Such a long time since my last Makayla update

I guess I left off my last Makayla update post saying that we had gone to the Thomas the Train show. Here are some pictures from that show.
Here Makayla is with our neighbour's son Hayden at the Thomas show.

Makayla had 2 costumes to pick from this Halloween. I got her the Princess Fiona costume which she wore to her preschool Halloween party, but she chose to wear her Jojo the Clown costume when she was out trick or treating. Here she is with her friend Jessi.

We got home Halloween night and only got Makayla to bed around 10pm. By 4:30am she had woken up with the stomach flu. Here she is feeling very sick the next day. She is the best sick kid in the world since she never complains. Her dad could take some lessons from her!!

Since we missed out on our fall pictures that I intended to have done, we settled for some homemade Christmas pictures. This is one that I took to use on our Christmas cards.

At the last minute, I bought Makayla and me some tickets to go see the Franklin Christmas show. She was pretty excited to see it. She should be thrilled with the Doodlebops tickets that she is getting in her stocking this year.

She loves to colour and write her letters and numbers. She can now count as high as 50.

We wrote her letter to Santa last week so we could give it the letter carriers during the Santa Claus parade. I asked her what she wanted Santa to bring for her and she decided that she wanted a computer game and some cars. This girl is definitely not much into dolls. She has an advent calendar that she gets into every night before bed. She loves to find the chocolate that she is allowed to eat that night. She knows that when she gets to 24, that is the night that Santa will come.

She is hardly shy at all. Since the renovations have been going on, she understood that some people would be coming into the house. Well didn't she surprise me when the painter arrived on Saturday morning and I was in the shower, she went downstairs to chat with him. I would have thought that she would barricade herself in the bathroom with me, but that wasn't the case at all.

I think preschool and tap dancing have helped with her shyness. She is still loving both activities. They have learned their first dance for the tap show - "I'm a little teapot". They have been measured for their costumes, now we will have to wait and see what cute outfits they pick out for the kids. There are about 12 kids in her tap dancing class and she is one of about 5 that pay close attention to the teachers. Some of the other kids dance for a bit and then like to do their own thing. Some just stand there and watch. But Makayla is taking it all in.

I'm excited for Christmas this year since she is going to be so much fun to watch. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Renovations in progress

We are right in the middle of more renovations. We had taken a break after the furnace was installed but we wanted to get some more stuff done before Christmas was upon us. We decided to hire a crackfiller/painter to do some minor wall repair and major painting, as well as a carpenter to put up some new drywall in the basement where the wallpaper refused to come off easily. We also picked out some new laminate flooring for the carpenter to install.

Here is our living room before. The walls were a light grey colour that was long overdue for a paint job.
Here is the living room after with it's warmer beige walls that match the dining room and kitchen.

This is the hallway with the light grey again.

Now with beige.

Here is the before picture of the foyer. You can't really tell because of the lighting in the picture but the top part is light grey while the bottom part under the chair rail is where I removed pink wallpaper.

Now the foyer is completely painted in beige.

Here is the basement family room. The brownish bottom part is wallpaper which was put right on after one coat of primer. It pulled off the sheetrock paper as I tried to remove it. No crackfiller would have been able to smooth that wall out properly.

You can see the job on the wallpaper removal that I did.

The is the family room with the new sheetrock installed and the carpet removed.

The flooring will be installed today and the painter should be able to get back in there by Tuesday.

We also had our bedroom painted. I guess I didn't take any before or after pictures of that but it looks very nice now.

100 things

Stealing this from Sheri. 100 things - you have to bold the ones you've done. Play along!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain (Does climbing the White Mountains in a car count?)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own
43/100 I actually got more than I thought I would

My problems with Snoopy - Advice needed

My mood has not been good this week. I have been short-tempered with everybody at work, home, everywhere. I think it might be the change of season or maybe the fact that it's darker earlier in the evening and I feel like I don't have as much time to accomplish everything.

I know a HUGE part of my mood is my dog Snoopy (7 year old beagle/basset hound mix). Her anxiety level is through the roof. She is great all day but starts panicking as soon as we shut the lights off to go to bed. It started a couple of years ago when she was scared of thunder which isn't unusual for dogs. Then we figured she must have attributed rain to the thunder so then she was afraid when it would only rain, which is pretty frequently in the spring and fall. Then it was wind that she was afraid of in addition to all the rest.

