Memorial Day Weekend

Jason, Dan, and I finally made it up to the cities to visit the family over the Memorial Day weekend. We had originally intended to go up over Easter weekend, but between me being sick and the house being a disaster zone from the flooding, we opted to stay home. I was able to get out of work a little early, which allowed us to get on the road a bit earlier than normal. With Dan being as active as he is, I was worried how the drive would go. He's not one to sit still for long. Thankfully, he ended up sleeping most of the way (YAY!).

Saturday morning, we went over to my sister's new place. I had only seen the pictures from the realtor, plus the few that Mom had showed me from when they were painting the various rooms. I must say, the house is super cute! It was built in the 1920's if I'm not mistaken. The architect did an awesome job utilizing each nook and cranny. Dan had fun crawling around and playing with Rachel's shoes and her phone. He has a thing for shoes - just like I did when I was younger. Anyway, here's a picture of Dan playing with Rachel and her phone.

Rachel had to work later that day so we headed off to the mall for some lunch and to meet her store manager. Wow does her manager have a lot of energy! Super nice lady. It would definitely make working fun with her on the floor. Dan of course was being the ham that he usually is. There has yet to be a person he's met that he's afraid of. The stranger aversion has not yet set in yet. Maybe it never will? Time will tell. We were able to do a little shopping before Rachel's shift started, so while we were doing that, Jason and Jeff took Dan to play on the kiddy rides. He had a blast!

That evening, Jeff had the family over so they could see Dan. It had been 5 to 7 months since the last time they saw him. There was a lot of change! His Great-Grandma Solarz also bought him his first birthday present. You can check out the video of him opening it ***HERE***. Dan had a lot of fun playing with his cousins and aunts and uncles. I even caught him playing with his cousin Dylan. Dylan was being such a great buddy, making sure that Dan didn't get into things he shouldn't. It was really adorable to ***WATCH***. I can't wait for when we expand our family and watch Dan play with his little siblings. Until then, it's just enough trying to keep up with Dan!

All this playtime made him very sleepy. He snuggled up onto Great-Grandma's lap and took a nap. Great-Grandma, while uncomfortable, didn't want to put him down. How can I blame her! He's adorable and snuggling with babies is the best!

Hi cousin Jake stopped by just before we left. He got in a few cuddles before Dan wanted to get down and play. A little more fun with Mama's shoes and the dogs water bowl and we were off to bed.

Before we left on Sunday (Jason had to work on Monday), we were able to get over to the Como Zoo. It was Dan's first trip to the zoo! I think he had more fun watching the people than he did checking out the animals. He did seem to enjoy the Polar Bear and the Puffin. They were at least moving around close to the edge of their enclosures.

We then decided to sit and wait for the ever popular Sparky show. The zoo has had a sea lion perform a short 10-minute "routine" for over 50 years. It's a staple of the Como Zoo. Here are a few pics while we were waiting for the show to start.

Some ***FUN*** in the car on the way home, a visit with the neighbors, a nap, and we were ready to head back to Wisconsin. We had a wonderful - albeit short - time in the cities. Our next visit will be in June when we'll bring Dan to the lake. The last time he was there he was only a month old. The ride back home was also uneventful. A bit more rough than on the way to MN, but still doable. We ended up stopping at our friend's place for about an hour for a bonfire. Dan had been sleeping for a little more than an hour at that point. Of course, as soon as we stopped he woke up. Thankfully he still slept well that night. Now to get the floor down in the lower level and get the house back into order! Mom and Jeff are coming down this week to help us out with that feat. Hopefully by this coming weekend I'll have my house back! Fingers crossed! Until then, a few more pictures to hold you over until the next post :)

Family picture :)

Generational picture :)

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! A special thank you to all those who have served and are currently serving in our military. An even more heart-felt thank you to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and their families. Without you our country and world would be a much different place.

What a Wonderful World

The Memorial Day Weekend is upon us. I have my seeds planted, my new plants in the ground, and birds are nesting in the area. Here are a few pictures of life around us:

This little guy ran into the glass windows at work the other morning. He was sitting right in front of the door when I was heading in. I went to pick him up to get him out of the way and thankfully he flew into a corner away from the main traffic flow. I was able to get a few snapshots on my phone before heading in. He wasn't there when we left for the day so I assume he made a full recovery.

Male Canada Warbler

A couple weeks ago, I watched a couple of Robins lay the foundation for a nest on our flood light that is on the side of the garage. I had to run to work so I wasn't able to watch the entire process. Yes, I was upset about that! When I got home, the nest had been built and a bird was sitting in it. Unfortunately, the same day I took these pictures, it was really windy and the nest was knocked down by the time I got home. I'm glad I got the shots when I did.

