Disaster House
0While we were out of town at Disney our dishwasher decided to dump some water on our wood floors. It really hasn’t been the best few months for us when it comes to water. If you haven’t guessed already the wood floors sucked the water right up and started to buckle. That is how we ended up in a disaster house the past couple weeks.
While the floors in the other rooms were getting sanded and stained, the three of us and all our furniture were limited to two rooms of the house. The limited space wasn’t bad alone but the stain smell and dust just puts the whole annoying situation over the top. Luckily we made it through the main area resurfacing and now with the contractors finishing up the kitchen everything is coming together nicely. One more coak of polyurethane and then we can get everything back to normal. The only other gap is the missing spindles on our main staircase. It kind of makes me feel like a dare devil every time I go up and down the stairs. If it wasn’t for Carter I would say just leave them out!
The great flood of 2013
0What a week last week. Mother nature just opened up the spigot and dumped a lot of water on us. My rain gauge read 8″ but I bet it was at least double that. Thursday morning you couldn’t even get out of our neighborhood because all the roads were flooded over. I know because at 4:00 AM our sump pump went out and I had to run to the local lowes to buy a new one. It was me and a hundred of my closest friends lined up to buy all the sump pumps that lowes had in stock. Luckily I got the last one and then rushed back home to install it.
By then it was too late, we already had about an 1″ of water in the basement. It ruined all of the new flooring we laid just 3 weeks earlier. Luckily none of the stuff was ruined and we ended up just losing the floors. The next day I shed a tear or two as we ripped all the floors out and put it out for the garbage man. Now we wait as the 8 fans and 2 dehumidifiers try to suck the dampness out.
Big Boy!
0Carter is such a big boy! He has been having a very successful 3 weeks of big boy underwear and as of this weekend is now in a full size big boy bed. At this rate he could be driving a car next week.
Happy Easter
0This year went much better than last year. Carter wasn’t screaming bloody murder when we went and saw the easter bunny at the mall during the week. He was all smiles and we ended up with a great photo. It was pretty funny though to watch all the other screaming kids. The other amazing thing was that the bunny didn’t look creepy like the one last year.
Saturday our association did an easter egg hunt at the club house. Carter got to race alongside all his neighborhood friends to get a field full of eggs. Carter for some reason only picked up orange eggs. He hasn’t really expressed orange as a favorite color but after he threw a green egg back it was clear that orange is now the color of choice.
Saturday night Grandma Stubler came up and then Sunday Grandma and Grandpa Wassmer stopped by. Both brought goodies for Carter which he enjoyed thoroughly. Of course Grandma Stubler came with a basket full of Pirates gear: a new jersey, socks, and a mug. I’m guessing there is some sort of sports-ball season starting soon…
St Patty’s Weekend + Cousins Visit
0The Wassmer family doesn’t like to relax, so for the weekend immediately after our Disney trip my sister and family came up to hang out. It was St Patty’s day weekend so of course we did the St Patty Day Naperville 5k. Unfortunately I had a bum ankle because I rolled it when I was in Florida but Julie ran her butt off. Julie didn’t get her best but who really runs a St Patty’s day run to get their best time? It is really for the green beer at the end!
It took Carter a couple days to stop talking about his cousins, he loved hanging out with them. They kept him busy in the basement most of the day… running around playing basket ball or piecing together his train. When it was time for bed time all of them took turns reading Carter a book, what good readers they are! I wish they lived closer so they could do it every night.
Happy Birthday Sue
0Happy Birthday, Sue! Julie and her family surprised her mom by throwing her a party to celebrate the big 40. Of course Carter loved the cake and was super happy to get to keep the balloons.
Basement = Almost Done
1The wood was laid last week and the carpet installed today. We are almost done! The trim just needs a little paint and a few other minor touch ups to go.
Disney 2013!
2The 3 of us took a little 4 day vacation down to Florida to visit the most wonderful place ever, Disney World. We had such a good time last year we just had to do it again this year. This time, however, we didn’t tell Carter until we woke him up at 5 am to head for the airport. He had a dazed and confused look on his face but you could tell he was excited. The plane ride down to Florida was awesome. Carter sat by the window and loved every minute of it. Four Chuggington videos and a couple games later we landed in Orlando.
The first stop was a quick trip to the Boardwalk to start off our Disney fun. That night we strolled around and ended up having dinner at a nice little restaurant. After dinner we took a short boat ride from the boardwalk over to one of Epcot’s main gates. That was about all we could handle for one day so we took our tired selves back to the hotel and passed out.
