Our Trip to Carmi

Sean's Grandmother "Gran" is 94 and lives alone in Carmi Illinois, southern Illinois, population 5,500. Her house was in some serious need of an overhaul so a small fraction of the family headed there for a work week. The house was power washed, primed and painted. An old chain link fence and its concrete embedded posts were removed and the holes refilled. The porch railings were replaced and the permanent parts were repainted. Her house lamp post was repainted. A hand rail was installed at the side door and her sidewalk was edged. A new refrigerator, range, microwave (over the range), cabinet and tv were installed. Her vaccum cleaner was replaced. A shelf was put in the basement to house all her toys. Not to mention the carpet and new linoleum, washing machine and vanity that was replaced in the basement the week before due to a water leak. Basically a huge makeover. It was a nice time to see everyone, however sweaty we were......

Group photo, Gran is the extremely happy looking lady right above me....

We went across the river to Evansville IN one evening for dinner at an Irish Restaurant/Pub and we attempted this trivia game.....Sean and Steve are examining photos of famous people when they werent so famous...
Braden was a trooper, playing his DS under the table because he couldnt hear anything....
We arrived home 3 days later to our walls being backfilled....next step is pouring the foundation and plumbing

Sean and the Family

June is a big month for us, and a lot of others I know. Of course it means the beginning of summer filled with lazy days at the pool, but there are 2 significant days to Sean this month, well 3 if you include his crazy sister in law's (my sister) birthday. Father's Day and Our Anniversary. We had a great Father's Day this year, complete with a family day in the garden, weeding and watering, a cookout with the kids father and grandfather and a dinner later with daddy Sean and my daddy Lance. Sean is the greatest to me and the kids, really......

Here is a quiet moment of Sean and Finley waiting patiently for the ice cream truck....we could hear it coming......

The typical ride around the house in progress
recent trip to Southern Illinois
Our 9th, yes 9th, anniversary.......the big ONE-O is next June!! I love you SKK8

walls, puppies and art

The walls are finished....believe me, the hole doesn't look so big anymore....there is at least 2 feet between the outer basement wall and the edge of the hole, all to be backfilled.

Casey and Kari (sean's brother and his wife) were in town over the weekend for a friend's wedding and they brought their new puppy Claddagh. She is an American Mastiff...currently weight 30 lbs and may get in the upper 100's when she is full grown. Such a cute girl and of course the kids loved her...
Finley showing the dog to Braden, who had seen her, but was too interested in his movie at the moment
a little Father's Day art

Fun times on Wednesday

Swim lessons were freezing today....we stuck around after for a few minutes....
thats Kylie with the kids....we love her
This is for SHANNON........
I promise they were supervised....by Grandad and Seanie

We have walls!!

So we had 12, yes 12 concrete trucks at the house today....thats 100 yards of concrete....

we think this is a pump truck. It basically has a reservoir in the back that the concrete truck dumps its "load" into. The concrete then travels up the hose and down to a smaller hose that they can control where it goes. They place the hose into the forms and fill em up!!
Thats the end of the hose.....with the concrete shooting out. The guys are balancing on the forms....
concrete, rebar....fun times
this is what the kids did the whole time......
finley lost her shoe.....can you find it?

Notice the guy in the tanktop is smoking and balancing on the form, now thats talent
the filled form
leakage....no biggie
a chevrolet tattoo.....since my family is a chevy family, I thought this was appropriate

keeping busy

So besides the house......
We started TBall for the summer....each team gets to bat 3 times, takes about an hour. Finley tries real hard to watch, then begins to landscape....
Swing and a miss.....he hit is on the second swing
We've also started back with swim lessons. Hannah is his teacher, she's already trying to teach him how to dive.....
We've now decided that we dont need help off the board, only assistance coming up for air and getting to the side.
My sister's dog is living in Galesburg until Em moves home....we are helping take care of her on occasion....
Fin's decided to cook....dont worry the water is off, not hot....

Enjoying the fruits of her labor...she loved it!!
Freezer jam time.....Meme and I headed out to the local strawberry farm and got some to make freezer jam. The best ever.....I find myself craving toast, just to eat the jam.
We almost made it through the adventure, when the kids decided that they could help.....make a mess....
Look at all the jam..........

Hole, Footings and Forms

Construction 101:
So after the hole is dug, they dig a deeper trench around the perimeter for the footings. Footings will support the basement foundation walls. Below is the footings for the basement, you can also see the footing for the back patio (to the left) and in the distance (middle) is the footing for the side entry. The lone guy is the far left background is where the garage footings are. Getting ready for the forms of the walls....we snuck down into the "big hole"
The forms for the walls are up.....now for the concrete
(view is from the front to the back)
we officially have a porta potty as well.....lovely

a new toy

yes this is a yard waste bag funnel.....fun for hours!!