WTH

Yesterday when I was trying to update on here it told me there was no room for more photos to upload.  After struggling for quite a while I finally managed to delete the photos not realizing that it would delete them from all the older posts.  WTH!

Artwork

This is one of Jackson's latest creations from school/daycare.  I had to get an explanation for this one.

First of all, this is me (obviously).  He tends to include a heart when he draws people so that one I knew but I wasn't sure about the other objects.  When I asked him his response was the lungs.  Of course!  I think he may have a future in healthcare...

Visiting Santa

Santa Claus was at Farm and Home today so we went to see him.  The boys had "made" their Christmas lists by cutting out pictures of toys from magazines and gluing them onto paper.  Jackson was very excited to see Santa, Tristan not so much.

 See that blue hood in the front of the picture?  That's Tristan, and that's about as close as he got.  

Jackson on the other hand got right up onto Santa's lap and explained everything on his list.  He was very brave and I was very proud of him.  They both got M&M's from Santa.

Hope Santa gets it right!

Thanksgiving treats

Thanks to Pinterest I found some easy Thanksgiving treats to make with the boys.  We can always use an activity to help get thru the day and these were perfect, plus they included candy.  The boys pretty much handled the opening of the candies, and Tristan ate pretty much as many as he opened.  Then I took over the frosting part.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Update

Karsten has been seriously working his butt off to get the house sealed up.  The siding finally came last Friday so Karsten spent the entire weekend on that.  They got a pretty good start on it.  Many thanks to Doug and Dad for helping.  I've never picked out a new color for siding, it is a little nerve racking and one hopes it looks okay.  We knew we wanted a neutral color.  I'm so pleased with how it looks.

As I write this post, there are only 3 windows and 1 door left to install and many that still need capped.  I'm really hoping this all gets done soon.  Bartlein construction has done a great job with the windows.

Just a few other pictures that I haven't posted yet...

 We have electricity!  Thanks to Palmer Electric and Mark for helping with that.

 This is the view from the top of the steps looking towards the "old" house.  The room on the left will be a bathroom, the room straight ahead is Tristan's room.  There will also be a hall/linen closet between those two rooms.

 This is the old door from the porch on the east side.  We plan to re-purpose it and use it as the pantry door in the kitchen.

I took this picture because this will be our late Fall view from the porch (minus the wagon).  Beautiful!

What I'm looking forward to...

I'm looking forward to many things when we finally get out to the farm.  I'm looking forward to having a "new" house, I'm looking forward to having a dog and cats, I'm looking forward to the possibilities of a large garden and farm fresh eggs.  My list goes on and on.  But most importantly, I'm looking forward to my children growing up in the country.

These pictures made me realize how excited I am that they get to grow up in the country.  They have started to explore the farm a little while we've been out there but I can't wait until we are living there and I can open the door, "shoo" them out and not worry about things as much as I do in town.  There will be rules of course since we are practically surrounded by corn fields but the great outdoors are just waiting for two curious little boys to explore.   :)

New house latest...

There's been lots of stuff happening out at the farmhouse!  Windows are almost done, exterior entrance doors are in, garage doors are in, the roof on the addition is done, interior walls have been figured out and started, and the porch has been removed!  I'm so excited to share these pictures!

 As I said, the garage doors ARE installed, there is just tyvek paper covering them.  There will be another window upstairs above the picture window.  There will also be a window in the hallway adjoining the bedroom above the garage to the rest of the house.  It still looks too big to me but it's definitely better with the windows.

The porch was not in very good shape and made it difficult to do siding, so it had to go.  It will be replaced only the floor will be more like a deck.  The existing door on the porch will be eliminated.  Windows still need to be installed looking out onto the porch.  There will be a door to the right (looks exactly like the one on the front of the house) which will go into the kitchen.  There will not be windows above the porch.

The trench for the electric wires (we are putting it underground) is done and hopefully will be totally completed this week.  No, we have not had electricity in the house but instead have been running extension cords from the pump house.  After the electricity is done we can figure out heat and water.  Karsten has been working his butt off trying to get the house enclosed in preparation for winter.  Then we will continue on the inside work.

As I'm writing this post I can help but point out that today marks the 1 year anniversary of Grandpa's death.  We all miss him and Grandma so much, but I know they are proud.  

