Jeff turns 40 and other recent happenings.

We have had a full and fun week around here, like most summers, we are busy and usually on the go. I look forward to quiet week nights at home, but love the busyness of time spent with friends and family.

We spent Saturday evening in Okoboji celebrating Jeff's 40th birthday. Maggie had organized a party boat for the night, so Dave and I had lined up a sitter (actually two of them) to stay with the kids. It was our first night away from Greta, so we had a little anxiety as expected. The party was really fun, about 40 people had made the trip over. The weather had almost worked out for the celebration, but it was just too windy and cold to hang by the water, so it was moved to the garage. The boat picked us up at 8pm from the Oliver household and things were smooth sailing until we got a call from our sitter saying there was a bat in the house. Yes, another bat. The kids were in bed, safe and sound, but the bat had scared the sitters outside. I would have been out there, too had I been home. Ill never forget those feelings from two years ago when the bats arrived at the old house. My brother, Sam and Lauren and Elliot came over to scope things out and were not successful with locating the bat so the girls just slept with every light on. We carried on at the party and had a great time.

We came home the following afternoon and when we went to bed last night, sure enough, the bat arrived. He swooped into our room and I simply laid back and pulled the sheets over my head while Dave took a laundry basket and nearly destroyed most of our room (knocking over tables, almost knocking the light off the ceiling, etc.). He claims he was cool and calm, but I'm here to tell you, his voice was trembling and there were a lot of four letter words dropped, all in whisper though, as he didn't want to wake the kids (smart man). He did catch him and we were able to release him. The true test will be tonight. Hopefully there was only one, if not, we will need to take further action.

Im not sure what is to blame for its arrival. The previous owner never had bats, so its hard to tell if he got in through a door or if it has anything to do with the work in the attic. The HVAC people are going to take a good look around to see if they see any signs. In other construction news, Greta's ceiling is leaking. It has been raining here quite a bit and something gave in there. Fortunately its good timing. The contractor is going to scope things out and hopefully find the trouble spot. Speaking of wet weather, we had a tornado warning here last week, too. The four of us went down to the gutted basement and sat on a blanket for about an hour. Fortunately there were no tornados, but it was quite scary.

We are looking forward to a quiet week and weekend ahead :).

Puppet show with Anna and Maggie. 

Sibling pic on the booze cruise.

Dave and I in Okoboji.

Birthday boy and his bride. 

Jumping in puddles is more fun without rain boots. 

Sully, 2 years and Greta, 7 mos. 

Construction Update.

We officially started construction here on 5/27 and it has been busy, to say the least. I went in to it thinking it would be tolerable, which it is until nap time becomes a factor. I initially thought I would go out to Maggie's, but for some reason, that is not at all conducive to Greta's sleep (Sully does just fine). So I thought I would try it here this week. The HVAC people also happened to start this week which has required them to be in every bedroom cutting holes in the ceiling. Not only is it noisy, its dusty as heck. We also had yard workers here removing more rock, so there was no where to go for quiet, for any of us, not even Kenzie. We ended up going to my parents' house which is so quiet and has plenty of space, that may be the best option for us. The construction woes are upon us. No one showed up today (yay!?!, Im torn, its so peaceful, but lets keep moving!,) so we were able to take naps here.

We have had most of the rock taken out of the back, along with relocating one or two trees, as well as removing a stone walkway in order to make way for sod which will be here next week. We are trying to maximize green space back there. Im sure Ill end up with landscaping in 20 years, but for now, we are excited to have space to run and play. It is slowly transforming to what we had visioned.

The basement is gutted. All that remains are floor tiles and wrapped pipes that contain asbestos. The abatement begins next week, so once that is behind us, hopefully the rebuilding process will begin. The attic is also under construction as we are having a HVAC unit installed up there and one in the basement (the house requires two units in order to prevent huge soffits from taking over the character of the home). I touched earlier on the holes in the ceiling (14 to be exact on the second level). Hopefully they come today to measure duct work and then can wrap up the attic portion of the project. We were (kind of) promised air conditioning on the second level by July 1st, so they have plenty of time...

Thats the progress for now. Ill post a couple of photos from the basement portion of the project (the large water spot in the middle is from the boiler, which they are draining).

Before, standing in the NE corner of the room. 

After (I had actually been near that yellow wall on the left in the
'before' photo). I was able to gain 6 or so feet with that wall out. 

Before in the SE corner of the room.

