Christmas Wreath for under $30

I have been wanting a Christmas wreath for our front door, but all the ones I have seen have poinsettias on them. I wanted something simple with a bow and Christmas ball ornaments. I decided to make just what I wanted and it turned out to be a lot cheaper than the ones I saw in the store.

Cost of items I used to make the wreath:

• 24" green wreath - $6 at Mills Fleet Farm
• Solid glass ball ornaments - $9.99 for two boxes at Michaels
• Bow - $3.99 at Michaels
• Gauge wire - $3.49 at Michaels
• Wreath holder with suction cup -$2.99 at Hobby Lobby
• Total = $26.46

We first assembled the bow to the wreath! I wanted a bow that was unique and luckily Michaels has a variety of homemade bows for sale. This bow was originally $7.99, but I had a 50% off coupon so it only cost $3.99.

Kids Update (November)

Here’s a quick update from this past month.

R-man is growing up right before our eyes. The kid is becoming very independent and absolutely loves the outdoors. Although, he isn't fond of the snow!

Thanks to Kari Bruck Photography for the great work!

Age:
R-man is 16 months 
Little-C is 2 yrs. 11 months

Stats:
R-man is:

• Weight: 22 lbs. 14 oz. (51%)
• Height: 32" (78%)
• Head: 19" (86%)

Little-C is 32 lbs.

Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza

Our entire household loves this homemade BBQ chicken pizza. It's extremely easy, cheap and tastes delicious! 

BBQ Chicken Pizza
1 pkg. Better Crocker pizza crust
1 c. cooked chicken, chopped
1/2 c. Countryside BBQ sauce
1/3 c. sauteed onions, chopped
2 c. mozzarella cheese

Mix the Better Crocker pizza crust according to the directions. Flatten out on a pizza pan or stone. Place just the crust in the oven at 350 for 5-8 minutes. In the meantime, chop onions and sautee them with a little olive oil.

Remove the crust from the oven and top with Countryside BBQ sauce, add sauteed onions and cooked chicken. Then top with mozzarella cheese.

Cook pizza for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove and cut into squares.

 

The delicious BBQ chicken pizza!

Pantry Organization

After only being in our house for six weeks, I thought it was time to organize our pantry since it was starting to look a little out of sorts! I hate it when things are just tossed in and you can't seem to find what you want.

 

Weekend Wrap Up (11.21-11.23)

We were hoping to cheer the Cyclones onto a win this weekend, but that didn't happen. Dave and I had a great time on Saturday as we headed up to the ISU football game. The kids had a great time as well with Jessica! It is so great to leave the kids with a babysitter we trust when we go out! Taking the kids to a daycare center allows for an unlimited number number of babysitters when our normal sitter, Sam is unable to watch them.

We were fortunate to get passes into the Jacobson Athletic Building. It was just a little walk from our car so we didn't even have to take our jackets. We had a great time and even managed to get on field passes during the third quarter. Janet also met up with a few of her co-workers who also had tickets.

Dave and I enjoying the balcony on the Jacobson Building.

Weekend Wrap Up (11.7-11.9)

This past weekend was about ME! I love spending time with my husband and kids on the weekends, but once in a while a Mama needs a day to herself!

I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning (5:40 a.m.) to get ready to head to Underwood to meet my lil' sister for a day of shopping. On my way home, I noticed the skies were absolutely beautiful so I pulled over for some quick photos. I had to capture the beautiful sunrise that was visible in my rear view mirror and the beautiful clouds as I headed west. I made sure to pull over where I knew I could capture a corn field in the background.

Kids Update (September)

Here’s a quick update from this past month.

R-man is officially a toddler and is proud to prove it as he struts around the house and yard. The kid is growing up a little too quick for my liking. Little-C will be three in just a few short months. I'm wondering how this can be possible! She is growing up to be a young lady who is very determined. I'm wondering who she get's that from?   

Age:
R-man is 14months 
Little-C is 2 yrs. 9 months

Stats:
R-man is 24.5 lbs.
Little-C is 31.5 lbs.