Robin sitting in the nest.

I love the teal-blue that Robin's eggs are.

A work of art.

These last few pictures are of some of the plants that are flowering in the garden right now. Some of them are new this year, some are from last year's planting. I'll have more pictures later when the summer and fall blooms open up. Until then, enjoy the spring flowers!

While I was out watering the new plantings, I also hit the hanging plants that I have. Well, when I hit one of them with the water I scared the s*** out of a bird! Apparently it made a wonderful place to build a nest. I think it was a Starling. Anyway, two more eggs on their way.

That's all for now. I'm really looking forward to spending time with the family this weekend. Next week: the flooring goes down! Jason and I picked up the flooring from Home Depot yesterday. Oh, little tip, if you want to purchase a special-order item, go home and log into Home Depot, order it online, then have it shipped to the store. Shipping is not only free, but there is no re-stocking charge. Once again, our basement has been overtaken by flooring boxes. Hopefully by next weekend we will have a functioning office and family room again!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Dan is 8 Months Old!

I already got a text message from Rachel asking if I was going to do an 8-month update on Dan. Well, here it is! Last week was rather busy, with Dan hitting the 8-month mark on Monday, me being home from work on Tuesday, having my supervisor out on Wednesday and Thursday, then my on my own in the lab on Friday, I didn't get a lot of time to write. Oh, and weekends are filled with family time. So, here are the stats:

Dan is now up to 23.8 pounds and is 29 inches long. At just shy of 25 pounds, I certainly don't need to get to the gym! He's still crawling around like crazy, pulling himself up onto anything he can get his hands on, and babbling away. Mostly he goes on and on with "da, da, da, da, da, da..." It seems only when he's upset and wants me to pick him up does "ma, ma, ma" come out. Silly boy!

He still enjoys eating pureed foods, and is not quite sure what to make of finger foods yet. So at this point he is still nursing about 90% of the time. He'll get solids at lunch time and maybe supper time depending if he seems extra hungry. Sippy cups are just fun toys to him. However, put a regular glass in front of him and he knows what to do! On Mother's Day, Jason was teasing him at the restaurant with his beer glass. I ended up dipping my pinky into the beer and had him taste it. Well, he's a true 'Sconie - he used his hands and tried to get my entire hand into his mouth! It was rather comical.

He also figured out how to climb up and down small landings. I have a feeling he will be climbing up the stairs pretty soon. No signs yet of him walking on his own, but he is cruising along furniture rather well. My Mom said that I was walking by 10 months or so. We'll see if he is cruising on his own by then as well.

He does have two teeth that are trying to poke out. They are his bottom central incisors. Last Thursday I left work early as I had received a text from our sitter letting me know that Dan had a fever. Luckily the fever broke over night, but he's been cranky off and on since. I'm going to miss his gummy smile, but those toothy grins are equally adorable! We'll see if he has any teeth by next month!

Mothers Day Weekend

What a week it has been! My Mom and Jeff came down the weekend of Mothers Day to help Jason and I out with the flooring. We had originally decided to go with bamboo in the lower level because of its natural mildew/mold-resistant qualities. Unfortunately for us, it wasn't in stock at Home Depot. Because we really wanted to get a floor down while Mom and Jeff were in town, we looked at Menards and found an oak flooring that was a similar color and - in stock!

We ended up clearing out the West Bend Menards of this flooring, and I had to go and get a few more boxes of it from the Menomonee Falls location. So with all the boxes in the house by Friday, we were set to start laying the floor on Sunday.

Saturday was spent flower shopping at Lac Lawrann Conservancy. Every year they hold a wild flower sale. I had wanted to pick up a few more trilliums since it had looked like the three I planted last year didn't survive the hot summer and cold winter (the all came up this year! only to have one of them eaten by a rabbit), plus a few more plants for different parts of the garden. I ended up with trilliums, jack in the pulpit, hens and chicks, and a few more whose names I can't remember off the top of my head. Jason was off playing flag football during this.

After lunch, Mom and I took Dan to the park that is right around the corner from where we live. Dan had a blast in the swing, crawling around on the playground equipment, and he especially loved the tunnel you can crawl through! The only downfall was that there was a kid around 7 or 8 that had a cold, snot running down both nostrils and into his mouth. If only I had a tissue!

After the park, we spent time outside since it was such a beautiful day out. Dan has been exposed to grass before, but it still took a few tries for him to realize that it's not a bad thing. One thing that Mom noticed was when Dan would pick up a dried leaf, he just played with it. Not once did he try to put it into his mouth. Rocks on the other hand, well, that is a different story!