At this point, I took her to the vet to see what they could do to help me. The vet prescribed a medication to help ease her anxiety. That worked to level her out overall, but it didn't help on those nights with rain/wind/thunder. So I took her back to the vet last fall when they prescribed a sedative to use during those nights. It worked well at the time.

Last year, she became terrified of new noises or changes in the house. Last fall, we replaced our carpet with hardwood flooring and it took her months to get used to that. It was to the point this past spring that we were going to find her a new home because we just couldn't handle her anxiety.

We decided to see how she was during the summer at the campground because she hadn't handled it well the summer before. This summer, she was as good as gold. You couldn't find a better dog at the campground, but she wouldn't carry that same demeanor home with her. So our weeknight sleeping was spotty at best.

Now with the new furnace we installed this summer with its new noises, she had started waking at 3-4am every night and whining and pacing until we get up for the day. Then as soon as we're up, she will go find her bed and lay down and sleep. On these nights, I've tried ignoring her, going to her, being strict with her, being affectionate with her, and no method seems to work. Not to mention that I just don't have the patience to deal with her when I've been woken up in the middle of the night. The medication doesn't seem to help anymore either. I give her the sedative before bed just so we can all get some sleep, and she's pacing when the lights are turned off and she won't settle down.

Clay and I got fed up again a couple of weeks ago and we did find somebody else who was willing to take her, but I chickened-out at the last minute. I figure she is our dog and we should be the ones to help her. I couldn't shake the guilt that I felt about giving her away.

So I really started working with her to improve the nights. I bought books and new leashes for training and I swear, Cesar Millan from the Dog Whisperer on National Geographic channel is my new favourite TV show! In the 2 weeks, she is doing much better with the furnace noise during the day, but we've had to resort to having her spend her nights in the garage so that we can all get some sleep. My current plan is to try the garage nights for a couple of more weeks and then introduce her back to the house while we're babysitting my parents' dog for 2 weeks so they can both be in the house. She always does much better when the 2 of them are here. I sometimes wonder if having a second dog might help her behaviour, but I just can't take the chance of getting another one and being wrong because I really don't want the full-time responsibility of another dog. Anyway, I wrote an entire book about my issue with Snoopy and what I could really use is some suggestions on how others might deal with this.

October 2008 update

We are well into fall now. I intended to get some fall family pictures done, but we have been busy and never got around to it. Now, it's quite cold out so I doubt we will get them done. I might see if we could do them this weekend but we are supposed to get snow flurries on Wednesday, so it could be wet.

Preschool and tap dancing are going very well. Makayla loves both of the activities. I work very close to my house, Makayla's sitter's house and the preschool. I had intended to bring Makayla to work with me in the morning and take her to preschool then pick her up when it's over, however, I didn't realize how much of my job seems to take me away from the office on the preschool days (Tuesdays and Thursdays). I have had to get my neighbour whose son goes to the same preschool to take Makayla to preschool at least twice since it started a month ago and when neither she nor I could take the kids one day, they had to miss a class. This week was supposed to be fine, but then something got cancelled on Monday and rescheduled for Thursday at 11am when I'm supposed to be picking Makayla up. I believe that my neighbour can get her that day though. I just hadn't intended for my neighbour to have to help me so much. Thank goodness we're pretty good friends too.

Makayla can now count to 20 without getting mixed up at 15 like she used to. She loves manipulating numbers. She always counts how many kids are at the sitters in the morning then she will break it down to how many girls and how many boys. She has started to ask me about addition, like she will ask "how many is 4 and 4?" I explained how she could use her fingers to add up the numbers and she has started using this technique. She likes the alphabet too and even tries to spell some words. She knows CAT, DOG, YES, NO, MAKAYLA, JOSH. I can't determine if she is going to be right- or left-handed. She can write her name equally well with either hand and she doesn't seem to favour one over the other whether she is writing or eating. I guess time will tell.

Her favourite word lately is "actually" and her favourite colour is light blue. I can't count how many times she's told me that her "favourite colour is blue, ACTUALLY it's light blue". She can now dress and undress herself. Some shirts give her some difficulty going over her head, but overall I can get her some clothes and she can get them on. I did catch her getting frustrated with her pants the other day when she said "Oh, these friggin' pants!" Not cute. I will watch my mouth more carefully from now on.