Weekend Wrap Up (10.24 - 10.26)

Family time is very important to me and as I see my kids growing up before my very own eyes, I've realized that I need to live the weekends to the fullest. In the evenings, Dave and I only have two to three hours with them before they need to get to bed so doing fun and exciting things on the weekends is extremely important.

On Friday, I took the day off to get my nephew for the weekend. Now, let me preface, I had good intentions to keep him for the entire weekend! I picked him up, headed to my ENT appointment as I thought I had an ear infection (he told me it was only a virus), and then ventured home to get dinner ready for our friends that were coming over. As a farm kid, I always try to prepare a farm type meal. The meal included; chicken and stuffing glazed with peaches, au gratin potatoes, squash and homemade pumpkin bars. Yup, I love to cook just like I'm on the farm!

Little-C with her buddy!

Our New Home - All Moved In!!

As we noted in our last blog, we're officially moved into our new home.  We've delayed this post until our new refrigerator was installed.  It was back ordered when we moved in, and we had a loaner "mini" fridge.  So here's a lot of pictures of the finished product!

Exterior of Our Home:

Front of our home.

New Home - Final Construction Update

Our last update on the construction of our new home was almost a month ago, and at the time we were only 6 days away from closing.  Sorry for the delay, but it's been a busy month!  So here's the final construction update, the move and the first couple of home improvement projects.  Stay tuned...we'll also be blogging with final pictures of the inside and outside after the move and we'll also do some time lapse pictures showing the construction from start to finish!

On our last blog post, the inside was almost complete and the yard had just been graded.  Dave was concerned that as a result of all of the construction traffic in the yard and lack of top soil resulting from all of the grading to create the lots that we would have trouble growing sod. Remington Homes allowed us to have Soil-Tek add a layer of compost to the yard after it was graded and before the sod was put down.  1-inch of compost is equivalent to 3-inches of black top soil and will improve water infiltration, reduce the amount of watering needed and help the sod root better.  They can also do this over your existing yard, which we had done at our old house several years ago.  The best part of this was that the City of Ankeny, through their Stormwater Utility provides a 50% reimbursement program for soil quality restoration project such as this, so we were able to get reimbursed for half of this cost.  The compost was sprayed on September 18th.

The compost is pumped from a large truck and sprayed on the yard.

Weekend Wrap Up (10.10 - 10.12)

Cheering on our Cyclones is what we are most proud of this weekend. My brother and sister-n-law came up and Dave and I took them to their first ISU football game. At least they saw a win! We weren't sure this was going to be the case the first couple of quarters. While we were at the game, a couple of our friends watched the kiddos. We are so thankful for such awesome friends and neighbors.

Ben reading to his friends.

Ben loved pushing his cousins on the swing.

Weekend Wrap Up (10.3-10.5)

This past weekend was spent with our kids and we both absolutely loved it. Today marks the last day at home before we head back to work this week. Being on vacation this past week was great,  but we did have a lot do do with the house so it didn't feel quite like vacation. I'm looking forward to a staycation in the near future with a little R & R at home!

Friday evening we spent some quality time in the basement as we were building shelves for all of our holiday totes and kids clothes, toys, etc... I've said it before, but kids accumulate a lot of stuff. I look at their totes of clothes and get sad because of all the outfits they outgrew!

As we were building the shelves, the kids loved crawling on them and running from one side to the other. R-man has just learned how to walk so he's a bit unstable and kind of freaks us out when he steps down off of things onto the cement. He tends to be very careful, but when his sister runs up behind him acting like she's going to get him he tries to hurry and nearly falls. I love how excited he get's when someone is chasing him though! I once read that children laugh about 400 times a day, while adults on average only laugh 15 times per day. To be a child again would be great!  They have so much fun with life with little worries. Sometimes I think I need to take some advice from the kids!

My awesome storage shelves!

Weekend Wrap Up (9.26-9.28)

This past weekend consisted of unpacking, unpacking and more unpacking! After moving, I'm not sure why people want to move every two years!  It's a lot of work and after having two kids, it felt like we haven't moved in a couple decades! The amount of items they accumulate is astonishing!

I would like to thank my little sister Linda for taking the kids Friday morning and returning them Saturday afternoon. It made life so much easier to move on Friday without them being here. Plus, we were able to stay up late on Friday evening to unpack and catch up with our new neighbors.

