Not done yet...

I fell off the face of the earth....again! Oh well....Hopefully (keep your fingers crossed) that our addition will be done this week. Really there isn't a lot left to do! They have to do all the shelves/rods in the walk in closet and linen closet, tile the shower, put hardware on vanity and doorknobs...and I think that is it. They keep assuring me that they will be done by Friday. Our carpet in the new bedroom, office and the rest of the house is being laid on next Monday and Tuesday. Then comes the work...getting this house put back together. :) I am excited to have these workers (even though they are very nice) gone...that way I can get back to staying in my PJs until noon! :) I also miss having the boys lay in bed with me in the morning and watching cartoons! It will be nice to not be sleeping in the living room! And also going from one bath to THREE!

What else is new? I went on a weekend shopping trip with some friends up to Chicago and had a blast!!! Nice to be with the girls...no kids...no husbands...sorry guys! We love you but can appreciate you even more when you are taking care of the kids without us!

We went up to my dad's again to celebrate Uncle Matt's 34th birthday on September 20th. How can that be? Seems like yesterday he was chasing me around the kitchen island swearing he was going to kill me for hanging the phone up on one of his girlfriends! :) Luckily John Noble saved my life that day! :) We went on the boat and everyone had a blast with tubing, kneeboarding, skiing, and Matt K even slalomed! He is awesome and makes it seem so easy! The kids tubed. Ethan is so brave...he wiped out again really bad but wasn't freaked out. I think he should try to ski next year. We also hit another county fair while we were there!

Work has been busy for both of us. We are hoping that Delphi can get out of Chapter 11 here soon! Why not...they have only been in bankruptcy since the fall of 2006. :) We are just happy that Matt made it through the 600 cuts that were made! :)

I have been busy with work...got a promotion of some sorts. Wondering if I should have accepted or not. This transition period isn't fun, but hopefully it will be worth it. I had to cut 13 people off my caseload so that I can help take new clients onto the Waiver. It is fun to meet new clients, get them hooked up with services, and then move them on to a permanent case manager. My new title is called a Transition Case Manager. Just happy to have this job...don't know if I can ever work a 9-5 job again...the last 3 years have spoiled me!

The boys are good. Evan is a nasty drooling--snotty mess, but what else is new. Those of you that know Evan...know that he has drooled since June 1st 2006 which was the day he was born! :) Actually he is cutting the last 2 molars so I am excited for him to stop with the drool. Soon I hope! The snot...well he gets that from me...poor kid and his allergies. We don't seem to have any relief from the congestion. He has tried about EVERY medication but no luck so far! :) He is so stinking cute...so at least he has that going for him. Such a happy baby...okay he is two years old, but he is still my baby! :)

Well you have heard enough from me. I will try and post some pictures! I will most likely wait until next week when the carpet is in! :)

6 weeks down....hopefully 2 more to go!!!

We are getting closer to having our house back! It has been a hard 6 weeks...stuff everywhere...stuff out of place....random things in our yard...dangerous things in the yard (nails, nail guns, metal....), Matt and I sleeping in the living room....no window coverings due to the trim on the new windows not done....everyone sharing one bathroom....no room for cloths so some cloths in Evan's closet some in Ethan's closet...most in storage...some just in random stacks around the house, having people in your house at 7a in the morning, not having our fence up so the dogs frequently get out (luckily they have it too good here and know it so usually they just lay in the front yard)...power on/off at times when you really needed to get ready....water off when you really needed to go to a meeting....BUT this crazy time we are in will only make the addition that much better!!! What will 3 full baths be like!!! I have been sharing one with 2 boys, Matt and contractors!! :) I am super excited about my new office, and ordered a nice big desk!!! Our master suite is going to be SWEET!!!! I must also add that our builders have been the best! They are the nicest guys and they have been so easy to work with. This is one of the reasons we picked them. The only thing that they contracted out was our new heating/cooling system in the addition....other than that....they have done all the work themselves. The boys really like them, and believe it or not these guys really like the boys! Here are some new pictures! They are shooting to be done in 2 more weeks. Next week they have a little more plumbing to finish, some more drywalling, and then mudding and sanding! Painting, trim, flooring all the following week! These pictures are from earlier in the week. I will take some more and post later. Now most of the drywall is up! :)

This is a picture if you walked right into are "old" bedroom. This is a new hallway that was added. To the right is what will be the office and straight is the master suite, and there is a door on the left before the masterbedroom and that is our existing 2nd bathroom. In the master area straight ahead and to the right is the bedroom. Right when you walk into the bedroom the bath is on the left, and the walk in closet in past the bath on the left.

