An Insider View

I posted the exterior of my parents' addition in a previous post. This time I have pictures of the "current" state of the interior. I'm sure it looks somewhat different now, but as of last Saturday, this was the progress. It is all sheetrocked, and maybe taped and mudded now. The stucco dudes were also there on Saturday working on the outside. It's looking so good!

There was a bay window and exterior wall previously. You can see where the addition starts as there is plastic on the ceiling.
Derek in his helper-dude attire.
These french doors lead out onto the extended patio. The boys LOVED helping Daddy and Grandpa screw in the sheetrock. Boys and their power tools, huh?

Grandpa and Taylor working together. Thank you Grandpa for all your patience! Hey, he's the one that asked the little guys if they wanted to help. :)

I need help!

I need help...well, in many ways, but that's a whole other blog entry. :) I am making our annual family video/picture montage set to background music. The problem is, (and this is where I need your help), is that I don't have any ideas for music this year. So...if you have heard any songs that relate to family, children, love, sentimental mushy, good times, etc. please post a comment and list them!! Thanks a bunch!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! We had a busy, but fun day. It all started early this morning since Derek has school at 8:00 am. Taylor and I watched his school parade, which was very cute. After we picked up Derek from school and took a plate of cookies to Dave's office. It was fun to meet all the people he tells stories about each day. Then we raced home in time to babysit for my sister.

Here are some photos of the boys outside Dave's work. We had time to kill. Derek was "the Red Batman". The first time he put this costume on he said "I don't even look like Derek. I look like Batman".
Here's Raphael, our cute little Ninja Turtle.
Derek and two of his cousins that we watched today, Cameron and Landon.

Don't be too impressed with this cute dinner. It was $4.99 from Papa Murphy's. :) But I thought it was fun so I took a picture of it anyway. Ha ha.

The End of a Fun Day

After dinner we went trick or treating. The boys only lasted 40 minutes. Taylor got spooked at one too many doors and decided he was done. He stopped going up to the last of the doors and Derek went up all alone. Some doors Taylor did actually walk up for candy, however, he'd refuse to take the candy once he got there. Just take the candy dude!! You're already there!!

Here's Taylor and his loot.

This is a total "Better Homes and Gardens" shot...well I thought so anyway. :)
All done trick or treating. What a fun day.

An Early Lesson on Taxes

Pumpkins A Go-Go

Here are some photos from our pumpkin carving family night. The boys drew on their pumpkins and we were supposed to cut out where they drew. That turned out impossible to do, since Derek's facial features were tiny and Taylor just scribbled all over his. (Apparently his pumpkin "was on fire".) So they described what face they wanted and we did our best to carve it for them. We had a lot of fun and the boys love looking at their jack-o-lanterns.

My Parents' Addition

We've been driving up to my parents' house just about every weekend for the past six months. Dave and our brother-in-law have been helping my dad build this addition to their house. Dave has learned a whole lot since he's been involved with everything from the foundation to the roof. Here are some photos of the current state of the addition. It's extending the dining room and deck and adding a storage room and guest room to the basement.

I guess it looks a little different now. These pictures were taken a few weeks ago. There is now a window in the downstairs room just under the upstairs window.

I'm glad we captured them working on a stormy day. It has rained or snowed the past five weekends that they have been working. But the weather has been great now that they are done with the exterior work. Great.