Tag Archives: demolition

December 24-31, 2019 ~ Christmas and New Years Eve

Well, it seems appropriate that as I sit here writing about the Christmas and New Years Even holidays it is blistery and snowing outside! Perhaps even more wintry than it was during Christmastime.

Dad, Amy, Greta and I did our traditional Christmas Eve Shopping trip this year a day early on the 23rd so on Christmas Eve we hung out around the house and had a lazy morning. It was a nice and warm day, quite unseasonable actually, so when I  headed out with Brutus we went on a nice and long 2 mile walk. The kids played hockey in the driveway along with Amy and Andy. Then later in the afternoon we packed up to head to Powell for Christmas Eve at NPC. We got home in time to drop off and feed the dogs, do a quick change out, and pack back into the car to head to church all in about 10 minutes. Whew. We didn’t really plan ahead for dinner but we lucked out and were able to enjoy a tasty spread at Koble in Powell on our way home. Yummers! Once we got home we put out cookies, carrots, and milk for Santa and then put the boys to bed. After a short bit we were off to bed ourselves as we knew we were likely in for an early morning.

The boys got up about 6:20 and once we were all downstairs we jumped right in to their stockings and gifts from Santa that were on the hearth. They were both excited for many of their gifts and moved right along through everything. Some of the top hits: Pokemon cards, Pokemon Go balls that crack open and have mini characters, and a PS4. Reid loved his kids karaoke machine and Griffin got some new winter boots.

Check out this picture from two years ago – Griffin is wearing the same sweater that Reid wore this year! These boys are getting big!

After a light breakfast at home we packed up into the van and headed to Mansfield for Christmas with Mom, Dad, Amy, Andy, Graham, Rowan, and Greta. We made it there by about 10, I think, and began with a nice tasty breakfast before digging in to more prezzies. After a restful afternoon we enjoyed a deluxe prime rib dinner and figgy pudding for dessert! Mom and Dad always go to great lengths to feed our combined army’s while we are there and we love it!

We hung out for the next couple of days which usually began with pretty early mornings for me and the doggles. I often got my cup of coffee at least started before I heard the pitter patter of the kiddos coming down for the day anywhere between 6:30-7 am. The kids played together outside, Rowan and Griffin played a lot of Pokemon cards, Greta used her pottery wheel, Reid and Greta (and Finn, a little) decorated a gingerbread house. Graham played his rubix cube and could often be found reading.

Kevin worked in the basement with Dad on the basement demolition tearing down the wall paneling, pulling down individual ceiling tiles and subsequent ceiling staples. Kevin also helped Dad move the internet and telephone from the basement to the upstairs den and in doing so needed the assistance of a helper in the form of a smaller body to climb into the confined crawl space. Enter Griffin! He was a great helper to get the wires through to where they needed to go. He was a bit apprehensive at first to go into a small, dark space but he worked through his nerves and did great!

After Dad’s office was relocated up to the dining room Kevin found Griffin sitting next to Dad talking football.  Now, this was well past his bed time, but this kid has a heart and passion for sports and it was really sweet to see and hear him having a conversation with Dad about the game they were watching :).  Oh…..and then they moved on to Poker!

These aren’t the greatest pictures, but the document our trip to the waste management facility to drop off a truckload of paneling and ceiling tiles from the basement. From the time I called to see what time they closed until we were leaving with an empty truck was about an hour. We busted booty to get it done and we made it!

And once we returned home I was anxious to get our dying tree taken down! It was hard and bristly and losing needles and I couldn’t wait to get it to the curb! The boys were happy to climb up the ladder yet again. Reid has NO fear, he just zips right up there. Griffin is a little more reserved but once he feels confident he loves helping and going up and down. Lots of play happened over the next few days.

I knew the day was coming when we were going to remove the front of Reid’s crib and turn it in to a big boy bed so I snapped some photos of him sleeping in his crib. Those big cheeks still get me. It’s always such a milestone and a happy yet sad one. He had been climbing out numerous times each night;it was pretty much a fun game for him and he had a really good system in place! While I was at work one day Kevin took the front off while he was home with the boys. Reid was SO excited to have a big boy bed. Ironically, I checked in on the video monitor while I was at work and I saw it all happening. His reaction was cute and the video below is when it all went down, lol.

 

This next series I describe as the “many faces of Reid”. this boy just has so many expressions. I mean all day long whether he is happy, sad, mad, silly, whatever it is he has an expression for his emotion and it cracks me up. It is one of the many super cute personality traits of our feisty little man.  I love it when he looks at me, squints his eyes and smiles and says “I miss you mommy”.

 

For New Year’s Even we had a few neighbors over to our house for a low-key hangout. George, Ella, Dewey, Griffin, and Reid all played together for quite some time. We had pizza, lots of finger foods, drinks, and party favors. Carlene, Matthew, and Jade joined us a little later and even Brutus and Lily got to come downstairs before the ball dropped. We were sitting down just talking and turned on the ball drop and believe it or not we completely forgot to pop the champagne and get our drinks ready for the countdown! We scurried at the last minute and made it just in time.

