Winter Recital

Nora and Elsa played very well at their recital this afternoon.  I've got the video of it all edited and right below.....I wish we could get a little better audio, but you just have to be there I guess.

Party Girl

Jenna's party was this weekend and with the exception of Uncle Matt and Uncle James this will all be review.  For the California people out there this is new material so pay attention. 

Jenna was the life of the party.  That child lives for days where she is surrounded by people laughing at all of her goofiness and telling her she's cute (to which she likes to nod, "of course.").  So Saturday was a perfect fit for her.  She managed to stay in a great mood all day and has been getting good use of her presents every moment since.  There's some funny pictures up in the slide show, my favorite being the New Car! picture.

BIRTHDAY GIRL!

Jenna turns two years old today and to celebrate that we've got more slideshow pictures of the little goofball.  More pictures from her party on Saturday will follow.  Enjoy.

Christmas Decor

The family had a nice day arranging Christmas decorations and setting up the tree this weekend.  Elsa and Nora put together some nice planters for the front of the house and all three girls helped put ornaments on the tree.  Jenna only pulled a few of them off the tree; she mostly put them on.  There are a few more pictures in the slideshow, it's worth checking them out.   We have some definite clowns in this family.

Pictures

Elsa and Nora's school pictures are in.

Pumpkin carving?

So we've got all the Halloween/fall decorations up and we've moved on to Phase 2...Pumpkin carving.  We hit Stein's today and picked out some pumpkins and a few mums and got to work.  After some very careful planned and some very precise cuts we arrived at this (scroll down):

We do have some actual pumpkin carving to get to, but this seemed like too much fun and was pretty quick so we went with it.

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin Fest

Pumpkin Fest was a cold one this year, but still turned out to be a great time.  Elsa and Nora were full of giggles all weekend and everyone else was full of Carmel corn and beer.  All the pictures are in the slideshow.  Enjoy

Look what we found!

So there has been an incident here at the Gregory household...and we need some input.  There's a poll to the right of this post.  This worked for naming our latest daughter Seven, how could this not work now?

Now for the story:  Last night Melissa heard some mewing and decided to check it out.  The neighbor's house had become a kitten hatchery (probably not the right term).  So after letting the kids get emotionally attached to said kittens now it's my job to either be mean and send them all to the Humane Society or go down the road to being those people.

Bay Beach and One More Trip Up North

One last summer weekend up north.  We got in another Bay Beach trip...and Elsa rode the Zippin Pippin.  Check out the look of pure joy on her face...second car from the back.  Jenna went on every ride that she was tall enough for and loved listening to the people scream on the Pippin.  Every time around she would scream with them (she'll be on that coaster the day she's tall enough).

The girls got some swimming in, campfires and a few fireworks.  More pictures are in the slideshow of course.

2nd Grade!

Today was the first day of school and Elsa & Nora couldn't wait.  Melissa got some pictures of the fashionistas before they headed out to school, which may or may not feature Jenna, for reasons only a toddler can understand, with a toothbrush.  That's about all the news around here.  Next week James and Morgan come into town and I'm sure there will be lots of getting tossed around and hanging upside down as usual.

Another Door County post

We had one more summer weekend up in Door County.  We took the ferry over to Washington Island and rode our bikes around once we got there.  There wasn't much on the island, so the boat trip was the best part according to the girls.  After coming back to the peninsula we got some dinner and watched the sunset over the bay while the girls skipped rocks.

Sunday we hit Bay Beach for a while.  Jenna did not like it when the rides stopped.  Taking turns is not her thing yet.  We've still got plenty of tickets left, so we'll have to make a return trip yet this year.

Door County last weekend

So I'm a little bit behind, but there are new pictures up from last weekend at Door County.  Melissa and I raced in the Door County Sprint Triathlon and then just enjoyed the weekend at the beach.  Melissa had a great race and I uh...didn't.  Tip of the cap to Melissa though, the sea was angry that day my friend, like an old man....and she still took off six minutes.  Very nice.

As for the girls they just enjoyed the beach, oh yeah, and Jenna loves watermelon.  She'd eat it for every meal everyday.

The Twins need some time apart

Last night I had one of those times where it's impossible not to laugh at your own kids.  Wednesday both girls were on each others nerves and bickering all day long.  Thursday however, things seemed fine until after dinner.  While cleaning up the plates Elsa came into the kitchen and gave me this gem:

"Daddy, Nora told me that after dinner she's going to smack me in the face." 

As usual they both got scolded a bit, but it was hard to keep it together.  I just kept picturing a scene out of the wild west.  High noon, face smacking.

Gregorypalooza

Just got back from a long weekend up north at the Real O.C.  The girls had a great time of course and there is a lot of photo evidence of said fun.  Swimming, checking out animals and playing with Travis kept them more than busy. 

More photos are up

Just loaded up the last week's worth of photos, check them out on the slideshow if you get a chance.  Swimming, family parties and more swimming.

More Bathroom....and the start of Summer

So the bathroom is about 95% done, with only minor touch-ups to go yet.  It's good to be done with it... well almost done with it.  The hallway is next and then it's up to the floor re-finishers.

The girls got to go up to Door County this last weekend, a fun trip was had by everyone except Jenna.  She is probably getting some more teeth, which sends her into a fit for days.  She's better now that she's home and with the pool getting set up I'm sure she'll be just fine.  As for Elsa and Nora they got to climb to the top of the Cana Island lighthouse (all 98 steps) and had fun around the campfire.

Lots of new pictures are up in the slideshow, it's been awhile since it's been updated so check it out.

