If you build it, they will come...

Finally spotted a cardinal yesterday!  I think Dave is just waiting on some orioles to show up.

"baby" ...among others

Logan has been talking!  And I think he hit the "2 words together" milestone the other day when we walked out the back door, he looked to the street and said "Dada ca!"  Which means "Daddy's car!"  He also says.....  Mama, Dada, May May (which is for Emily), Ba (ball), Ca (car, he'll run to the garage door, bang on it and yell car to get his Cozy Coupe out), Papa, Nana (for the food and the person), ca-ca (cracker), num-num, nigh nigh, up (which is sometimes uppa) and of course, baby.  Which really is the cutest.  Especially when you hold him up to the bathroom mirror after his bath and he says "baby."  We are currently working on puppy, kitty and I'm pretty sure he's getting no-no down :)

We'll take it as a sign....

We're in the we want to move zone again.  As I've been researching houses in the La Crosse area, I came across a gem in Onalaska.  They had a link to a few YouTube videos about the house.  What does the guy have in a room in the basement?  It's like he bought everything Dave has ever searched for on Craigslist and eBay.  A Volkswagon hood, 2 old Schwinn bikes, a gas pump, a barber chair and pole, a traffic light....  Pretty ironic really that someone fairly local has his same taste in *ahem* barber poles.  I'll never understand that one.

We pulled out all the paperwork on the SEMMCHRA (Southeastern Minnesota Multi-County Housing and Redevelopment Authority) loan we have against the house.  They did a lot of work on our house almost 6 years ago...basement windows (dug out 2 egress), siding/soffits & fascia, etc, with the intent that we live in the house 10 years for it to be free and clear.  Of course, at the time we had the store, so we figured we would have no problem staying 10 years.  If we move before then, we have to pay it back, but the payback amount drops every year after 5 years.  It looks like after October this year it starts to drop to 80% of the $21,000 that would have to be paid back if we would move.  60% after next year, 40% the year after, and so on.  We need a new roof on the house, work on the garage done, the upstairs bathroom basically remodeled, new basement shower, some main floor "wall" work (gotta love those 150 year old plaster walls) and probably some freshening up of paint and a basic refinishing of the hardwood floors.  So, we're going to give our grocery list to a local "jack of all trades" carpenter guy we knew from NAPA.  He's the perfect guy for this kind of stuff, minus the roof and garage at least.  We only paid $120K for our house and with all the work we had done, plus all that Papa refinished, new carpet, and future work done, we should be able to make something on it!  And it really does have good curb appeal.  And a big yard for in town.  It will take at least a year and then some to get everything done.  Emily can finish out E1, at the least, at Bluffview and I'm happy for Luke to go to the Kindergarten program there.  Ideally, we'd be out of Winona during or right after her 4th grade school year.  It looks like the Holmen and Onalaska middle schools go 6-8 grades and La Crescent is 5-8. So perfect timing!  Hopefully. And let's face it, the kids wouldn't be missing out on anything by leaving the Winona school district. The only down side of WI is their higher property taxes (and apparently Scott Walker, but I'm not into politics so I can't comment on his short comings :).  The actual city of La Crosse is especially bad, so looking into Holmen and Onalaska more if we end up in Wisconsin.  There is also a little community (basically just a grove or 2 of neighborhoods) close to Holmen called Holland, and it's still only a 20 min. drive for Dave.  It's amazing how much more house you get for the money than around here.  And lots have an acre or more and an extra detached garage, especially the Holmen/Holland areas. La Crescent would probably be the most ideal, still being in MN.  Plus, they have this amazing neighborhood in the valley, surrounding a beautiful park.  But, you likely aren't going to get your very large yard and extra garage.  Katie, the girls and us have been to that park in the fall before and it's just a beautiful sight.  And, the girls would probably go to La Crescent for middle school also since they are in between Winona and La Crescent!  Emily would be able to keep swimming too, all these areas have swim teams!  We'll just have to get going on all these home improvements and see what's available in a year or so.

Saber the Scarecrow

 I took the girls out early this morning a little bit to work with the llamas.  Too hot to work very long though!  Llamas aren't known for their love of heat.  As part of the llama show at the fair, Emily has to dress up with her llama in a "coordinating" type costume.  So, Deeda is making her old Dorothy costume from 2 Halloween's ago into short sleeves (surprisingly, it still fits everywhere else!) and she's squeezing into her size 2 ruby slippers one last time.  And even better, she made Saber a scarecrow costume.  It is amazing!  I told her the "idea" of what I was thinking (green shirt/burlap neck/black hat) and she came up with this,  even without Saber's actual measurements.  I don't know what I'd do without Deeda!

Allie and Em tying up the boys to get misted down...

1 week 'til fair time!

A "Glazer" of a morning...

Daddy brought home some Glazers after work Sunday morning.  Doing our best to support Kwik Trip :)

tryin' to beat the heat

I guess it's better than nothing?!

Today we are hibernating in the air conditioning.  Dave's bringing home We Bought a Zoo and Big Miracle from the Redbox.  Tomorrow he and the kids (minus Logan) are going to see Brave at the theater.  We're thinking of heading to St. Charles to see the fireworks tomorrow night, but it'll be a hot one.  Luke does love fireworks though...

Ribbons!

Yesterday Em had a swim meet in West Salem.  Dropped the boys off with Katie and the girls, they had lots of fun!  Katie took them to the big La Crescent park, the Children's Museum and McD's.  Em and I meet them there and she convinced me to take her to the Mall for a Justice fix.  She's been wanting a new purse, apparently none of hers are functional for her :)  Sure enough, I had a $25 off $50 coupon, so she got some goodies.  A much needed tankini suit also.  One that fits her anyways.  She has so many cute ones I've gotten on clearance, but the bottoms are always too baggy. 

She had a good meet. Came in 2nd in her Free.  She is really perfecting that stroke and getting pretty fast!  She also did a 25 backstroke and was placing 1st until about 3/4's in when she veered towards the rope and   lost a few seconds.  Then she swam first leg of a 100Free relay and did great getting down there quickly.  

Showing off her ribbons for the first meet.  2 First, 2 Heat Winners and 3 Third!  Not too shabby there kiddo!  Keep up the good work!  Now we have a couple week break until the final 2 summer meets in La Crescent and Onalaska.  Which is fine, because we're busy getting ready for the fair!  Her and I have a date this week while Daddy is home to go to Fleet Farm and get some boots for horse camp and she could use them for the llama show also.   Oh, and get this.  We needed a second carseat for the Prius since the Britax isn't really one that you move from vehicle to vehicle easily, so I picked up one at Walmart this week. Went to take it out of the box early Saturday morning to bring with so Katie had something in her van for Logan and there was a USED Safety 1st brand carseat in the box!  Dried milk stains and everything dripping down the base.  Great job Walmart on checking your returns.  And congrats to the loser with the free carseat.