Sunday started with breakfast with Mickey, Goofy, Pluto, Minnie, and Donald at Chef Mickey’s. Each character comes by and does a meet and greet with each table. The food was great and Carter loved hanging out with the characters. After breakfast it was off to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. It was a very full day of fun at the parks. We did a bunch of rides at Magic Kingdom and then walked around Epcot while Carter took a nap.
The next day we took it easy and hung out by the pool in the morning and went to Downtown Disney that night. Downtown Disney is a great place to hang out. They have the standard shops and restaurants but also street performers that every so often do shows in the middle of the street.
The final day at this wonderful wonderland was spent roaming around Hollywood Studios. Julie’s parents came up from south Florida and joined us for the day. We met so many different characters that I thought his head was going to explode. Meeting Buzz and Woody was the highlight of the day. Carter really loves all of the characters from all the pixar movies, but who doesn’t?
Snow Day!
1Carter, like most kids in the Midwest I’m sure, had a blast playing yesterday in the fresh 10″ of snow. We finally got to break out the snow pants and snow boots. I was afraid that the tags would never come off of those things!
I don’t think he remembered much from last year’s excursion. The first 15 min was just spent walking around the yard making train tracks with a ginormous smile on his face. This was followed by a brief snow shoveling effort then a weak snow man attempt and finally ended with the infamous snow fort. Don’t tell Julie but I think I had more fun making the fort than Carter did.
It Looks the Same
0Does anyone else do occasional drive by’s past your old house? We sure do! O the memories I have from that house and that neighborhood. It sure doesn’t look like much has changed from the outside except for that extension to the driveway. I can’t remember how we fit all of our stuff in that place, it looks so small now.
Birthday x 3
0Yes, I am a year older now and thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes. I’m not the only one getting older, Julie’s dad and Piper King also incremented their age.
Julie parents came up and we ate dinner at Sullivans Steak House to celebrate the special occasions. I’m not sure you can get a bad meal there, as always the food was excellent. As an added bonus, Jim and I got a free dessert and the staff took a picture of all of us to remember the evening. As you can see below, the picture turned out pretty good.
Saturday morning, Carter and I went to Lowes Build and Grow to build mommy an awesome Valentine’s Day chore wheel. We have done a few of these in the past and Carter just loves hammering away at the wood. No hammered fingers yet but I’m sure that day will come eventually.
Saturday night we had our very first official (non-family) babysitter and went downtown Chicago to RPM Italian. This restaurant was made famous by being on the Giuliana and Bill Rancic TV show, so of course we had to try it out. This was another awesome meal in a pretty swanky restaurant. Unfortunately, Julie’s heart was crushed because she didn’t get to see Bill or Giuliana.
We followed up all these festivities up with Piper’s 1st Birthday on Sunday. More food, presents and cake… why not? Carter had a blast playing with all of the “new” toys. Hours of fun playing with things that he doesn’t have at home.
A Super Weekend
0Grandma and Grandpa Wassmer came up Thursday night so they could go with Carter to the Dupage Childrens Museum Friday. It isn’t often you get to skip school and go have fun… not until high school at least. Not surprising the trains were a big hit. The classic wooden trains and the motorized one kept him busy for quite some time.
Saturday Carter and the Grandparents hung out while Julie and I got some shopping done. Nothing like a full day at the outlet mall to relax the mind and empty the wallet. That night Julie and I went to a little Asian restaurant downtown Naperville called Kuma. I was a little skeptical since I have never heard of the place but it ended up being a pretty nice place. I had a spicy chicken dish that was excellent.
Sunday, of course, was the Super Bowl. Our neighbors had a little party so it was off to their house for a night of good food and fun. We didn’t have any 49ers or Ravens gear so the Wassmers were all decked out in Bears gear. Speaking of the Bears, I hope the new coach can get us to the playoffs next year.
Bouncy House
0I sure am getting behind on my posts. A couple weekends ago on the 26th we went to the Airtasic Play Land. This was the first time in about a year that we visited this awesome bouncy wonderland. The great thing about this place is that the bouncies are big enough for adults… not that I would ever do that sort of thing. Now that Carter was a year older he was a ton more independent. He was able to do most of the things by himself which kept me off my knees most of the time. A few of the ladders were still a little challenging but that sure didn’t discourage him from doing it again and again and again and again. I was surprised that after an hour he came to me and said “I’m done.” I really thought I was going to be taking him out of there kicking and screaming.
