Snow?!?!?!?

Last Friday night into Saturday, we experienced a late season snow "blizzard". Wichita began receiving sleet mid-day Friday and it continued as such until Saturday morning when it eventually turned into snow. There were episodes of thunder snow and it came down until shortly after noon. The boys got out Saturday morning and played and then the sun broke out after noon and the snow was already melting. Thus creating heavy, wet snow great for snowballs and whitewashing!! Just to the west of Wichita, Pratt received an incredible amount of 28 inches - Wichita got a mere 6.8 inches. By Sunday evening most of our snow was gone and yesterday, all that was left was the piles of snow created by snowplows. I have not seen any snow today except for a small patch just under Austin and Owen's window where it's always shady except in the morning. The wind is howling and has been since Friday. Last night we were under severe thunderstorm watches and even got some hail (pea to marble size)...only in KANSAS!!

During the "blizzard", looking out from the front porch.

Boys having some fun!!

Dustin had the upper hand as he had the shovel and was heaving shovel-fuls of snow onto the boys. Fun was had by all and mom even got in on the snowball fight too!!

REMODELING - - phase three

Posting that I was going to put pictures online was a definite boost to get the house clean. Friday morning the boys and I got up and started cleaning right away. They did a good job in helping me. You now can see the wall hangings and the pictures on the wall.
View from the front door/entry way.
View from the dining room.
This is a better picture of the one on the wall above our couch. Dustin and I both saw this at the store at the same time and fell in love with it immediately!!
Another view from the dining room.

Little over a month ago, Dustin and I purchased a new bedroom set. Ever since Dustin's back injury, our mattress just didn't give him the support that he needed. We decided to get a king size and because of the limited size of our room, we chose a captains bed for the base. We absolutely love it. When we got this bed we dispersed our "old" furniture into the boys rooms. Tyler now has our "old" bed, chest of drawers and nightstand. Austin inherited our dresser and nightstand and Owen, well there wasn't anything from our room left so he got Tyler's "old" bed. Now every one's room is complete and put together.
This is our bedroom and the new Captain's Bed.

...then last night Dustin and I were at Lowe's without children. We decided to redo the front entry way. Started on it last night and all that is left is to put sealant on the grout. Looks 100% better than the old stuff. Now, I can't wait to get the kitchen/dining room floor done.

This is the "old" floor that is in the kitchen and was in the entry way of the house.

In the process of grouting.

All complete!!

The Bucket List

Hit forward and place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not, and send it to your friends (including me).... This is for your entire life not just recently...

( ) Gone on a blind date
(x) Skipped school.
(x) Watched someone die
(x) Been to Canada
(x) Been to Mexico
( ) Been to Florida
(x) Been on a plane
(X) Been lost
( ) Gone to Washington ,D.C.
(x) Swam in the ocean
(x) Cried yourself to sleep
(x) Played cops and robber
(x) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Sang Karaoke
(x) Paid for a meal with coins only?
(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(x) Made prank phone calls
(x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(x) Danced in the rain
(x) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(x) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(x) Watched the sunrise with someone ....
(X) Blown bubbles
(x) Gone ice-skating
( ) Been skinny dipping outdoors
(X) Gone to the movies

1. Any nickname – Deb, Toothpick Girl, Debstin, Mommy
2. Mother's Name - Myrna
3. Favorite drink - Coke and of course a good margarita
4. Body Piercings' - ears
5. Number of jobs in my life - twelve (i think?)
6. Favorite vacation spot – anywhere but home
7. Birthplace - Wichita, KS
8. Ever been to Africa - no
9. Ever eaten just cookies for dinner - Yes
10. Ever been on TV - i can't remember
11. Ever steal any traffic signs - no
12. Ever been in a car accident - yes
13. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle - four
14. Can you drive a standard car - yes
15. Favorite pie - Dutch Apple
16. Favorite number - none
17. Favorite movie - there are so many
18. Favorite holiday - Thanksgiving
19. Favorite dessert - apple crisp
20. Favorite food - Mexican
21. Favorite brand of body soap - Caress or Dove
22. Favorite smell - clean
23. How do you relax - watch tv
24. How do you see yourself in 10 years - will have two boys almost out of the house and owen will be going on 15...doesn't seem possible at all!!

REMODELING - - phase "threeish"

Just a post - we have put more items on the walls to make our remodel complete. As soon as the house gets clean, I will post pictures so that you can see what we are now enjoying. Stay tuned - I should be cleaning tomorrow (with some help from the boys)!!!