We absolutely love our new neighborhood because everyone is so friendly and there are lots of kids about our kids age. I always wanted a neighborhood where our kids could grow up with other kids and just buzz down the street after school to hang out. I grew up on a farm so I couldn't just buzz down the street to hang out with my friends. There were cattle to be fed, hogs to be bedded and feed to be ground for the week! I do love the hard work ethic that I received from growing up on the farm so that is why we try to go back as often as we can with the kids!

Little-C, R-man and Cousin B having fun in the corn field! 

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.

Weekend Wrap Up (August 15-17)

This past weekend was extremely busy and it was spent with family. It started early for Dave and the kids as daycare was closed on Friday.  Since I was spending the day at the Iowa State Fair for Iowa Corn Day, Dave was on kid duty and decided to invite his parents up for the day to spend some time  at the fair.  Unfortunately, the day was a little rainy, so there is no better way to spend a rainy day at the fair than with an ice cream break!

As usual, only one child is smiling.  Little C is sure enjoying her ice cream though!

Between R-man's nap time and the rain, they all heading home around lunch time so R-man and Grandpa could get their nap in.  Despite the rain, they all had a great day and the kids, as always, loved getting spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa!

Weekend Wrap Up (August 8-10)

This past weekend was awesome and we spent a lot of quality time as family. On Friday, Dave and I rode to work together and it worked out well because we picked up the kids on our way home from work. It had been a really long week so we decided to go out to eat. We've learned that going to eat early works really well with the kids because it's well before their bed time. After we were finished eating, I thought we should head to Cherry Berry in Ankeny to have dessert. Both kids loved it and R-man couldn't seem to get enough.

The kids enjoying Cherry Berry. R-man loved it!

Kids Update (July)

Here’s a quick update from this past month.

R-man is officially 1-year and Little-C is 2 yrs. and 7 mths. This past year has went by so quick. It makes me sad when I reflect back on how our lives have changed. I no longer have a little boy, I almost have a toddler that can walk.

A special thanks to Kari Bruck Photography for the awesome photos!

Age:
R-man is 12 months (I can't believe this past year went by so quick.) 
Little-C is 2 yrs. 7 mths.

Stats:

• R-man 
• Weight: 22.4 lbs. (66%)
• Height: 30.8" (85%)
• Head Circumference: 18 (40%)
• Little-C is 31 lbs.

New Home Update

I'm letting my husband Dave take over the blog again to give you another update on the construction of our new home.

It's only been 3 weeks since our last update, but the progress has been almost unbelievable.  At our last update they had just finished framing and had the windows installed.  So here's a quick synopsis of the last three weeks:

With the framing complete we conducted an "electrical walk through" with our Realtor and Randall the Superintendent of Remington Homes.  We thought we were done making decisions, well we were wrong.  There was no electrical installed when we did the walk through, the whole point of the meeting was to discuss and mark where we wanted outlets, light switches, lights, etc.  This was tremendously valuable to think about and nice to be able to make sure we had switches and outlets where we'd need them...we're hopeful we didn't forget anything, but Randall was great to work with and very thorough (this isn't his first house!).  We'll give some highlights of our decision through this blog.

We left our meeting at 1:30 p.m. on July 14th and they were only finishing up some framing items.  Shortly after 5 we received a text from our new neighbors letting us know they were shingling.  Why yes, they were and finished the whole roof yet that evening:

Shingling...they were much faster than I would have been...

Weekend Wrap Up (August 2 & 3)

This past weekend was a whirlwind and I'm wishing it was Friday. Today, I went to get Dave's car washed and took both kids with me. On the way to the wash, I asked Little-C what day it is tomorrow and she answered Friday, gosh how I wish that was true!!

On Friday evening, my parents came up since they had a scheduled massage with Jill Hanna at All about Massage. Jill does an awesome job and if you've never had a massage with "cups" you should try it sometime. It's calling a cupping massage and it's amazing, but you're back may look as if you've been hit in perfectly round circles once she's finished. When the cups are applied, they'll leave marks where you are tense. My back tends to be like that from time to time.

