Demolition Begins

Heres a picture AFTER we destroyed the walls but before we took the glass block out. The floor and ceiling are also destroyed now if your wondering hehe. We have since put in a slider window and purchased the material to finish the job. (Which now that I have some time off I may get started on.)

Lots of work in bathroom remodeling... Lots of stinky work. LOL. I'll upload some pictures when we finish so you can compare the two.




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Christmas

Christmas is of course long over but we had a lot of fun this year. We went to Yankee Candle to see Santa, Boston to see Kimmy and John and MeMe's and PopPops to see Madeline and Alan! Heres some pictures I thought were memorable:







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I recently have attained a new dog we originally named Precious but we have slowly changed her name to monkey... (I actually call her Monkey head and the wife calls her little girl....). I will post some pictures soon.

We have also done some home improvements.... We threw out our old couch and replaced it with a reclining sofa and a recliner. We painted our living room to a beutiful blue and hung some curtains. We also replaced the downstairs toilet and completely gutted our upstairs bathroom. As of today we have replaced the Glass block that was there with a new custom Argon-Gas filled window, stripped the floors and wall and all rotted wood and are soon to install new studs, new sheet rock, new flooring and a new ceiling as well as replacing all light fixtures and half-bath appliances. Following that will probably paint and stay posted as pictures of the new dog and all the new construction will be up soon. (2/20 update... New Pictures of Monkey!)

Cub scouts

Dylan turns 6!

Dylan's Birthday Bash

Ryan went to Dylan's birthday party again this year. He had a blast. This year it was held at Mcdonald's and was quite loud. Last year they held the party at the same McDonalds and you can read up on that here. Ryan got Dylan a nerf gun and some extra nerf bullets because he said Buster had been eating them and that made Dylan sad. Dylan looked ecstatic at the party though... Here's some more pictures:

Ryan arrives at the party!

The Birthday boy!

Everyones having fun!

All the kids together.


Lots of presents

Building the kennel

Our family decided Jack needed a bit more freedom... Not to much freedom but the ability to leave the house and come back in should he find the umm urge to go out. Yeah. So we have a fenced in yard but Jack is a digger and has always found a way out. To fix this we added a line from our small tree to the garage. This is great when its warm and we're out there but now that winter is coming its not ideal. Long story short: We decided to get a kennel and install a dog door.

Ryan was a big help, he installed the gate to the kennel buy himself and learned about bolt sizes and different wrenches. We finished the kennel and a staircase and managed to chop a giant hole in my house but there is still some work to do. (Trim, Extra fence for the staircase... etc) All in all it was quite a productive weekend.

Robyn's dad stopped by to help with cutting and carting. (Things just don't fit very well into a Nissan Sentra :) ) We discovered my house is insulated by what appears to be a 3/4" foam board, tongue and groove Plywood, clapboards and plaster along with some aluminum siding. Here's some pictures:

Halloween Night

Dad handed out the candy and mom went trick or treating with our neighbor. The got a ton of candy and had a lot of fun. Overall we didn't get as many trick or treaters as we did last year but we still had quite a few. Jack only escaped once or twice and he wouldn't wear a costume. Here's some pictures:

Dylan and Ryan

Great picture

Trick or Treat!

Better Close up of our Pumpkins

Close Up of pumpkins. A Bat, Grim Reaper and Homestar Runner.

Eeerie Pumpkins

Halloween 2005

ScArY!!!!

More to come soon.

Ryan Starts 1st Grade!

Ryan is Ready for First Grade!

Today was big day for Ryan! He started First Grade at a big boy school. He was a bit apprehensive upon arrival but he did see some kids he knew there which seemed to settle his nerves. When we got there it was no nonsense. We checked in with a teacher who went over all his paperwork and then someone immediately came and took Ryan for a reading test. 10 Minutes later he came back and was placed into a class. We walked over with him to meet his teacher who seems very nice but after 2 minutes the principal asked if we could step into the hallway and let his teacher teach. :-)

After 1st Grade we went out for lunch to talk about his day. They had a half day and don't serve lunches on half days. Ryan informed us that his teacher is very boring and only likes to do boring things. Friday he will have lunch, gym and recess so we'll see how boring he thinks it is then.

Later that evening we got sandwiches and went for a hike. We found a butterfly. (I took a video of it here lol) Here are some more pictures:

Ryan's in School and ready to rock!

Ryan found a butterfly! If you can't see it here check the video link above. ;-)

Running down the trail

The infamous butterfly!

Fourth of July Fireworks!

We went to the Manchester Band Shell for Fireworks this year. It's becoming something of a tradition. Adam and Austin met us here for a Barbeque and then we met Jeanine and her friend at center field.

Adam and I were the ONLY ones there with a green laser pointer so we had fun showing off amongst the lesser powered red dots. We took lots of pictures and only had to walk about a half mile to get there this year. (We were actually closer last year but this year we got out alot faster)

After fireworks we enjoyed some Ice Cream and DQ! All in all a great time. Here's some pictures of the occasion:




Sparklers. (We brought like 30!)

Manchester Band Shell



Kids before the Fourth of July Celebration. (8,5 and 6)


Ryan had a Blast!


Austin is stronger then dad already?


Jeanine looks very happy... Almost too happy...


Mother and Son!