Makayla and I went to a Thomas the Train live show this weekend. It was quite a pricy event and to be honest, it wasn't that good. If my neighbour and her son hadn't been going, I probably wouldn't have gotten tickets since Makayla isn't a huge Thomas fan. My neighbour purchased the tickets back in May and we got 3rd row floor seats. The seats were awful. You would think that sitting that close, you would have no trouble to see. I wished we had been sitting in the stands because I know the kids would have actually been able to see the show without having to stand on their chairs to see over the adults heads. It was extremely loud too. As soon as the show started, you could hear some kids around us start wailing because they were scared of how loud it was. Overall, the show was too expensive and not very entertaining. Makayla seemed to enjoy it though and that was the main reason for going.

Starting new things

Makayla started preschool on Tuesday, September 16. At first I was worried that she would be shy and wouldn't want me to leave her there, but that was not what happened at all. She was a bit hesitant at first seeing all the kids she hadn't met before. I helped her change into her indoor sneakers and encouraged her to go play Play-Doh with some of the other kids. The parents were all hanging around waiting to see if their kid was going to need them. Makayla warmed up quickly and soon she ran up to me and said "You can leave now. I'm going to stay here." I didn't leave right away, just in case. So she came back up to me and said "I told you that you could leave now." I guess that was my cue. So I was the first parent out the door.

The preschool that is operated by the Boys and Girls Club takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 11am. Makayla comes to work with me at 8am for an hour and then I drive her to preschool for 9. I pick her up and take her to her sitter's then I stop at home for a quick lunch and head back to the office. If my schedule doesn't allow me to take her to preschool, I have a neighbour whose son also goes to the preschool who has agreed that we will help each other out when things come up. Makayla's sitter has also agreed to take her sometimes as long as I give her notice since she has one other girl that she looks after that she needs to get a car seat for.
Makayla has enjoyed preschool so far. She actually brought home some "homework" the other day. It was just a worksheet where they have to trace the letter B, but she was so excited about it. She hasn't been opening up much about what they are doing at preschool. When I ask her, she just changes the subject like she doesn't want to discuss it. She opened up a bit after Tuesday's class, so hopefully she will share more. I miss not knowing what's going on in her day.



Makayla also started tap dancing on Monday, September 22. She wasn't shy there either and she loved the class. The parents were allowed to stay and watch the first night, but starting next week, we have to stay out while the class is in session. There were about 12 kids in her class, two of which were boys. There is another Michaela in her class and my Makayla stayed glued to her side throughout the entire class. So cute. She followed the teacher very well and really seemed interested in what they were learning. The teacher was wonderful with the kids. She never stopped the entire half hour and was constantly doing something with them. Makayla was played out when the class was over. She can't wait for next week.

Fall is here

The weather has gotten cooler in the mornings and evenings, and that is the sure sign that fall has arrived. We enjoyed our summer at the campground although the weather wasn't that spectacular this year. I think that I heard that we had 20% more rain in July/August than average. Makayla learned 2 new things this summer at the campground:

1. To ride her bike (with training wheels) all by herself

2. To swing without anybody pushing her

I am very proud of her for working hard this summer to figure these things out.

Next week she starts preschool for 2 mornings each week. She is excited for this and has been asking me almost daily when she starts school. I talked to the coordinator and she told me that there are 7 or 8 kids registered, so it's a very small group, but they are all kids that Makayla will go to school with.

I also signed Makayla up for tap dancing. She has been mesmerized with anybody dancing at various events we have gone to, and even on TV's "So You Think You Can Dance". After she was registered she told me that she needed tap shoes and a tap dress, so I had to comply. I will post a picture as soon as I take one. These classes start in a couple of weeks.

Our vacation

Clay, Makayla and I were on vacation last week. The weather was rainy and cold all week. We tried not to let that bring our moods down, although I admit that I struggled with that a lot. The week started off with me taking Makayla for her 3-year old pictures.

My mother sewed Makayla's outfit for these pictures.

