Pumpkin Farming

This weekend we were able to sneak away from bathroom construction and head to the pumpkin farm. We met the Schelp family there (minus Sean, he was napping) and engaged in some corn maze fun. Cohen was a great navigator and got us all out safely. After the maze we picked out some pumpkins, got some Carmel apples and then decided we needed lunch. We found a cozy dive bar and ordered Cole his 1st ever kids meal! Of course he ate 1 bite and preferred the free oyster crackers that I crumbled for him (guessing Michelle thought I was nutso for making the pieces SO small). Thanks to Michelle and Scott for being very prepared parents and lending us extra shirts and mittens for Cole. We arrived pretty unprepared!

Toasty in Cohen's shirt

Franken Baby

After our busy morning the Grandpas came over to do some last minute bathroom work. Meaning Grandpa Gregg played and Grandpa John bustled.

Serious business, NO time for a smile

See why we never invite you over?

Bathroom worked continued this weekend and for all our foreseeable weekends to come. We are making progress, but of course not as far, or as fast, as we would like. Current state of our house below. You guys have a toilet in your family room, right? A saw and drills and extension cords too? If you do make the mistake of stopping by,  leave your shoes on. Your feet will turn a dusty grey instantly - our carpet and rugs are slowly taking on that color, our baby too.

Here is what we started with - just a teeny tiny closet with a sloped ceiling.

We had originally planned to just pack it all in that little room. But my Dad and I did some investigating and behind the right wall is an inactive dumb waiter; leftover from the olden days when the original owners would have their servants send food upstairs. I actually wanted to get that working again, but I think chances of Kristin sending me up a sandwich are pretty slim. We knocked down that wall and opened up that chute. It worked out pretty well, we gained about 19" of depth to recess the sink/vanity in the wall. So now it's gonna be roomy in there!

Besides some minor bumps, my Dad and I only had one bleeder between us. I was holding a piece of wood while my Dad worked the drill. He slipped and hit my middle finger. Luckily not too bad of an injury, which is good, because John didn't even bother to stop what he was doing or turn around. He just kept working and said something like, "You okay? Need any stitches?"

Dumbwaiter chute - runs from upstairs to basement

Plumbing from basement to bathroom

The plumber advised against adding piping to the new bathroom without first replacing our stack. The old one was cast iron and leaking...so that was an nice, expensive bonus.

There is still tons more to do. There is drywall and electrical work and molding and caulking and painting. And did you see the state of our house? Stayed tuned to find out how that turns out. Karla's baby shower may be relocated to the sidewalk, it is currently cleaner out there.

All of this is possible thanks to The Maintenance Man and The Babysitters (Grandpa John and Grandma Chris/Debbie). They work for free and they work long hours - suckers!

What Nick and I like to do...

Listen to new music; some of what we like lately...

Passion Pit: Moth's Wings
Rouge Wave: Solitary Gun. We saw this band at the Verge Fest concert this June. Even in our wet, frozen state I remember liking this song.
We went and saw this band in August. After a few drinks we started acting like groupies and bought tee shirts and CDs, and asked for autographs. Thankfully Kyle was too drunk at that point to post any of it on Facebook.

TV, TV and too much TV...

Best show ever. I have been watching this group of girls since they were on 16 + Pregnant, which I thought was the best show ever. Nick watched 16 + Pregnant too, then he dropped out but I was hooked. I could talk for hours about these girls!

Hilarious + Laugh-Out-Loud. New season JUST started. Now that Ben lives in Philly we may plan a trip where we stalk the filming...oh yeah, and to visit Ben.

As of late, this is probably our favorite show. I want Dexter to be our neighbor...think of how soundly you would sleep knowing he lived nearby. New season starts next Sunday. We are planning a popcorn party.

This is just a tiny list in the BIG list of shows we love. Our recording schedule is embarrassing. And it is evident that I think I am about 7 years younger than I really am...lots of CW action on our DVR.

Drinks in the Backyard:

This summer we drank lots of PBR and Summer Shandy and played Yahtzee.

Now that it has cooled down and is a bit chilly at night we like to have Hot Toddies and use up our iTunes gift cards.

Packer Partner Bust

Cole and I had our first Packer Sunday together for the 2010-2011 Season.

This was our 1st game together, ever; January 2010

I have been excited for this moment before Cole was even born; hanging out watching games together, eating snacks and cheering on the team. For the most part, the first half of the game went pretty well. He ended up spending the last ten minutes of the 2nd quarter in his crib trying to take a nap. The second half was pretty rough. I fed him, which helped, but he was pretty squirmy and restless the entire time.  Much to my dismay he did not seem that into the game. I have never been so tired after watching a Packer game! I usually lay on the couch and eat snacks the whole time. I was a little sad things didn't happen as I expected, with the high fiving and cheering. I guess I was expecting a little much out of a 9 month old...but he was still excited the Packers won. We will try again this Sunday!

Dining Room

Remember this post about Cole's new playroom?

