A little faucet replacement…

We have been working super hard on the basement, as posted here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.  The drywall is coming this week, so we are anticipating some more big changes (at least visually!) to be happening soon!

Since handy hubby has so much free time on his hands these days (haha), it was just our luck when the faucet on our laundry room sink broke this week.  I didn’t see it, but apparently there was a bit of a water fountain when it happened… This led to hubby taking a night off from working in the basement to replace the laundry room faucet.

Here is the old one, in her broken glory….Sorry, Delta, but this was not a high quality faucet!




A quick trip to purchase a new one, and we had a new faucet.  Hubby found a much higher quality Kohler faucet on sale (someone else’s special order “oops”) and within no time, the faucet was back in business!



Sorry for the fuzzy after pic.  This was the best pic I took of it, so this is what you get!

Once again, handy hubby saved the day!

Will we actually grow a tomato?

On Mother’s Day the boys helped me plant flowers.  When we went to the nursery, I decided to also pick up my very first vegetable plant.  Given that the oak trees keep our backyard pretty shady, I decided to pick up a tomato plant to plant in a pot that I could set out in the sun.  On the way home we took a bet – Will we actually grow a tomato that I will eat?  Handy hubby says there is not a chance, so now it’s my goal to prove him wrong.  If you know me, you know that my thumbs are far from green and that the odds really are in his favor.  Especially after our neighbor offered to help keep an eye on it :)

I am going to do my best to help this little guy grow!



The plant has definitely grown this week and is even starting to flower!



I’m afraid this pot is too small - It’s the biggest one I have and I am hoping to not have to buy another one.

What do you think?

Trip to the Minnesota Zoo

I have always enjoyed going to the zoo. There is something about going to see all of the animals that makes me feel like I am at home…Ha ha!  In all seriousness, I love trying to capture photos of kids and animals, so a day at the zoo is always the perfect place to be!  More recently I have not had much time (or motivation) to take many pictures. We have been so busy, and I really enjoyed a day at the zoo with lots of opportunities for fun photo moments. The funny thing is, hubby took most of these photos!  At least I get to enjoy them, and now so do you!

Here are a few pictures of our trip:



This bear put on quite the show swimming against the glass right in front of us!!







Our little reader checking the map to see where we should go next -





Looks like he must have just woken up from a nap!  Stretch….!



A sign that you are in MN – a goose soaring overhead!









We had a perfect day at the MN Zoo!

Mother’s Day is Bittersweet

Today is a day all about Mom’s.  It’s a day for children to make their Mom’s breakfast.  It’s a day for children to help their Mom’s with chores.  It’s the day that Mom’s get to pick what the family is going to do (my family is going to buy flowers and plant them with me!).  Mom’s LOVE to be spoiled, right?!?



Not only is it a day (or weekend) for my boys to spoil me, but I also see it as a day where I get to celebrate being a Mom.  You all know there are so many great experiences that come with becoming a parent: cleaning up toys, washing the endless mounds of laundry, watching sports in the rain, getting woke up in the middle of the night for random reasons, etc.  All of the joys of parenthood :)

Mother’s Day also reminds me of so many things.  It reminds me of the challenges we had to even become parents.  It reminds me that we have been waiting over two years to become parents again.  It reminds me that somewhere, Anthony’s birthmom is thinking about him, and wondering about the life he is living.  It reminds me that while we wait for a birthmom to choose our family, we are also waiting for a birthmom to make a decision that will also impact her for the rest of her life.  It reminds me that there are parts of our lives that we cannot control.  Mother’s Day is always bittersweet.

Today we are thinking about all of our Mom’s. My Mom is in Wisconsin, spending the day with my Grandma, hubby’s Mom is in Seattle visiting his sister, and hubby’s step-mom is in Iowa, 4 hours away. We are thinking about our Mom’s and hoping they all have a great day!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!

Ready for Insulation

I think it’s safe to say that the basement has not been this clean since we moved in!  Last weekend the basement was prepped and now the insulation is going in.  Who knew that insulation smelled so bad?!?  I sure didn’t!

Future family room:


Bar and play area:


Bar area, hallway, bathroom and bedroom:


Another week, and we are hoping for drywall!

Running the BIG one!

Last weekend we were in Iowa visiting some family.  My hubby signed up to run with some of his family - they were all running either a 5K or a 10K race (except for me, of course, because I REALLY dislike running!).  We signed the kids up for the kids race too, which was a pretty short race (200 meters).  Anthony had a blast and thought he was hot stuff wearing an official number on his shirt.

Here he is with his older cousins, ready to run!



Ready for the big race…



Ready, Set, Go!





While his cousins led the pack, Anthony proudly brought up the rear!



He gave it his all!



After the race, the kids all went back up to the registration table to get their medals.  Anthony’s cousins were quick to say, “I got first!” and “I got second!”.  I was such a proud Mom when Anthony enthusiastically yelled, “I got last!”  He truly had a blast running with in his first race and was THRILLED to have run.  He was not at all concerned about getting last.



This little guy knows how to make his Momma proud.

Inspector Gadget…

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted about our basement, and while there is not much to see, we have truly made progress!  We survived the big inspection with no issues – they signed off on the framing, plumbing, electrical and vapor barrier all on the first visit!  Way to go Handy Hubby!  As you can see from this picture, MUCH clean-up is needed before we can start putting up drywall…. (which hubby is actually working on at this very moment!)



Clearly, the basement is full of random tools and misc. scraps…  What a mess!!!  Notice the bundles in the lower right corner though?  That’s about 1/3 of the insulation we are planning to use to try and cover some of the sound that is currently coming through from the floor above.  We are also anticipating that it will be a nice sound barrier when a certain 5-year-old starts having friends over and playing noisy games in the basement.

Next up?  Insulation and then drywall!  I can almost see the progress happening!