First Father's Day

This past weekend, Matt celebrated his first Father's Day!  Being a parent is an amazing feeling. Watching Matt transition into a father has been one of the many joys in my life.  I have watched him take care of Andrew when he has "bubbles" aka has to burt, change some ok diapers and some not ok dirty, stinky diapers!  They talk to each other and have the greatest conversations.  Matt will ask Andrew how he's doing and Andrew will respond with an "Uuuu" or an "Aaahhh".  When Andrew and I talk, usually he will start the conversation and I will ask him "What else?" as if he is telling me about his day.  He definitely is "talking" more and more each day.

On Father's Day morning, I woke up at my usually time of 6:50 am.  Made Andrew a bottle, fed him and then we played from a little bit.  Around 8 am we went to wake daddy up to give him his gift.  Loved how his gift turned out!  We (Jean and I) placed some paint on Andrew's foot (left one of course) and printed it onto a canvas.  Thanks for the help Jean! Then I painted a rocket ship, a moon, and some stars around his footprint.  I always say "Love you to the moon and back" to both of them, so I thought it would be a cute saying to put on the canvas.

After daddy opened his gift, I made some waffles, sausage and eggs for breakfast because that's what daddy wanted.  We then headed to church.  I had to work the Kingdom Kids desk for the second service, so Matt took Andrew home for a nap.  They picked me up after second service and we headed to the new Chinese buffet over by the Great Mall for lunch.  That place was very good and I recommend trying it out!  It's where the Red Lobster used to be. After that, Matt needed to drop off his hours and handheld at the plant and then we headed to my parents house.

We went to my parents house to see my dad for Father's Day.  Andrew also made grandpa a gift.  We (Jean and I) once again painted Andrew's feet and placed them on a canvas.  Then I took some paint and painted a heart around his footprints.  Then I wrote 'The best DADS get promoted to GRANDPAS'. Grandpa Kreutzer liked it a lot.  The week before we celebrate Father's Day with Matt's family.  Andrew made Grandpa Butch something too! We (Jean and I) placed his hand print on a baseball.  Then wrote 'Happy Father's Day, Love, Andrew' on it.  Since Grandpa loves baseball so much, we thought that would be a great addition to his collection.

My sister and grandma came over to my parents house also.  We all chatted for awhile, then Matt, Andrew and I headed over to my Aunt's house to say hi and pick up some 4th of July clothes she bought him.  Caught up with my aunt and uncle, then headed home! Here are some pictures to enjoy of our time at my parents house.

Grandpa and Andrew

Happy Father's Day daddy!

My two guys!

Three of my favorite guys!!!

Great Grandma Hamm feeding Andrew

But we couldn't get home till we stopped at Hy-Vee for some dinner for daddy!  He wanted a steak and some apple crisp.  We picked up a couple more things at the grocery store then headed home.  I grilled and cooked up dinner for the both of us while Matt relaxed and watched TV. The steaks were delicious by the way! Before you knew it, it was Andrew's bed time. We put Andrew to bed and then Matt and I played some video games.  We topped the night off with some yummy apple crisp! Matt said it was a "Perfect ending to a perfect day!" :)

Remodeling the Kitchen!!!

Well we are finally doing it! We have finally saved up enough money to remodel the kitchen and let me tell you, I AM SO EXCITED!!!  There are a couple of phases to this project and we hope to have everything done in the next couple of months.  

Phases:

One - Knocking down the closet and mudding the area!!!

Two - Tearing up the old floor and installing hardwood floor in kitchen!!!

Three - Having a custom 4' x 8' island built and installed!!!

Four - Granite counter tops!!!

Five: Paint

Last Monday, Matt, his dad and Mike started on phase one, tearing all the Sheetrock off the closet that was eventually going to be knocked down.  Matt wanted to give Jon a head start! I never did understand why they put a closet right in the middle of the two rooms.  It separated the kitchen from the living room.  Matt and I never liked it there in the first place.  He told me when he bought this house, we weren't together at the time, that knocking down that closet was one of the projects he wanted to do.

After the guys tore off the Sheetrock, Jon and his brother Shawn came over to knock down the closet.  Jon is a very dear friend to us.  We met him at our church and got to know him and his family more through small group meetings.  They are a wonderful family and we feel very blessed to have met them.  Jon is a contractor and he owns his own business.  He has offered to help us with our many projects around the house.  Another project he is helping us with is new energy efficient windows going in all over the house.

Bye bye closet!!!

