She enjoys the water but she likes to build castles and dig.  Today she used the sand and water to give Jennie and I pedicures. 

 

Such a gorgeous day.  I never get sick of days like this. 

 I could sit here and stare at the water for hours. 

This Party is for the Birds

Tonight we are having an end of the year party for the team.  I have been taking pictures of the girls all year.  Tonight I had a reason to use them.  I printed an 8 x 10 for each of the girls and put them on the front of their gift bag.  Inside the bag was a softball pillow that I made for each of the girls. 

I picked up a bunch of $5 pizzas and while the girls were eating I called each one of them up to the front and said some words about them.  One of the parents brought Ice Cream treats and Tim, the other coach brought water balloons. We started by having the kids lineup and take turns trying to hit the water balloons- someone was always catcher so if the batter was unable to hit the balloon, the catcher was the one to get wet.  We then had a good old fashioned water balloon fight. 

A GREAT end to a FUN season!



Out!

Hailey loses another tooth!  Once she gets a tooth that is loose, she works at it until she gets it out.  She yanks on it and wiggles it constantly.

LOVE those holes!

Flamingos

Tom, Tim, me
Marie, Brooke, Victoria, Mallory, Becca, Megan, Ella
Ella, Samantha, Kaitlyn, Bella, Hannah

This weekend we wrapped up our softball season.

We ended up improving so much with each game.  The girls got more and more confident and even pulled off a bunch of wins!  I was proud to be their coach. 

Girls Rule at the PC

Tonight Brian was at golf so I had reached out to a few of the ladies to come on over to enjoy a drink.

After all it is Kami's Birthday today and she shouldn't be sitting at home when she could be drinking wine over here.  Within a few minutes the garage was full of ladies celebrating our good friend Kami.

Kami has been traveling SO MUCH for work.  She works with mainly men so when she is home she loves having girl time and tonight that is EXACTLY what she got!

Stoves and Swatters

This happens to me ALL THE TIME.  GRRRRRR!

I can not cook these noodle dishes without spillage.

I swear I was watching it the whole time.  Ok, I might have looked away for a minute, but that seriously would have been less than a minute.  Augh.

I love summer nights in the garage.  Steve, Chris and Brian, hanging out with their beers and bug rackets.  The sweet smell of burning bugs- ick!

Mommy- Look!

I was on the computer when I heard some action behind me and I turned to find Hailey with Brian's new shirt on.  Always makes me wonder what happened in her little mind that all of a sudden putting this shirt on seemed like the best idea. 

Down and Out

 

What in the world is going on around here today.  Hailey said she wasn't feeling good and the next time I saw her she was laying on the bathroom floor.  Then as I was sitting outside waiting to leave for the Justin Beiber concert, Hannah came out to sit with me.  Within a few minutes she was out cold.  Hope these two aren't coming down with something.

Loriann and I went to the concert tonight.  Not his best work.

Apparently he fell through the stage floor at a show a few days ago and it was pretty obvious that he wasn't feeling the best.  He was slow and lethargic.  His voice sounded great but overall he didn't put on the type of show that you would expect from him.  Not a total disappointment but I do expect much more from him. 

This trampoline hanging from the ceiling was pretty cool and at the end he and his dancers danced in the rain (yes, he made it rain on stage)- that was pretty awesome!



How Can This Be??!

Today the girls and I went to Courtney Schnur's graduation party.

How is this even possible?!

I can't decide if I am more disturbed that she is old enough to be graduating or that I have a friend, younger than me, old enough to have a kid that is graduating. 

They had a steady stream of people.  It was real hot today but not too humid so as long as you were in the shade it felt fine to be outside.

Courtney loves breakfast so Karri served cereal, yogurt with granola, and sausage.  Cute idea and I love that it was different than the normal lunchmeat sandwiches.

Courtney has always been a good kid.  She is turning into such a beautiful young lady and her parents could not be more proud of her.  She will attend University of  La Crosse this fall and hopes to major in Physical Therapy.

Testing, Testing

 

I am testing out an idea.  My touchdown spot.  A cabinet with two doors, inside those doors would be shelves to hold shoes. On the left, I would like some drawers.  I was thinking maybe even having those drawers taller than the cabinet.  Not sure I am a huge fan of the idea but I will give it a few days and see if the thought grows on me.  Above the cabinet, I thought about having an open shelf, maybe for some baskets or something.  Not sure about that yet either.

