Happy Birthday Heather!

I can't get video to work on Facebook right now, so this will have to do!

Baby Olivia

We went to see baby "Libia" this morning. She is SOOOO sweet & so tiny. It's fun to be reminded of that stage (and what we're in for in the coming months!). Kendall did really good holding her, and wanted to snuggle her & give her kisses.

Kendall has gotten on the imagination bandwagon again lately - the other day she told me that her back hurt because she fell down. I responded, "I'm sorry to hear that" and she replied with, "Mommy I need a XRay". OOOOOOK....

She also says the most random things before she falls asleep. I'm not sure if she was half asleep the other night or not when she blurted out, "that's not a lady, that's a MAN!!!" What?!?

In this picture, she is pretending to be a kangaroo with her "milk in mines pouch". :)

Plant Party

I really don't want any of the beautiful landscaping at the new place to go to waste, so we are going to have a plant party! Bring your shovels over on Oct 3rd (email me for directions) and take home some nice plants for your yard! Now's a good time to transplant this stuff, and there is a TON of it, so I really want to see it go to a good home. If you have space for it, come & get some!!

The "New" "House"

Well... we closed on the "new" "house" today. I put both in separate quotes because it's actually very old and we bought it for the lot, not the house. This is the view from the pier:

Yes, you're counting correctly - SEVEN steps to the lake!! It's going to be a lot different than our current 40+!! I don't know what we'll do with all our time saved from going up & down steps to the lake.

We're going to donate the house to the fire department to do a training burn after we completely gut it & reuse/sell/donate as much as possible inside & out.

Kendall & I decided to celebrate with a couple free scoopies from Culvers. Brett celebrated by going to the Brewer game.

She has to make sure to get every last "nem nem". It's a good thing it's bath night! She went to town on this dish!

Our week hasn't been the best as our meeting with the Town of Dunn regarding building on the lot went very bad. Actually, it probably went as bad as it could have gone. There were at least 6-8 GROUPS of neighbors there opposing us! Since the house sits on two lots, we were looking to build on one and sell the other. The neighborhood thinks that will result in a great loss in greenspace & too much house on those lots which would be non-conforming to the neighborhood. The reality is that if we were going to build what is allowed on both lots, it would be an 18,000+ sqft house! Talk about non-conforming!! They are very protective of their neighborhood - most have been there for 20-30+ years.

We have a meeting with Dane County tomorrow night (which I'm not going to) but the DC rep basically told Brett we're going to get denied at that one too. So, we have to rethink our plan. At this point, it's such a great lot, we'd rather build one house on both than have to give it up. If we did so, we wouldn't have to go through any of this approval process, it's all just administrative. So, that's the route we're leaning towards right now. This, of course, could change.

In the meantime, here are some pics of the place - and some things we are selling from it. Let me know if you are interested!

Most of the appliances are in pretty good shape! Washer:

Dishwasher:

Check out the retro hoodfan over the stove!

There's also a dryer, water softener, fridge & stand-alone freezer that we're going to be putting on craigslist too. I'm sure many other items will be on there too, including the kitchen sink. :)

We LOVE this wood in the living room - would make a great ceiling for our screenporch (great idea, Spanos!) or...?? trying to think of other ideas. There's so much of it! The dark door you see in the bottom right is really old & has a ton of character. We're going to use it as the door to our under-garage storage area.

Also LOVE the beams & wood on these stairs! It's in GREAT shape, and we will hopefully be able to reuse it somewhere in the new house.

I forgot to ask if there's hardwood under the carpet (which is also in good shape & will be reused in Brett's rental properties) I hope there is so we can use that too!!

There's also a TON of landscaping that I'm not quite sure how we're going to save through the winter, but if we can't then there will be a plant party & everyone can come over with their shovels & take whatever they can use!

Thank you, Mother Nature! Look at what happened to the boat hoist canopy during yesterday's storms!! Completely ruined! At least the hoist is ok, which is good because whoever ends up buying our current house is getting it!

iPod Nanos for sale!

We are selling our iPod Nanos. They are 1st generation, in black. One is 1GB ($30) and one is 4GB ($50). They come with the USB charger & headphones. Let me know if you are interested!

Finley's Baptism

We had a good day celebrating Finley's baptism with the family. Kendall got to wear her "pretty dress", and of course had to put "lips gloss" on for the occassion.

She also got to try out Carsen's new scooter. The helmet was a bit big, but served it's purpose for the test drive in the garage. Too bad Kendall wasn't wearing it when she tipped over Carsen's car in the driveway.

