first hit off the pitch

Well, the title says it all folks. Last week at tee ball a lot of the kids were hitting balls off the pitch but Noah was still doing the tee. At practice before tonight's game, the coach tried pitching to Noah and he did so well that he did it for the game too.

This video is Noah's first attempt, which was a success! YAY! He had one more hit off the pitch tonight too.

change of plans

Who dat? Yeah, who is that?

It's BONO yo!

Yeah, that's great and all, but this isn't my photo. It's my sister's. She went and saw U2 last year in Vancouver b/c she's cool like that. Terry and I wanted to go but decided to wait til this year when U2's outdoor stadium tour would come to Denver, substantially closer than Chicago or Vancouver!

Alas, while Bono was preparing for this year 2010 tour he seriously injured his back, thus necessitating emergency back surgery which postponed our concert until 2011!

Last weekend we missed this:

And this:

Sad right? Well, we thought so. But you know what? We decided to go anyway. Not to see U2 of course b/c they weren't there! We went to Denver and stayed in our hotel with the Whites and met up with our other friends Matt and Amanda, both couples having been in our small group before we moved away. And it was awesome! Probably a lot better than it would have been for the concert b/c it rained the entire weekend. Not so fun for a outdoor concert!

Here we are on the 16th Street Mall after dinner at the Hardrock Cafe. Frannie, me, Terry, Matt, Amanda and Michaela.

Terry and I decided that we totally and absolutely needed a break after a month straight of crazy work on the house, the move and his long hours at work doing t-shirts for a fundraiser. Uff duh. Yeah, we needed a break and we got it, hence my parent's visit. We stayed in this totally snazzy hotel, The Curtis, that was above our pay grade but was way cool. We walked a lot. We hung out with old friends, who didn't feel old at all. We ate, a lot. We went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and I saw my first IMAX movie (about the Hubble telescope and it definitely expanded my view of God) and saw their Body Worlds exhibit, which was whack. No, it was good, just a little strange. Here is what the website said about it:

Compelling. Awe-inspiring. Transformative. BODY WORLDS & The Story of the Heart offers profound insight into the human body and puts anatomy in clear context. Experience this all-new exhibition at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Featuring over 200 authentic human specimens including whole-body Plastinates, organs and translucent body slices.Over 30 million people have experienced this critically acclaimed exhibition in over 50 cities across the world.

You should definitely check out those websites so you know what I'm talking about. Have you seen that Bond movie, "Casino Royale?" He's in the Miami Airport killing the dude that followed him in this exhibit. I think anyway. It looks like the same thing.

a few more updates

My parents were here for a week so we didn't do hardly anything on the house during that time. It was just hang out time! Once they left, we got busy cleaning and putting some stuff together. Now when everyone asks me if we're settled, I can say, "More so."

This project had been nagging Terry as it sat on the chairs at the edge of the dining room for weeks: the 3 hanging lights. So Terry hung it all by himself a few days ago! He did a great job and the extra light adds a lot to the kitchen.

Here is the entertainment center. The TV is on order so once that arrives the big hole will be filled and we can again have youth movie nights and small groups here. But the point of this photo is to show how Terry made two shelves for the DVD players and speakers =) Didn't he do good? I painted them, but he did the rest! Oh, and he wired the surround sound so that's all good to go!

Terry also hung curtains, which were from our bedroom at the old house, which will certainly be useful when we have the TV.

I organized the kids' toys. There seems to be a lot of them! We need some shelves or something...

The guest room also got a curtain. This is from Noah's room at the old house. Better than the towel we had up there!

I also went through the last boxes we had just stacked down here. They just needed put away so they all went in the storage room.

Here is the other side of the room. The desk is Terry's domain. I no touchee!

tee ball

Noah is playing tee ball this summer! Since he turned five in April, he was eligible to play with 5-7 year olds. We thought about doing soccer but he always said no. For some reason, he's more interested in baseball. He likes to play in the backyard with Daddy.

So here are some shots from his first practice a couple weeks ago. This was supposed to be his first game but it ended up being a bye. So when he played the following week, it was so cute. After his first hit off the tee, he ran to third. =) Once he got that figured out and and was on first and had to run again, he ran straight on from first onto this little coaches mound behind first base. It was so cute. Wish I had got it on video b/c now he won't do that again.

Noah is throwing grounders to daddy. That way, there is a little more control as to where the ball goes. If he overhands it, you never know where it will end up!

Cuteness

It's still a little difficult for him to open his glove to get the ball in there, so mostly he uses the glove to stop the ball and then he picks it up =)

Here comes daddy's grounder! Noah does seem to enjoy playing, especially if we pile on the praise. He looks so happy when we do that =)

nicki's tree

We are very blessed to have a go-to babysitter. Nicki is amazing. Last night when I called her with absolutely no prior notice, she came over to our house 20 minutes after we talked b/c she suggested that we leave earlier, thus giving herself more work. But she's a romantic, and see, it was our anniversary last night. Yeah, it's been 6 years - YAY! All this to say that Nicki is awesome. Oh, and she used to live in our house, so that probably makes it even harder for her!