After Jon and Shawn knocked out the closet they needed to mud.  He will mud a couple more times and then sand the areas.  Once we are done with all the phases in the kitchen, we will paint the walls as needed.

Currently Jon is picking up some hardwood samples and in the next couple of weeks we will install the floor!!!  Can't wait till it's all done and then we will have everyone over for a BBQ!!!

Man oh man what a week (and a half)!!!

I can't believe Andrew is 3 months (and some) already! Where is the time going???  Before I know it he will be crawling on the floor and I won't know what to do!  Lets not think about that right now!  Andrew will have a 4 month doctors check up next month so for right now I just placed him on the scale at home. It said he weighed 13 pounds!  He is getting chunky and there are more crevasses to wipe.  He is also figuring out his hands and fingers more and more each day.  He wants to stick anything close by in his mouth, even if it's your hand.  He is also holding up his head for longer periods of time (there are some really cute pictures below!). He is getting so strong, so big and he is just going to continue to grow.  I can see him being a football player some day with the way he is growing and the grocery bill getting expensive!  Other than growing up a storm, he is doing great and so are we.  Work has been picking up these past couple of weeks, so I have been pretty busy with that.  Especially this week since I had Monday off for Memorial day.  Here are some 3 month pictures!

Speaking of this past weekend, Matt and I celebrated our 1st anniversary! I feel so very blessed to have met such a wonderful man.  He is my rock, my best friend and a great father towards Andrew.  We have learned so much about each other and from each other just over the past 3 years we have been together.  Feels like we have been married for years but it's just been one.  We have also experienced a lot in our first year.  For our anniversary I surprised Matt with what else... Royals tickets! Mike, Matt's brother, was kind enough to get the tickets for us.  He was able to get the seats we sat in last year for our season tickets.  I thought that was pretty special!  Mike, Stephanie and the kids watched Andrew for us while we went to the game.  Then we stopped at our regular spot, Quik Trip on state line, for some hot dogs with sauerkraut (yum!), chips, seeds and a drink.  We were both hungry so we ate in the parking lot and then headed to the game.  The game was at 1:10, so the sun was out and it was a hot one!  Not being used to getting that much sun yet, I had to head to some shade to cool off.  Matt bought be some malt ice cream so I could cool off.  For some reason the Royals were not doing very well so we left at the top of the 8th inning.  Picked up Andrew, headed to the house to make some yummy dinner, and to do some yard work.  We grilled some steaks and had corn on the cob for dinner which was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.!!! I cooked the steaks perfectly, my mouth is watering just thinking about it again!  We also got a little cake from Hy-Vee which was the same place we got our wedding cake.

After dinner, we did some yard work.  Matt mowed the front and back, while I worked pulled some weeds and worked on my rose bushes.  Can't wait to see what this next year will bring us!

Sunday was our anniversary and Monday was Memorial day.  Spent the first part of the day at the bowling alley with Jeff, Jean and the kids.  We originally wanted to go to Mission Bowl, but they were closed.  Called up Olathe East, they were open for the day but didn't open till 11 am.  Needed to kill an hour or so, so we went to Hy-Vee on 135th.  Matt checked with his swing for work while I fed Andrew.  Oh and did I mention it was pouring outside!  Once the time came, we headed over to the bowling alley and bowled 3 games each.  After bowling we headed home for lunch, fixed up my very patriotic cake, cut up some watermelon and headed over to Mike and Steph's house for a barbecue.

Had a great time hanging out with family and friends. While Mike was grilling, the kids and I blew some bubbles. There was a feast of food; brats, hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, watermelon, veggie tray, strawberries, and cake!  I made a "poke cake" with strawberries and blueberries on top to make a flag. The cake recipe is pretty easy. You take your favorite cake mix box, bake that up, let it cool, poke some decent size holes in the cake, pour a can of sweetened condensed milk over the cake (it's going to look like a glaze), spread a container of whip cream on top, then top with either pieces of your favorite candy bar or fruit.  I used blueberries and strawberries to make an American flag.  It turned out great and it was very tasty!

After everyone ate, we decided to play a game of kickball.  I didn't play though because I didn't have shoes on just flip flops.  One time I played a game of kickball with no shoes on and broke off a toe nail. So I knew I didn't want to do that again. I was designated pitcher for kickball and still had fun watching everyone.  Note to self, place a pair of shoes in my car for kickball emergencies!  After the game, it was getting close to Andrew's bed time so we headed home.  It was a great week of celebrating firsts with my little family and I am so lucky to have all my family and friends in my life!