Sewer Problems

For several weeks our neighbor across the street has had a pile of dirt in her front yard. The pile of dirt has represented a neighborhood sewer problem and a complicated and expensive fix.

Two of our neighbors have had water in their basement (one with significant water damage and several times) and our basement drains have been doing some funny stuff. The city has tried on more than one occasion to fix the problem, but was not able to do it with the equipment that they had on hand.

This weekend while we were working in Cedar Rapids (future post about that trip) the city brought in the heavy equipment a dug a 22 foot hole to hopefully make the repairs.

It is kind of a bummer that we were gone because I think that it would have been really exciting for the kids to see. On the other hand it was probably good that we were gone because there was a mountain of dirt at the end of our driveway! The pictures are compliments of our neighbors (my parents!).

Start of the digging. Yes they are digging right next to the street. Unfortunately part of the street caved in as well. Can you say expensive?


The water that was filling the bottom of the hole as they dug. To much rain.


Stand between our house and our neighbors (not my parents). That mountain of dirt was at the end of our driveway.

The mountain of dirt created a nice dam for Friday afternoon/evening's rain. Yes that is our house. The city had to come back and finish on Saturday due to the rain.

Guess who gets to pay the bill for all that work? That's right, yours truly, along with several other neighbor... yippee.

Busy

You will have to forgive my lack of recent posts. Life has been busy. Micah had Bible school all last week - loved every minute of it. Saturday we had a Trunk and Tailgate Sale at our church (load up your trunk or tailgate full of garage sale items and sell them out of your trunk or tailgate). So I packed up our van and made some good money. Yippee! Monday morning we had our first Supper Swappers and so I was busy all morning making 8 bacon meat loaves! Got to work late, so I stayed late on Monday and now we are getting ready to leave to go do some flood relief in Cedar Rapids for the weekend. Crazy! Hopefully you can understand why there hasn't been many posts or pictures lately. All of the above are worthy of posts in themselves, but life just is a little to busy right now. Maybe after we get back from Cedar Rapids I will have some time to post about our weekend there along with some of the events above. We'll see.....

Bargarin Shopper Frustration

So I am always on the hunt for a good deal. A few months ago I was informed that Wal-Mart will match any advertised price of their competitors. Didn't think much about it because our local Wal-Mart doesn't have much competition in town. Then I was informed that they would match Target and K-Mart ads because they are in a town 20-30 mins away. Yippee!!

Today I also discovered that they will match Wal-Green ads as well. So, I go into Wal-Mart today armed with all three ads and a wad of coupons. There were some great buy 1 get 1 free or at 50% off ads in the competitors flyers! Much to my frustration Wal-Mart will not match those prices. I was told that they have to have a price attached to them, like buy one suncreen for 6.50, not buy one sunscreen get one for 50% off. Frustrating!!! Just when I thought I had found another way to save a few bucks.

Think that I might just have to make a experimental trip to a Wal-Greens and see what they can offer.... With my add in hand, of course. :)

You never know what you might find....

Nick was out mowing tonight. You will not believe what he found in our yard!

That is right, there was a $5 bill near one of our downspout. It is a little ironic because last night we were talking about having to watch our cash flow. Maybe God is telling us that everything will be okay and that He will provide? Maybe I should already know that....

Random Pics

Seems like every once in a while we go on a picture taking craze and have more photos than we know what to do with. Other times I can't find a recent picture of the the kids (taken within the last week). Right now we are apparently on a picture taking craze! Here are some photos I thought you might enjoy! We certainly do!

Micah supporting daddy's favorite baseball team - the Boston Red Soxs!

Becca helping mommy make some pizza sticks for a Sunday night supper. I think that she enjoyed eating the pepperoni just as much as making the sticks!
(As a side note: Becca has taken to calling me MomMom. Not sure where that came from, but it is rather cute!)

Becca playing with her princess. The hair in the face totally bothers me, but she doesn't seem to mind!

Micah having a NASCAR race in our living room! We get constant up dates as to who pasted who, who is taking a pit stop and who is leading!

Boone Train

Today we had the delightful experience of riding the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad.

Last year Nick's grandparent's found out that if you pre-order tickets way in advance you can get them a significate discount. They also knew that Micah was totally in to trains at that point. They got the tickets for us and we rode for the first time last year. After a scare by the train whistle it took Micah a good hour before he could settle down and enjoy the ride. When Grandpa asked if he wanted to go again this year, the answer was a resounding "Yes!"

So we took off this morning with Auntie Tricia to take in the train. It is a beautiful ride through the scenic Des Moines River Valley. (The rocking of the train can also be very lulling for tired adults!) Here are a few pictures of day!

Nothing quite like a little boy riding a train!

Enjoying the relaxing ride.

The train engine. Once we got to the end of the line the train had to go around to the other end of the train to pull up home. The kids got quite a thrill out of all the steam!

What? Camping?

Yes.... Our family is undertaking a few camping trips this summer. It could be interesting since I haven't camped since I was in high school and Nick has really never camped. To make things even more interesting we are using my parent's pop-up camper that was purchase around 1986.

The camper had been parked behind my parent's shed for the last 5+ years and has not even been opened during that time. On Thursday night we pulled, and I mean, pulled the camper out of its ruts in my parent's back yard over to our house to open it up and clean it out.

I was expecting the worse - mice, bugs, spiders, dust, dirt, etc..... and I was surprised when it wasn't that bad - no mice, a few dead bugs and not nearly as much dust and dirt I was expecting. It does need a few exterior repairs as the lawnmower had a few run-ins with it, however, it is nothing that takes away from the "comfort" that a pop-up camper can offer. :)

The kids are all excited and were quite sure that we were going to "camp" on our front yard on Thursday night. However we are not camping until July. This I think is a good way to build some excitement for them though!



The camper's temporary resting place while it get a good airing out and cleaning!

"Exploring" the camper for the first time. It is amazing how "big" a pop-up camper can seem to a 2 & 4 year old.

Becca testing out the comfort of the benches!

101st Post

Can't believe it, but when I posted last Sunday I missed our 100th post! Hard to believe that there has already been 100 posts! I thought that I would celebrate our 101st post with some pics from the past (before my blogging days). Hope you enjoy a look back!

Rebecca at her baptism on Thanksgiving Sunday, November 2006.

We became members of our church that same Sunday.

Micah, Christmas 2006, 2 years old.

Rebecca at her first birthday, August 2007.

Harvest 2007, 3 years old

Bathtime, Winter 2008, Micah 3, Rebecca 18 mo.

Hide n' Seek, Winter 2008, "Here I Am!"

Hide n' Seek, Winter 2008 "You found me daddy!"

A family photo taken a few months before I started blogging. How much can change in a year!