The John Ball Zoo

 Last week Jason had a conference in Grand Rapids so the boys and I went along for a few days.  It was a beautiful day on Wednesday so we headed to the zoo.  My phone was about dead so we didn't get a lot of pictures but we managed to get some.  Here the boys are taking a ride on Emily the camel.

 Here we're checking out some monkeys.

 and back to the camel ride.  It was fun watching them.

 Max was pretty impressed with this bear.

 This started out as just a bear hug, but was quickly turning into a lesson on the birds and bees so we moved on.

 This picture doesn't do them justice but these eagles were quite impressive.

 Better get used to driving one of those Max.  You'll be doing a lot of that in a couple of years.

 And Micah, you better get used to being around goats because we'll be getting some of those too.

"look at the camera and say cheese!"  This is what I get, both staring off but at least they are smiling.  The zoo was fun. I love spending time with these guys.

and the work goes on

 Well, work is continuing on the house.  Jason got the drywall up and the spaces cut out for the wrought iron frames.  This weekend comes mudding and hopefully getting those frames started.

 In between working on the walls for the loft and everything  else, Jason got new metal roofing put up on the barn.

 its kind of hard to see in this picture but it looks really nice.  I can see now I'm going to want the rest of the roof replaced with the new stuff lol.

 Last weekend we decided to tackle this over grown rosebush that is next to the garden.

Look out rose bush, Jason the chainsaw plant massacrer is coming to get ya.

 a short time later the bush was cut and the mighty trailblazer was taking it away to meet its fiery death.  Well, it hasn't actually met its fiery death yet.  We tried to light it on fire but it was raining and even a half of gallon of gas didn't seem to help her to go so maybe this weekend it will meet its demise.

Here is the end result, a view to my garden.

working on the house has been a little slow moving but its fun.  

Kindergarten Round Up

So Max had kindergarten round up yesterday.  It went well.  I wasn't teary eyed or freaking out but I do have to admit that its a little scary that they are growing up so fast.  How this child is 5 years old already is beyond me.  And how he is over 4 feet tall and 60 pounds is also beyond me.  I am only 5'2. We will be seeing eye to eye by the time he is 7....oye!  I better get a little more scary lol.  Anyways, I feel like I am going to blink and the boys will be graduating and leaving the house.  It makes you appreciate every moment with them.  I'm a little sad that school will take away a lot of time to have those special moments but am also excited for him to learn and grow and make new friends.  I know its life but it amazes me how difficult it can be to transition to that next stage in their life.  I cried when we no longer needed infant clothes in the house, and I cried, when we no longer needed diapers (crazy, I know) and I will probably cry when Max and Micah go to kindergarten. 

Our First Project

we started our first project on the house.  Yay!  Here are some before pics to share.  This project is going to take awhile so I'll keep posting pics as we go.  Here is a picture of our stairs that don't have any railing up on them yet.

this is this entry way.

This a picture of the living room taken from the loft that also doesn't have any railings.

Here is our walkway of doom to get from the upstairs bedroom to the loft.  Notice the lack of railings and walls?

This is a picture of the kitchen taken from the loft.  Here is my hubby brewing some cider. Yum!

Just another view of the lack of railings.

Looking from the loft to the bedroom.

another view of the kitchen.

Its a wall!  or will be anyways.  We plan to put wrought iron railing up on the stairs and then the same wrought iron rungs in the holes in the walls.

The first framed wall in place.

Hard working men.

I'm surprised how just the framework has transformed this loft.

It took a day and a half for the guys to get this done.

this is looking up from the living room.  This wall won't have the iron rungs in it.

this front piece will and my hope will tie in well with the stair railings.  We will be working this week on getting drywall up.  I can't tell you how excited I am to have drywall dust all over lol.  I'll keep you posted on our progress with pictures. 

Signs of Spring at the New House

The sunrise at our new place. Its so much better here.

All of our trees and bushes are flowering.  They are so pretty but aren't so great for the allergies.

Flowering ground cover.

Our pond.

Stairs that one day will be even more inviting.

Dandelions everywhere.  I wish I knew how to make dandelion wine.

The plum tree in bloom.

Here is our garden.  Its a little bit bigger than last year.  I should probably get going on getting it plantesd lol.  That's this weeks job.

Easter

The boys digging into their Easter baskets

The boys didn't have too much trouble finding them.

The day before Easter we celebrated at Aunt Kate's house. Connor was very excited.

The boys got to do an Easter egg hunt outside. It was such a beautiful day. Micah and Blake are taking a breather.

Max managed to leave a few for the little guys to find lol.

Thomas and Uncle Jason spectated.

So cute!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!