This Week's Adventures

As I stated in the previous post, this week is spring break for the boys. The Kansas weather has been wonderful. First part of the week started out in the upper 70s and low 80s. The end of the week is ending in the mid 60s. We have had sunny skies and no wind (until today). Last Friday, Dustin took the day off and we took in a movie and dinner at Cheddar's. It was a first at that restaurant but won't be the last. It was delicious!! With the weather being so nice, the boys have been spending their time outside alot!! Thought about taking them to the zoo but glad I didn't as everyone else did. The zoo reported record attendance numbers on Tuesday (around 8,000 visitors). We instead road our bikes to the local park down the street and around the corner. We enjoyed riding around the park and taking a break on the swings. Saw that the city is building more playground equipment. Am excited to see when it is complete - more to offer to the kids in the neighborhood. The city just recently added new basketball courts since the beginning of the year.


Tuesday night, I attended BUNCO at the church. Was my first time. Have heard so much about this game called BUNCO and wanted to try it!! Loved it - will return next month and take a friend along. Was nice to get out of the house for a couple hours and unwind with others!!

Today, I drove the boys to Hutchinson. We visited the Kansas Underground Salt Museum. WOW!! WOW!! What an experience. I truly enjoyed it. I believe that Tyler and Austin did too but Owen wanted to run. How tempting it was to just let him go...oh, did I say that out loud? It is definitely a place I would like to return to. Enjoy the pictures, but they do not do justice.

Standing outside the museum, getting ready to go in.

Loading on the tram - we took a forty minute guided tour of the salt mine. Did you know that there is 68 miles of road in this salt mine - Unbelievable!!

We stopped at a demo pile and was able to pick out a piece of salt (baseball size or smaller) and/or fill a small bag with the "crumbs".

The salt mine is not only used for the mined salt (not table salt) but is used to store artifacts, records, etc. The temperature is always 68 degrees and the humidity fluctuates a few points but sits typically around 40%. Our tour guide stated that many of us from the Kansas and surrounding area very well may have our name on some piece of document sitting in the mine as we speak. Any medical or court records, yep - guess where they are stored. This picture is of the newspaper printed the day after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. It was in pretty good shape.



The Salt Museum is best known for the movies (films) and things used in the movies being stored there. This is just a sampling of what we saw. We were able to see the original costumes worn by the famous actors/actresses that wore them. Also, the middle picture shows a computer - yes that whole thing is a computer from 1970s and cost $240,000 (today's money) with only 64MB!! An iPod Nano with 8,000MB today only costs $230. Something amazing!! We saw the chocolate bars used in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and Dorothy II from our favorite movie "Twister".

Here the boys are "running" to the elevator. What a remarkable experience. I encourage you that if you are in the Wichita area - make time to see this!! I will be more than happy to drive you there and back!!

After the tour - we stopped in Yoder for lunch!! Hmmmmm!! A favorite for sure. Austin had lasagna (which looked delicious) and Tyler and Owen - well they had their normal - grilled cheese sandwich (owen), fries, and a corn dog (tyler). I had the country fried steak with mashed potatoes and green beans.


Had to get a banana cream pie to go and of course those famous Yoder cinnamon rolls!!
We lucked out...we got the last four cinnamon rolls for the day - good thing, Dustin would not have been happy if we came back home empty handed!!

So that has pretty much been our week. Tomorrow is a day full of laundry and cleaning house. And Dustin is taking Tyler and Austin on a surprise outing Sunday evening...WWE is coming to Koch Arena (WSU) and it is a live event leading upto WrestleMania. The boys will be so excited but it's all still hush hush.

SPRING BREAK

This afternoon officially begins Spring Break 2009!! Dustin took tomorrow off and we will all spend the day as a family. See a movie, run errands, go to the museum...we will figure something out to do. Plan on trying to get the boys out of the house for sure next week. And I hear it is going to be nice weather-wise.

On a side note - - Austin's birthday is today. He is now 8 years old. Unbelievable!!! He and his brothers are getting so big so quick!!

More Pictures of Dawn's Party

You can view more pictures taken at Dawn's Birthday Party at:

http://www.slide.com/r/6UfwHe907D9lbGRcVwOJ2XnarOAzshVL?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Dawn's Birthday Party!!

This past Sunday, the boys were invited to Dawn's birthday party at The Alley. How exciting!! It was our first time there and we all had a blast. We all started off bowling. Tyler and Austin had fun (especially with the bumpers up) and Owen (well, he tried...he went sliding down the lane a couple of times with the ball...but he finally was getting it figured out at the end). Afterwards, we splurged and got the boys tickets for the go-carts (I believe a first for each of them). They loved it and want to go everyday now!! It was great seeing the boys have so much fun. We then went to Knolla's pizza and then home. Put the pj's on and off to bed!!