May 31, 2014

DSC_0548Get ready for photo overload! It will come as no surprise that I had a wee bit of trouble narrowing down the photos this week, which means there will be many for you to see!

Last year when Finn was about 10 or 11 weeks old we went to the Powell Memorial Day Parade. It was cold and raining. This year was a completely different story! It was sunny and 80 degrees! There were so many people there and we even ran into our friends, the Eilermans! Many people brought their dogs and Finn loved being able to pet a few of them (and a pony in the parade – see below!). We headed to Rita’s Italian Ice in Powell for a sweet treat to top off the morning.  In the afternoon we headed to the Mihocik/Kessler Memorial Day cookout. We had a fun time and Finn loved having free reign and wandering about amongst so many other kids. DSC_0529 DSC_0537 DSC_0539 DSC_0556 DSC_0554 DSC_0562 DSC_0566 DSC_0572 DSC_0575 DSC_0579 DSC_0582 DSC_0589 DSC_0596 DSC_0608 DSC_0619 DSC_0622 DSC_0624 DSC_0625 DSC_0627 DSC_0631 DSC_0640 DSC_0647 DSC_0653 DSC_0661We are loving (me especially!) having a garden right off the edge of the patio. Finn is such an outdoors little guy. He LOVES to go outside to check on the plants and help me water them (and the indoor plants too). In fact, he oftentimes picks up the watering can and pretends to water the houseplants. He does that pretty much everyday! And outside he keeps himself occupied by stacking the empty pots. He loves to dig in the dirt and also loves that Lily is out and about on the patio and in the yard. He says “yilly yilly yilly” to get her to come back over to him. It’s the cutest thing, really. DSC_0718 DSC_0716 DSC_0713 DSC_0708 DSC_0642

Amy and I had been tossing around the idea of going Strawberry picking with the kids. I found Mitchell’s Berries in Plain City, literally just barely outside Dublin, so we gave it a try on Friday morning. Finn and Greta picked some berries and helped themselves to plenty of samples during our adventure. And Graham and Rowan had a good time too – RoRo was my little shadow, coming up to me and saying “whatcha doing Iggy”, “can I help Iggy”, and of course wanting a taste of my lemon-water (“what’s that Iggy”). It was a fun morning and perfect weather! Sarah, Audrey, Samantha, and Mary Lou joined us too. DSC_0762 DSC_0749 DSC_0753 DSC_0763 DSC_0736 DSC_0733 DSC_0769 DSC_0771 DSC_0772 DSC_0780 DSC_0786 DSC_0793 DSC_0799 DSC_0803 DSC_0804 DSC_0810 DSC_0813 DSC_0817 DSC_0820 DSC_0827 DSC_0831It was the Memorial Tournament week this week too which is always a fun time. Friday night we had a slumber party here with Debbie and Sammy as Debbie was so kind as to stay at our house to watch Finn so we could go out in the evening. However, the plan changed throughout the day so Debbie and I headed to the Tournament in the late afternoon with Finn and Sammy while Kevin and his dad did some major demolition to the former dining room! They were on a tight schedule to get things ready for the dry-wall people to close-up phase one of the new kitchen. We had a lovely stroll around the golf course and then came home and the boys had some dinner followed by a bit of fun with bath time! And Saturday morning Finn was pretty excited to see Debbie and Sammy and be able to play for a short while before they had to leave. photo (21) photo (22) DSC_0842 DSC_0852 DSC_0867 DSC_0871 DSC_0914 DSC_0923And Sunday afternoon Finn spent a few hours with Cameron while we were at the Tournament. He really adjusts well to staying with anyone and was totally good with us leaving after the initial shock of major kisses compliments of Clarence, the Howard’s dog! IMG_20140601_181552777 IMG_20140601_182337492For the first time I witnessed Finn actually climb something other than the stairs. Here he is, looking all proud and yet also checking in to see if he should be doing what he is doing! We put this box near his playpen so I would remember to take it to work and sure enough he found it and hopped right on top!DSC_0941And a few other shots from the week, here Finn is dancing and snacking while on a recent trip to the mall. And Finn and Sammy are checking out the monkeys and lions at the zoo!IMG_20140531_155811993photo (24) photo (23)An update on the remodeling progress.  Kevin and Jim have made a ton of progress. They demolished the tray ceiling in the former dining room and Jim did tons of electrical wiring in the ceiling of the new kitchen as well as wiring for all of the appliances. Jim also re-wired the Radon pump on the exterior side of our house so the electrical line wasn’t running on the outside for half the length of the side our house. Plumbers were here to rough in the plumbing for the kitchen sink and the gas line for the range.  The drywallers came and hung the ceiling in the new kitchen and the small walk-in utility room. They also finished the walk-in pantry. DSC_0890 DSC_0888 DSC_0928 DSC_0929 DSC_0663 DSC_0664 DSC_0665 DSC_0887 DSC_0949 DSC_0950 DSC_0954 DSC_0948 DSC_0945DSC_0692 DSC_0694