Friday, April 29, 2016

Coach Sawyer

Mom confession: Sawyer doesn't get to play soccer this spring because the registration was closed by the time mommy got around to it. In my defense, the registration was in January before we even moved to OK. But regardless, Sawyer was devastated and Mommy felt very bad.


So, while our big guy doesn't get to play this spring he has been enjoying coaching Nora on the basics of soccer. Before each game he will stand on the sidelines and "help" her.


He's got some good tips!


I love that big brother is watching out for his sister and she so willingly listens. It's too cute for this mommy's heart to handle!


Wednesday, April 27, 2016

The Little Miss & Soccer

Our neighborhood church was offering soccer for 3 & 4 year olds this spring and Nora jumped at the chance to be on the same team as some of her friends. She signed up purely for the social aspect. She has seen Sawyer play soccer, but never really showed any interest in participating...so we didn't know what to expect.


She was very excited for the 1st game, especially after she received her uniform!

The first quarter she was pretty timid. She would kick the ball when it came to her, but wouldn't really follow the ball or go after the ball. Then toward the end of the 1st quarter she scored a goal and something clicked. She started running all over the court constantly trying to get the ball (no matter who had it ;) She was very focused and dare I say aggressive. By the end of the game she had scored 5 goals and we were all in shock!



The 2nd and 3rd game were more of the same. She was a go-getter and scored at least 7 goals in each game. Honestly we stopped counting.

The league is very low-key with no practices, only weekly games so she is still learning the rules. She need to practice defense and passing a bit more ;)


During the 3rd game she was doing her thing. She kicked the ball and the other team took possession and she stopped dead in her tracks and didn't follow the crowd of kids around the ball. We were a little confused, but then she starts talking to one of the coaches on the court and I could tell she was telling him that the boy with the ball (on the other team) was a friend from her school...so while she is a pretty intense competitor the social aspect of the sport is just as important to her (oh and the snack at the end ;)


She is always worn out and red-faced after the 4 quarter matches!

We couldn't be more proud (or surprised) of our little miss!

The Cardinal Team

Monday, April 25, 2016

The House {in progress}

The Friday we closed on the house also happened to be the 1st day of spring break! The timing was perfect because Kyle had the week off, my Dad and Debra came down to help us (they were a huge help) and Mema took the kids to the farm for the week (also a huge help).. It was a perfect situation to get some major housework done!


On Friday afternoon we walked into a perfectly livable house, albeit quite dirty. And by Sunday we had completely destroyed it (walls torn down, all the flooring removed, no kitchen, etc.).

Breaking in the new house
Every house has something that makes you go hmmm…a shelf over the door in the garage. Okay.

During spring break we removed the kitchen, fixed some plumbing, removed the laminate flooring, removed the carpeting, removed the popcorn ceiling in the bedrooms, the contractor took care of the mold issue in the bathroom, a brick layer fixed the brick work, we patched a million holes in the walls, painted ceilings, painted built-ins and laid hardwood floors.


The first night we had the house the demolition began. We started in the kitchen…tearing out cabinets, tile and drywall. We even found an OLD trash compactor hidden behind the cabinetry. I guess when it stopped working instead of removing it or putting in a new one they just covered it up.

After some major demolition, clean up and plumbing work the drywall started going back up.



The entryway featured some very retro green granite tile. I politely asked Kyle to remove it…that became more of an issue than we anticipated. First of all the tile was legit…like an inch thick. It took some major effort to remove and then we learned our little entryway/walkway was built up on bricks.

So we had two options 1) remove the bricks and make a level floor, but that would require us to remove the outside step and change the level of 3 doors 2) Add a thin layer of concrete on top of the bricks (that was what they did originally, but it had deteriorated when removing the granite tile) to give us a smooth, solid surface to lay the hardwoods on. We chose the 2nd option. The guys did not enjoy laying the concrete, but the result was great…pictures of that later.



The family room after the floors were removed


Master bedroom after the popcorn ceiling and carpet was removed. We also filled in the multitude of holes in the walls.


This is a gross picture of the mold issue in the master bathroom. We knew about the mold issue, but once the house was in our possession we learned it was a broken pipe that had been leaking for a LONG time. At one spot in the mold you could literally see outside. Thankfully we had a contractor and brick layer there 2 days after we got the keys to fix the problem.

my DIY game is strong as I use the paint sprayer to paint the ceilings after we destroyed the popcorn

During our last few days of the spring break renovation marathon Kyle laid the hardwood floors in the living room, dining room, family room, entryway, hallway and part of the kitchen. The house was very much still in a state of destruction/construction, but with spring ball about to begin it was his last big chunk of time to devote to the floors. While it may have been a bit out of order it was good to start putting things back together.

When we're not working on the house we're hunting for things for the house...


The kids even get into the action. They really loved this slab of granite ;)


And Nora immediately declared this as her bedroom carpet. More rational minds prevailed ;)


I've spent the last few weekends patching holes and painting the kitchen and kids bedrooms.


As of today the carpet has been installed and the kitchen cabinets have been delivered. Also, all appliances have been purchased. It's coming together, next up is installing the kitchen cabinets!

Friday, April 22, 2016

iPhone Unload {March 2016}



Pictures (top to bottom, L to R): little miss sass, a typical scene at the Schenk house…Daddy getting harassed; sweet, tired girl; Kolter and Daddy have football in common for sure; a rare date night during spring break






Pictures (top to bottom, L to R): I was brave enough to let Nora paint my toes…she actually did surprisingly well; brothers at ball practice; Nora modeling Aunt Christina's vintage ;) flower girl dress; Kolter pointing out his birthday cupcake; last bath in Papa & Nana's big tub; an original Nora Easter/unicorn/rainbow drawing; Sawyer's (and mommy's) 1st sno-cone of the season; Sawyer showing off his rad Angry Birds drawing

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

2.1


Kolter turned two about a month ago and since then I feel like he has grown leaps and bounds…so I'm doing another update post ;) Also, these cute pictures had to be shown!


His verbal skills have exploded. He can say pretty much every word. He has several new words per day. He is not really talking in sentences, but he will string a few words together. And he always gets his point across. He can name all the pups, all the colors and all the sports ;)


As of 4/6/16 Kolter no longer has a pacifier (or baba as he called it). For several months he only had it at sleep times. One morning I asked him if he was a big boy and ready to get rid of baba. He responded with a resounding "yes" and threw it across the room (he likes to chuck things). So that morning I collected all the pacifiers and besides one nap when he found a hidden pacifier he hasn't looked back. He hasn't even asked for it!

We have also learned he associates people and places with food. For example, one day at the grocery store we were buying tortilla chips and he repeatedly started yelling Papa, papa, papa…he remembered that Papa likes to eat tortilla chips (we don't often have chips at home, but he recognized the specific chips and remembered that Papa ate them) same thing with coffee. Another time we visited a sports facility we had only been to once before (several months prior) and as we entered the building he said "hot dog" which is what we ate the last time we were there. It's so funny what they remember…can you tell he is our good eater? His world must revolve around food ;)