On our way home from getting the pictures done, I had to stop at the office. I left Makayla strapped in her car seat while I went in for a few minutes. As a side note, my office is in a rural area and it is essentially a small minihome with lots of windows (can walk through the entire office in less than 15 seconds) where I parked right next to the door. I didn't even think about whether she might have to pee since she hadn't said anything, but when I got back in the car, she was crying and saying that she tried to tell me that she had to pee but I wasn't there. And unfortunately, there was a wet car seat. I changed her pants and put a plastic grocery bag down and got her home within 5 minutes since we live that close to my office. I took the car seat out and brought it into the house. Makayla looked at the car seat in the basement and then a few minutes later, when we were all upstairs in the living room, she says "You guys, we have a big problem. My car seat won't fit in the washing machine." She was so serious and we just had to laugh. I showed her how the seat pad came off and how we could wash it.

At the campground, where we stayed during our vacation, Makayla loved to point out all the "spider nets" that were around. As much as I correct her and say that they are spider webs, she still insists on calling them spider nets.

I took Makayla to her first movie at the theatre. We went with Clay's cousin and her two kids to the movie "Wall-E". I didn't particularly enjoy the movie, but Makayla sat still through the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed the popcorn we shared.

We took the 2-hour trip to Magic Mountain which is a water park with lots of waterslides. Unfortunately the day was really cool to be in the water so we didn't stay long. Instead, we went across the road to a place called the "Boardwalk" where they had a park, go-karts and bumper boats. We had a blast over there.

During the week, we had some nice campfires and roasted a ton of marshmallows. Makayla has built sandcastles, played some mini-golf and enjoyed riding her bike around the campground.


Now we're back to the usual schedule and we're adjusting just fine. Now last night, Makayla fell out of her bed for the first time. Clay and I were just getting into bed around 11pm when we heard a thump. I knew that the dog was laying down so we both figured it had to be Makayla. We went into her room and she was climbing back up into bed, but she wasn't even awake. She snuggled back in under the blankets and we never heard from her until 6:30 this morning when she had no knowledge of falling out of bed.

Our summer is quickly coming to an end and with the weather being so awful, it feels like we only had about 3 weeks of summer. I am signing Makayla up for preschool in the fall. It is for 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am also planning to get her into a dance class since she seems to enjoy that.

August 2008 renovation update

The reno checklist:
New roof - Complete
New insulation/siding - Complete
Removal of the wood/electric forced air furnace - Complete
Installation of heat pump - Complete
New air exchanger in our new utility room in the basement - Complete
Taking our wood furnace and installing it in the garage - I'm not sure when the furnace guy is coming to do that, but hopefully soon since our garage now looks like a tornado blew through it.
Painting and putting laminate flooring in family room - To be completed this fall
Painting living room, hallway and master bedroom - To be completed this fall
Putting a second bathroom in the basement - On hold
Finishing our backdoor entryway (build closet/shelves, hide washer/dryer in a closet) - On hold


The reason that we are putting the second bathroom addition and finished entryway on hold for the time being is because we have spent quite a bit of money so far and want to try to sell one of our building lots to help pay the credit line down before we continue. We put a "for sale by owner" sign up on the 2-acre lot we were originally planning to build on since it is all levelled and ready for a house (which we did when we thought we were going to be building there). Not to mention that there is a lot of house construction activity in the area and we thought it would be the best time to put it on the market. Since putting the sign up last week, we have gotten 5 calls on the property. We have a pretty big price on the land since there is no work for somebody to build on the property. We're not desperate to sell it, but the money will help with the rest of the renovations.


The heat pump is now installed and operational. I love it!! There is so much more room in our basement and we won't have to be storing wood down there either. The dog is going to need some time to get used to all the new noises that the system makes. She is a pretty anxious dog to begin with and any changes are really hard for her to adjust to. She will get used to it just like she had to get used to the hardwood floors.

Funny things that Makayla says

Makayla has said some of the funniest things lately.


1. "Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I'm a winner baby." She sings this to a little tune and throws a dance in too. Sometimes she interchanges "winner" with "loser" which we try to discourage. She sang this little ditty one day at the basketball court at the campground while she was trying to get her ball in the hoop.


