Our Easter basket fun!

Emma and Ethan got to take a sneek peak at what the Easter bunny brought them before we went to church! Looks like a lot of fun!

The Easter bunny brought Ethan a new Dr. Octopus!

I really do believe we own every Dr. Octopus toy that was ever made! We don't know why he loves Dr. Octopus so much!

Emma hunting Easter eggs!

It snowed on our Easter (I know its crazy) so we improvised and hid our eggs throughout our house! At least the snow is now melting by the next day! Spring has to be around the corner for us, right!!!

Our Easter Dessert!

We wanted a special treat for our Easter dessert, so we splurged and bought a chocolate pie from Kathy's Pies. It is a very well known bakery here in our area and it was delicious!

Happy Easter!

Easter always brings back a lot of childhood memories for me. I remember every Easter we would head over to my mother's parents house and have a big family lunch. Since my mother came from a big family (9 brothers and sisters) it was always a lot of fun. All of us cousins would always line up in front of my grandpa's old work truck and have our picture made! Then we would hunt for Easter eggs in the yard. At Christmas we didn't get together probably because everyone was so busy with activities, but Easter was always a family tradition. We plan on starting some traditions of our own with Ethan and Emma! I know how important they are because now that my grandparents and my mom are gone the memories are even more special to me! Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all make your own special memories. ~Amy

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

We hope everyone has a fun St. Patrick’s Day! And yes don't forget to wear your green!!! We hope everyone had a great weekend! Our snow is FINALLY melting. But now we have a muddy mess in our yard, but I'm not complaining at all. I am just so excited to see our grass again. It's been about 3 months since we've seen the ground! We went to our friend’s 25th wedding anniversary this weekend. It was a surprise party given by their 2 daughters. After we left the party I felt this reconnection with Mario and we stayed up late and just talked! With work, everyday responsibilities and the kids sometimes it's just so nice to find the time to sit back and really appreciate each other! We will be married for 10 years soon and Mario is still my best friend! And after seeing our friends celebrate their 25th it just made me stop and think how special that really is. Have a great week! We will update the blog with some pics later this week. ~ Amy

Ethan's Artwork

Ethan is quite the artist around our house! We now have his beautiful creations on display which consist of Spiderman and all the villains, robots, dinosaurs, crabs, lizards and most importantly his family!!! Have a good week! :) Amy

Kitchen Remodel Halfway Through

Here’s the progress so far on the kitchen. We stripped all the wallpaper, repaired plaster, hung new damask print wallpaper, textured and painted the remaining walls a deep chocolate. Next we installed new stainless steel appliances. Then hung two new light fixtures a chandler in the eat in kitchen and an antique school house light fixture. We purchased the school house light fixture from a local architectural salvage. I talked to the owner and he said it was from 30’s - 40’s sometime and was pulled from an old school house here in Iowa. We brought it home and after about 8 hours of scrubbing with steel wool and mineral spirits we clear coated the base and hung it. We were so happy with the finished look of this light fixture we went back and purchased another one to hang in the kid’s room upstairs. This time we opted for the chrome finish instead of the bronze finish we got for the kitchen. Next we plan on putting in nice walnut butcher block counter tops, tiling the floor, and installing a nice farmhouse sink. ~Mario

My Grandmother's Bible from the late 1800's!!!

Most people that have been to our home know we have a thing for antiques of any kind, but this one holds a special place in my heart! This is my grandmother's Bible she gave to me. She is still alive, 92 this year, and we talk at least twice a week and she can entertain me for hours with stories of her life! She is still very sharp for being her age and I am lucky to have her in my life! This Bible has been in my family for over 130 years! I keep it in this antique walnut bookcase which has doors on it that close to keep out the dust. I no longer use it b/c of its condition, but it has definitely been a conversational piece in our home! I wanted to share it with you b/c of it's rarity and I think it's very beautiful! Have a good day! :-)

589th Thing That You Can Fit In A Bug That You Thought You Couldn't!!!

We have fit a 6ft Japanese tree, 15 bags of mulch, floor length mirror, 3 5 gallon boxwoods, a lawn mower, 7 ft Christmas tree, 5 rolls of sod, children’s sandbox and 50 pounds of sand, 3 32 gallon trash cans, 4ft by 11ft pool, kitchen table and 2 chairs (we got some lookers on this one at Target) 32 inch LCD TV along with our 2 kids in their car seats snug in the backseat safely and 2 adults!!! That’s just to name a few!!! And finally as shown in the pic an 8ft by 11ft area rug!!!