On Saturday morning, we ate a nice breakfast and headed to Urbandale for my parents massage. My Dad and I dropped my Mom off and we headed to my office so he could see what it looked like. I've been there about a year and a half and he hasn't seen where I go everyday!

After my parents were finished, we came back home for a nice lunch!  After lunch, my parents headed outside to shuck 110 ears of corn. Dave and I were excited to freeze some this year since the kids seem to love it. Dave was in charge of blanching the corn, I would cut it off the cob and then Dave would bag it in quart bags and freeze it. We ended up getting 30 quart bags. When the snow is flying this fall,fresh sweetcorn mixed with a little butter will be perfect!

After we were finished with the corn, Dave and I quickly got ready to head out to the Iowa Speedway in Newton. Kenny Wallace was going to make an appearance in the Iowa Corn suite, so we wanted to have the chance to meet him. Dave kept telling me how funny he was, but I didn't believe him until I heard him talk. He's a down to earth guy and it was great to hear him talk about how much he loves agriculture and the importance of E15 when they are racing!

Dave and I with the one and only, Kenny Wallace!

Dave with Kenny Wallace

Weekend Wrap Up (July 26 & 27)

Now that the weekend is almost over, I'm wishing I had another day to relax before going to work because frankly, I'm exhausted.

On Friday evening, Dave and I hired a babysitter and went on a date night. Our night consisted of going over to our friends house in our new neighborhood to meet a few of our new neighbors. We chatted for a bit and then we headed for dinner. It's nice to enjoy dinner without the kiddos and without our cell phones. It's funny how many times we go out to eat and we see people on their phones. Dave and I really try to make a point to not have it near us at the dinner table.  Afterwards, we went grocery shopping since we needed to assure we had everything for R-man's 1-year birthday this weekend.

On Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early at 5:30 so that I could decorate R-man's smash cake for his cake smash since his photos were at 8:30. Kari Bruck Photography took his photos again and did an awesome job!  After his photos, we came home and cleaned up the house, took naps, did laundry, decorated his cakes and went to bed early in preparation for Sunday!

R-man's cake for his smash session.

 

Weekend Wrap Up (July 19 & 20)

This post is a bit late due to our busy schedules.

On Friday evening, I was in the cake baking mood. I have a good friend, whom I met in graduate school who had triplets last year. They are two weeks older than R-man. He'll have three best buddies when he get's old enough tot understand. I told her I'd make each of the boys a smash cake and I'd make the large sheet cake for their guests. Her theme was "construction" so I knew I had to incorporate equipment somehow in the cake. I found a design that I liked and I knew I'd be able to make it look good, just as long as I had quiet time to get it done. I had to wait until the kids were in bed to begin baking and decorating but after a few hours, they turned out quite well.  

The triplets smash cakes.

The construction sheet cake.

Weekend Wrap Up

This past weekend was an exhausting one and I'm wishing I had another day at home before heading into the work week. On Friday evening, Dave and I put together Little C's new bed. She hasn't been sleeping too well in her toddler bed so we thought we'd convert it into a full size bed.  Dave spoiled her and bought her Minnie Mouse sheets - she absolutely loves them.

On Friday evening, Dave and I headed to the Iowa Speedway for the American Ethanol 200 truck race. I don't love racing but Dave does so we thought we'd enjoy the beautiful evening. We left before the race was over to avoid traffic!  Plus, it was nice to get home early since Saturday was going to be a long day. I am very thankful for my Mom because she came up to watch the kids for the weekend!  She loves spending time with them and they love spending time with her.  Plus, it's so fun hearing Little C say, Grandma Bruck.

Framing of our New Home

For this update on the construction of our new home, I'm letting my husband Dave take over the blog, he understands the whole house building process much more than I do.

In our last update, they had just completed pouring the basement walls, since then, there has been a constant stream of activity, so here's a brief synopsis (and a lot of pictures).

After the basement walls were poured, all of the plumbing was installed underneath what would become the basement floor, including the water service, sump pump and sanitary sewer lines, not very exciting stuff, but all necessary.  On June 13, they poured the basement and garage floors.

Concrete truck pouring the basement floor.

Weekend Wrap Up - July 4th

This past weekend was well spent with family and friends.

