Let the Building Begin!!

So my mom and I are trying to entertain 5 kids this summer!! My two, Abby 6, Maddy 3 and then my two nieces and my nephew. Sarah is 7, Katie just shy of being 5 and then Sione 3. We go to the library, go swimming in the backyard, work in the garden, go to the park and well anything else we can think of to keep them occupied!! Here are a few pics from the park the other day.

Sione, Sarah, Katie, Abby and Madison
Last weekend, my brother-in-law Dan came over to help Matt get the safe room started. Here they are laying blocks. I think Matt said they need 11 rows. We have 6 rows done. It is very tedious because they have to be very level. It will all be worth it when we know we have a safe place to go during tornado warnings. So as soon as the safe room is done, they will start working on the rest of the house.

Phase One.....Complete!!

Papa waiting for the concrete to come down the shoot. My dad was such a trooper. We started pouring at 2:00 and Matt does not get home until 4:00. So for two hours he only had my mom and I to help. I have to say I have learned a few things about pouring concrete and I think I am bound to learn a lot more about construction as this project moves forward. However, I don't think I will be leaving nursing for construction anytime soon.
Maddy modeling on the new concrete. By the way, she dressed herself :)
The lighter area is the porch, and the dark area is the two new bedrooms and safe room. I couldn't get a good shot of all of it. As you can see, Matt has taken the siding off a portion of the house because, well
This is what a concrete truck will do to your yard. Nasty little ruts!!


Yesterday, we finished pouring the concrete. And yes, I helped....a little :) Anyways, now that we have the concrete done, we can start setting blocks for our safe room. Matt is building us a tornado safe room with a steal door and whatever else it takes to build a safe room. We are going to also keep all of Isabella's medical supplies in it along with back up discs of all of our photos and so on. You know, important stuff!! I am so excited about this new addition. I can't wait to get my girls out of their make shift bedroom that is really more like the size of a closet. They are going to love having all of the new space. Did I also mention, that we all share the same closet right now. So that will be nice to have a place for our clothes. So that is it for now. Hopefully I will have more pics over the weekend of more progress. Matt has a three day weekend so we should get a lot done!!

We have a porch

My dad pouring the footings
Maddy stopping to enjoy the flowers
Finishing the concrete
Leaving our mark. Notice Bella's little bitty foot.
So we have the porch poured, and now we are waiting for the rains to stop so we can pour the rest of it. I am ready to be done!!

Ava Rae Boeckman January 31, 2008-May 7, 2008

It is with a heavy heart that I post this about little Ava. Today she lost her fight and passed away. We love you Ava and you will never be forgotten. http://kadenboeckman.blogspot.com

7 Years of Marriage-April 28, 2001

A Wedding is for a Day....A Marriage is for a life Time
That was the basic theme for our wedding 7 years ago. We wanted to focus on a lifetime together. I remember in Matt's toast he talked about how he chose me because he knew I would be the mother of his children. I have often wondered what if God would have looked down on us that day and told us that if we were to marry that we would have to face some of the biggest trials in our lives. What if he would have told us we would have a child with special needs whom has come so close to loosing her life so many times?? Would we have walked away?? I like to think that no matter what we would have decided to face it together. Never did we imagine what the future was going to hold, but we would not change it for anything. And I can think of no better partner in life to take these challenges with. We have traveled down some really tough roads this last year, and I now know why people say that what we have gone through will either make us or break us. Well, to be honest, it has tried to break us time and time again, but I think in the long run it has made us stronger. It took us a long time to learn to lean on each other during the bad times. And still at times we forget to lean on each other, but at the end of everyday, we still have love. We choose to love each other everyday and it has gotten us through!!
So seven years have come and gone. They say the first seven years are the hardest!! So I guess that means the rest is easy sailing from here right??? But really, we are looking forward to another fifty or more years together. So HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY, I love you more than I could ever say.
Newly dating. Look at how young we look. These two pictures are from about 8 years ago!!
Engagement pics!! Again look at how young we look. I personally think this last year has aged us some!!

This was taken Friday night at my nephews B-day party.

Getting Ready for Concrete

Abby helping her daddy spread the rock. We have filled the new addition in with 60 ton of rock to help decrease the amount of concrete we will need.

Madison laying in what will be her new room. She kept telling her papa all day "That's my new room."



So as you can see the girls have been trying to help out. They are so cute out there helping daddy and papa. We are praying the weather will hold and that we will pour concrete next week!!

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Stay tuned for updated building project pics.