Every record must end...then another starts...

We woke up this morning to find Kailey sleeping in bed with us. There was a small problem though. She smelled like pee pee. Kailey had an accident in her bed last night for the first time since January 20th. Its been 72 days since she last had an accident. What a wonderful accomplishment for a little girl that is only 3 years old.

We believe the only reason she had an accident was because she stayed up so late and was so tired, that she didnt wake up during the night like she normally does. She was completely out.

Anyways, we had a talk with her today and let her know that she did a wonderful job and were so proud of her for going so ling without an accident. She told us that she is ready to start over again.

Last weekend Donnie was out spreading manure into the field from the horses. MMM, good fertilizer. Anyways, he had the tractor out and took the kids for a ride. They both loved riding in the tractor. Cohen had a smile on his face from ear to ear. Grandpa let Kailey drive and almost ran over mommy. Enjoy the pics...

The House has officially begun....

The builder closed on our lot on Friday March 20th. With the weather outlook bleak over the past weekend, we were wondering if the hole would actually get started. A little rain wasn't enough to stop us though and on Monday May 23rd, the hole was dug for the house.

Family time in Chicago...

We drove to Chicago this past weekend to visit the family and attend my cousins wedding shower. It was a very nice trip. We arrived Friday night about 9pm. It was past the kids bed time but they were so wound up from sitting for four hours that it was almost 113opm before they were both asleep. On Saturday we went shopping with Grandpa and relaxed in the afternoon until my sister's family showed up. Dinner was this great Chinese restaurant a couple blocks away. They have some of the best Lo Mein and Shrimp Egg rolls I have ever had. We played Apples to Apples and hunt out laughing all evening.
Sunday was the wedding shower which Kailey attended with Jaime. While the girls were away, dad and I took Cohen to Cabela's in Indiana. Boy that's a big store. We weren't really their for anything in particular. Although I did buy a pair of Under Armor camo gloves for hunting this winter.
On the way to pick up the girls, we drove past the old house in Calumet City. Boy was that weird. Its sad but the houses are starting to look really run down, especially the garages. We drove through Cal City and looked to see what stores/restaurants were still their since we were their. It will be interesting to see what another 5 years brings.

Good news...

We got a call from our home builder. He will be closing on our lot on March 20th. On the following Monday, March 23rd, he will start digging the hole for the foundation. Were estimating moving in to be sometime around the beginning of July. Its a long way away but I'm already getting excited for the completion.

State Darts in Waterloo...

So me and the guys traveled to Waterloo for the State of Iowa Dart Tournament last weekend. It was another exciting time but the trip overall was a letdown because of the way we threw. This year we had high hopes and expectations for ourselves to throw well and maybe even bring home a state title. Alas, it was not meant to be.
In singles competition on Thursday, I won my first match but did have to come from behind to do it. It was a great feeling to win and know I wasn't going to be out in 2 matches. The next match, I ran into a brick wall. The guy threw lights out against me and sent me packing in 2 games. I took my last match to 3 games and lost on bullseye's. My singles competition was now over.
On Friday night, Marco and I were pumped to play our doubles match. Once again, we killed ourselves by throwing poorly. It was another short night for us. After all of us were eliminated, we went to the casino for seafood buffet. While there, we watched a man hit a $40,000 jackpot on a slot machine. This by far was the highlight of the night.
Our Saturday team started out much better. We won our first match (be it was from a 1st round bye) . But at least we were farther along on the winner's bracket. The first match played, we lost in 3 games. We didn't throw too terribly, but they were on fire. The 3rd game, Bob and I threw a 2.3 mpr. That's great considering we throw a 1.8/1.9 respectively. The other team threw a 4.17. There wasn't much we could do when someone throws that good.
So another year of state darts is over. Next year it is supposed to be right here in Cedar Rapids. Maybe throwing here will help us out. Maybe we just need to let go and not put so much pressure on ourselves to win it all. Oh well. On to next year.

20 days and counting...

Kailey has been potty free at night for 20 days in a row and received a baby as a prize for doing such a great job. She is so proud of herself.

We have a calendar hanging on the wall and each night before she goes to bed, Kailey puts a sticker on the previous day and counts how many days in a row she has gone without an accident.

UFC Unleashed...

So I pick up the kids after work on Monday and Jaime comes into the garage to help unload the kids. While I'm standing their, I can hear the dogs inside fighting wildly. I rushed inside and grabbed the two of them to seperate them. I noticed Rebel had what looked like some blood on the top of her head so I started investigating. Rebel got bit on the ear and was blood was dripping all over the kitchen. As she shook her head, the blood was splattering all over the floors, walls and cabinets. I called for Jaime to run in and help me as I was trying to hold Rebel still so she didnt track blood anywhere else. Jaime was able to put Sophie (my mother-in-laws) dog in her kennel so we could attend to Rebels cut. Luckily we had some "styptic" powder on hand and were able to get the bleeding under control. That lasted only as long as rebel didnt reshake her head.
While cleaning up, Jaime noticed that their was a chunk of black hair on the floor. We assumed that one of the dogs lost a piece of ear. Boy were we wrong. I looked over at Sophie and noticed a chunk of her face was torn off. It was like an "Indian scalping a white man". The bite took off the flesh and hair without making the wound bleed.
Needless to say that both dogs were kenneled the remainder of the evening and are looking to make full recoveries. We will make sure that we no longer leave the two alone without someone in the house.