Here is the picture of the office...don't worry the carpet is coming up! :) We had a window added to this room. This was part of our old bedroom so I think it is now12x10 which will make a NICE office! :) I am sure my boss hopes I start getting more productive! :)

Here is our new tub...don't worry it isn't green! :) I am excited because this is a SIX foot tub! :) Ethan and Evan think they are swimming in it...nope...mom is going to lock the door and hide in here OFTEN!

This is a picture of our bathroom. The vanity will go on the left side, with the toliet on the end of the vanity. Where that dry wall is sticking out will be a nice linen closet. The window at the upper right is our old bathroom window that will be filled in! I think the bathroom is something like 9x9.

Here is a picture of our bedroom....with a bunch of stuff in it! :) It is approx 16x16 which we are excited to have some more space!

This is our walk in closet! We are excited...this is going to be about 7X9. What will we do with the space? Both the bathroom and the walk in closet have pocket doors!

Here is a picture from our neighbors back yard. Love the temporary fence? We do! Will be nice with new grass, landscaping, and maybe a new deck next year...

Here is the addition. Looks good...neighbor said it looks like it has always been that way! A great compliment to your builder! Just think...a nice green yard, landscaping...a fixed fence! :)

We finally did it....had some family photos taken!

As you can see our main blog picture is now a family picture!!! Thanks for Darcy for taking some awesome pictures!!! Here are a couple of my favs!!!!! Okay...more than a couple...it is so hard to pick!!!

Party time....

Last weekend we had a little get together to celebrate 3 things: the Maples selling their house, Matt M's birthday and Sammy's FIRST birthday! Here are a couple pictures from the day!!!

My baby ain't so much a baby anymore...

Today was Ethan's first day of preschool. He goes on Tuesday and Thursdays from 8:30am-11:30a. Evan really wanted to go to "pre-cool" but no luck this year. Next year it will be his turn! :) Here is a cute picture of him outside the house with his new back pack!

Nanny....aka Nanny Pie

The boys love spending time with their Nanny...they have enjoyed lately calling her their Nanny Pie! Very cute. This is Matt's grandmother, so it is very cool that my boys get to spend quality...I mean quality time with her on a weekly basis. Nanny is always teaching them about something. Bless her heart...she is teaching and they are barely listening. She has patience like no tomorrow. I guess that why she taught kindergarten for 40 years! How did she do it? I give teachers of all ages a great deal of respect let alone ones that hang out with 3-4-5-6 year olds every day!!!! She sat outside with the boys for at least for one hour on Monday playing play dough! They weren't even fighting. She is good at giving them each their own attention without making the other one feel left out! How does she do it? Guess it goes back to having 15-30 kindergartners. She told me once that I think during the war she had 30 plus kids in her class!!! Can you imagine? OMG! We appreciate the time that we get to spend with Nanny and are very lucky to have her as she is always interested in what is going on in our lives! :)

Addition update

It has been quiet around here. Our workers aren't coming back until Thursday so that means they have had 4 days off our job. They plan on siding and doing some more windows on Thursday and Friday!! We did get our additional heating/cooling system in last weekend. Here are a couple updated pictures of the progress....some new windows, the addition is roofed, and heating/cooling system installed...and more....

Whistle while you work...

This is the third week of construction on our addition! The total work time is estimated at 8-12 weeks depending on weather and getting all items ordered in time! :) So far...so good. We are adding on a master suite...so a master bedroom, bath and walk in closet. Our old bedroom will be turned into an office/craft/jamming room! We will then have 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths which will be nice to have some extra room. We are getting new siding and windows throughout our whole house. Our house looks pretty bad since they ripped off all the siding on day 1! I can't wait for the siding and new windows! It has been a huge process!!! However, things really seem to be coming along. We have a great work crew! The dogs are adjusting to having only about 1/3 of their area...the kids too! :) Here are some pictures from the beginning through today...

This is the footers and they also had to tap into our sewer.

Poured the slab!

This is the future walk in closet (with a pocket door).

this is a fuzzy picture of the future bathroom. It will have a pocket door too!

This is as of today. They are hoping to have the roof framed, shingled and maybe some windows in by the end of this week!

There will be a window added in the old part of our house here for our office.

At our wedding we had fortune cookies! In honor of our 7th Anniversary on Monday!

Get a Fortune Cookie for your page!

My sweetheart!

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Lost in time....Top 10 List

Hey...Sorry for being MIA!!! The summer has just been so busy! Here is what we have been up to....get a cup of coffee or your diet coke....this will be a long one! :) I will try and post some of the pictures tonight, but check back in the next day or two....there will be more! :)

1. Matt and I went to the Jack Johnson concert on June 13th! We had a great time with great friends! Thanks for asking us Eric and Heather!!! We even got chauffeured in a Hummer Limo! :) Much better weather than the Eric Clapton concert! :)

2. Matt and I flew out to California for a wedding in June. We had a blast!!! We went out there with Jason and Melissa!!!! We had a lot of fun walking around Monterrey site seeing! I had been there before but when I was much younger. It is so pretty....we did wish it was warmer, but you know Northern California! We had some great food and too many laughs! Is there such a thing? We saw a lot of Sea Lions. One of them I named Tiny...and no it isn't the biggest one below!

