Kate's First Haircut

This completely slipped my mind until just today. I mentioned a couple months ago that Kate had her first haircut. It took place in late January and here's a little video for those who want to see it.

Painting

This past weekend we tackled most of the priming/painting of our basement. Deb & Joe came over early Saturday morning and we got to work. Joe babysat Kate all day, while Deb, Shelly and I spent the day downstairs. I couldn't believe how much we got done in just one short day. We were able to completely prime the whole basement, paint everything but the accent wall in the living room (which is where the bar will be) and part of the hallway.

The next couple days Shelly and I finished the stairwell as well as Kate's playroom and we should have everything completely finished by the weekend at latest. A huge shout-out to my Mom for all your help this weekend. It's so nice to continue to have seasoned veterans helping us with this large project. We couldn't be more appreciative.

The Living Room

The Living Room #2

Milwaukee Children's Museum

This past weekend, the three of us headed down to Milaukee for one of recurring get-together's with our good friends, Tony, Melissa, Aaron & Cassie. Along with Tony's & Melissa's son Eli, the 8 eight of us went to the Milwaukee Children's Museum for the afternoon to let the kids "run wild". Eli is a little more than 6 months older than Kate and the two of them do very well together. We also got a little surprise while we were there...Shel's best friend Abby K. just happened to start working there on the weekends (which we had no idea about) and Shel bumped into her. It's been a while since we've seen her and it was so nice to briefly catch up.

After the museum, we headed back to Aaron & Cassie's place for a wonderful dinner and fun conversation. It was a great weekend and a nice brake from all the work we've been doing on the basement. Speaking of which, we'll be priming and painting all weekend. Once again, we'll post updated pictures early next week.

Kate & Eli go for a Cruise

Presenting......Me!

Hmmm, where does this tunnel lead?

Slide Time!

Go! Go! Golf Ball!

Drywall Completed

Between Ryan, Chris and myself, we've sure spent quite a bit of time downstairs the past two weekends. Shelly along with my parents chipped in as well and after 4 full days of drywalling, I'm beyond thrilled to say we're finished! When Shelly's cousin Andy asked Chris who would be hanging the sheetrock, he stated that we were doing it on our own. Andy's reply, "Good luck!" Now I know why.

That being said, I'm thrilled I/we did it on our own. I now have such an appreciation of the work that goes into a job like this and it feels good to know we've had a big hand in finishing our own basement.

The Plasterer's are at our place today and should be finished sometime tomorrow morning. After that, we start priming and painting the walls. I gotta say, we're moving along nicely and I truly believe we'll hit our April 30th deadline, possibly even with a week or so to spare.

The Living Room

The Bar Area

(The opposite side of the room pictured above)

The Half Bathroom

Hallway to Bedroom & Kate's Playroom

Inside Kate's Playroom

(Looking out toward the Living Room/Bar Area)

The Guest Bedroom

(Looking out toward the Doorway)

Basement Renovation Continued

Our project is continuing to move along nicely. We're still shooting to have the whole thing completed by no later than the end of April. I realized after my last post that I never shared what the finish product will look like. Well, here it is:

The Bathroom

Since my last post, the framing has been 100% completed, the heating ducts have all been installed and the electrical has been wired. I plan on completing the insulation here in the next couple days and then this weekend were going to tackle the fun job of dry-walling.

Early next week I'll post more pictures of our progress. Until then, wish us luck!

Punta Cana Vacation

Last week the three of us got back from a wonderful vacation in the Dominican Republic. We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel in Punta Cana and it was beyond amazing. My parents took us on the trip and two of my parents dear friends came as well.

We thought Kate would do well on the trip but we had no clue she would do as great she did. Every day instead of having to go back to the room to nap, she did so right on a lounge chair and her naps were just as long as if she were in her crib. It probably helped to have the real-life ocean/waves sound her noise maker emits.

Sound Asleep

Just Waking Up

The resort has so many different pools, each catering to a different demographic, but we didn’t spend a moment at any of them. I’ve never seen such a beautiful beach filled with powdery sand and absolutely zero rocks both in the ocean and on the shore. It made for the best swimming I’ve ever experienced. Given that, we spent all our time there. In fact, here's a little video of Kate enjoying the beach.

My Folks Along With Shelly & I

Shelly & Kate Enjoy the View

This Weather Will Work!

It's a Tough Life

On top of that, the resort was absolutely gorgeous, the service was beyond incredible and it was a vacation I’ll treasure the rest of my life. Besides that, there’s actually quite a bit more to report. Kate had her first hair “trim” before we left, but you’ll hardly notice it. We’ll post video of that as well as some updates regarding our basement remolding project on Friday.

Basement Renovation

The ball is officially moving on our basement renovation project. My brother and I broke ground to rough in a space for a half bathroom a few weeks ago and just this past Friday and Saturday, the project got into full-swing. Andy Woldt (Shelly's cousin) who owns his own construction company came up along with my father-in-law Chris and three of us got to work.

By the time Saturday evening rolled around, I was shocked by how much we had completed. As the day went by Friday and into Saturday, I found myself laughing more and more at the thought that I was going to try and tackle this part of the project without calling in the experts. It was quickly clear I would've been in way over my head. The level of expertise Andy and Chris had was unreal and I'm so thankful they were here. Their craftsmanship and quality is readily apparent! So, if anyone's thinking about finishing off their basement without calling in an expert, let me save you some time.....don't bother!

Once again, thanks so much to Andy and Chris for all your hard work. Greg, thanks for coming Saturday and giving us a hand as well.

We'll continue to update the blog with updated pictures as we move along in the process. These pictures are of the work completed this weekend.