After in the SE corner of the room.

Before, SW corner of the basement. 

After, SW corner of the basement. 

Sully is two!

After much anticipation and excitement, Sully turned two! I can't believe how wild the past two years have been, I could go into detail, but Ill leave you with the gist of it: in the last 24 months, I have nursed for 14 of them and was pregnant for the other 10. Talk about cramming it in. Besides bags under my eyes and the occasional melt down, life is pretty good.

We had a birthday party for Sully on Friday, one day early due to a wedding we attended on Saturday. We grilled burgers, brats and hot dogs, opened gifts, sang birthday songs and ate cake. Sully had a blast. He spent most of the party on the swing set, as did many of the other guests. I wish I could have pushed pause, what a perfect night. Sullivan used the word 'no' appropriately for the first time on his second birthday (speech therapy is paying off ;)), and even had a couple of melt downs. Perfect timing. In spite of all of those 'typical' two year old things, he is still the sweetest boy. He is learning new things every day and Dave and I love to watch grow. We are so lucky to be his mommy and daddy.

In other news, Greta is still as smiley as ever. In the last 3 weeks she has grown four (4) new teeth. Yes, you read that right, four, poor thing. We are up to a grand total of six. We are working hard to improve her sleep habits, which is challenging, but we are trying to focus on the big picture. Now that those teeth are in, Im hoping for dramatic improvements ;).

As I previously mentioned, we spent Sully's birthday at a wedding. My longtime friend, Sonia got married, ironically enough, it was her birthday, too. It was a beautiful wedding, Dave and I had really fun time celebrating with lots of friends who were in town for the big day. Congratulations, Sonia and Brad!

Birthday Boy. 

My dad, honorary grill master.  

Opening gifts with a little help from his favorite girl ;).

Signing 'thank you' to someone for a gift. 

Matchy match, although Isaac may be a smidgen cooler.

Blowing out the candles.

Dave turns 52, Sullivan turns 2, and Jeff turns 40 all in the same week. 

Family photo. 

Congrats, Sonia! 

Memorial Day in Mt Vernon.

Dave and I had been trying to get to Mitchell to see my grandpa since shortly after Greta was born. We finally committed to Memorial Day. We got up early to meet my grandpa and aunt Janet at the cemetery in Mt. Vernon where my grandma is buried. The cemetery hosts an annual memorial service that my grandpa likes to attend, so we met them for it. It turned out to be really neat, something Dave and I both enjoyed. Sully had a blast running around, giggling and chasing after balls near the far end of the parking lot. After the memorial service, we placed flowers at my grandma's grave, then met my grandpa and aunt for lunch back in Mitchell. On our way out of town, we visited Dave's grandparent's graves as well and then drove while the kids napped. It was a great morning. Greta gave my grandpa the smiles she is known for, and he seemed very grateful for our visit.

Playing near Grandma's casket. 

Bye bye Grandpa Wally, we will bring DQ for lunch!

Memorial Day in Mt. Vernon.

Trying on Grandpa's shoes. 

Greta Girl meets Grandpa. 

Lots of love in that chair.

The man he is.

Today is Dave's 52nd birthday. Birthdays around here are celebrated, we put forth the effort to make them feel extra special. On that note, Happy Birthday, Babe! We celebrate you, you are a gem, one of a kind, and we are all lucky to have you.

We have spent the long weekend doing fun family oriented activities, it has been great. The weather has been amazing. We have filled Sully's sand box which has provided him with endless hours of fun. The best part about it is that Dave is just has happy with his butt in the sand as Sully is. Like father like son. Dave and I went out for dinner last night at Parker's, our favorite restaurant. We are going to grill pizzas on the grill tonight with my parents and then enjoy Dave's favorite cake, which I just finished successfully, no small feat (I have failed in the past).

