Hot as HECK in Orlando

At a birthday party playing in the sand box (and drooling at the same time!)

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Well, I only have a few photos from this weekend, as it was so darn hot out, we only went outside between 8 and 9 am, or 5 and 7 pm, and we still were sweaty and dirty! We took the walks early, and had a birthday party Saturday evening. Karmann had a great time playing with all the back yard toys and many many babies and kids! I can't wait for K to have her own back yard and outdoor toys at the new house!

Since I only have a few pictures, I figured I'd up-load all the photos from June and July onto Kodak gallery. The links above are to the slideshows. Enjoy!

Kris is busy working on the siding at the house. We've almost got all the MEP roughed in too. Things are going to slow a little and we are still looking for a few subs for some interior work. We'll get there as it really is progressing nicely! Kris needs a vacation, but he continues to push ahead strong! Even in this heat, he is hanging in there!

Hope everyone had a good weekend! And have a good week too!

House update: Todd's weekend "visit"

Todd and Kris working hard on the siding - thankfully in the shade!!

Rear elevation - and Todd looking funny - must've been the heat!

The west wall vertical siding was done by the time Todd left, and a little bit of the horizontal siding was up - for a taste of what's to come...

Floor of attic, aka ceiling of K's bedroom, has been framed out.

We call this our modern art sculpture - aka the duct work in the attic space.

View of Todd from the rear deck.

Kris and Todd taking a lunch break.

Karmann's first ride in the new car seat - going to school! She loves it! Yeah!

Its been a while since I've had a second to post! A lot of progress is happening on the inside of the house. We've had the MEP contractors working for the past two weeks. And, for the exterior, our good friend (and also an architect!) Todd Boyer came from Columbus, OH for a work visit this past weekend! We are so lucky to have such good friends that have truly contributed in so many ways! Todd is an experienced architect and also a renovator/landlord, so he's got lots of great experienced advice, and he can swing a hammer too! Anyway, we had a great time during his short visit, but we hope he will come back next time to help with the kitchen soon!

Karmann, is making progress also! She is a wonderful singer of the alphabet and keeps getting better and better each time! She can sing it all the way through, though she has the letters mixed up a bit - at least she has the rhythm and the tone perfected! She is growing up so fast and has officially graduated to the forward facing car seat. She LOVES it! As do I since she happily sits in the thing!

Well, I can't believe its almost the weekend again (though thankful!) We have a busy one again this time and hope to have more photos and a quicker update next week!

Play-date with Ty

Karmann and Ty having a blast playing together after dinner!!

Karmann is hanging onto Piggy, but she is sharing her toys with Ty nicely!

Ty is being followed by Karmann - she copied everything he was doing! It was pretty cute!

Happy Bastille Day! Karmann in her "Paris" outfit, with Eiffel Tower on the pants.

This was from last week, but I had to post it, too. She definitely does not fit into the box!!!

As you can tell from the photos, Karmann and Ty had a blast playing together last night! It took her a while to warm up to Ty, but she is like that with anyone. Once they got to know each other better, Karmann though he was great! It was really entertaining for me and Faun to watch the two of them play together! He would run from the couch to the futon, to the wall to the chair, and Karmann would copy right behind him! They even collided once, and Karmann practically flew across the room (he weighs 10 lbs. more than her though he's only 1 month older!) She thought it was hilarious, but carried Piggy and Sweetly the rest of the play time, maybe for cushioning in case it happened again? She's clever that way! He would dance and she would dance, and they would crack up laughing at each other (not to mention Faun and me laughing too!) They even sat down together and we read books, too! So we will definitely have to do that again when we have more time!

I am impressed with Karmann's social skills, as well as her progressing verbal communication. She busted out with saying "puppy" as clear as day yesterday. Usually she'd just "arf arf arf" when she saw a puppy or dog - now she knows what it is! On the other hand, she's also becoming frustrated when she can't communicate what she wants - this I am assuming is the beginning of the "twos" as she is crying real tears, arching her back, and also dropping to the floor and throws a little fit - until you figure out what it is she wants, then she instantly goes back to normal. So we are working on that. She has an infatuation with socks and shoes, and tries to put hers on herself. She also had learned most of the Sesame Street song and all the character names. So she asks for Elmo or Abby in the morning when she gets me out of bed. She loves to sing, still, and now she can say most of the words more clearly to "Ring around the Rosie," Itsy bitsy spider," EIEIO (a favorite!) and Bingo, too! She's also recognizing a few letters and numbers - like when we are in the elevator at school, she says the letter of the floor we are on when we go up and down!! It impresses me, at least! Okay, I'll stop bragging....

Quick house update....Kris has started putting the exterior siding on, as the plumbing and mechanical is also getting roughed in! Electrical coming soon! It seems like things are moving fast to me, but slow for Kris - since he's doing most of the work, I understand that! Photos to come hopefully after the weekend. Something for next time....

4th of July Weekend

I see that I have up-loaded these photos in backwards order, so I will fill in the captions below ...

Saturday, we ended the day with a family and friends cookout at Grammy and Papa's house in the back yard and on the deck. It was a grand time and Karmann did not want to go to sleep and leave all the action. Eventually she was so pooped that she did go to sleep, bless her heart!
Saturday morning, we drove to Danville to visit Great Nannie. Of course, I wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to swing by Custard Cup on our way out and get a turtle sundae!! I can't remember the last time I was home in the summer and had a cup!! I was happy to bring Karmann there to share in the tradition and love!
Had to get this photo....
We had a great time visiting Nan and also visiting with our good friends and Nan's neighbors, Mike and Mary. Karmann had a great time coloring, playing in the fountain, and hanging out with the "puppies". The weather was beautiful all weekend, too, which you can tell in these photos.
Karmann took right to the labs, though their tails could wack her in the face, so she kind of kept her distance. She still loved them, and they loved her too!
Karmann coloring while the adults chatted away on the patio at Mike and Mary's home.
The main reason we were home for the holiday, was for Kris' cousin Megan's wedding. It was a real "treat" as the theme was "yummy" and "sweetness" - it was very well done and her attention to detail was amazing! Gave me lots of fun ideas for other parties!!
Here's a photo of the "Candy Bar" with little bags for you to put your candy into and take home!
Friday morning, before the wedding, Grammy, Amara, Karmann, Keri and I went to the Discovery Children's Museum in downtown Normal. It was awesome and Karmann and Amara had a blast! Here she is painting on Plexiglas in one of the cool exhibits.

(My little artist!!)

Grammy, Karmann, and Amara in front of the Discovery museum.

Thursday afternoon, we decided to take Karmann to the Zoo! Just to visit, of course! So we went to Miller Park in Bloomington. It is a very nice little zoo! It was the perfect day and time to go. It was not busy, so K and A could run around and we didn't have to worry about them getting lost in the crowd, thank goodness!

As you can see, we had a wonderful weekend. We also got to see Uncle Brian and Baby Abby, and Aunt Sarah and Uncle Charlie, too! Not to mention all the fun with Papa, also! Grammy took more photos of the weekend, but she and Papa are on a camping trip out west with Amara and Keri, so I will have to get the photos when they get back! For now, I hope everyone else had a great 4th of July holiday and was lucky enough to spend it with family and friends!