It's getting close...

Couple of big steps today.  The toilet and sink are now in place and hooked up.  I've got quite a few little touches to keep getting to, but the biggest stuff is done now.  We're still waiting on the counter top and after that we can finish the vanity tiling.  It's looking really good though.

Is it bad when the kids know where The Tile Shop is?

So we've been there a few times this week, but at least we're getting somewhere.  Today our tile guys came and leveled the floor, tomorrow tile and Thursday grout.  Our heated floor system is in place now and once the guys are done with the floor then I can finish up the walls and we'll have indoor plumbing again. 

On a separate note I'm done being jealous hearing about all the fires that my dad has been to; finally we've had a few good fires in Milwaukee.  Here's the latest one from early Monday morning:

Elsa's Teeth Are Gone!

Elsa's bottom two front teeth were on the verge of coming out this week.  And by on the verge I mean we had to tell her to start pulling on them or else a stiff breeze would take them out.  So finally last Friday she got up the courage and pulled out one of them herself.  On Saturday, while I was working, a plan was hatched to remove tooth number two.  The plan involved a string and a remote controlled car.  The plan did not involve one 18 month old...  As the string was being tied around Elsa's tooth Jenna ran up to her and grabbed the string and yanked out tooth number two.  Melissa said it was quite the scene.  So here's to Elsa, with no bottom teeth.

Drywall done...paint on...tile soon

So things are moving again.  We've gotten to the tiling now.  We're going to try to get most of the wall tile done this weekend, with a little bit of touching up the beginning of next week.  Then it's on to the floor tile.  It's starting to look like we're getting somewhere.

Jenna Post

Got a new picture of Jenna and thought we'd break from the constant construction pictures.  The drywall is taking longer than we thought, but it's almost all hung now.  First coat should be on tomorrow and after a second coat we can get that floor going.

So here she is

This project would be done by now....

If only my crew were working a little more efficiently...

Using a nail puller on a wall with no nail....COME ON!

No more showers in the basement

The tub is in, with walls...and it has water.  Does it get any better than that?  The pocket door is framed out and short of running some electrical we are ready for drywall on Thursday. 

Tub is in...but not plumbed yet

Got some good work done today.  The cement board is all down, the doorway is framed and the tub is now in place.  Hopefully by tomorrow we'll have running water going through it.  We'll see.

A little more progress

The subfloor is all down and even now.  One of the walls got built (still have to frame out the opening to the bathroom) and the electrical was run down to the basement.  Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to have the floor ready for tiling and get the tub in place.

Almost ready to rebuild

Got all the old walls out, now almost ready to put down subfloor and new walls.

Progress

Opened up the hallway today.

Little bit farther

Today I got the floor out and the tub out.  Both were not enjoyable, but they are done.  The person who remodels this house after us owes us big time for putting in an acrylic tub.  The bathroom floor was concrete poured over 1x6's which were nailed in between the joists.  Another couple of loads to the dump tomorrow and I might be ready to start prepping for new stuff.

Renovation...

Here's the bathroom so far.  It seems likes this was at a good time; the wall next to the shower was rusting all the metal tiles.  It took very little tapping to get all the tiles to fall off.  Tomorrow the floor comes out.

First day nice enough to ride bikes...

The girls finally got to use their birthday presents yesterday, and on a related note, Frosty is gone....

 

Frosty...Better Late Than Never

Add caption

Well, the late season snow may have made us miss the WISCO play Friday night, but it sure made for a fun Saturday afternoon! While Miss Jenna was down for an afternoon nap, Elsa, Nora, and I had fun building a snowman. We'll see how long he hangs around, word has it 50's are on their way mid next week.

Remember Raphie's Brother...

well that's kinda what I was thinking as I piled on all these clothes.  She didn't care too much for playing in the snow though.  After about 15 minutes outside, she said "uh uh uhuh," and walked to the back door.  Elsa and Nora had fun and now have a two walled fort in the backyard. 

Birthdays

Okay so this post is a bit late, but the Twins had a great birthday party.  There are some new pictures of it up in the slideshow.  They can't wait to get out and finally ride those new bikes though. 

Also the girls are now starting Level 3 swim lessons next week.  They are swimming and breathing without stopping now, and they are quite fast.  This summer should be fun for them to finally go tearing through the water. 

Everyone seems to finally be getting over this cold that's lasted all winter long.  Hopefully it will warm up soon and get to spring already.

Funny Kids

We certainly are blessed with some funny kids in this house. 

For exhibit A I would point your attention to the video in which Jenna has already found that dogs are easily fooled.  I was actually a little late recording this.  Just before this the dogs were jockeying for position every time she pretended to throw food.

For exhibit B if you've ever seen the girls' bedroom, you know that they are hoarders.  It's a fact, science really.  The girls' sheets needed to be washed, and after removing the usual 2 pillow animals, 4 books, 3 toys and a case of colored pencils (not joking that was really all up there) I noticed that something had fallen out of Nora's bed.  The latest City of Milwaukee Water Bill....Now to be fair Melissa had given it to them for use in their store/school/house in their playroom, but that is hands down the funniest thing I've ever seen in there. 

Has anyone seen a tooth laying around here?

So it finally fell out today and Nora is very happy, Elsa is coping okay.  The tooth fairy has got some work to do now...

Jenna Doing a Little Dance

Just thought we'd share a funny moment with Jenna and a little bit of iTunes. It's very short (she does get distracted easily) but just keep hitting the play button over and over again, it'll seem longer and funnier.