New House, New Baby..Our Trip To Indy..

 

  Actually, we were in Zionsville, Indiana, which is just North of Indianapolis..and is a very lovely little town.  The main street downtown is brick and has many quaint little shops…I actually saw a Bentley Dealer,  (as in car), on our way through town…Those are few and far between…Zionsville is where our youngest daughter, Chris, and her family just moved Wednesday. Originally they lived in Broad Ripple Village, which is encompassed by Indianapolis, but their family was growing again and they needed a bigger house…

……………………..OLD HOUSE………………….               ……………………NEW BIGGER HOUSE……………..

We also went to meet our 3 week old grandson, Maddox.

I DO BELIEVE WE HAVE A REDDISH HAIRED, BLUE EYED BOY IN THE FAMILY…VERY DIFFERENT THEN HIS BROTHER.

  We arrived at 10AM Wednesday and they were loading up some stuff to take to their new home…Enter McGuyver, known by many as a real “mover”….We helped haul some stuff, and by 5PM Wednesday evening, everything was out of the apartment…and sitting all over the new house….

Just about 6PM, the tornado sirens in Zionsville sounded…but we were some of the fortunate who never had one develop. I’d say we were very lucky…such devastation in so many states….I cannot stress the importance of a NOAH Weather Radio enough!! …at home  AND in the camper!

McGuyver was very helpful…He did electrical wiring, put together shelves, did some plumbing, hung a new doorbell, fixed the thermostat, hung up all the closet rods , drilled, nailed, leveled, screwed, wrenched…even found out why the hot water heater didn’t give enough hot water…McGuyver went down to the basement, nosed around the heater, and discovered one of the elements in the electric hot water heater was burned out…Luckily, they had homeowner’s warrantee insurance, they got a new hot water heater for the $100 deductible..

They just had new hardwood floors installed, but no kitchen cabinets or appliances yet.  The cabinets will be installed next Wednesday, and granite countertops 10 days after that… Therefore, we used the laundry room for a makeshift kitchen.  It was kinda like camping out…grill, crockpot…and carry-outs…

 

If I had a laundry room this big, I would sleep in it. OUR laundry “room” in our house is called the basement..

 

They also totally redid 2 of the 3 bathrooms in the house…Lots of work that began in January…The master bath will wait to be remodeled until the cash flow catches up ..

 

My favorite thing…well, there are many things I love about this house, but my VERY favorite thing is the corner stone fireplace….Chris wants to paint the mantel similar to the rest of the woodwork and add some trim…

 

At first, we had been doing dishes in the half bathroom sink (note blue dishpan) until Dennis got the utility sink hooked up in the laundry room …Man , I forgot just how many baby bottles you go through!! Their home is in an older subdivision of Zionsville and the home was built sometime in the 1970’s, so the kitchen was very dated (similar to ours)…and they wanted to make one “great room” open concept kitchen/family room…so walls had to be removed.  One really neat thing they kept was the trim in the dining room…called “dental work”…If you look close at the photo of the dining room ceiling (upper right photo), you can just make it out around the top.

They have  about .6 acres of land, some wooded…Every  home here has some woods…Here are the two homes across the street from them….

All the homes are lovely and extremely well maintained!!(note the For Sale sign on the left one…In my dreams!”

Here are some shots of Chris and John’s home, front and back…They have a nice patio facing the woods, and deer are frequently seen...

As you can see, it is quite wooded…Actually, the night before we left, a tree blew down in the wind….Enter McGuyver…

….He sure does love a chainsaw project…This tree was a very skinny , very tall tree…..He would rather they were humongous monster trees….I prefer the tiny ones…and not so tall..if my hubby is involved in taking them down!

…They have had so much rain around there, it just pretty much pulled the roots right out of the ground..

  So, ..we had a really great time with the Wolff family….They have a new addition to their family, a new home….and enough joy to fill that new home!!  We will be going back sometime again..There is a little roof problem John wants McGuyver’s help with …

We got home Sunday about noon…and I took a quick look at the blogs…We are so saddened to hear that  The Bayfield Bunch lost another one of their furry family…It saddens us to see the loss of 2  pets in such a very short time, and our hearts are wrapped around the remaining 3 Bayfield family members….The one thing I do know about bloggers…they have very big hearts!!!…

Thanks for tolerating my “baby”/ new house blog….As I have said before…we are very, very blessed!!!!

Never a Dull Moment at the Cave Dwellings…

  Well, Easter Sunday we had Terrie, Tim, Taylor, Peyton and Campbell Heiser all here at the Cave, hovering over breakfast pizza,

dyed eggs, candy, squirt guns, water balloons and gift cards…The weather was, believe it or not, PICTURE PERFECT!! EB even managed to hide his eggs outside this year…I was really surprised..and very pleased…that Taylor and Peyton didn’t “out” the Easter Bunny to their little brother, Campbell..Even at their ages, 12 and almost 11, the two older kids hunted the eggs with Campbell, letting him find some that they COULD have .

…Our neighbor’s daughter, Jessica, age 11 always shows up when our grandkids are around…She is a sweet girl and quite athletic…She also likes to climb trees….but this time she got up too high…..

McGuyver had to get out our ladder so she could get down…If you look close you can see her in the 1st photo, upper left…balancing on some VERY precarious little branches…This could have turned out badly..but thank God it didn’t.

