Weekend Wrap Up (9.19-9.21)

This weekend was a bittersweet one as it will be the last weekend we spend in our home. It will be sad to leave our home after all the remodeling we have done in 12-years, but we are ready for a new adventure. Plus, we are leaving at the prime time because we won't have to rake the leaves this fall! 

On Friday evening, we went to our new house to check things out. We were surprised that they didn't have many things left to do. Our final walk thru is this Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. I can't believe how quickly the past five months have gone.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day preparing meals for the week and running errands. We had to find some new curved shower rods for our new house so we went to Bed Bath & Beyond. Before we went into the store we thought we'd take the kids to PetSmart to see the animals. R-man is in love with dogs these days and get's so excited when he sees one. I always tell him that he can only look because I'll never allow one to be in my house.

Preparing meals was important because once the kitchen is packed up we won't be able to cook anything so we wanted meals that we could quickly warm up. Plus, with kids we've learned that its much easier to eat at home than going out. We had a fun Saturday and I made sure to get plenty of photos of the kids since it was our last Saturday in our home. Little-C kept asking what we were doing all weekend. We kept telling her that we are packing to move to our new home. I'm not sure she truly understands what we are doing, but she'll quickly find out after the weekend is over.

Loving the fish at PetSmart

Weekend Wrap Up with Chris Soules (9.19-9.21)

This past weekend seems like a blur. I think it appears that way because work has been extremely busy and the process of building a new home and packing is a bit stressful. Once we move into our new home, I'm going to make a commitment to be better about the weekend updates and post them on Sunday evening!

On Friday evening, I was in Iowa City to get ready for the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series football game. Iowa Corn sponsors this major event and had a tailgate for 1,100 members. We needed to assure everything was ready to go on Friday evening for set-up. After we arrived to Iowa City, we checked out the Carver Hawkeye Arena where our tailgate would be held, then headed out for dinner. We couldn't stay out too late though since our morning started fairly early. I was thankful that my Mom came up to watch the kids so that Dave could come to Iowa City to enjoy the game as well. Plus, the kids love spending time with her and she loves spoiling them as much as she can.

Little-C enjoying Friday evening with Grandma Bruck.

House Update - The Final Week!

Our last update was only 6 days ago, but we have plenty to update!

On Friday, September 12th, and Saturday the 13th, the hardwood floors were installed in the kitchen and all of the tile was finished and grouted.

Hardwood Floors in the kitchen.  These are engineered hardwood, an upgrade from the basic engineered wood flooring, but not quite solid hardwood.

New Home Update - In the "Home" Stretch

It's only been 10 days since our last update, and once again there has been tremendous progress, and not a moment too soon as our closing date is a mere two weeks away from today. We've had our moments of slight panic wondering if it will all get done, but everything seems to be coming together nicely and everything appears to be on track for September 25th...provided it quits raining!  So if you could read this and then do an anti rain dance that would be appreciated!

The week of September 2nd, after Labor Day, the siding crew moved in and began getting the siding installed.  They were also the crew that constructed the arches in front and on our covered deck.  Both of these were add ons, the deck arches were something we planned early on, but the front arches were an idea we added later to make sure our house was unique.  The siding was finished up on September 10th.

Siding getting installed on the side/back of the house.

Weeked Wrap Up (Sept. 5-7)

Once again this post is a bit late! I hope I can get caught back up once we finish packing and moving.

On Friday evening, we got things ready to go tailgating on Saturday morning! We thought we might as well take the kids when it's nice, rather than when it cools down and the snow is flying.

Saturday
We woke up early, packed everything up and headed to Ames for the kids second tailgate. The weather was perfect and as you can tell, the kids loved it. Although, Little-C didn't go to bed until 11:00 p.m. on Friday evening so she was kind of a bear when half time was nearing.

We arrived in Ames around 9:00 and tailgated until around 10:15. R-man loved the dog that came to tailgate near us.

 

 

R-man attacking the dog at the tailgate next to us.

Kids Update (August)

Here’s a quick update from this past month.

R-man is almost a toddler and can pull himself up to things faster than I can think. He can also walk very smoothly around furniture so it won't be long and he will be walking right along side his sister.
 

Age:
R-man is 13 months 
Little-C is 2 yrs. 8 months

Stats:
R-man is 23 lbs.
Little-C is 30.8 lbs.

The kids and their happy little attitudes before bedtime. 

Weekend Wrap Up (Labor Day Aug. 29-Sept. 1)

This weekend was extremely productive and much more so because we had a 4-day weekend. Dave and I took Friday off to get a few things done with the new house.

Friday
We tried to keep the kiddos on schedule and sent them to daycare close to normal time. From there we ventured to Factory Direct to pick out our appliances. This was an exciting thing for me because I was finally able to get a full size refrigerator!  Check out the appliances we choose here. As we were leaving, I checked out the display they had set-up for a basement and it had a mini dishwasher. I'll have to sweet talk Dave into getting one of those for the basement when we put in our bar!

Afterwards, we ventured home so that I could bake cakes for a friend's 40th birthday party. I had ordered a few edible images from Gogo cakes, to make them easier. When I was baking them, I was wishing I had my double oven so that I could bake two at once!

The sheet cake that is white and strawberry. 

This is a chocolate cake.   

New Home Update - Nearing Completion!

It's only been about a month since our last update, but the tremendous progress continues.  We are nearing completion and its all really starting to come together as our official move date is only 24 days away!

In our last post, we documented that they had just hung the drywall.  The next couple of weeks a lot of progress was made, but the appearance of the house didn't change a lot.  The week of August 4th was spent taping and mudding all of the drywall.

Kitchen with the drywall taped and mudded.