What a beautiful weekend...

With record temps in much of Eastern Iowa reaching 20 degrees above normal, it was a perfect time to get the kids out of the house for some playtime this past weekend. Temps reached as high as 60 degrees in some areas. I think it was around 49 in Center Point. We took the kids outside to play in the snow and they were also able to ride their bikes as well. Here are some pics of them outside as well as us feeding the horses.

Super Bowl Sunday and my winnings...

We spent the evening on Sunday watching the Super Bowl at our friends "the Haley's" house. The kids played all night long and we enjoyed pizza, deer meat and the softest brownie's on the planet. I give congrats to the Steelers for their win even though I was rooting for the Cardinals.

I have to give a huge thanks to the Steelers offensive lineman who committed that holding penalty in the end zone in the 4th quarter. That safety along with their next touchdown put me in position to win the 4th quarter of my Super Bowl Squares pool that I ran. Once AZ had 23 points, It didnt matter what the Steelers did....If the Steelers would have tied the game at 23 all, I had 3-3, If they didnt score I still had 3-0, and even when Pitt scored to go up 27-23, I still had 7-3. In fact, even if AZ had scored on their final drive and won 30-27, I had 0-7. That safety was huge as it gave me many outs. So I obviously won the 4th quarter which was $150.00. Ooops, did I forget to mention I also won the 1st quarter score of 3-0 for $100.00

Yeah baby, thats right. I won $250.00.....Oh baby

1 week celebration....

Kailey woke up this morning and has made it 1 whole week without an accident in her bed. She has been trying really hard to be a big girl and is doing a wonderful job.
Nice job Kailey.

The HOUSE is finally SOLD

Holy cow...I cant believe it....The closing took place yesterday at 1130am. However, it almost got pushed out again due to the buyer's stupid realtor. This realtor submitted the higher original sale price instead of the new negotiated lower price to the banks for the closing. So the documents were all wrong which threatened to push the date out again till the banks got them corrected. Instead, we left the documents as they were and then wrote a check to the buyers to cover the difference. This was fine for us except, I had to take my lunch at 1030am, run to the house to get the check book and then drive to Marion to deliver the check to my realtor (who was meeting the buyer's realtor). When I walked in, I had a pissy look on my face and never looked the buyer's realtor in the eye. This jackass shouldn't be a realtor. He screwed up so many details in this process (his name is Brad Fisher).
Overall, cutting a check to the buyer's was an easy solution other than pushing out the close date, except for 1 minor detail. With the sale price being higher, the commision for the realtors was 420.00 higher. So I mentioned it to my realtor and he agreed, and said he would do whatever was needed to get me our money back (yesterday I received a check from each realtor for 210.00 to cover our difference).
Were just so glad this is over and can look forward to moving on.

Rebel is sick.....

So Jaime noticed on Thursday night that when Rebel went potty, she had blood in her urine. We got her into the vet Friday morning to be evaluated. I dropped her off and went to work. About 9am, I got a call from the vet asking me if I can come in for a consultation. Man, that scared the crap out of me. I assumed the worse. Luckily it appears that she has a simple bladder infection. I think the move to Jill & Donnies has thrown her off. She no longer has a fenced in yard to roam in. Because we live in the country now, she has had to learn to go potty on a chain. The first 3 days we were here, she barely pee'd and I think that the holding it in has caused her this issue. She's on pills now for the next 2 weeks. If she truly has just a bladder infection (instead of gall/kidney stones) it should clear up nicely. For now we have to keep her kenneled up as she cant control her bladder and has been pottying in the house.
Lets all hope its just a simple bladder infection. I still miss Cyrus (its been 2 years) and I cant fathom losing my girl.

Closing has been delayed...

I got a call today that the closing on our house which was scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed till next Tuesday. I guess the new homeowners weren't aware that when they took an SBA loan, the SBA needs to see a clean abstract on their previous house, so they know the people aren't taking out 2 separate home loans at the same time. Its not a huge setback but Jaime has had to call some utility companies again to change the date of disconnection for us.
Hopefully next Tuesday comes quickly.

The move is complete

This past Saturday we moved into Jaime's parent house. It was a cold day for the move but the guys were motivated to get the job done. I was hoping to have it done in 2 hours but it took 4. We could have gotten done sooner if Marco didn't take so long to back up the trailer, if Bob didn't take so many smoke breaks and if AJ just did some work for a change.
Jaime and I spent all Saturday and Sunday getting stuff out after the guys left. You really forget how much crap you have until you try to move it all. Its not the big items, its all the little things that pile up. I have one item left to complete at the house before final inspection on Thursday. Then its all done and over come Friday morning.