Phase 1 Completed

When we built our house a year ago, we knew that we would eventually finish the basement. A few weeks ago we decided to make it happen. We contemplated all of the options and went with the Owens Corning Basement Finishing System. It's a little bit more expensive, but the quality of the product was worth it. The quickness of the project has been amazing. From the time papers were signed and the installation was completed, it took exactly two weeks. Scott and I decided to finish the basement in two phases. Phase 1 is the big room with play area and entertainment area. Phase 2 will be the storage/furnace room, bathroom, and office. Here is a before picture and after picture. We're very pleased (so are my parents now that they don't have to sleep in the toy room anymore).

Olympic Gymnastics

Although most of the world is focused on the gymnastics taking place over in China, we were having our own "Olympic" gymnastics here in Indiana. Adelyn finished her first gymnastics session and has been promoted to the next level. Abigail continues to love her ballet/gymastics combo class. We start a new session next week. Here they are showing off their new trophies.

Boys and Frogs

We had the pleasure of hosting my brother, his wife, and their four boys this weekend. It always changes the dynamics of the house when you typically have a 3 to 1 ratio of girls to boys and find it changed to a 4 to 6 ratio. Everything becomes a little louder and active. Items such as baby dolls and magic wands become grenades flying over the banister and swords. I think it's good for the girls to experience a different type of play every once in a while. Friday night, I showed the boys where all the frogs hide at our house. We have a window well and on any given day you can find 5-8 frogs hanging out in the damp ground. Because I love frogs, I fetched them out for everyone and we had frog races in the backyard. Of course, Abigail chose to abstain from the activities and hid in the house so that the frogs wouldn't "get her." Aaron took a great picture of everyone on the back porch holding their frogs and Abigail leaning on the glass looking at everyone on the otherside of the door. Adelyn, on the other hand, loved the frogs. She chased them around the yard, held them, and kissed them. She would point at her frog and tell it to "pop." I guess it was a good choice to have a frog themed room for her as a baby.

Perfect Little Angels

This is for everyone who comments that Abigail and Adelyn are so well behaved. I'll admit that on most occasions they are very well behaved girls who get along wonderfully. However, in the privacy of their own home, they have a tendency to fight with each other over blankets or toys. Today was no exception. I'm not sure how it all began because I was working in my office. I do know that it ended with Adelyn holding a clump of Abigail's hair. Both girls were sent to the time out chairs. Abigail and Adelyn were crying, so I thought it would be a cute picture. As I was downloading it to the computer I noticed that Abigail was still upset, but Adelyn had a big grin on her face. Once again it is a perfect example of their personalities!!

It's Never Too Late

I have officially begun Adelyn's scrapbook for her first year of life. The fact that she will be two years old this month made me feel a little guilty that I hadn't started it earlier. Even more frustrating is that I didn't do a good job of keeping track of her pictures. I've spent the past 2 hours sorting through digital photos from emails and different memory cards. Although Abigail's scrapbook was done by hand with all the cutting, cropping, gluing, etc., I was not meant to scrapbook the old fashion way. Adelyn's scrapbook will be done via digital scrapbooking. We'll see how it goes. This is page one of her official First Year Scapbook.