A day with 2 of our favorite things: Papa and Tractors

Apparently there is something hereditary about liking tractors and other construction equipment. All 3 of my boys have been obsessed with them from an early age and so far it hasn't faded. All 3 of them also have said tractor as one of their first 10 words. Sutton is now saying it, just like Easton did... it sounds something like teh-teh. He points out the window and goes crazy if we pass a tractor when we are driving.

One of our other favorite things is Papa. And this is also one of our first 10 words. There is something about papa that my boys just can't get enough of. Not sure if it is the excessive tractor rides, the fact he thinks it is necessary that all of the boys have some motorized vehicle to ride on as soon as they turn 18 months (and in his words, "of course they need their own, they can't share, that's no fun.), or my own personal theory that he sneaks them pop and candy when
I am not looking so they think he's the coolest. Although we may never figure it out, they sure do love him. So when the opportunity arises to have 2 favorite things at the same time we never pass it up. The summer days are slowly coming to an end so we are enjoying as much outside time as possible.

Oh and by the way I am sure as Papa is reading this, he would tell you that the boys think he is the coolest because he is the coolest and he's so great. Well let me be the first to tell you that he must have changed because I remember clearly some serious spankings when I was younger :)

Good Hygiene and Doors.

~Good Hygiene is Important~

I noticed that I hadn't been taking many pictures lately of the boys because we haven't really gone anywhere or done anything, we've just been too busy "living." So last night I thought it was kind of cute how when I said it's time for bed they all went up like little ducklings and headed straight for the bathroom to brush.

Sutton probably is the most excited to brush his teeth and Mason is starting to not want to do it. I snapped this picture last night. They moved a little right before I snapped it, they were in perfect alignment and it really showed their stair step ages but it's kind of cute nonetheless. Sutton's getting pretty good at actually brushing now and not just chewing on the toothbrush.

And he couldn't resist not chewing on it :)

~Opening doors is FUN!~

Sutton has a new obsession with opening doors. All the doors. I didn't realize he could do it until the other night when I went in to put him to bed (and remember this is the child that you take up, lay down and he goes right to sleep with no problem). He threw a fit when I put him in his bed, so I sat in the rocker to rock him and he wanted down, he immediately ran to the door and opened it. I was shocked, I had no idea he could even do it. Then he proceeded into Easton's room and wanted to sleep with him. I have yet to give into that request (although both of the other boys were in big boy beds at this age since their crib was being passed down). So this obsession has now continued and he opens bathroom doors, pantry doors (and gets out food), and now even the door that goes outside (thankfully he can't unlock it or we would be in trouble!

Just as I sat down to write this post I could hear him digging in the pantry. He came running by with an armful of granola bars (7 to be exact). This is his other new obsession, let's see how many things I can put in my hands at once. It's really funny watching him, I will try to get a video of it soon to post. So he runs by with his granola bars and opens the front door and out he goes. Not sure if he is planning to cater afternoon snack for the neighborhood or if he's hiding them to store up for winter. Regardless it was funny enough I had to take his picture.

In order of occurrence:

1. Head outside... oops mom caught me

2. Turn around to go down the stairs, say uh oh as you drop them (one of his new words and one of my all time favorite words that kids learn to say!)

3. Run from mom as fast as I can so she doesn't take my granola bars.

4. Go look for friends to share with.

More post flood

We decided that while we must rebuild Lucky Pawz due to flood damage we would do some extra renovations we had been planning to do eventually. Nothing like a catastrophic flood to light a fire under you huh? So here is phase 1: operation make the outside look better. I will post more as we continue the progress.

Post flood update

Hey there, sorry I abandoned ship again. Life has been very busy these last few weeks. We were able to get back into our building on Friday June 20th (well we went into our building without permission and drove through 3 feet of water to get there, but we were in nonetheless).

We have 3 different buildings connected by fenced in yards/playareas that make up our facility. 2 of the 3 buildings had all the water out and one still had less than a foot. Looking at the pictures you can see where the water line ended up, some spots it was 4 or 5' and others about 3'. We sustained a significant amount of damage to the facility and as many of you have asked we don't have flood insurance so none of it is covered sadly. We do rent our buildings so our landlord has some responsibility to get them back up and inhabitable, but any upgrades or construction we have done is our resposibility and that is probably 90%.

We worked hard the past week and half gutting the buildings, cleaning sludge and mud off of everything, bleaching, powerwashing and doing some demolition, and hauling out all the stuff that was ruined by the water. As of last Friday (just a week after we got in) we were able to get the city to allow us to open up one of our buildings. So we are running at a very small capacity but running is running so we are thrilled. The other 2 buildings have a bunch of drywall so it will be weeks before we can get them all rebuilt.

Here are some pictures post flood and during demolition stage. Thanks for all your thoughts and well wishes, we are looking forward to some normalcy which hopefully will come soon. Jake should be back in his Cedar Rapids office mid July if all goes as planned, we are looking forward to a nice calm August :)

Here are some pics, I will make sure I post more pics when we are finally done!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hjvfbtb.68psizej&x=0&y=5tcvqw&localeid=en_US