It's Done!

Yay! The deck is done!

They poured the concrete last Thursday and then came back Friday to power wash and seal it and install the railings. A guy came again Saturday to seal it again.

So now that summer is officially over, our deck is done....odd timing, I know! Maybe we can have a few nice fall evenings to enjoy sitting out there before old man winter makes his appearance!

I'm very happy with the way it turned out and it is really a great outdoor space. We'll need to do a little landscaping and flower potting next spring, but it really did improve our yard drastically!

Nicholas is now clapping/doing pat-a-cake! It was so cute yesterday morning when Hannah went into his room to wake him up in the morning. He popped up from his slumber when she called for him to wake up and when he saw her, he sat right up and had a huge smile and started to clap with excitement! It was awesome! Now he's starting to do it on command a little bit. He claps with one hand in a fist and the other open and has the biggest grin on his face! So stinkin' cute!

I had my first Tastefully Simple party last Friday night!! Although it was a small turnout, it was a great first run at it! I certainly learned that I need to figure out how to plan a little better and how to make it run a little more smoothly, but I guess in some more time, I'll figure that out! Thanks Maggie for hosting again!!! Unfortunately, my next party looks like it will need to be rescheduled, but it's still on, just for a date yet to be chosen.

I hit some of the second hand stores for clohtes for the kids for fall and winter and made out really well! $114 went a long way:

I got 15 things for Nicholas including a London Fog winter coat

And I got 16 things for Hannah

Most of this stuff is Carters, Old Navy, Childrens Place, Gap & Gymboree! Not bad for about $3.67 per item!!! Gives you sticker shock though when you go into a store and buy something new! Especially now that both kids need new clothes each season and Hannah's stuff is starting to get more expensive!!

I'm also proud to report that I've started my Christmas shopping!!! I've got both "big gifts" from Santa for the kids already!!! Man, where do I find the time???

I'm back on the poker run!!! Our poker league started again earlier this month. The first tournament started the year out well. Tony and I both made the final table, getting points in our league, but unfortunately no money. Last night we played again and we both made the final table again and both got points and this time I was in the money placing 3rd. It's so fun to be playing again and sure nice to be winning!!! Hopefully we can keep this streak going and play the rest of the year with our winnings!!!

More Deck Progress

The guys came back Monday morning and just about finished the retaining walls. They must have worked until dark again because I think I passed their truck on the way home from gymnastics around 8:10 that night (when it was completely dark)! Here's what they had done by the end of day 4:

And then today, they were done by mid-day. They had finished the retaining wall portion and cleaned up all of their mess. They reseeded the grass around the deck, but I think we'll be ripping that out and mulching that area, but at least they cleaned up what they had done. Here's what their finished base looks like - looks great!

There are a few issues that we'll have to wait to see how they work out as the next crew comes in. We have a wooden post from the old deck still sticking out of the ground that has electrical run to it. That can't stay, so hopefully they reroute it some how to the new deck. Also, they may be leaving the huge pile of old wood they tore out.....that's going to suck to haul away, but we may be doing it - we'll see.

We're hoping they come pour the concrete tomorrow, but we'll see!

Nicholas is 7 months

Another month flew by! Unbelievable that Nicholas is 7 months old already. Another few months until he's a year and I'll also have a 5 year old by then! CRAZY!

So anyway, Nicholas is developing quite a personality, so different from Hannah....all boy for sure! He's always on the move and wants to be doing something at all times. He's really into playing with all the toys we brought down from the attic. He's mastered crawling and is quite fast now. He pulls himself up on furniture, my pantlegs or anything else he can get his hands on! He's even starting to furniture walk a little. He loves to bounce and jump and is generally very happy. He does, however, show a very angry temper when he doesn't get his way. He can scream very loudly and can really be a little monster! His smile lights up the room and Hannah can still make him smile and laugh more than anyone else.

He's doing great on regular formula now and is also eating rice cereal and all the stage one fruits and vegetables. We've started giving him puffs, but he still has trouble getting them into his own mouth, but is like a little birdie when I give them to him. Sleeping at night is still a challenge, but he is doing better. We still get up 2-4 times a night to give him his binky or to rock him. He's coming to our bed less and less, but still ends up there every so often. He's quite attached to his binky. His top two teeth have broken through the gums this past week and are working their way down to go along with his two bottom teeth. He still has pretty sensitive skin, but we've been doing good since we've figured out what soaps and lotions to use and not to use.

