The Blues Are Gone!!

In February, our landlord finally agreed to have someone come in and replace the toilet and the floor around it in the main bathroom. Andy, the construction man, said when he tried to remove the stool, his foot went through the floor. It was quite the disgusting job, but I was so thankful to get it done. Our house was originally a school, and then built onto to make it a home. It still had the original ***UGLY*** blue stool and sink, right along with the horrific pink plastic tile walls. The landlord would not allow us to tear off the tiles, but in the end, the sink had to be replaced as well. Bummer, huh? NO MORE BLUE!!! I was told there is a special paint that can be used to cover the tiles and then regular bath paint will adhere to them without scraping right off. Lord willing, I will eventually get to paint over the nasty pink. But for now, I am so thankful to be able to use the downstairs bathroom, without the possibility of falling through the floor when you sit on the toilet. :-)

The new sink even has room to set things on the edges. Can't wait to paint in here. Any color suggestions?

Hawkeye Wrestling Meet

For Valentine's Day every year, our church has a banquet. Once again this year, Nate had to work. Another couple in our church had invited us to go to the Hawkeye Wrestling Meet that same night. They later decided to go to the banquet since Nate couldn't go, and then they asked if I wanted the tickets to the meet. They had gotten them for free so just passed them onto us. The boys were so excited and to top it off, a neighbor boy Ryan's age got to go with us. We enjoed the meet and then went to McDonald's for supper and ice cream afterward. (That was my favorite part of the night.) :-)

Ryan and Russell

Mom and Reed
Coaching staff Tom and Terry Brands

Ouch....

Hawkeyes Win.....BIG....49 to 0

We had a great evening. Thanks Steve and Kelly!

A Snow Day

This morning we awoke to several inches of snow. Nathan has had to work quite a bit as of late and today is the only full day he will have off until next week sometime. He and the boys have been looking forward to spending some time together. They had planned to drive to Iowa City and go to the Field House, to play basketball.
With that in mind, the boys got up and started their day. After breakfast, Reed asked Ryan to go out to the garage and shoot hoops. Ryan's reply was 'I can't bud, I got to do school.' (Sounds as though he may need a bit of work on his grammar:) I then called the boys into the kitchen and explained that the public schools were once again having a snow day. So..... Mama decided that we were taking one too. Wow! If you could have seen Ryan's face!! You know the expression...the one that a kid gets when he opens a gift at Christmas and he actually got what he wanted...yep, that was the one on Ryan's face.

Nathan and I spent some time shoveling our very long driveway. It was great exercise, but I am afraid I will be sore come tomorrow morning. It was great to build a memory of us working along side one another. Being partners. I would rather have been mowing the yard, but if we had been, we couldn't have been taking a snow day, huh?

The snow kept falling and Nathan was a bit worried about driving on the roads. So he decided to take the boys into town instead. They spent the evening at Uncle Zach's with him and the cousins.

I got to stay home and CLEAN the house. It's so much easier to do that when I am the only one here. So dishes are done. Laundry is done, folded and put away. Bathrooms are scrubbed, floors are swept. Light bulbs are replaced. Candles are burning. Ahhh.

And then the guys get home.... I hadn't even had the chance to sit down and enjoy it. Not to worry. They all headed off to bed and I am now curled up on the couch figuring out how to blog from my BlackBerry for the first time!

I love snow days! Although, I would rather not have to make them up later!

Skate Shoot

In October, Sarah met us in town to get a few shots of the family. It was a beautiful day and the boys brought their skateboards along. I had worked all morning so after changing in our van and slapping on some make-up, I met them on the square. We started out in an alley and it seemed to work really well. Love having Sarah do our pics. She is very creative, not to mention she is one of very few that can make Nathan smile for a camera!!! Thanks sis.