Now the newlyweds are in Egypt for a year....Shon is in the Marines! :) Kirstin does a great job of sending emails about their adventures. Sometime I will have to post one! She needs to be blogging!!! Congrats Shon and Kirstin......we are happy for you! Jason next time take your sweater!

3. Matt went to Japan for 10 days........10 long days at the end of June! Long days for him and long days for us! We all survived...barely! :) There are no pictures here........it was an ugly time! Ha.

4. Over the 4th of July we went up to my days house and enjoyed the lake. Ethan got his first tube ride! Matt K tubed, skied for the first time and knee boarded. My brother, Matt M, also skied and knee boarded. I will try to figure out how I can get this video off my phone onto here!! It is a video of Matt M doing a 360 on the knee board...pretty impressive! Evan will have to wait a while for tubing...or until he has ear plugs! Those darn tubes! Oh well...they have sure been a blessing for us especially him! :) We had a great time on the lake and enjoyed the good weather. Ethan was really into fireworks, and Evan not so much. Thanks Dad and Connie for taking care of the boys in the night and in the EARLY morning. *Matt was struggling to get back onto Indiana time from his Japan trip, and I was sick....so the much needed extra sleep was appreciated*

5. My friend Melinda celebrated her 30th birthday and had a big shindig on 7/12. Matt and his friend Roy were the entertainment! We had a good time...good food...good drinks...good friends...and no kids! :) Happy 30th....here's to 70 more great years! :) Here are some pictures of the band and the birthday girl!!!

6. My high school and college friend, Erika...brought a beautiful baby boy into the world. Benjamin Reese Ponder was born on Friday, July 11th. He weighed 4 lbs 1 oz...and was several weeks early, but is doing great! We all hope that he can come home soon!!! Congrats Hunter and Erika!!!! Look at that face....I have seen that one from his mommy 100 times! :)

7. Matt, the boys, Matt's parents, and I went to Cincinnati for several days on a mini-vacation. We went to the Cincy zoo, and then stayed a couple of days at Great Wolf Lodge. We all had a blast! We did have one special eventful thing happen during the trip....there was a small fire at Great Wolf Lodge and we had to evacuate around 9 pm. It was bad timing as we had the boys all tucked into bed...and then we had to grab them and go. We had to stand outside for 1 1/2 hours. Ethan loved the fire trucks! Evan fell in love with some baby twins! He does love babies! :) Eventually we all go to go back in....the fire was contained to a dryer! The boys love the water, and they are both pretty fearless. Evan is definitely more fearless than Ethan. We will have to watch Evan! :) Matt and I were able to go down some of the "big kid" slides and had a blast. No near injuries like Great wolf Lodge in Sandusky last Christmas! Ha. Thanks Mark and Pauline for the great trip!!! We had a blast!

8. Matt has been working his butt of the last couple of weeks getting ready for our addition to start! GREAT job Matt. He is so strong!!!! He has had to dig out a ton of shrubs that we are going to try to keep. He also had to cut off 2 feet of our deck and dig out post, and cut off part of the pergola....the list goes on and on and on....put up a new temporary fence...take down part of our permanent fence so the crew can get their equipment back in the yard. Now our next job is to get everything moved out of our bedroom and into storage. Our living room will be our bedroom for awhile now! :) Needless to say the Kearneys will not be having a party any time soon. Maybe in October when the work will be done! :) I will do a post in the next day or two on our "Progress."

9. We went up to my mom's house on Sunday to celebrate a belated 60th birthday to my step-dad Dave....what a great guy! We had fun in the pool...fun in the yard...fun with the dog...fun making homemade ice cream....more fun eating the ice cream...fun grilling out....just a lot of fun!!! Thanks mom and Dave for the good time! No pictures here either....took the camera...just forgot to take any! :)

10.....saved the best for last....I bought a new golf bag and new golf shoes.........and actually golfed! OMG! yes...it is true. I quit golfing years ago even before Matt and I were married! My ankles were causing a problem...even sprained one on a sprinkler on the first hole. I am pretty sure that is when I gave golf up! I decided (thanks for the push Heather....and Jennie) to start golfing again. I have only played 7 holes, and I pretty much sucked....but my mom is coming down tomorrow and we are playing 9 holes...just the girls! :) I hope these new $40,000 ankles don't fail on me!

Well...I think that gets you caught up to date with us! I will try to post something on a weekly basis again. Life is just busy...and work has been busy....but i will try a little harder!