Friday (July 4th):
- I got up and went into work for about three hours. I needed to get a few things accomplished while no emails were coming in.
- After I arrived home we went to Blank Park Zoo. The kids had a wonderful time. Caroline rode the camel and absolutely loved it. I had to sit on the hump, which wasn't too comfortable. I was glad when the ride was over. Her favorite part of the zoo was watching the giraffe's and while she was watching them, one of the giraffe's decided to lick the others behind. She yelled out, "Giraffe, that's gross, don't lick his butt."  I thought it was funny but told her that it wasn't nice to yell that out so loud. As a parent, sometimes you just have to crack up with what your kids say.
- In the evening, we went to Saylorville Lake to see the dam. There is a lot of water coming through the spillway due to the rain.

Family photo with the giraffe's. 

Kids Update (June)

Here’s a quick update from this past month.

Age:
R-man is 11 months
Little-C is 2 1/2

Stats:

Weight:

• R-man is almost 21 lbs.
• Little-C is 30.4 lbs.

Teeth:
R-man has 5 teeth, but the sixth one is working it's way through.

Little-C goes to the dentist for the first time on July 6. We've been working with her on her flossing and brushing skills in hopes that the check-up goes smoothly. 

Clothes:
R-man – He is wearing 12-18 months clothes now. We love to dress him in his plaid shorts and  Nike outfits!  He even has Nike shoes but he's not interested in standing so we haven't put them on him much.

Little-C – She is wearing 3T clothes. We are thankful for shorts with adjustable waists because we often have to tighten them up for her to be able to wear them.
Favorite Foods:  R-man loves eating the following foods:

• Green beans 
• Watermelon
• Noodles
• Cherrios 
• Oreos 
• Bread
• Pancakes (he can devour a whole one of these himself)
• Eggs (he must get this from his Dad)  
• Chocolate (of any kind - he can't get enough)
• Freeze pops (he just begs for more and can eat a whole one of these himself)
• Club crackers

Little-C loves cheese sticks and R-man's cheetos puffs. She can eat an entire container if you'd let her.

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend was busy! I took Friday off to wash the windows in our house one last time with my Mom. She was up for my Silpada jewelry party so she thought she'd help out!  Thankfully she did because it goes much quicker with two people.

Later on Friday morning, our realtor told us that we had an offer on our house. It isn't even on the market yet but another realtor in his office told one of her clients about it so she came to look at it and loved it. Dave and I chatted about it a bit at lunch and we countered to keep the washer and dryer unless she paid us more for them. We love our Whirlpool washer and dryer and plus, we didn't want to purchase new ones when we moved into our home, we'll have plenty of expenses the way it is.

My Mom and Ryan. 

Kitchen of our new home

Since we've spent a lot of time thinking and selecting layouts, finishes, colors, etc. I thought I'd share what we've decided.  The kitchen of our new home was a focal point for me because I absolutely love to bake and cook, so I decided to share this room first.

I wanted something spacious that would allow me to watch the kids playing in the living room. Below are photos of the kitchen and I'll explain what each of them are throughout.

This is the layout of our new kitchen from another home under construction with the same floor plan as ours, except this house is "flipped."As shown below in the sketch, our cabinets will be all one level on the top. The white door is a large pantry as shown in the photo below.  These cabinets are Autumn Brown, the same color we selected for ours.

Below is a rendering of our actual kitchen, except our island will be all one level as shown in the picture above.  This is a very open concept with a large island to allow more baking/prep space. It'll be great when I need to spread out when I'm baking cakes. As you'll see in this rendering, we modified our upper cabinets so they are all taller (not staggered on top as they are in picture above). We also added a tall pantry cabinet to the right side of the counter, as you just can't have enough kitchen storage space.

Weekend Wrap Up

The weekend didn't start as planned because I was delayed getting home from a work trip. On Friday, I was supposed to fly home from Washington D.C. at 2:30 p.m., so my manager and I got to the airport around 12:30 p.m. Our flight was delayed due to the arrival of the airplane so we missed our connecting in Chicago. We tried to rebook on a different flight to Des Moines but it was full, they put us on stand-by on the flight to DSM and booked an actual flight to Omaha. The Omaha flight was expected to arrive in Omaha by 10:00 p.m. so we thought we'd try to rent a car to drive home from Chicago instead. No car rental places would rent a car one way from Chicago, so my manager and I headed back to the airport.

