Life at the Mueske house!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

Larkyn had a great time celebrating Valentine's Day with the kids at Tracey's. She colored, played BINGO, made a craft, made brownies, exchanged valentines, and more. I think Grace had a great time lovin' on Larkyn too...

"Hmm...yummy treat! I like this BINGO game!"

"I'm all done teacher!!!"

The final product...

"It's too bad my mom and dad forbid me from sugar. This looks so good!"

The whole gang opening up valentines...

We had the Steinert's over for heart shaped pizza to celebrate Valentine's Day with the kids. The past three years we have gotten together with Mike and Katie for dinner at Kami or our house. We decided to make the tradition a little more kid friendly this year!

Luke got to eat in Larkyn's booster seat.

"Hey! What are you doing up there?"

"Hey, I'm down here..."

Larkyn was quite loud and screechy. Luke wasn't too sure about her. He was actually kind of scared of her and her loud voice.

On Valentine's Day Shea brought Larkyn up to school to visit my class for our Valentine's party. The students asked many questions about Larkyn and were very interested in learning more about her. Larkyn loved seeing all the kids and watching them open their valentines. Most of all, she loved getting into the books in Mommy's classroom.

"Can we read this one please?"

"Visiting Mommy's classroom was a lot of fun!"

Our first Valentine's Day photo...very cheesy I know!

Larkyn spent a few hours with Tracey, Grace and Emily while Shea and I had a much needed date night. We were able to run a couple errands and enjoy a nice dinner together.

Thank you Nelsons!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Varnish and Doors...

Our basement project continues to keep us on our toes and very busy. I will be so thankful when we are finished and can finally enjoy it! I was actually thinking once it is done it will be a great time to take a trip:) We decided in order to save a little bit of money we would stain and varnish our woodwork for the basement. It actually turned out pretty well and didn't end up being too bad. Shea and I took finished the varnishing on Friday (Feb. 11th) and were able to hang some of our new doors upstairs. When I initially thought about our trimwork I forgot to take into account all of the window casings, door casing, door jams, ledges, etc. Wow there was a lot more work than I expected! We also stained oak doors for our main floor. We had 6 panel white doors on the main floor, but decided to bring those down to the basement and get new ones for the main level. We were in need of new doors anyway...

We decided to use two coats of a satin varnish on red oak for our basement trim.

Varnish, dry, steel wool, wipe down, varnish, dry, done!

Larkyn wanted to help out in the afternoon when moving doors so we put her on the backpack! She enjoyed the first 40 minutes and then decided she wanted to climb out!

A look at the new bathroom door on the main level...

Our small coat closet just inside the mudroom/garage entryway.

On Saturday, my uncle Rick came up to help Shea hang our double closet door on the main level as well as all of the doors in the basement.

The finished product!

The door to the basement looks great too!

Here is Shea learning the ins and outs of putting in a door jam!

Coming downstairs toward the Utility Room...

The linen closet door and the bathroom door...

Its beginning to look more like a basement...

Sunday, February 6, 2011

The weekend...

This weekend my mom and my sister Courtney came up to visit. We were supposed to be doing some staining and painting in the basement, but that got pushed back a couple days because the tape and mud job didn't get finished until Saturday afternoon. It was still a great weekend to see family and spend some time together. Larkyn got to hang out with my mom and sister for the evening while Shea and I went out for dinner and to a DP staff party. Though Shea and I enjoyed our time out, Larkyn is still working on being away from Mom and Dad for longer periods of time! My mom and sister can come visit anytime! We definitely appreciated all the laundry my sister did for us and all the dishes and staining of doors my mom did for us!

Larkyn received a Valentine's package of clothes, clothes and more clothes from Grandma Debbie!

Grandma Debbie gave her new shoes for Christmas but had to exchange them for a smaller size. She brought them to her this weekend...

"Yah, I think these will fit me!"

Reading books with Grandma...
(Notice Larkyn's face...she's into biting the inside of her cheek. It has to be something she picked up at Tracey's!)

Showing Grandma her arm...
"Look out Arizona...here I come!"
(Shea has always said that our daughter is going to be a switch hitting center fielder for University of Arizona...we'll see about that!)

Jessi and Hannah came over to visit. Hannah and Larkyn "played" very well together!

"Here you go...chew on this Hannah!"

"You push this side, I'll push this side!"

"You're right Hannah, it works better if we work together! We do make a good team!"

"Thank you for the Valentine Hannah! You are so sweet!"

"It's okay Hannah, this happens to us every time. Just smile for a couple minutes and they'll be happy!"

Grandma Debbie and Larkyn

A good attempt at capturing a photo for the birthday invite...

Super Bowl XLV...

Super Bowl Sunday was a big day for the Mueske family as we prepared to cheer on the Green Bay Packers. Though we watched the Super Bowl just the three of us (until half time...Larkyn was in bed by 7:15) we had some neighbors and friends over for a "tailgate party" in our driveway before the game. We grilled up some burgers and brats and froze our tails off! Shea was very clear about everyone leaving by 4:30 so there weren't any distractions for the big game. It was probably better that way considering both Shea and I took turns jumping up and down, letting out shouts, and "running the ball into the enzone." It was just so much fun to see the Packers win!

Sometimes we call Larkyn Baby Raji because of her belly:)