no soda for a month!

well i made it!!

i went an entire month without drinking any soda!  go me!!

and i didn't even realize it had been a whole month until a few days later. :)

i had gotten my sister and Starla in on this too.  Starla said she only cheated a few times.  my sister had a rough start but once she got going, she stuck with it.  good job girls!!

i decided to have a soda over the weekend because we are having a rough couple of days around here.  happy to say that i didn't have another one since, and it wasn't quite as amazing as i thought it would be.

the only thing i can really say about it is that i like it better than booze.  i would rather sit down and have a glass of soda than a glass of wine... which i don't necessarily think is a bad thing.

i'm still going to try and limit myself to only one a week.  this way i will stay on track with my health.  my stomach still doesn't love it and there are no health benefits from drinking a soda so i just don't need it as part of my diet.

Adalai and Wyatt's visit

After Christmas, my niece and nephew, Adalai and Wyatt, got to stay with us a few days.  I wanted to make sure they had a fun time at our house so we planned a lot of fun stuff to do.  It also helped that they had a ton of Christmas presents here to play with.

On Thursday, the day after Christmas, we decided to hit up Discovery World in Milwaukee because I had never been there before and they love it!  I've always wanted to take the kids there and they were finally old enough (6 and 8) where they could really appreciate it.

on a submarine

looking out the 'scope

on a pirate ship

lifting 300 lbs!

laying on a bed of nails!

just hanging out

 After we were all exhausted from playing at Discovery World, we headed home.  Adalai took a nap in the car to recharge for Grandpa Jeff and MaryLu stopping by for dinner and opening presents!  We decided after having to make dinner on Christmas, we would take the easy way out and get take out.  The kids asked for Buffalo Wild Wings so that's what we had and it was SO good, like always!  We opened presents after dinner, and played some of the games they received.  We had a blast!  Haven't laughed that hard in awhile!

Headbanz

duck face

fibber

 We played "Headbanz" first.  This is where you put a picture on your headband and have to ask questions to figure out what the picture is.  Even though this game is for kids, it is NOT easy!!  Although it is in our house when you are surrounded by glass.  Kids figured out really quickly to check their reflections, which the adults couldn't see as easily.  So after some cheating... we decided to try "Fibber", which is exactly what it sounds like.  If you are caught fibbing you have to add a nose to your glasses, kind of like Pinocchio.  It was hilarious!  The kids really enjoyed it!

Friday morning, Adalai asked if we could all go to Zumba!  I, of course, loved this idea.  Wyatt wasn't so sure it was for boys, but there ended up being a lot of kids at the class.  Adalai made it through the whole hour, like a champ, and Wyatt joined in a bit at the end.  Adalai got applauded and told she is the Zumba Champion!  She was so excited!  After Zumba, we hung around the house until the Soos's came over for dinner.  We have a tradition of decorating gingerbread houses every year, so this time Adalai and Wyatt got to join in on the fun!

they turned out great!

After dinner, we played some games with Hanna and Lilien.  The kids had a lot of fun!   And then after they left, it was time to Zumba again.  Grandpa Jeff and MaryLu got them the Zumba kids WII game.  Uncle Mark even got in on the action.

 On Saturday, we headed to Kenosha to the Jelly Belly Factory.  It's a free tour, where you take a train around their warehouse and learn about how the candy is made.  It was OK, but the kids really enjoyed it, and that's what really matters.  Plus, at the end of the tour, you get a free sample pack!  We let the kids each make a bag of their favorite flavors to take home with them. 

Saturday night, we took the kids to church with us.  They went to play with kids their age, and seemed to really enjoy it!  When we got home, we just hung out and let them watch a movie in bed.  Sunday morning they headed to Doms!

We had so much fun with them, and I missed them so much when they left!  Can't wait for their next visit!

Weekend away in the woods...