Hanny Banney

This kid!  She cracks me up!  Just hanging out on the couch, eating some mint chocolate malted milk balls (which are amazing by the way).  Of course it makes sense to hold them with your monkey toes.

Hannah slept over at Mckenzie Groth's house last night so she missed the grad party yesterday.  She was a little disappointed but she had a blast at the party.

Mckenzie's mom sent these pictures. Looks like they had a great time!



Selfie Party

I always love when I look through the pictures on my phone and find these adorable gems.  Today is Julia's graduation party and while I was getting dressed Hailey helped herself to my glasses and phone.  I LOVE this picture.  It makes me so happy!  That adorable face! 

Melodie is always so good at taking pictures of the group when we are together.  I wish I was better at it.  Tonight the OCW shut down the grad party.  It was a great night hanging out in Mary and Joe's garage, listening to tunes while the kids played inside.

School's Out for the Summer

 

Today is the last day of school! 

Both girls did great this year. They liked their teachers and made lots of friends.

Hannah loves Math and Hailey enjoyed learning to read sight words.

 

Hulke Pool Pary

Today the kids had a pool party.  It was more of a 'hot tub' party since they asked Sara to use the hot water instead of the cold.  There were way too many kids so there wasn't a whole lot of swimming going on.  Jack was so happy to be hosting his first party.  I kept telling Sara to be ready. 

This is what life will be like from now on. 

The coolest kids around all hanging out together making memories. 

Hailey climbed into a bucket that the kids used to hold their water balloons and then we put Ethan inside for a soak.

Sophia

Today Sophia had her 8th grade graduation.

Mary asked me to come over and take a few pictures of her and Joe with Sophia and then Sophia asked if she could get a picture with the girls.  (Awwww so sweet!)

Starting to sink in

Today I found Hannah in her room bawling her eyes out.  When I asked her what was going on she told me that she is going to miss Mrs Dau so much.  She can't stop thinking about it so she decided to write her a letter to tell her just how much she means to her.

Mrs Dau is like a celebrity over here.  Hannah talks about her everyday. 

 I am so happy that she had a teacher this year that she loved so much. 

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It rained during our game today.  It wasn't a very hard rain and you could tell that it wouldn't be around for a long time so we took cover and waited a bit for it to pass.

During the rain the girls started a cheer "Rain, Rain, Go Away, Softball Players Want to Play!"

It was like music to my ears.

The rain eventually stopped and we were able to finish the game. 

Kari had surgery today.  She has been having some female things going on and after multiple appointments it was determined that she should have a hysterectomy.  She is out of surgery and everything went great. She is tolerating the pain well and they hope to have her up and moving around soon.  They did find a lot of endometriosis so this surgery was a really good decision. 

It's so hard to be so far away from her when things like this happen.

It makes it easier knowing that she's with family, she's not alone and she will have so much help from Andres and his parents.  I still wish I could be there.

Next Up!

The weather has been great and my first year of coaching softball has been really fun.

Our team isn't doing so well but they sure are having fun.

Next Up- the mudroom.

I love having this space.  It's one of my favorite rooms in the house. 

I love having a room to walk into and a place for shoes.

The problem here is that the shoes pile up.  So many shoes.

We have a few boot trays but nobody stacks their shoes nicely.  They kick them off into the corner and the pile gets bigger and bigger until cleaning day.  Then some of them will make their way to the closet and the others will find their match and take their place next to the wall.

I want some type of cabinet there.  I want something with shelves and drawers.  I want a countertop.

I want a place to leave my keys and a place to set mail down when we walk in the door.

Time to start planning.

When Things Come Together

She's in!

I knew that I wanted to have a wood top that would be stained, not painted.

During the finishing process I decided to leave the middle shelves and wine rack section wood as well.  I am SO happy with my decision.  I think this piece turned out so nice.  I am very pleased.

The whole wall came together so nicely!

Green

Ahhhhh, doesn't it look so nice!  Our neighbors got their grass so now when we look outside we have another beautiful lawn to look at.