So, Nicki took the kids to her favorite tree at the lake, which is now within easy walking distance from our new house. Nice. Today after church Noah insisted we walk to "Nicki's tree." So that is what we did.

Except I only had my phone camera so these photos are so disappointing to me. Perhaps next time I can find our real camera. But anyway, here are the two blurry punks.

Noah is "brave" now, as he says, b/c he can climb the tree limb which is horizontal to the ground and stretches from about 7 feet down to 4 feet.

Evie can't climb so high but she makes up for it with cuteness

My monkey boy

Daddy came after 2nd service was done. That girls loves her daddy. And why not? He's a great daddy!

Love this one =) AWWWWWWW!

what happened on our date

See that little thingy stuck to the bottom of our car?

Yeah, those are quills from the porcupine we hit on the interstate on the way back from our date a couple weeks ago... I was so sad. Terry killed a porcupine! =(

time for a tree trim

There are two large, fully grown pine trees on the north side of our house. They needed groomed (or plain cut down) so badly. My dad happened to be talking to our neighbor this morning while they were trimming their side of the tree (haha, right) and we decided today was as good a day as any to get it taken care of. We borrowed a chain saw and my dad went for it!

This is the best photo I could find of the tree before we trimmed it up today. See how the branches come all the way down to the ground? Yeah, no more!

Voilà! A trimmed tree. We even raked up all the needles.

Actually, we two trimmed trees.

And the best part? Chris and Seth took away all the branches and needles for us! Thanks boys!

kitchen duty

Flashback: moving day. This is a painful sight, but thankfully, our kitchen no longer looks like this. I just wanted to show you the color above the cabinets. It's painted differently now, thanks to JoAnn's inspiration. Also, notice the yellow glue mess back splash. Herbie and JoAnn have taken care of that for me.

Here is our kitchen now, almost complete. I repainted the area above the cabinets to match the darker color behind them. It looks better. Also, notice the hanging light in the foreground? We have a dining room light now, which is so nice. There will be 3 hanging lights above the counter soon. And the counter top edges will go on once they're in... OH, and there are 3 cans lights in the kitchen that aren't in the photo above.

Here are Herbie and JoAnn installing the tile back splash. They are GREAT! Why would anyone miss the yellow glue?

Here is the completed tile on this side of the kitchen. It's different on the other side.

Nicey nice? Well, even better once we get the outlet covers on... =)

Here is the kitchen sink back splash on the other side of the kitchen. I LOVE IT!

week 4.5 progress

Well, we moved in! I'm sitting on our love seat which is on the new wood floor, watching Harry Potter, and stealing internet from a neighbor (temporarily!). It's been a crazy last week and a half. Uffdah. That's Norwegian for Wow...or something

Here Noah is talking John's ear off while he installs the carpet downstairs last week, Wednesday. He did a great job and we love the carpet.

This is moving day: Friday. Lyle showed up with a (clean) horse trailer and they just went for it! What a long day. Here is Todd installing the counter tops while they moved stuff in.

Brenda was my hero this day. She packed my entire kitchen and then the rest of her family helped to move! She is vacuuming downstairs before too much more arrives. John is moving the sectional for her. John and his two brothers helped ALL day and were amazing, especially considering this was their old house of 15 years!!! John was only 2 weeks old when they arrived.

Here is the MESS in the front room. Ug, it was SO overwhelming but we did get it squared away before we went to bed. Just looking at this photo stressed me out.

And there is Shari! She and Jesse came that evening after all the hard work was done, but we put them to work anyway.

Jesse and Alex are putting the doors back on the fridge. Terry is showing off his muscles.

The kitchen cabinet doors are up! Herb and JoAnn came while we were having a late lunch, Saturday, and put them back up.

YAY! They look great!

I put Shari to work scrubbing the hand rails down.

Fast forward to tonight. Terry and his dad got up a frame for a railing on the deck.

The guys brought all the big stuff over on Saturday - the swing set, trampoline, etc.

Here are some finished photos of the house, as of now...

Here are the cupboards and dishwasher Jerry installed today.

New appliances! Thanks to Jerry. We would be lost without him.

Here is the hutch that JoAnn and I partly re-stained.

Here is the dining room.

Terry even got the coat rack up =)

YAY! The front room is very nice.

Hall

Our bedroom

Bathroom

Downstairs. The sectional works great down here. There is a toy area behind it.

There is the built in shelving. I painted the torn out parts from last week. Can't wait til we get the big tv for that center hole.

Toy area.

Looking into the guest room

Guest room

Basement with leftover furniture.

Leftover toys and shelving.