blood, sweat, and tears.....

Okay, maybe not tears but definitely lots of sweat (and just a little bit of blood) ............As many of you know, we have been working on finishing our basement for a little over a year now. Let me rephrase that, Trev has been working on finishing our basement...I've helped here and there. Most of the time I have no clue whats going on and figure it is better to just stay out of the way! Trev is definitely a "Jack of all trades" ...In the last year he has been a framer, plumber, electrician, painter, finish carpenter, and a tile layer. Even though he can do it all himself, it has been a blessing for him to have help along the way from other people that know what the heck they are doing!! Trev's dad, Rick, and his brother-in-law, Brady, have spent many evenings helping him work on the basement.....THANKS GUYS!!!! Without their help this project would definitely have taken a lot longer!!

This week the tile is going down. I'm happy to say that we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel...and even though there is still lots to do, the basement project is closer than ever to being finished!!!

I think back to when we very first started...the room was full of boxes from moving in, a HUGE king size waterbed...and a bunch of other, for lack of better words, crap. We started in Jan of '09 cleaning up and getting rid of all of the crap..then Trev built shelves for our storage room.

After that came the framing....





Wow, Jak looks so little!!! Papa let him hold a saw...he was pumped!!



After the framing was complete, it was time for all the electrical work. Rick and Debbie's friend Lloyd Dawes is somewhat of a genious when it comes to that sort of thing, so we "tricked" him into coming up from Oklahoma to help. We traded a gourmet steak dinner at the Krehbiel house for his knowledge and labor.

Skip ahead a few months....now its time for sheet rock. The one thing that we were willing to pay to have installed!!

Okay..a few more months have passed and we are ready to paint ceilings and walls. This is one area that I was able to help. I have to admit Trev did the bulk of the ceiling painting, but I did spent quite a few hours helping!!

After a few more months have passed we decided it was time to get the ball rolling again and start the trim work. This is one area that I would have to label Trev as an expert in. He does an AWESOME job!!!!!!!! He built a beautiful bar...make that two bars....and the rest of the wood work in the basement is just goregous!! Good work Trev!!!!!!!!

Here is the finished product.... Isn't it pretty??

The bar....


Oh boy, I can't wait to have a icy cold beer at this bar!!!


The view from behind the bar. The wall you are looking at will be where the TV will live... To the left is Trev's baby...the garage door. I haven't always agreed with the installation of the garage door, but its growing on me :)


The walk up bar...


This is the club house for the kiddos. If you look inside the clubhouse on the left you will see an opening for a tunnel that goes into the playroom (aka, daycare room) This is probaby the kids favorite part.


The tunnel opening in the daycare room. It runs through the hall closet...


Jak has enjoyed working with Trev on the basement. He often asks if he can go "help daddy build a basement" He is daddy's mini-me!!


When Trev finished all the trim work the painters came in and stained all the woodwork...then Trev (and Brady) got to work painting.

This week Trev has taken "vacation" to lay tile. He has been putting in 12-14 hour days...and then Rick and Brady have been helping when they get off work til the wee hours of the night. It looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good job boys!

Here are few pictures of the tile process.





Jak's job was to pick up all the little white spacers. He picked up 700 of the darn things!!!




It has been quite a process so far!! When this basement is finished we will be having a BIG party!!!! So, stay tuned :)

Easter Time = Lots of Pictures

Easter 2010 turned out to be a busy time for my camera. Coloring eggs, egg hunts, church pics, etc...click, click, click!!! I think I was dreaming about getting the perfect picture when we went to sleep Sunday night. I sorted through 175 pictures and will share some of my favs....

Thursday we let the kids dye eggs.... It was so hard for them not to stick their hands in the dye. Jak thought that the vinegar smelled gross..but that didn't stop him from from sticking his nose in the cup every time I looked away. Over-all the egg coloring experience went well. No major spills or messes. A success in my book.









Easter morning the kids came out of their rooms to find that the Easter Bunny had left them a present and had hid easter eggs full of money all over the house. They grabbed their baskets and began to search. When we found all the eggs they got out their piggy banks (or as they call them "penny banks") and put the change in them. For some reason Eva refused to put her money in her bank. She gave it all to Jak. Weird-o!! Jak didn't seem to mind.



Before church I tried to snapped a few pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits...we were already late so I didn't try too long. This was the best one...at least they are both smiling :)



We all went out to Rick and Debbie's house (aka, Papa and Nana's) for Easter lunch and an Egg Hunt. The kids were super excited for the egg hunt and it took everything they had to wait patiently on the steps before hand. When we gave them the go ahead they all started running and picking up eggs. The best part... the kids would pick up and egg, shake it, and if it didn't rattle (there were some real dyed eggs out there) they would throw it back down!!! Smart little turds!!!











After the Egg Hunt we tried to get a family picture..but Jak and Eva were more inerested in eating the candy than looking at the camera. So we decided to just get a picture with Trev and I....which turned out to be almost as difficult. Trev just loves to get his picture taken.




That evening we tried to fly kites. Rick got his kite up in the air right away...but Trev and Jak didn't have as much luck. They tried really hard...but those Kansas winds weren't blowing hard enough.





Finally...Trev got it to fly for a few minutes, but when it started to fall I told Jak to blow really hard so it would stay up. He blew and blew...but it just didn't seem to help :)





After kite flying Uncle Garrett gave rides on his 4-wheeler. Jak loved it...Eva not so much. We finally convinced her to ride with Daddy and Jak...and she had a blast.








One last note..... I've started the count down til #3 arrives.... 15 1/2 weeks left!!! We had the ultrasound a few weeks ago...no gender news. We decided to stay strong and keep it a surprise.


24 1/2 weeks along (aka 5 months..) YAY!!!