The rest of the weekend was spent working on the basement. We are getting ever closer to having a new basement. I still need to patch/paint a few spots, paint the molding, get the door molding up, and stain the railing. Hopefully by next winter we can enjoy it.
RIP Dartboard
0It has been a good 10 years! I hope your new owner will have as much fun as I did. All those late nights in college… drinking soda… doing round after round of cricket.
Basement Phase 2
0We are now in “Basement Phase II.” The last phase included getting the drop ceiling down and drywall patched. In this phase we painted the walls. The next step is to get the crown molding up and replace the flooring.
So far so good… Julie’s mom came up today and helped me get the walls mostly covered. We only have another coat on the interior wall. Speaking of the interior wall, thankfully I made the suggestion to make it a different color than the exterior. The two tone basement looks really good.
I’m on a Train
0It is hard to believe but Carter just road on his first Metra Train. The ride wasn’t very long, we only went a few stops towards Chicago, from Naperville toward Downers Grove. The short ride was to give Carter a good experience on the train and to have breakfast. As expect he loved both.
Later that weekend was the annual friend Christmas party. Carter had a blast playing with all the kids. Between all the toys and the bouncy house, he had a ton to keep him busy. Thanks again to the Kings for hosting.
How did your 2012 resolutions end up?
0I was thinking about my 2012 new year resolutions the other day and I could only remember one. Julie had an awesome idea to make a resolution to bring reusable bags to the grocery store for every visit. We did pretty good with this resolution but definitely did not do it 100% of the time. In reality it was probably closer to 50% of the time we remembered to bring some bags. How did your resolutions end up? Good or bad?
I just looked back at my 2012 resolution blog post and I had another resolution to do a “30 day challenge.” I didn’t really have a specific challenge in mind but doing a picture a day for 30 days or going 30 days without sugar always sounded challenging. I completely forgot about this resolution so it was no where near completed. Maybe next year…
Merry Christmas!
0I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a crazy week of fun, presents, and family. There were a few surprises and a whole lot of good times.
It started Friday night (21st) with a trolley ride through Naperville looking at all the crazy Grizwald-like lighted houses. A lot of the larger displays were timed with music that played over the trolley radio. Carter and his buddy Blake stared out the trolley windows in amazement at each house. I think they were just both happy not to be strapped into a car seat like a NASCAR driver. Those 5 point harnesses can be binding at times.
Saturday was the always long and loved trip to Davenport. The grandparents and one sister were the only ones on the guest list but my other sister Shelly surprised everyone by showing up. Shelly and Stephan were visiting family in St. Louis and drove up to celebrate Christmas with the Wassmer family. The other surprise was that my dad was sick as a dog and had to be quarantined upstairs for most of our visit. It really seems like the flu is going around bad right now. Sickness aside, the rest of joyful holiday night was full of hyped up kids and ripped wrapping paper.
Unfortunately Julie had to work on Monday so it was back to Naperville Sunday afternoon. This is the first year in a long time that we have been at our house for Christmas eve and Christmas morning. It is nice to be at home for a holiday as we were able to start some of our own family traditions. Now that Carter is older he was really into Christmas, and especially Santa this year. All with help from our friend Sam the elf, who was around the house the entire month of December. The standard child holiday emotions seemed way more prevalent. He was excited to leave Santa cookies and anxious to see what was going to appear the next day. On Christmas morning I thought Carter’s belly was going to catch on fire. He slid down the stairs so fast I had to run to keep up with him. As expected Santa dropped off a bunch of goodies to enjoy, including a big train table and Spencer the train, big boy underwear, a few others presents and a stocking full of goodies.
After all of Santa’s gifts were open we headed to LaSalle-Peru to hang out with the Stubler family. We went early so we could stop by the bowling alley to let Carter sling a couple balls with Grandpa. He enjoyed pushing the ball down the lane, but lost interest after 4 frames. The racing car video game turned out to be the most interesting thing to do. It was then back to the Stubler cottage for more presents and food. It was hard for Carter to sit through the meal with a tree supported mostly by presents. More wrapping ripping ensued and on the other side was a bunch of smiles by all.
Longest Train Ever!
0Carter has officially built the longest train ever.
Happy 1st Birthday Maddie
0Happy birthday Maddie!
Carter had a blast at your party at the Kohl Children’s Museum. He especially loved the massive super market and the Pot Belly restaurant.
