Building a room in the basement

The girls often try to squeeze into one bedroom - with 2 sets of bunk beds and a mattress on the floor, it is doable, but not very practical.  Anyway, we decided to build a bedroom in the basement so they will all fit (Also, a big part of the reason is so if our dream of adopting is ever realized, it gives us the needed bedroom space for that). (I have a feeling that when it is done, they might have a couple of brothers who want to join them down there so it might end up being a tight squeeze after all, lol).  Here are some pictures of the progress.

Getting the studs up.

A couple of cute helpers.

Putting the tile down in front of the door.

Wiring

Putting up drywall

Insulating 

Cutting out the doorway

Drywall Mudding

Whistle while you work (Have I ever mentioned that I love this man?)

Sanding

Helping

Mudding the ceiling?

Lots of helpers

They really were helping!

More mudding

Ready to put the primer on :)

More work (the flooring)

And more work (Ceiling tile)

Happy Anniversary!!

Our 17th anniversary was last Saturday.  After taking Charlotte out for her birthday lunch ( BEST anniversary present ever having her born on our 4th anniversary!!) we brought her back home and then went out for the rest of the afternoon/evening. (It is so nice having live in babysitters! And they do such a great job.)  We spent the afternoon shopping at Lowe's and Menards (we are building a bedroom in the basement - pictures in a later post) then went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse (yum!!) and then went to Sam's Club to walk off our supper.

We got home to a clean house, kids all in bed and cookies on the counter.  I think we should do it more often.  :)

Happy Anniversary!

Thanksgiving 2013

We had such a fun Thanksgiving weekend.  My (Tamara's) parents, sister's family and some friends (who are like family) came.  The kids spent a lot of time outside traipsing through the woods and having fun with their cousins. We all spent a fair amount of the weekend eating... Some of us ventured out to some black Friday on Thursday craziness shopping while the rest stayed home and made their own craziness.  We didn't get many pictures, but here are a few snapshots of the weekend.

A bunch of the crew

We had a lot of this happening over the weekend - singing around the piano.  It was fun to have some bass added to the mix.

Two musketeers 

Three musketeers

And there is the 4th

 

An oldie but goodie

I was transferring pictures from the camera to the computer this morning and somehow the album with this oldie showed up.  This picture cracks me up -They must have been fighting and they were obviously both mad and the looks on their faces are so funny - Abigail is mad and she doesn't care who knows it - Laura is mad but she's not going to let it show (she thinks).  

Happy 13th Birthday, Charlotte!!

We love you!!

As part of their special day, our 13 year olds go out to eat with just Dad & Mom.  This is Charlotte's fried ice cream after a Mexican meal.