Well we re-did all that hard work, lived in filth for about 3 weeks and now have a sunny new room. Some pictures of the overhaul:

We forgot to take pictures of what was under the old particle board ceiling but it was ugly

 

Drywall up and taped/mudded

 

The aftermath of drywall sanding

 

Nick paints his name in primer

 

Late night painting

 

Ceiling Paint

 

Bella dipped her tail in primer, she was working SO hard

 

We didn't love the new paint color - it was a little too yellow - but we were way too tired to care

 

Unlike most of our other “redos,” this project was necessary. The ceiling was ugly, falling apart and had water stains. We had dreams of doing a cool looking tin-type ceiling, but sheet rock is much easier and cheaper. Motivated by Karla's upcoming baby shower and a houseful of ladies, we also decided to paint. We didn't hate the old color but wanted something brighter.

See the laundry in the corner? In the midst of all this disaster we sort of "quit" keeping up with other household chores. Those are the first of about 9 baskets of laundry we needed to tackle to get back on track and necessary for Nick to stop going commando.

We  primed the squares under each window with magnetic paint. See the tiny magnet of Bella on there? We have some fun magnetic alphabet letters on their way from Etsy.

 

Anyway, now the playroom/dining room is complete. Aside from the new ceiling and light fixture we also ditched the mini blinds and put up curtains, got a new table + chairs from Craigslist, and added some floating shelves from Target. It's great to have the room back, even though Cole still doesn't like being left in there alone (which is not something we do often).

Now on to adding a first floor bathroom. And fixing the pocket doors between the family room and the playroom, add...we have a deadline of October 16th. Thank goodness for Grandpa John and his desire to work hard and fast!

Long Weekend + Free Meals

Wow, do I love long weekends. Kristin and I got a ton of Cole time and even some house work completed. The dining room/playroom is completely done now and the demo is started on the closet that will hopefully one day be a bathroom. Photos and details on both soon.

Friday we went to Balistreri's for pizza with the Stears and some family friends, Steve and Nancy. We celebrated Ben leaving Milwaukee and moving to Philly. Well, I’m sure some celebrate and some are sad. Either way he got a promotion and is off to enjoy cheesesteaks and brotherly love. Balistreri's was delicious and might just be the best pizza around. This was also the first of four awesome free meals we scored this weekend…might be about eight or nine meals if you count leftovers.

Saturday we went to Madison to see Jer and Karla. Kristin went with Karla to help her register for her upcoming baby shower. Jer and I took care of Cole and enjoyed some college football. I think Cole had fun and seemed to enjoy looking at Jer’s “ocean” book…lots of bright, colorful pictures. He took a nice nap in Winston’s dog bed. They also made us a delicious dinner with great appetizers (free meal #2).

Sunday was Uncle Ben's big surprise going away party. The party was a huge success and Ben was very surprised. Considering everyone (Ben included) had about 4 days notice of his move, there was a pretty good turnout. Lots of people came to say goodbye, two of Ben's college roommates as surprise guests from Chicago, and lots of old and new friends. Free meal #3 consisted of brats, cheesy crunchy potatoes, shrimp dip, Chex mix and more, plus a Blondie for dessert. Kristin later ate my leftover cheesy crunchy potatoes, which I specifically requested. I still hate her.

Waiting...

 

Surprise!

 

Second big surprise in about 7 minutes

 

Big fan of the solo cup that smelled like beer

 

Beanbag champion

 

Monday morning Grandpa John came over to help hang the dining room light and demo the closet soon-to-be bathroom. He ditched out after the light was hung, but I guess that’s okay since he works for free. The highlight of this day was scoring our last free meal. I saw our neighbor, Cosmo, outside and he was telling me all about his prep work for homemade "pizza night" at their house. He ended up offering to make us one. I jumped at this chance. Three years ago his wife made us the BEST spaghetti and meatballs we have ever tasted, we still talk about that meal. They are hard-core Italians and really know how to cook! As planned, at 5 pm our doorbell rang and there was Cosmo with our giant pizza, all cooked and cut! Delicious pizza with lots of leftovers. We ended the weekend with Shutter Island in bed. Kristin, of course, was sleeping about half way through. I enjoyed the movie, but admittedly, I am a pretty huge Leo fan.

90/50...oops

Cole had his nine month doctor visit on Friday. He is still a healthy little man, weighing in at 20 pounds, 6 ounces.  He is in the 90th percentile for length and 50th for weight. The optimist in me wants to say Cole is a string bean. However, the more likely scenario, which was confirmed by the Doctor, is that we are not feeding him enough. Apparently he should be eating real food 3+ times a day. He gets it 1-2 times a day (plus his bottles). The boy needs more calories. Because I’m not sure how I feel about starving my child, I guess we’ll just laugh about this and start shoveling the food in and make up for lost time. For the record, Kristin is responsible for this kind of stuff. She keeps him alive and handles the discipline and I am responsible for play time and Packer games.

Other news:

• It was confirmed that Cole is having night terrors...so that sucks.
• He is also supposed to be getting better at napping twice a day...I will believe that when I see it.
• We are supposed to start brushing his teeth. Actually we were supposed to start about 3 months back but have just been lazy about it. We even bought a toothbrush, sadly, I have no idea where it might be so I guess we will just buy another. It’s hard to get in the tooth brushing habit when you know they are temporary teeth. We’ll make sure to keep the permanent teeth sparkly, but why not let these baby teeth get nice and dirty?