Easter was also Tim’s 41st birthday…He was “on call” detective for the Glenview PD all Easter weekend.  He had been up most of the night before on a case, but he didn’t get called in Easter Sunday.

I baked him a cake, but couldn’t put all 41 candles on for fear of melting the frosting….and burning the house down. (The beard he is growing doesn’t get shaved until the Hawks lose…)

Taylor loves to sing The Star Spangled Banner, which is one of the hardest songs to sing because of its range…  I did attempt to video her with our digital camera, but naturally I flubbed up and got it in 2 separate videos. I also managed to cut off some of the song… Keep in mind this was VERY impromptu.  She was sitting in our garage in the back of Papa’s ol’ blue truck…(What a stage.) The only people out there with her were her mom, Den, me and our brother-in-law…An easy crowd…(Gramma has trouble doing video with tears in her eyes.)  She does a pretty good job for 12 years old…Too bad I flubbed the video up, but you can get the idea…

Star Spangled Banner Part 1

Star Spangled Banner Part 2…way to go Gramma

I know, I know….I’m really getting crazy with the singing videos…But, hey, I’m a proud Grandmother…nothing more, nothing less…

We had a wonderful Easter…monkeys climbing trees, mega food and left over eggs, cops on call…and a birthday cake…Like I said, never a dull moment at the Cave….

McGuyver and I are leaving Wednesday early AM for Indy to see our newest grandson, Maddox..So,  if you are tired of the family photos, I advise not checking my next blog (which will not be until we get back..probably Sunday)….I cannot help myself…Photos are memories, and I try to get as many as my family will tolerate!!

SEE Y’ALL NEXT WEEKEND!!

The Bunny is hoppin’ around like crazy!

  Because we weren’t exactly sure when we were heading to Indy to see Maddox , I didn’t really plan an Easter dinner here…As it turns out, we are going down early Wednesday AM and  help the Wolff family move into their new home…This means we will definitely be home Sunday for Easter, so I called Terrie and invited their family here on Sunday…Kelly and Cindy went to Arkansas…they were planning on it anyway, but Cindy’s mom fell and broke her hip in 3 places, so it was good they went…It just so happens that we have been traveling for the last 4 Easters, so I had to scramble and put out a few Easter decorations I dug out of the basement…

The past few Easters while out of town, the bunny had it easy..…Now, I had to call EB and let him know we needed some eggs and candy at the Cave Dwellings this year…

I am trying to talk the EB out of using the dreaded grass….That stuff will show up YEARS after you use it…under beds, couches, behind curtains, in cupboards…it gets EVERYWHERE.!!  He finally gave in and reluctantly is using colored tissue paper instead…Thank You, EB.

 

I am going to attempt this Eggosaurus egg decorating kit….I’ve never been very good at dying eggs…let alone assembling a Brontosaurus , Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Stegosaurus to wrap around them….But..hey, I AM a Cave person..This should be a piece of cake for ME!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

So today is the egg boiling debacle….I usually end up with 2 dozen eggs….1 dozen cracked and 1 dozen not…This year I actually got online and looked up “how to boil an egg”…something I remember doing right after McGuyver and I were married…It said I needed to bring the eggs to room temp, then put them in warm water before putting them in COLD water to start the boil…How is it no one ever told me this part?…Then, after they are boiled, they are to be put immediately in cold water…Oh boy, this oughta be good…I’ll be surprised if the “Easter” Police don’t show up at my door by 4PM…

Bet you are wondering what the Heck is in the photo on the right…Well, when I was growing up, my Mom always boiled some eggs in onion skins…Some in red, producing a pinkish egg, and some in yellow, producing some golden eggs…I have always done this for our kids and their kids…and they will expect it I am sure…Somehow I think this will be lots easier than the egg dye routine…

Easter dinner is Papa’s famous grilled whole chickens on the grill, Cheesy Hash Browns, Calico Beans, Cole Slaw, cottage cheese and rolls…Also breakfast pizza(cause I know they will be here early)…appetizers are Kielbasa Mustard Puff Bites, Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip and dessert is Chocolatey Cookie Cake, with ice cream.. (It’s also Tim’s birthday)..Could be I will need to grease my hips to get though the door after this big feed

…Just a few items for Maddox…Even though the Wolff’s are Colts fans, Chris still feels warm and fuzzy for the Chicago Bears…FYI, this is just a few of the things we are taking to Indy with us.…I have a gazzilion diapers, wipes and assorted items stashed in our closet..And of course, the Easter Bunny will leave stuff here for us to take along for both boys…

OK, so now I have our screened porch all ready for Spring with one exception….We need 2 new ceiling fans…

After 15 years of snow, heat, humidity and use, our ceiling fans have taken on a new look..  I think some folks walking by think we have some “exotic” cupped, fancy porch fans…No, kids,.. these fan blades were once all perky and straight…running great…Not so anymore….

Time to replace the drooping petal look with some new fans..I see a Menards trip in the near future…

 

 

 

Easter Sunday will find us in cahoots with the Easter Bunny, handing out sugar highs, indigestion,with jelly beans sticking on our shoe bottoms and dreading the usual 2 weeks worth of  Deviled Eggs….Signs of Spring are everywhere now….

 

EVERYONE HAVE A WONDERFUL EASTER WITH FAMILY AND LOVED ONES..LIFE IS GOOD!!!!