As we sat at dinner last night, I laid it on thick to Dave, no holding back my love for him and my appreciation of us. It is so important for him to know that we know how lucky we are to have him. I rocked Greta to sleep yesterday for her nap and took some time to read through all of our initial facebook messages to each other in the week leading up to our first date. We are lucky to have those. It brought me back to the nervous days, the anticipation of wether we would see each other at work, and if we did, how I would compose myself while he was around. Then I walked Greta near the window and looked out at our backyard, then pinched myself. In my dreams, I hoped for this life. To find an old perfect house in this amazing neighborhood, to fill it with my family and to make it my forever home. I never knew dreams could come true, but thanks to Dave, I have that life I yearned for and it is amazing. Busy and stressful, but really awesome. It is great to have a husband who enjoys laying on the living room floor, with our baby between us, talking about how great she is, who during his downtime, or before bed, looks through his phone at all of the photos and videos we have taken of the kids, who is willing to take a turn walking Greta in the early hours of the morning, who acknowledges and appreciates the amount of work it takes to be a stay at home mom, who refills my water glass at all hours of the night, who picks out music for the moment and for the people who are visiting, everything is intentional from him, who finds the right key before giving me the whole ring when I am going to unlock the door, who warms my toes, who loves my family, who sends me flowers, who checks in, the list goes on and on. We hit the jackpot when it comes to husbands and daddys, and we know it.

Almost sitting (Dave is holding her hand), 6+ mos.

Sully in the sand.

First time with double stroller. Worked great! 

Nap time for Greta girl.  

Family pic at McKennan Park.

Farmer's market flowers with my sweet boy. 

Tulips and the bundt cake. 

My handsome dinner date. 

Dave and his two kiddos.
Happy Birthday, Daddy!!

Staycation

Dave had the week off of work this week and we stayed in Sioux Falls. As we were eating dinner, we were rehashing the activities of the week and it is amazing we are still awake. We were busy; I worked one day, speech therapy, we had meetings meetings with the contractor, architect, HVAC, doctor's appointments for the kids, a dental appointment for Dave, Dave went to Yankton for a night, dinners with friends, a graduation party, the Avera Breast Cancer Race, Mother's Day, and a slew of other activities. It has been wild, but we feel very accomplished.

A few of the highlights include a better than anticipated time for Dave's 5k, lots of time on the swing set and a really nice Mother's Day for me. I was able to get to the flower shop today and plant all of my pots before we had a nice rain storm this evening. Now I just need to cross my fingers and hope for no frost this week. The kids also had great check ups last week. Greta's 6 month stats are as follows: height: 26 inches (62%), weight: 15lbs 4oz (31%), and head circumference 16.75 (54%).  Sullivan's two year stats are as follows: height: 33 inches (21%), weight: 24lbs 6oz (12%) and head circumference 19.5 inches (76%).

Greta Girl, 6 months old. 

Smiles on the swings. 

Family photo at the Avera Race. 

Group photo, the Munces and the Olivers.

Daddy helping Sully carry the Mother's Day gift. 

Luckiest mama. 

Summer is in the air.

I am sitting on my bed, its 1:35pm it is so quiet. The house is clean and both of the kids are asleep in their cribs and Dave just left for Yankton for a 24 hour get away. I just keep looking up and looking around to make sure I'm not missing something. Although it is only temporary, it is so peaceful that I had to quickly capture it.

We have had a busy and fun week around here. We met with the Birth to Three program on Friday and found out that Sully did indeed qualify for speech therapy. It was such an ambivalent feeling. I would have been sad if we had not qualified because I want to help him in any way possible, and I was sad to find out that he needed help. We start weekly sessions on Friday with our therapist, Suzy and it will go up until his 3rd birthday. Im so excited to hear what is going on in his little mind. He is so silly and loves to play. What a great little boy he has become. We are so proud of him.

We went to my mom's art opening downtown on Friday evening. It is really fun to watch people walk in and see all of the colors and rave about her wonderful work. She gracefully and humbly accepts the compliments. I love to brag about her. We also had Art's Night at the Washington Pavilion on Saturday evening. Its a night we anticipate every year. Once again, my mom had a piece auctioned off, and like usual, it was one of the most sought after pieces (yay mom!!). We got into a couple of bidding wars over the art we were most in love with and were happy to walk away with our favorite piece.

Greta girl turned six months yesterday. I cant believe how quickly time is going. She seems so big already. She is not quite sitting up, but will be in the next couple of weeks. She is smily and happy 99 percent of the time (the other 1 percent is certainly due to those two front teeth which are so close to coming through). Although life is really busy, I can't imagine doing it any other way. Dave and I talk so frequently about how lucky we are. Two perfect kids, we really couldn't ask for much more.

On that note, it is now 2:15 and Greta is squeaking. My short lived quiet time is up :).

Anna and Greta, matchy match :).

Swing set fun. Greta is 6 months old! 

Dave's mini me, and he couldn't be more proud
(if you cant tell by the look on his face).

Art's Night, proud to be sitting with one of the artists! 

Art's Night