Home Improvements - Part 6

Our next step in the process was to tear out all the carpet. We moved all the furniture into my kitchen and pulled out all the carpet Friday night after Claire's party.

Claire's Party

Claire wanted to go to Jumping Jacks for her birthday. Since she had a friend party last year this year was family only. So there were only a million cousins there for her to play with. My kids are so lucky to have so much family close by.






Next we went back to the house and had Mexican food and a Pinata (since we always combine her birthday with the Cinco de Mayo).

Claire got to go first

Sophie

Glen knocked off the first leg - but nothing came out yet

Bella

Luke

Ryan had to get spun around this year

Tayson

Allen had to really spin - he finally broke the whole thing open

Steve dumping out the pinata for the kids to go crazy.
There wasn't any candy in it so the kids got upset so I finally threw a bag of candy out on the grass too.

Then we sang

And Claire blew out her candles

Opening presents
(notice that Tayson did the peace sign in front of my picture - silly boy)

Tayson and Todd being silly

Then the kids went outside to play with bubbles
(as you can see even without a friend party there were plenty of kids)

It was a really fun day celebrating our sweet Claire turning 5! We sure do love Claire Bear!!

Happy Birthday Claire

I can't believe Claire is already 5!! We started her day with birthday pancakes before the boys left for school.


Then we let her open one of her presents - a new "play" dress - and gave her the flowers the boys picked out for her.


Claire has grown up so much in the past year. She started pre-school and dance and has really come out of her shell. She is starting to read (sam at bat, gus the bug type books). She is still tiny and doesn't eat much. The last time I weighed her she was still only 34.5 pounds. I worry a little about her weight and how little she eats but she is healthy and happy so I guess I should be ok that she's a light weight. Her favorite things to do are watch movies on the iPad, play computer, play dress up & play with her princess poly pockets. She loves princesses, barbie and strawberry shortcake. She loves to color and do crafts with Luke. I sure do love my beautiful little princess!!

Kress Demolition

Nu Skin is getting ready to build a sweet new "innovation center" by our highrise. We bought the street between the buildings and a block of buildings. The Kress building was the first to be knocked down. I worked in this building for several years of my career here and sat in 3 different spots between floors 2 & 3. My office was the 2nd window over on the 2nd floor not facing the street. The owners decided to make an event of the start of the demolition and everyone went out in the parking lot to watch the event.

The owners breaking windows

Sandie pulls out the first chunk

Steve pulled out the next big section

Then Blake pulled down the whole top wall

During the demo (between Steve and Blake) they had to fix something up so they asked if anyone met their spouse in the Kress building and I ended up down there throwing a rock through the window. I never broke a window more than a crack and 2 of my 4 throws hit the building not the window. I don't have a great throwing arm I guess. The funniest part was that when I was walking down there I tripped on this huge wire and almost went down. I caught myself but still it was embarrassing. I got teased for days about how I throw like a girl. It was really fun to be a part of Nu Skin history.

Steve and I throwing rocks at the window

Nu Skin brought in JDawgs and drinks for us too

And they let me keep a brick

On a side note: I actually worked in the building next door to the Kress when we first met but Todd and I worked side by side in that building for so many years. Lots of great memories in that building.

Home Improvements - Part 5

The wood is finished and the tiles are all cut and set. Trent, his buddy Rich, Todd and Danny stayed up until almost 6:00 am Friday night/Saturday morning working on the floor. I am so excited with how beautiful it is looking. We still need to grout the tile, caulk the wood edges and do the sealant then I'll have my kitchen back.

side note: keeping the kids and Shadow off the floor for 24 hours while family was in-town staying at my house was so dang hard!!

Time to go home

We were the last ones to leave after the baby blessing. And here's why....

The boys were watching Monsters, Inc.

Sophie was so tired she fell asleep while eating her noodles

And Trent was showing us his "magnum" look

What a great day!

2 peas in a pod

When it was time to leave I told Sophie to go give Ella a hug goodbye. She ran over and gave her a huge bear hug which ended up as more of a tackle with both of them on the ground smiling and laughing. These 2 girls are just so funny. They are both so freaking cute it kills me and they are both so silly and full of energy and fearless. They make a great combo and have so much fun together. On Sunday they were both in the same shade pink dresses and they were walking in from going potty holding hands and it melted my heart. I can't wait to watch these two grow up together - and all I have to say is the boys in college better watch out when these 2 come because they are going to break hearts and cause more trouble than I care to think about.