I thought I should give a brief update since I haven't updated the blog since we moved. We have been busy, busy, busy!!! We have been working on our house quite a bit and Nate and Doug have been busy brewing beer for Doug and Amanda's wedding this coming Saturday, May 7. So far, we have painted the downstairs half bath and Ben's bedroom. We spent an entire weekend, with the help of Cary, Brenda, Doug and Amanda, tearing out carpet and flooring in our living room, hallway, master bedroom, kitchen, dining room and stairs and had new flooring put in. The existing flooring was pretty stained and dirty and we are super pleased with our new flooring! It is awesome! We have a ton left to do but we will get there slowly but surely! I started a new job at Children's Home of Illinois as a therapist working with children and families in crisis and I really enjoy it so far. I started work full-time 2 weeks after we moved, so it has been an adjustment to say the least! Nate loves his new job at Caterpillar too! Ben is now in an in-home daycare and loves it so much!!! They have two dogs and there are some kids that are older than him and some are younger than him and he is always happy there! Ben has changed quite a bit in the past few months. He now says so many words that I lost count and he will count 1,2,3 and say A,B,C. He will repeat anything we say and he talks in sentences. He is very independent, smart, funny, loving, and headstrong. He has been sleeping through the night since we moved to our new home and I am forever grateful to sleep all night long! We love our new home and the fact that we are close to so many family and friends!!! We have been busy and had company almost every weekend since we moved here and wouldn't have it any other way!
Brenda and Cary came out to help us paint our living room and entryway at the beginning of August. It took a lot of work and climbing ladders, but we got it done and it looks fantastic. I don't think that the pictures do the colors justice. Ben helped a little too! He was all tuckered out by the end of the weekend. Nate and Cary dug also a trench around the detached garage to make a drainage system because water has been leaking into Nate's garage, which was an issue that needed to be resolved as soon as possible. It was a busy, but very productive weekend! We also barbequed for supper on Saturday night and had our friends Chris and Lesley over for suppper. They are expecting their little one very soon and we are super excited to meet him!
We had Ben's 2nd birthday party on Saturday, June 11. He loves anything to do with sports and he is so coordinated, so we decided to go with a sports theme. We had a small party with just family and some close friends. Of course, Ben got way more presents than he needed. We enjoyed good food and had a great time! 
