Unplanned Home Improvements

The night we were having the cousin sleepover, we found a flood in our basement. Luckily we had been gone all evening, and the kids went to bed shortly after we got home (although they stayed up talking way too late:) Dave and I got to make calls to Dave K. and Dad and then the 24 hour sewer company and the ServPro flood guys. It was quite the adventure that lasted until about 2am. Luckily, the worst of it was taken care of by the time the kids got up in the morning. We should have taken pictures of the damage, but didn't think about it until after the worst of it was already taken care of.

Since we had to redo the carpeting downstairs, we figured we should paint while we were at it. Since we did a ton of the work ourselves, moving furniture, ripping out carpet, painting, etc., ServPro gave us a credit and with that we were able to put it towards carpeting the family room at the same time. It was a HUGE PAIN to move out the furniture (sectional, bookshelves, entertainment center), but so worth it to get new clean, soft, comfy carpet.

The kids were so excited to see the new carpet when they got home from school. They just layed on it and did cartwheels and summersaults. Kinda wish I didn't have to put the furniture back in.

Dave really wanted the carpet, and so I insisted that with new carpet the old gray linoleum would look really bad. So we picked out some new tile-looking linoleum (for the kitchenette) that matched the carpet. Ahh... so much better!

February Events

On Feb. 1, 2013, Dave and I got to go to a Jazz game. It was a rare occasion where I had a "perk" from work- I won tickets at an association meeting. It was a really fun date night.

Kimee won the 4th Grade spelling bee and moved on to the school wide spelling bee. I really wanted to go down and watch, so I brought my 1st grade class down with me. I was super nervous for her. I wanted Kimee to do well, but I also wanted her to get out so that I could take my class back to class. They were getting squirmy. After a few rounds, she ended up being the first one to get out, on the word "undertow" not "undertoe." Her best friend Norah said it was still better to get in and be the first one out than to not get in at all (she was sad she didn't get in).

(Kimee in yellow shirt on left.)

Carol hosted a birthday party for Grandma P on her birthday, Feb. 8. She turned 83. I didn't have a chance to get a formal picture, so this will have to do. We love her so much!

In preparation for our new swim spa, I bought all the kids an extra swimsuit at Costco. Maddi wore hers the entire weekend.

Kimee got jewelry making tools and some beads for Christmas. Here are some of the earrings we made. It was really fun working together.

Maddi made this cool mask at preschool. And yes, she wears shorts and skorts all winter long. (and long pants in the summer, go figure).

Valentine's Day is always such a fun day at school.

Dad got all of his sweethearts flowers.

Audrey made a special note and cupcake for Dad.

Kimee won an art contest for the city's Character Connection Calendar. She was so excited! 

She did Generosity for the month of May. They handed out the awards at the City Council meeting at City Hall.

Cousin Fun

We had a very fun weekend with cousins. Friday, Feb. 15 we had a big birthday party at Bouncin' Off the Walls. After the party, we had some of our cousins come home with us for a sleepover.

 Dave made pancakes for everyone in the morning. Then we had make-over time.

 The girls were so excited to go see Beauty and the Beast at the high school. It was really good!