We asked about the stand-by flight was and it was in terminal C and the Omaha flight was in terminal B. The flights were supposed to leave within 20 minutes of each other so we couldn't chance trying to get on the stand-by flight and missing Omaha so we headed to terminal B. Come to find out we could have made it on the flight to DSM.

Our flight kept getting delayed and didn't end up leaving Chicago until around 9:40 p.m. About 30 minutes into the flight the pilot came on and said we'd be running into some weather coming into Omaha. We could handle a little turbulence, at this point we just wanted to get home. Once we got closer to Omaha we circled the air for an hour and then finally the pilot came on and said we'll try this and if we can't land, we'll head up north. I really wanted to have a few choice words because I was tired and just wanted to get home. We landed successfully but once we got closer to the airport the pilot came on again saying it was lightening so they couldn't let the workers out to put out the gate bridge. Wow, I thought that was crazy because we're sitting on a metal plane but that didn't seem to matter. We sat for about 10 minutes and finally taxied to the gate bridge.

Our crazy flight path. 

Father's Day Weekend Wrap Up

This post is a bit late but I thought it was important to post a weekend wrap-up since it was Father's Day weekend.

Growing up, Father's Day was special to me because I was extremely close to my Dad. I am one of six children, there are three girls and three boys. I'm the second oldest girl. My brother's were all too small to run the farm equipment so I was the one in charge so that's why I have such a great relationship with my Dad. Father's Day even means more to me now since I have a great husband who is the fabulous father to our two children.

In the early part of the week, I asked Dave if he was interested in heading home to visit our parents since it had been a while and we just needed to get out of town. We each called our Mom's to make sure our Dad's were going to be around before we made the trip. My parents were going to be home but Dave's weren't so we thought, what the heck, we'll head home anyway so the kids can enjoy the farm.

On the way home, I called my Dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day and he was sad that it had rained so he couldn't be out raking hay. I told him he wasn't supposed to be working on Father's Day and part of me was glad it had rained so he was home. As we pulled into the driveway, my parents were sitting in front of the house and my Dad wondered whose black car just drove in. As I stepped out he was surprised and said, "You were halfway home when you called me."  Yup, once in a while a little girl can surprise her Dad!

The kids had a great time and enjoyed spending time with grandpa!  Little-C loved sitting on the tractors, going for a 4-wheeler ride and riding the pedal tractor.

Little-C and Ben enjoying the tractor.

Basement of our new home

After we had our lot chosen and the plan signed off on, it seemed like nothing was happening but our realtor kept telling us we needed to be patient because a lot was happening behind the scenes.  After the plan was submitted to the City of Ankeny, they would review it to assure everything was up to code and issue a building permit. Thankfully, it didn't take too long and the builder was able to get started.

The first work done on the lot started on Wednesday, May 28th when the basement was dug, and they formed up the footings, as shown in these pictures.

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend was extremely productive in getting the house ready to put on the market.

The productive weekend began on Friday evening, when I met my sister half way between Omaha and Des Moines to pick up my niece, Katelyn, for the weekend. She agreed to take care of the kids while Dave and I worked on getting things cleaned up in the yard and items taken to the storage unit.

On Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early to get the day started. Dave and I ran to Menards and the Habitat for Humanity Restore to pick up some things. We were bummed it was raining and looked like rain most of the day but we figured we had some odds and ends things to get finished anyway. Dave is on vacation this upcoming week, so he could finish up some of the things we couldn't complete due to the rain.

Katelyn took awesome care of the kids and little-C didn't seem to mind when we had to run to the store. She made sure to give us a hug, kiss, high five and knuckles before we left each time. It's her ritual when she says goodbye to anyone.

Great evening for a bike ride

On my way home from work, I thought it would be a perfect evening for a bike ride. I stopped at Kyle's bike shop in Ankeny to pick up a helmet for R-man, little-C already had one from last summer. When Dave got home he got everything ready and we took off. We rode to Palmer's Deli in Ankeny for dinner. We weren't sure how R-man would like the bicycle ride but he seemed to enjoy it as much as little-C.

