Here's an update of our Adventures lately.....

We went to Jamie and Deanna Fluit's to celebrate Ryleigh and Serenity's birthdays. We ended up shooting off fireworks and sparklers.

Benji was pretty proud of himself for doing 3 sparklers at once....boys.

Serenity loved asking DJ for help with her sparklers.

I love how Serenity and DJ have the same expression on their faces :)

A couple of the shots I got of the fireworks.

~~~~~~More to come~~~~~~

House or Home???

Well it has been one month since my last post so I thought I would give an update (sorry no pictures this time). We hoped that we have been able to move in this past weekend (Feb. 19-21) but unfortunately that didn't happen. Apparently we think we need hot water, a stove, etc. But we are once again hoping to move in this weekend (Feb. 26-28)! We got our kitchen counter top in yesterday and it looks AWESOME!!! We are now taking baby steps to get in the house. Here's what I think we have left...
1. Get our appliances hooked up.
2. Get all our plug-ins working.
3. Get our hot water heater hooked up.
4. Get our light fixtures in the main hallway (2 lights)
5. Get our light fixtures for the upstairs bedrooms (3 lights)
6. Get lights int he upstairs closets (3 lights)
7. Get the plumbing completed and fix what has been completed :(
8. Get some more necessaties for the house (TV (yes this is top on our list), DVD player, FOOD, Vacuum cleaner, etc.)
9. Put in closet system for master bedroom closet
10. Complete master bathroom closet
11. Put in shelf and rod in laundry room closet
I think that pretty much does it. I hope we can get most of this stuff done so we can move in THIS weekend. I'm ready to be out in our new house and hopefully will be able to call it HOME soon!

Painting...

Painting is officially DONE!!! What a relief to have that finished. I believe this is a HUGE accomplishment. Thanks to everyone who helped!!!!

Here is a look from out bedroom doorway. The very top is our upstairs (there will eventually be railing there to overlook the living room), the red is the kitchen and the green room to the right is our office.

Here is our bedroom. We have 1 wall of dark purple and the other walls are the same brown as the living room. The orange on the left is our master bathroom.
Orange of the master bath.

Melissa's artwork :)

Joe painting over Kay's signature.

Here is DJ and Dan painting the high living room ceilings

Here is Whitney working on the edging in the main floor bathroom.

The KITCHEN!!!

Another view...

Here is our office/library/piano room which is currently holding all of our doors and trim.

We have started sweeping all the floors and are going to be working on mopping them today to prep for our flooring.

1. Sweep.

2. Mop

3. Let dry

4. Vinyl flooring

5. Laminate hardwood flooring

6. Carpet

7. Cabinets

8. Plumbing/heating gets completed

9. Lighting and electrical gets completed

We are also pleased to say that we have gotten all of our furniture!!!! From HOM Furniture in Sioux Falls, SD. Finally a bunch more items have been crossed off of our list.

Please keep praying for us as some days get very frustrating and tiring. Thank you for all your support so far!

Color

Siding has been started!!!! It is so exciting to see what color our house will be and know that we won't be looking at that white house wrap forever. :) DJ picked out the color and I was really nervous that it would turn out to be a really ugly color. When I heard that the siding was started, I couldn't wait to see what it actually looked like. I LOVE IT! Who knew? (Apparently DJ but don't tell me him that) The insulation is almost done too so the inside of the house can actually stay a little warm or at least a tad warmer than outside. We also have begun to pick out flooring. We looked at 2 places and think we have found what we are looking for. Everything seems to be coming together well and we are so greatful for that. Please pray for us and for the process to continue to be simple and fun!

The start to the island in our kitchen

One of the pipes in the basement...burrrrrrrrr

Insulation!!!!

The start to our siding!

A little further...

We are getting further and further with the house. Here are some pictures to give you an update...

We have garage doors!!!!

Our front deck.

Some of the wiring

Our main floor tub/shower. This is the same one that is in the upstairs bathroom.

Thanksgiving Teeth

Thanksgiving was a great day that we spent with family. We got to sleep in and then went to DJ's parents house for dinner. After dinner a little competition was started. Ginger and Samantha both have a loose tooth so we wanted to see who could pull theirs out the fastest. The weekend before I was at Ginger's house and she pulled out a tooth then with just one yank so I thought this time would be the same. Lots of people gave it a try to get those little teeth out but no one was successful. In time, I suppose they will come out on their own but it was fun seeing them try so hard to get their teeth out so they could get that dollar from grandpa.

DJ working on getting Samantha's tooth out

Ginger & Samantha trying to get their teeth stuck in an apple.

Duane working on Samantha's tooth.

Taking another look...

Ginger showing off her loose tooth on the left and the hole from the weekend before on the right.

DJ's Birthday

DJ's birthday was the 22nd and so we celebrated the night before with a bunch of our friends. We had a BBQ and then went to the cue. It was a fun night full of lots of laughs.

DJ and I before the night began...

Gathered in the kitchen getting ready to eat...
DJ with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles birthday cake...

Eric & DJ putting up their "gang signs." Eric lives on 14th Ave

so he put up a "14" & DJ & I live on Dove Ave so he put

up some wings :)

DJ, Nick, Eric & Lance