Here he is the morning he turned 7 months, happy to be standing.

And again so happy playing toys

Here is his 7 month picture

And a little taste of his temper when he was done being in his crib at naptime and was upset that it took me so long to come to his rescue!

Under Construction - our deck

So our deck is now under construction! I mentioned in a previous post that we got a guy to buy the material from our old deck and do the demo. That worked out perfectly! He paid us on a Wednesday and came by last Saturday with two buddies and they spent the morning taking out all of the old pavers. They brought two trucks and loaded up twice. It was so great to have them take care of that work AND pay us for it!!! Awesome deal!

Tony started the demo a few days before the guys came for the pavers - taking out all the railings. Here he is working! He was even proud of himself to get a small injury - wouldn't expect less!!! Oh and we found out from our backyard neighbor that the old deck has been here for as long as he has been in his house, which is like 17 years! We were surprised to hear that - we thought it was newer, so I guess it has held up fairly well for that long!

Here's what the old deck looked like before and during demo.

The construction company delivered the materials on Monday morning. The guys started on our first lovely rainy day this week - Thursday. So there are two guys here doing the work, both just crossed the Mexican border! I'm sort of guessing it's hard to find Americans that would do the work they're doing, especially the first day of work. They dug out the remaining posts and perimeter of our old deck with shovels, filling an entire large dump truck with dirt and making a huge pile of old wood. They trenched out the new perimeter of the new structure and worked until they ran out of daylight. Here's what it looked like on Friday morning after their first day. (notice also how many yellow leaves have already fallen down in our back yard - BOO!)

Oh, and as I was cooking dinner Thursday night, I looked out the window to find "the old man" walking around our back yard. See, we have this old man neighbor that doesn't speak a lick of English that is always walking down the street yelling at people. If you let him, he'll walk up to you and give you a kiss (we avoid this as much as we can and when we can't, we only offer a cheek!). He also likes to give candy from his pocket, which also contains lint and a bit of a question as to what year that candy was actually made! I know he means well, but he's annoying. So anyway, I guess he couldn't stand the suspense of what we might be doing, so he invited himself to come back and survey our project. Poor Mexican guys were probably wondering who the heck he was and I wanted to tell them "Loco Neighbor"! It was funny too as Hannah looked out the window and said, "what's the old man doing out there?"

The same two guys came back Friday and started installing the retaining wall. It's really dusty when they cut the blocks. It's sort of hard to invision what the finished product will look like, but we like what we see so far! Here's what it looked like after their second day. Oh, and by the way, the old man came back again for another look Friday night!!! And the guys worked again until the daylight was gone.

I heard the guys pull up in their truck around 8:30 again this morning. They worked until around noon today. They've got the retaining wall around the bottom just about finished and are starting on the top. Here's what we've got so far today.

I'll keep posting the progress. We're hoping it might be done by the end of next week, but I guess it probably depends on the weather. Even if we don't end up staying in this house, this is a terrific improvement that will hopefully help sell. If we do stay here, we'll have a great outside area to enjoy!

O-H

I-O!!!!

Tony got to go to the OSU/Miami game last weekend! My dad's buddy (I guess that's what he is - more on that later) has the tickets, so he went down with the two of them.

He left early Saturday morning and they went down to do some tailgating first.

Ok, so the scoop on my dad and his friend Rick.....well, let's just say that Tony wanted to call Hollywood after spending the day with them! They are probably more alike than my dad may want to admit (sorry dad), but they are so different also. They both know EVERYTHING which tends to lead to the many debates and bickering! Tony said a reality show following these guys around would be like a bad train wreck - that you couldn't stop watching!!

So anyway, Tony really had a great time attending the game. He was really grateful for the tickets - which were great seats! I even allowed Tony to take my camera, which he guarded with his life adn successfully brought back home!

Here are some pictures he took at the game.

I forget the name of this building that they watched the band warm up, but Tony said it was really great and hearing them play gave him chills. He said it would be cool to have a kid play at that level, to which I reminded him that they would have to start first with High School Marching Band....OK, so maybe not so cool!

A great view from their seats

A packed Horseshoe doing O-H-I-O

And a couple more cool pics - Go Buckeyes!

And then because these are the cutest kids I know, here are two siblings that adore one another to all ends!

And this one is of Nicholas the other day playing peek-a-boo with Hannah