Choosing a lot to build on

Choosing a lot to build may seem easy but living with a City Planner made this decision rather difficult. Dave was very cautious about how the lot drained (he insisted on a lot at the top of the hill), what was being developed around the lot we choose, major roads that would be developed near the lot and nice parks and trails within walking distance. We knew we wanted to be on the NW side of Ankeny so that did narrow it down a bit. After choosing our builder we were really narrowed down to the area that we could build in as the builder was also the developer of the subdivision.

After looking at open lots, we knew we either had to choose from a walkout or daylight basement. We choose the daylight windows because of the way the lot was graded and it was less expensive. Plus, when the kids get a bit older to room in the basement, we didn't want to worry about a walkout basement with them downstairs.

After our lot was chosen, we were excited about our new address, 3925 NW 6th Street!  Sounds good doesn't it - well we think so! Our new development is called Rock Creek Crossing!

Our new lot!

Kids Update (May 2014)

Here’s a quick update from this past month.

Age:
R-man is 10 months
Little-C is 2

Stats:

Weight:

• R-man: almost 20 lbs.
• Little-C is 29.2 lbs.

Teeth:
R-man has 4 teeth. The second one on the top finally broke through! I'm pretty sure he's cutting more though the way he chews on his fingers.

Clothes:
R-man – He is wearing 9-12 months clothes now. It's summer so we love to dress him in his cute little plaid shorts with a matching shirt.

Little-C – She is wearing 3T clothes. She is usually pretty specific on what shoes she'd like to wear. Dave and I try to pick out shoes that match her outfit but normally she has another pair in mind. We bought her a pair of Keen sandals that cost $50 but she usually goes for the pair that cost $5 - go figure.

Weekend Wrap Up

This past weekend was great but would have been awesome if I would have felt better. I caught the same crud the entire family has had and it hasn't been fun. I went to the doctor this morning to make sure I didn't have pneumonia or bronchitis the way I felt but he confirmed it was just a virus that lasts 7-10 days. Lovely, not what I wanted to hear.

On Friday, my younger sister, Linda, came up for the weekend. We had a late Friday evening catching up on family gossip. Dave sat up with us but wondered when we were going to quit chatting and head to bed.On Friday, R-man turned 10-months and his cousin baby-B turned 5-months. It's crazy how much bigger R-man looks.

Baby-B (5 months) & R-man (10-months)

On Saturday morning, Linda and I woke up around 6 to get ready to head to mile marker three of Dam to Dam. My brother, Ray and sister-n-law, Tina were running it so we wanted to cheer them on. This was the first year Ray was running it and I didn't envy him at all with the humidity. They both looked great at mile 3 but around mile 10 is when they started to wonder when the end was in sight. We also cheered for my friend Laura - follow her blog today!

Ray & Tina at mile 3 during Dam to Dam

BlogHer Food and Vacation in Florida

A few weeks ago, Dave and I traveled to Miami, FL so that I could attend the BlogHer Food Conference for work and we decided to extend the trip with a few extra days of vacation. While at BlogHer Food, I met a lot of great bloggers and reconnected with a few of the past CornQuest bloggers (#IACornQuest). I was fortunate to travel to the conference with a few CommonGround Iowa bloggers, Julie Kenney (Farm Eats, City Streets) and Kellie Blair (Home Again Finnegan). These ladies were great bloggers to have along because they enjoy talking to other bloggers about the food they grow on their farms to feed consumers! Read more about the BlogHer Food conference here.

At the BlogHer Food closing party, I was fortunate to meet The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. She was a very down to earth gal, and was easy to talk to and even gave a little chant, 'go agriculture' as we were getting ready to take our photo with her!

The Pioneer Woman and I.

After the conference was over, Dave and I were on vacation for the next few days! He graciously rented a convertible for our vacation days in Florida. I was excited but he was bummed when he found out it wasn't a mustang!  Oh well, we felt pretty cool driving down Hwy A1A with our top down, enjoying the sunshine. 

View from the sunroof while traveling along A1A.