2. "Excuse me. Are we going back to the campground?" She says this with a British accent which she learned from a little British girl at the campground. Clay and I didn't think that she would notice the girl's accent since kids her age tend to talk so differently anyway. But she must have picked up on it because she surprised us with this line one weekend. Now we get her to say it all the time.


3. "Don't mess with the John Deere hat." She has had to say this line to many kids at her sitter's. She LOVES her John Deere hat and wears it all day every day. The kids try to get her to take it off and this line is her response. Hilarious!!

Makayla turned 3

I have been meaning to describe my little girl now that she is 3-years old. Her hair is still just as blonde as can be and has the most beautiful ringlets that really show when it is humid out. She is over 39" tall and weighs 32 lbs. The doctor said her weight is a bit low for her age and her height is above-average. Makayla is a very good-natured child. She impresses everybody she meets by how easy-going she is. I can't count how many times people have told me how they can't believe how easily this child goes to bed at night. She very rarely throws a tantrum. She is able to tell me how she is feeling so we are able to work things out by just discussing the situation. She thinks very logically, so much so that it scares me how logical this 3-year old is. We had some issues with Makayla being sassy to me and Clay just over a month ago and we had to give Makayla her first time-out. She hasn't forgotten it and still refers back to that time and how she doesn't want to go into time-out. She is also much more outgoing than she was previously. There has been such a difference between how shy she was around her 2nd birthday to how she is now. She is still cautious, but not nearly as shy as before.

We have been going through some phases over the last couple of months. The first phase included Makayla waking up way too early in the morning. She would get out of bed anytime after 5:00am. This seemed to start when the days were getting longer and the sun was rising earlier. I used to tell her that it was still dark out so she had to go back to bed, but I didn't have that excuse anymore. There were some very early mornings for a few weeks, but she came out of this phase recently, and I can't say that I miss it.

Shortly after this phase ended, another started. The next one includes her being scared of having a bath. She would become irrational and scream when I would turn the water on in the tub. She didn't want too much water in the tub and she didn't want it too hot. I would try to distract her by turning the water on and then taking her into her room to get undressed for her bath. She would try to get out of my grip and run to the bathroom to turn the water off. I wasn't putting more than a couple of inches of water in the tub and I would prove that to her when we got to the bathroom, but she just didn't seem to trust me. I seem to think she might have been scared of losing her toys down the drain, but I have no idea how that relates to the water being too hot or too high. I explained to her that her toys couldn't fit down the drain the same as the toys couldn't get sucked up by the vacuum (which her sitter had to prove to her recently as she was having a similar reaction at her house when she would start the vacuum cleaner). This phase seems to be ending right now. Yay!! I'm sure there will be another phase to take this one's place, and I'm confident that we will conquer it as well.

Makayla found a mole on her arm. She is used to seeing them as I have many moles on my body which she used to call boo-boos until I explained that they don't hurt like a boo-boo does. She was so proud to be able to tell me that she had a "polka dot" like Mommy has.

Makayla is able to spell her name if you ask her, and now she is learning to write it. She can write all of the letters really well but she struggles with the K. She tells me that the K is "tricky".

Makayla has a little lump on the back of her neck. It showed up when the black flies came out in full force and she had some bug bites on her neck. I figured it would go away when the bites healed. But those bites healed and others have come and gone since then, but the lump is still there. It isn't an open sore, it isn't itchy and it doesn't bother her at all when I feel for it. Since it's been there for nearly a month, I thought it best to get it checked out by her doctor, so we have an appointment next week. Hopefully it's nothing to be concerned about.

Makayla's 3rd birthday party

We had Makayla's 3rd birthday party at the campground where we set up our trailer for the summer. Our campsite backs right onto the playground so it's a wonderful place to be with several 2- to 4-year olds.

Here are the kids at the party playing with the sand toys.
Makayla is patiently waiting her turn to climb the rope on the playground.
Did I mention that it was extremely difficult to get the kids to get off the playground to come over for cake and ice cream? It was another Dora party this year.
This is the one bite of cake that Makayla enjoyed before she begged to go back to the playground.
Here are the 3 girls at the party. We were down by the river looking to feed the ducks, but there weren't any ducks around.
Overall, the party went really well. It was really low-key with some hamburgers/hot dogs for lunch, cake and ice cream for dessert and some presents. I was very relaxed, when I am generally not when I am hosting a party. Everyone pitched in to help when Clay and I needed it. Most of the people who were there are telling us that their kids want to come back and play again this weekend.