Here's a pic from Saturday night when Kayla & Kendall shared a ride on the red bull.

Badger Game!

Kendall and daddy went to watch the Badgers whomp on Wofford. He said she did really good - they stayed for the entire first half & left after watching the band at half time. Go Badgers!!! :)

Kendall loves her new bib that Natalie made! Check out my followers for her blog. Here's a link to her Etsy site. She makes great jewelry, bags, scarves, you name it! We love her stuff! :)

First Day of Preschool!!

Kendall had her first day of preschool today, and yes, Mommy survived!! She had this smile plastered on her face all morning while we were getting ready!




I think it was easier for me because she was SOOOOOO excited - she didn't even care that we were leaving. She gave me a hug & went off to meet her new friends. I was hoping that school would tire her out & she would have a big nap this afternoon, but she's been talking in bed for the last 45 minutes. A little wound up perhaps?!? We are going to go to the ice cream shop to spoil our dinners in celebration this afternoon - if she ever sleeps! :)

Another Fun Weekend!

We had another fun weekend! Brett went to the Badger game on Saturday so Kendall & I went to hang out with Becky & Lucas. Kendall LOVES Lucas, so she was too excited to take a nap that day! Oh well, she was pretty well-behaved while we were there so I didn't complain!

Kristin alerted me to a beam that was for sale by someone in her district, so I bought it for Kendall! She absolutely loves it, and was doing "cartwheels" on it today. :) Here's one of her and her "airplane arms".

Today we went to Lisa & Chad's engagement party. Sharon had it in the backyard & it was a perfect day! In fact, it was a little too much fun, and I think I'll be hitting the sack very shortly (930pm). Brett is content watching the Packer game so it's a good opportunity for some extra zzzz's! Here are some pics from the party:

The cute couple!

Kendall & Uncle Chad:

The Family:

Kendall loves her baby cousin Finley!

Busy week!

We had a busy week this week! Kendall had a good last week of "vacation" - she starts preschool on Tuesday *sniff*!! It's just a couple mornings per week, but I still can't believe it! Should be a very good thing for her. Here she is wearing her grass skirt as a top.

She had allergy testing this week - poor kid! She inherited some of mommy's allergies - dust & pollen. She's also allergic to mold & CATS!! Good thing Bucky & Charley found a new home back before we listed the house! I wasn't expecting that one at all! Before we left the house I put her shoes on & she responded with, "thank you, my daughter." What?!?

Kendall came into the kitchen with headless Barbie this week. I was slightly disturbed, but realized she's 2 & didn't mean to be decapitating her. She did say, "where's Barbie's head, mommy? I look everywhere!" so at least she was concerned! :)

There's another home game tomorrow but Brett will be going without me. I'm not sure how many I'll be going to, last week was fun but not the most comfortable! Especially when my shoe came untied!

We had a few new babies in our lives this week (on the same day actually!) - congrats to Jessica & Darin and new baby Ryker and congrats to Ben & Nicole and new baby Olivia! I got the phone calls within 30 minutes of each other. What an exciting Thursday morning that was! :)

I've been getting really uncomfortable this week, hopefully baby is just in a weird spot & will find a new position in my belly soon. Not sure how 10 more weeks of this is going to go (or 12, however you look at it!). But I do like being able to eat ice cream everynight (if I don't have raging heartburn) without feeling too guilty! :) Brett caught me during my balancing act tonight!

Brett likes it too!!

What a great weekend!!

Labor Day weekend was a great one! The weather was beautiful, so we got some good boating time in as well as the first Badger game of the season!

Friday night Brett went out with the guys, so Kim & Lily came over for a pizza-picnic. We had some laughs when the first pizza got here - thankfully they brought us a new one!

Saturday was the Badger game ~ we had a fun time! The weather was perfect, and it was a 6pm game so we had time to go out on the boat beforehand.

Sunday was another boating day - this time Kayla went with us. We went to a place that has sandbars so Kendall & Lily could play in the water. Even Toby got in on the fun, taking tube rides. It was great!

Monday we went out on the boat in the morning and Brett went wakeboarding and surfing, and Leslie tried to surf. I've been able to do it in the past, but I guess being 28wks pregnant hindered things a bit this time. Oh well, I'll try again next year!

Here's a video of Brett surfing without the rope:

Here's one of me trying to surf, but not being able to get going (we tried a couple different ways of getting up, and neither worked). PS - I can't drop the rope, I can only hang on behind the boat (like skiing, but only about 8-9MPH):