Basement Update

The basement is really coming along now. Dave has been working down there with almost all of his free time...I'm beginning to miss him! Pretty much all of the drywall is done and he has almost half of the tape and mud done. I had tried to convince him to hire someone to do the tape, mud, and texture, but there was just no talking him out of doing it himself. Hopefully we'll begin painting in 2-3 weeks.

(Living Room)

(Bedroom)

(Bedroom/Closet)

(Laundry)

Books, Look, Books!

Nicole loves her books, maybe even more then her toys. She brings me books to read throughout the day. I was curious about how many books we read in a day. So yesterday morning I started setting aside the books that we read, and at the end of the day this is what I had......

This is pretty much an average day. Some days more, some less, and some times it's the same two books over and over again. But I was surprised to see that we hadn't read either of her two favorite books; 1 2 3 Jigsaw Book or Discover the Day.

Home Garden

I think one of the great things about having your own home is being able to grow our own food! Unfortunately I haven't paid much attention to our garden, so our strawberries, raspberries, and onions aren't doing very well. I think we have a snail problem back there. But our tomatoes and peppers seem to be doing great! Our pear tree is always overloaded with pears, hundreds, and we Never eat any! Last year we had a couple neighbors come over and take them all. If anyone has a good recipe with pears let me know! We also have a plum tree but we always have problems with it, which sucks because the few good ones that it produces are so yummy.
This year my focus has been on fixing up our flower beds with new shrubs and flowers and laying down garden fabric and mulch to help with weeds and grass. But next year my focus will be on the garden, I hope!

We have a couple of grape vines and they aren't quite ripe yet but Nicole insists on eating them whenever she remembers that they're there. I don't know if you know what an unripened grape tastes like but it's not very good and they're very sour! But Nicole takes a bite, cringes, and then says "Mmmm". And she'll do it over and over again. It's pretty funny.

































And, on another note, I think I have a Tom-Boy on my hands. If Nicole has a choice on what shoes to wear she always chooses her tennis shoes, not sandals. And if she chooses a hat, it's always her cap and not the sun hat. And, as you can see, she prefers to wear the hat backwards.

Random

I wanted to do a new post but couldn't think of what to do. So here are just some random photos. Enjoy.

Sudden rain storm.

Nicole playing with new friend Jenna.

Playing in dada's truck.

Gotta love those bubbles.

More Animal Sounds

Here are a few more animal sounds that Nicole has learned. I think there are a couple that aren't on here, like monkey....oo oo ah ah!

(Sorry for the poor video quality)

Bird Watching

Last night I was playing in the front yard with Nicole. I went to grab at one of the walnuts in the tree and saw these two baby birds watching me! They're so cute. I can't believe I never noticed this nest before. It's on a very low branch hanging in the walkway to our front door. I could reach up and touch them if I wanted to....but I'm sure the flashing camera bothered them enough.

Five Year Anniversary!

Today is our 5 year Anniversary!

I can't believe it's been that long already....well, until I think about everything we've accomplished since we got married. Things just keep getting better and better and I can't wait to see how our lives will be in another 5 years.

We didn't really do much today for our anniversary. Grandpa came over to watch Nicole so we could go out to dinner at The Macaroni Grill. The Lasagna I ordered was as big as my head!

Last month Dave took me on a surprise trip to the Sundance Stables for a 2 hour horseback ride. They take you up to a view of Stewart Falls. It was awesome and I considered that my early anniversary present.
Tonight our plans are Tiramisu, Champagne, and a good movie.

Little Girl, Big Things

Nicole loves to help Mom water the flowers.

I think she likes it so much because she knows it means we're going outside.

She also loves trying to wear my shoes.

(This picture just makes me laugh)

Maybe I should get her her own pair of glasses.

Talk Like a Kitty!

As you can see Nicole is starting to feel better. She has not had a fever today!
This "kitty talk" is something she just started and it's soo cute, I love it!

I'm Grateful for the Following......

These modern conveniences are life savers!

NOT Feeling Better!

Well, it looks as though I was a little premature in my last posting. We thought Nicole was getting better but in fact she got worse! On Sunday her fever got so high we decided to take her to Urgent Care. When they took her temp there she was 103.2! They checked her out and said it looks like she has a sore throat / infection in the throat. We were told to give her Tylenol (which we'd been giving her) then Motrin two hours later, then Tylenol two hours later, and so on. We also began Amoxocillin 3 times a day for 10 days. We thought she'd start to improve following that advice but Sunday night I was up with Nicole frequently because her fever kept rising to around 102. At 4 am we decided to take her to the ER. Luckily we were the only ones there and had no wait. The ER doctor did a strep test that came back negative and pretty much agreed with the other doctor about her throat. He did, however, also take a chest x-ray to see if she had Pneumonia. She does not have Pneumonia, thank goodness, but Pneumonia had began to develop in her right lung. The Amoxocillin is supposed to clear that up as well. So we're just following the medication regimen for now and she'll be going to see her doctor on Thursday for a follow up.
Hopefully she's back to her happy and playful self soon.