Before Mom and Jeff left for MN, we had fun playing "Where's the bib" with Dan. The ***VIDEO*** I took was after a few tries at the game. I had to get a few pictures in first :)

I was also finally able to get a video of Dan's "angry cry." ***VIDEO*** When he really gets going, this rolling cry comes out. Not sure if he was Spanish or Mexican in a past life or if he's part Wookie?

All in all, it was a wonderful first Mother's Day. Got new plants, also got them in the ground, spent time with Dan, and got to spend my first Mother's Day with my own Mom. It was rather special.

Happy Mother's Day 2014

Basement Remodel

This past weekend was spent painting, painting, oh, and painting. Our buddy was able to come over and replace the drywall that had gotten wet from the water back up. We had decided to texture the walls as it was easier to patch in the new drywall with the old. Before, we had paneling on the lower half of the wall with a lovely wallpaper that had the strands of fiber running through it.

Family Room - one half of it.

Office/Lower Bedroom - one half of it.

Looking back at these pictures, it's hard to remember that carpet looking that nice! The dogs really did a number on it. The quality of the carpet left a lot to be desired. So what we did, because the water penetrated all along the perimeter of the lower level, from the chair rail down we tore out the old, wet drywall and hung the green board that is designed to be in bathrooms. That way it is mold and mildew resistant throughout the entire drywall. Once that was hung, our buddy came and primed and textured the walls. Funny enough, it looks a lot like one of my animal-print sweaters that I own.

Primed Family Room

Primed and textured Office

So with that done, it was time to paint! I decided to paint both rooms the same color just for the sake of convenience. I like neutral colors, and I really like earth tones. We needed something that would work with the couch that we have downstairs, plus our love seat from our living room set that has now made its home in the office. What I ended up with was a gray-green color from Sherwin-Williams called Techno Gray.

I started painting Saturday morning, and since Jason was busy with the ribbon cutting ceremony at the new police department followed by two games of flag football (one he refs, the other he plays in), I dropped Dan off at our friend's place so I could paint uninterrupted. Here he is playing in the kitchen with our adopted niece C.

Since we were painting, I also painted the ceilings. They definitely needed a new coat of paint. So, after all was said and done, we got the ceiling painted plus two coats on the walls over the weekend. Everything looks so much better than before!

Family Room

Office

 We are still deciding on whether to put down bamboo flooring vs. carpet as well as if we're going to do wood doors or go white. We will be changing the doors out to the 6-pannel style, it's just a matter of whether we match the cherry like we are installing upstairs or have these ones be white. There is a nice divide between the different levels so having these doors white wouldn't look out of place just as long as the door style stays the same.

Aside from Jason having his busy Saturday morning, on Sunday we went to the family open house at the PD and did a little grocery shopping. If you ever come through West Bend, the new PD is beautiful! Not only are the upgrades esthetically pleasing, the functionality is far superior. The safety of the officers and the citizens, whether in custody or not, is vastly improved as well as the facilities for evidence handling, gun cleaning (they never had a place in their old building), and computer/network storage area. Their locker rooms are also much better with vented doors to allow the Kevlar to breathe. If you have never smelled sweaty Kevlar - you're not missing out! They also have a nice workout facility with a large open area for their DAAT training. The chief was talking about having fitness classes in there, which is where I suggested I come in and teach a yoga class. He was very interested. Coming into the PD and teaching the guys yoga has been something on my mind since I was in my yoga teacher training.

Before I end things here, I was able to get the video uploaded of the water flowing out of our sump pump well during our power outage the week before Easter. This is only a six-second clip. Imagine how much water was coming in over the course of 5 hours! Thankfully the way the cement settled in the basement, there wasn't a lot of water overall, nor was it more than a quarter inch deep at the deepest points. It was still a lot of water!

Sump Pump Water Flow - LINK

And, just for fun, I also uploaded a video of Dan laughing at me making fake hiccup noises. He is such a ham!

Fun With Dan - LINK

Before I left for work this morning, Dan and I were playing around. His thing now is grabbing peoples faces, especially lips and noses. He grabs my nose and starts smiling and laughing. I go in to grab his nose and he brings his head forward causing my thumb to hit his forehead. Well, my nail got him and gave him a good scratch. Poor buddy didn't like that. Here is his response after he calmed down. I like to think he's saying "This is where my nose is, silly Mama!"

Sassy Dan

Oh, and while we're going through our things, Jason ran across a picture of him when we was about 7 months old. I definitely think we have a little Jason! You can see glimpses of me in Dan, but there certainly is a lot of Jason! Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Mom, Dad, and Dan at roughly the same age