Another renovation update

New roof - Complete
New insulation/siding - Complete
Removal of the wood/electric forced air furnace - Completed early
Installation of heat pump - Heat pump is on order. Should arrive by July 10. Installation after that.
Taking our wood furnace and installing it in the garage - The furnace guy is going to install it now that it is removed from the house. He found a buyer for our electric forced air furnace.
New air exchanger in our new utility room in the basement - Furnace guy is also installing this along with the heat pump
Putting a second bathroom in the basement - Probably to be done this fall
Finishing our backdoor entryway (build closet/shelves, hide washer/dryer in a closet) - Probably to be done this fall

Here is the area in the basement where the wood/electric forced air furnaces used to be. Most of the stuff in this picture has now been cleared out of the basement.

The furnace guy ran these water lines in preparation for our new heat pump.
This is the area of the basement that will become another bathroom, laundry room and entryway.

Renovation update

The new roof was installed last week and the house is almost completely done in the new siding. As of this morning, they just had a little bit around the front door, then they were going to work on the garage. Makayla doesn't think our house is crazy anymore. Now she just calls it the dark blue house.

The garage should be all finished when I get home from work today.
So to take a look at my reno checklist:

New roof - Complete

New insulation/siding - Should be complete by end of today

Removal of the wood/electric forced air furnace - To be done by furnace contractor in July

Installation of heat pump - Heat pump is on order. Should arrive by July 10. Installation after that.

Taking our wood furnace and installing it in the garage - Another job for the furnace guy

New air exchanger in our new utility room in the basement - Furnace guy is also installing this along with the heat pump

Putting a second bathroom in the basement - Probably to be done this fall

Finishing our backdoor entryway (build closet/shelves, hide washer/dryer in a closet) - Probably to be done this fall

Uncle Eric's wedding

The wedding was beautiful. The day was not too hot, nor too cold. We were all comfortable in our short sleeves without sweaters, but the black flies were awful!! Makayla did an excellent job as the flower girl. She walked up the aisle with the bride's nephew who was the ring bearer. Clay stood at the back with the kids and told them to walk towards me since I was videotaping the wedding from the front of the church.

Here is Makayla posing for the photographer. I can't believe she sat so still for her.

Here are me and Clay with Clay's brother Eric (the groom in the tux).
Here are the 2 brothers and their wives - Cara and Eric, Clay and me.
The entire family is in this picture. I was surprised that Clay's parents stood next to each other for this picture since they usually can't stand to be in the same room together. Eric is holding his daughter Gracie.
During the reception, I gave the toast to the groom. Clay was supposed to do it but he hates speaking in front of a crowd whereas it doesn't bother me. We voted that I would probably do a better job. I think the toast went over well as people seemed to enjoy it.

My mom was invited to the wedding, so after the reception she took Makayla home to her house for a sleepover so Clay and I could enjoy ourselves at the dance, which we took advantage of. We caught up with a lot of old friends from the area where Clay grew up. We had a blast and stayed until the dance ended. It was a great day!

House renovations

We really do love our house and the house we were going to build was almost exactly like it, just slightly bigger. I actually like our current lot better than I think I would have liked the one we were planning to build on. Not to mention that landscaping is already done where we are. Our renovation plans include:
New roof
New insulation/siding
Removal of the wood/electric forced air furnace
Installation of heat pump
Taking our wood furnace and installing it in the garage
New air exchanger in our new utility room in the basement
Putting a second bathroom in the basement
Finishing our backdoor entryway (build closet/shelves, hide washer/dryer in a closet)


Here is how it looked before we started doing any renovations.

Clay has always hated the light blue siding colour from the time we moved into this house 7 years ago. It's never bothered me, but it will look brand new when we get finished with it. Here is the colour we are going with. Here is the part under the deck where we fixed the boards and studs. As you can see, we didn't have to tear the deck off, we just had to remove one board to check the damage. They are going to leave the deck about an inch away from the house when they replace the board so that the seepage won't happen again. The siding was all removed. The siding was removed from the garage too. Look at our big mess in the yard.The roof is being replaced today and the siding should be installed by the end of the week.