It's amazing how much our lives have changed in the last year, my family in particular.  Before Grandpa died we had been planning Spring updates for our current house like drywall, windows and roofing, now our house is for sale and we are planning on moving into a new house in the country.  Amazing...

Happy Halloween!

We went trick or treating tonight!  We met up with our good friends The Corlett's and walked the streets of Farmersburg.  The kiddos had a blast!

 Captain America and dinosaur

 The trick or treating bunch!

 We ended our trick or treating with hot dogs at the community center.  The Farmersburg firemen do this every year, I think it's great!

 Tristan with his loot!

Jackson ended up sorting all his candy.  He is definitely MY child, this is something I probably would do!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Pumpkin carving

We finally got our pumpkins carved tonight.  There just isn't enough hours in the day sometimes!  The boys even helped clean out the pumpkins which is a first.  They also picked what they wanted for the faces, then I took over with the knife.  I think they turned out great!

 They dug right in those pumpkins!

I'm not sure what's going on with Jackson and Tristan's faces but the pumpkins look great!

I also cleaned up all the seeds and roasted them.  YUM!!

Puddle Jumpin

It rained this morning and the weather was mild so what did the Foels boys do?  You guessed it!  PUDDLE JUMPING!

They were SOAKED when we were done! 

Pinter's Pumpkin Patch

I had heard of this place just outside of Decorah so since it was probably the last nice day of fall today we decided to go check it out.  Karsten was at the farmhouse so I invited Mom to come along.  We had a blast!  So much stuff for the boys to do, definitely will be returning next fall.

 Jackson thought this meant he was 3 years old, we reassured him he was still 5.

 BIG slide!  Tristan usually went down backwards headfirst.  We spent a lot of time here.

 Jackson coming off the big slide.  This kid would fly, I guess there are advantages to being a stringbean!

 On the racetrack.  Tristan enjoyed this too but I had to push him around since his little legs couldn't reach the pedals.

 Corn maze!

 This was everyone's favorite.  We even managed to flip Tristan out a couple times, he loved it!

 Photo op!

 Jackson in mid - jump!  Tristan is winding up for a twisty jump.

 WATER!

 We ended our fun afternoon with a cupcake.  Delicious!

The boys (and Mom and I) had a blast at Pinter's.  We decided next year we will bring Daddy and maybe even Papa!  We will definitely return.

The Carpenters are done....

They got done today!  Four days was all it took.  Crazy!  Highly recommend hiring Ashbacher's crew out of Rossville.  They work hard and were in constant communication with us on specific things throughout the construction.  Very pleased!

This one is the view from the top of the steps.  The far room (which is above the garage) will be our master suite, complete with it's own bathroom and closet.  The area on the right will be walled off and will be an extra room.  We aren't quite sure yet what it will be used for, possibly storage, toy room, exercise room, etc.

Karsten hopes to start roofing this weekend.  We are currently waiting for windows and siding to come in.  Doors will be painted soon and hopefully installed soon.  We are getting there!

One day's work

The carpenters finally came today!!  And they got right to work!  This is what they accomplished in ONE day...

We couldn't believe it!  We really needed this.  Karsten's been out there a lot doing small projects, not very visible projects.  We (I) just really needed to see something new and progressive.  I got my wish!  We hired Ashbacher's out of Rossville.  They have an all Amish crew and there was probably about 12 people working.  And boy do they know how to work!  They will likely be done with their part by the end of the week.

Birthday party

We had a small birthday party Sunday following Grandpa's dedication at Froelich.  Jackson was very excited for his birthday cake and presents.  On the guest list was:  Dad & Mom and Tristan, Grandma and Papa, Mike, Grandma Shirley and Christa and Cal & Betty.  The menu was sloppy joes, cheesy potatoes, raw veggies with dip, grapes and birthday dirt cake.

We had a great time with family.  The food turned out great, the dirt cake was a HUGE hit and Jackson got some very nice presents.

Jackson took treats to preschool today on his actual birthday.  He decided on tootsie pops and was very excited to take them for all his friends.  He got a crown to wear and even a small gift from his teacher Mrs. Lenth.  Then we went out for pizza at TJ's tonight, which was Jackson's choice.

I think he had a great 5th birthday!