One Month Later
Lessons learned....

First things first...Who do you think this is??

First Lesson learned....over treating your lawn. Our neighbors have been warning us about crabgrass since January. So we broke down and bought stuff to prevent crabgrass ($50). We thought the price was a little steep and since we were already getting dandy lions we thought laying down weed killer ($50) at the same time as the crabgrass stuff would save us time and money in the long run. We tried it on the back yard to make sure it would work. Not smart! Thank goodness we did not do it on the front lawn!!! The result: 40% of the grass in the back yard dead and as you can see from the picture we still have dandy lions.

Second lesson learned: Putting together a swing set. Very time consuming especially when you live in Kansas. Having all 4 of the yearly seasons in one week tends to put a halt on outdoor productivity! I must say that Andy has enjoyed the daily comments from all the neighbors!

Lesson 3: Indoor construction....what can you say about that. Caleb loves his new friends (Brian and Judd...they are very Large construction men that have been at our house almost every day for the last 2 1/2 weeks). They seem to entertain Caleb and Ainsley loves to sit and watch. I have been happy that they have let Caleb help but the other morning when I heard them say "Caleb can you hand me that gun, buddy!" I had to put my foot down. Do they not understand the damage that CALEB, of all children, could do with a nail gun!!!!!!
There have been multiple set backs, one that worked in my favor (FINALLY) and I get an office.
Another set back was the sectional.... We had an employee coupon for Nebraska Furniture Mart so I talked Andy into going up there with me so that I could buy this AWESOME baby bedding I found. I couldn't justify spending that much money on the bedding but I thought with a discount I might be able to!!! Well, the discount on bedding was only $15.00. So I didn't get the much desired baby bedding. We ended up leaving the store with Andy's new sectional!! After selling our old sectional in less then 24 hours on craigs list, we pretty much broke even. ONE PROBLEM! After bringing the sectional home we relized it was too big by about 2 inches!!! Solution...the construction guys tore out our banister which left a hole in the wall and floor. You can see right down into the basement! The kids thought that was really cool and I found the construction guys egging on the kids to throw gold fish down the hole!!!! Luckily the couch covers the hole in the floor.

Lesson 4: With the basement unsafe, the family room under construction, the living room full of furniture, and rain outside it leaves very little options for child entertainment. LIFE IS CRAZY!! The construction guys have commented several times saying "Didn't you do all the laundry yesterday?"Since Andy has been working every spare minute on the swing set he clams we are never moving...EVER.

Lesson 5: One month later...since Andy only has 5 steps left on the swing set we invited some of the kids friends over to play!!! The 4 Rudd kids, the 3 Hubble kids, and our kids. What happens when you put all the kids together....bruises!

Lesson 5: The hardest thing is...when the construction guys leave because they forgot important screws. Usually it wouldn't be a problem....but if they leave a GIGANTIC whole in the wall with multiple glass doors on the other side, and wet culk around it, crazy doesn't even begin to cover it!!!:)

Other Lessons I have learned:
1. When you cancel an important doctors appointment because you have to drive across town, it is raining outside, and the kids are being bad your husband gets mad.
2. Letting Aubrey do her own hair for school and having dad take her so I can get an extra 15 minutes of laziness in is not a good idea. When I picked her up she had 3 Hair scrunchies around her wrist, 15 clips in her in her hair, and she painted her own finger/toe nails. Nice!
3. I thought it would be good when Ainsley could finally "hold her own" against Caleb. I change my mind!!! I will not go into detail because I have not figured out how to control the situation yet:(
4. Andy said I absolutely could NOT cut my hair because I get emotional and I do not think clearly while I am pregnant. So, while my sister was here I had her cut me some bangs. After almost 30 minutes of laughter from Steff/Syd they calmed down enough to tell me I look like Uncle Leon. RUDE!!! Andy came in the room and had a heart attack!! Well, it has almost been 3 weeks and I love my bangs. Andy says they are okay. I think he is just glad they will be grown out by June!

News:
Congrats to Seth on graduating BYU with his bachelors in Neuro Science!! Good Luck with your move and house hunt!
Congrats to Kristen on passing her big Nursing exam and graduating!!!
A BIG SUPER BIG congrats to Aubrey Jean!!!!! Monday she was released from the Speech program! I am so proud of her! She really has come a long way!!
And lastly a selfish congrats to me....I am very excited to announce that my parents have happily suggested that Aubrey/Caleb come and spend 2 weeks with them in Florida!! Dad has agreed not to cut Calebs hair and plans are finalized! I have never spent a full day without the kids so I am a little worried but VERY VERY excited!!! In 2 weeks I will be driving to awesome Memphis to meet my parents!!