Last weekend, Mark was away hunting with his boss, so I thought that would be the perfect time to visit my sister.  I invited Starla to go as a little girls weekend away (even though I kinda felt bad about taking her for a weekend away from her hubby).  We headed up Saturday morning around 8am and got to Sara's around 12pm.  When we got there, we hung out for a bit to let the dogs (Stella and Remi) play with Eli for a bit before we would kennel them.  We decided to check out the new Shopko in town (the kids specifically requested me going to check it out with them:).  This was a HUGE deal to those northerners!  They have no big box stores in their town, so everyone decided to make a stop at Shopko that day.  It was PACKED!  I was afraid we weren't going to find a parking spot.  We had a good time walking around and Sara picked up some stuff she needed.  Adalai had a little money and wanted to buy something so she picked out pink zebra print stick on nails (so cute!).  After that, we headed to the Super 8 to go for a swim.  It's so nice that they let people pay to use their pool, even if they aren't staying at the hotel.  We all hung out in the hot tub and relaxed for a bit.  It was much needed after my stressful week.  We let the kids (and Starla) swim for a bit before we headed home.  We had a yummy beef stew that my sister prepared.  After we finished dinner, Adalai and I worked to get her nails on.  All of us adults didn't think to make sure that they were small enough for little kid fingers (which they weren't!).  But Auntie Kira was determined to make it work, so we used all the small ones and got them on.  Let me tell you...I COULD NOT get over how freaking adorable she looked with her fake nails on.  Adalai has never been a girly girl until now, and I LOVE it!  Then we got busy playing Yahtzee and Apples to Apples.  We had SO MUCH fun!!  The kids really got into Apples to Apples.  With a little help from the adults, we made it work.  They are such smart kids. :)

When we got up in the morning, we ate some yummy pumpkin french toast that my sister made.  SO good!!  Then we looked through some photo books, so Starla could see how awesome we were as children.  (Ha!)  After a little big of playdo fun, the kids wanted to play games again!  I'm glad they had such a good time playing games with us.  And of course before we left we also had to do a little bit of Zumba with the kids.  Wyatt hadn't done it before and he had a big grin on his face the whole time.  They loved it!

pirate ship

Starla and Adalai's owls

We had such a good time up north visiting my sister!  So happy Starla got to come and that the kids had a good time with us :)

the tile shop

On Friday night, me and Mark headed to The Tile Shop so he could see what tile me and the tile lady had picked out for the whole house.  It's so nice to go there and they just pick it all out for you based on the countertops and your style.  We had to pick out a new surround for the fireplace.  I had picked marble, but because of the heat, the tile guy was afraid it would discolor.  So we spent about an hour looking at what I had picked and picking out some new stuff.  Of course, we couldn't come to a decision, so my mom ended up going back there with me the next day.  I'm happy she did because we were able to finalize everything and make both me and Mark happy. 

 This is the tile for the "kids" bathroom!  For awhile it will be the kid/guest bathroom, until the basement is finished.  The cabinets will be white with a dark blue granite countertop.  The dark gray tile is the flooring tile.  The light gray tile is for the shower surround with the glass tile as the accent for the niche and a small strip around the whole shower. 

This is the tile for the master bathroom!  The cabinets are going to be espresso, so a really dark brown.  The countertop is the granite in the bottom left corner of the picture.  The floor is going to be the grayish, brownish tile on the bottom. The main shower tile is the whitish, tanish in the middle. The accent for the shower is the glass tile in the top left corner.  It almost looks like a subway tile, and it will be used in the niche and as a waterfall in the middle.  The shower base will be the small square tiles.

Saturday, Mark and the siding guy were out at the house.  This is super exciting for me, because now it will really start to look like a house!  This is the progress at the end of Saturday...

It's a medium gray tone and I love it!!  I can't wait to see it all finished.  The siding guy is saying it'll take him about a week and a half so very soon!!

Also, over the weekend, I found some beautiful white dishes to use for the new house.  They had an amazing deal on them at Home Goods!  Our current set of dishes has a lot of chips and cracks, and we couldn't find them anywhere to replace them.  Plus, we got more place settings then our last one so we have more than enough!  It's been fun, slowly getting things together for the new house, but can't wait to use them!

We went to dinner with some of my old coworkers last night.  We went to Water Street Brewery.  It was Eh...  I've never really loved their food, so for $50(!) it should have been better than it was!  It was nice catching up with some friends, and meeting new people.


This week on the house....

Mark is finishing up the electrical.
Inspector will be out today.
Siding will continue to be put up.
Foam insulation will be going in on Wednesday.
Window will be installed in the basement.
Wall will be moved in the laundry room.
Pretty sure the cement will be finished for the basement and garage soon!
Plaster will be started either end of this week or beginning of next.