Thursday, June 14, 2012

Summer Time!

Hello All!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.  The Feyen Family has been busy updating the outside of our house.  Last week, Jon laid our new walkway in the front.  It turned out differently than we expected, but it looks awesome!  So much more character and the landscape looks great.  Jon ripped out all the old plants and we purchased new stuff that would not get so big and over grown.

Julianna has been enjoying her new swing set.  She loves swinging and has mastered the rock wall going up AND down.  She also enjoys having Toby in her clubhouse.  Hopefully when we get back from the lake, I will get around to repainting it.  We also have to put in her sandbox.

I've been enjoying her swing set when it comes to discipline.  A lot of you know I'm having issues with Julianna calling me stupid.  I had come to my wits end on how to deal with it, when my mother suggested trying to teach her that her actions have consequences.  The swing set has been a great consequence.  She first gets a warning about calling me stupid and then, if she does it again, she isn't allowed to play on her swing set for the rest of the day.  It has worked wonders.  I also use other things for consequences, but the swing set has worked the best.  Now she catches herself before calling me stupid.  It still occurs, but a lot less frequently than before.  I also recently purchased a book called 1-2-3 Magic which was recommended to me by someone.  It's a discipline style.  I'm looking forward to reading the book and trying out their strategies.  Kelly also gave me a book called Toddler 411, while it covers ALL kinds of topics, it's been a great read, full of great information.

Jon has been busy tending to his garden.  We aren't having a lot of luck.  We have to many bunnies and ground hogs.  Jon's been putting off putting up a fence, but I think he is finally caving in.  He also purchased a BB gun in hopes of scaring off the animals, but according to him, they don't make them the way they used too because it doesn't shoot as far.  Who knows.  But he's enjoying all the outside work.  He has many grand ideas that use all his "toys."  Whatever keeps him happy I guess!

Well we are off to the lake soon.  Looking forward to some family time and a change of pace.  It should be a great week!  Hopefully we have great weather this year!

Hope all is well with you and yours!  MUCH LOVE!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

What We've Been Up To

So here's the latest with the Feyen Family:

Our septic tank has been fixed for a lot less then we were first quoted.  We were very happy with the company we went with and so happy the job is complete!  Now we just need to reseed the yard and put in a patio.  However, that will all have to wait.

Jon is back to studying for the CPA exam.  He has two sections left to go.  Both are retakes.  He decided to retake the audit section at the end of May because that is the most recent section he took, so it's relatively fresh in his mind and he has less time to study for it.  He hopes to take the other section later in the summer.  Praying he passes these sections this time around so the exam part will be over for his CPA license.  He will then have to get so many hours of tax and auditing experience before they issue his license, but that's the easy part.  He is looking forward to getting this behind him.  =)

Jon HAS found time to start his garden.  It's huge!  He has planted red potatoes, normal potatoes, yellow beans, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, little pumpkins, watermelon, carrots, lettuce, corn and tomatoes.  Yes, its a ton, but this is our trial year to see how things grow and how bad the deer will be.  One of the downsides to Pittsburgh.  Wish those deer weren't so brave!

Julianna has been loving the warm weather and being outside.  She's still afraid of Jon's tractor, but she's learning to tolerate it better which is good.  She is definitely a very active toddler.  I'm glad the weather is so nice so she can be outside and run off some of the energy she has.

We all recently went to Michigan for a few days.  While we were there, we went to Big Star to see Jon's parents new trailer and so Jon could help them start rebuild their deck.  The trailer is awesome!  After being up there, we are very excited for our week at the lake.

Well that's about all I can think of right now!  Hope you are all doing well!  MUCH LOVE!  

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter Weekend

Wow! The past 3 days have been eventful. On Friday, Julianna and I went to the zoo with my really good friend Ali. We had a great time despite the large amount of people that were there because of the kids being off for Easter break. Julianna enjoyed seeing all the animals and we were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the new baby ape and the new baby seal. Also, for the first time ever, we got to see the polar bear swimming above and around us. We have never seen that before in all the years the new aquarium section has been open. It was very cool! Hopefully later this summer we can go again. Here are a few pictures of our day!




Saturday began uneventful. However, after dinner I had gone down to the basement to crate the dogs before my friend arrived to see the house and noticed a horrible smell and a large wet/gritty spot on the floor near the dryer. I went and told Jon, who then went to investigate. Turns out the septic backed up into the basement due to a blockage. Jon went and purchased a snake to get the blockage out. In the process, he managed to get the snake caught and we had to call my parents to ask if we could stay with them until we could call the septic guy on Monday to come out and solve the problem. Jon and I began clearing out the storage stuff in order to cut up the rug that was no drenched in septic yuck so we could throw it all away. My dad arrived and helped us pull the rug sections out the basement window and throw them away. He then took Julz to their house while I helped Jon get stuff to clean up the basement floor and pack for our night at my parents. Finally I took off while Jon finished up cleaning. Later I called him to see how he was doing and he had managed to get the snake out and had snaked the pipe outside the house and the blockage was removed. We spent the night at my parents anyways because it was pretty late and we were going there for Easter the next day so it just made sense. Wednesday we get the septic pumped, so hopefully we will have no further issues afterwards!

Yesterday we had a very nice Easter dinner with my parents and grandparents. We all came back home and took long naps and were happy to be sleeping in our own beds last night.

Today we are supposed to have a paving company come and give us an estimate on expanding our driveway. Hopefully it's reasonable because I'm having issues getting other companies to call me back. Don't know what that's all about, but we are looking forward to getting the driveway done and the mud gone!! Plus, extra parking!!

That's all for now! 7 more days until tax season is over!! MUCH LOVE!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Thank You Oma and Opa for my new picnic table! I really love it!


Sunday, April 1, 2012

Michigan Trip

So Julianna and I had a great trip to Michigan. We did some shopping and met the newest member of the Feyen clan. Joslyn is adorable and Julianna loved her. It will be great to see them play together when Joslyn is older. We are looking forward to returning to Michigan when tax season is over.

Speaking of tax season, Jon has gotten even busier these days. He goes to work early and arrives home after Julianna is in bed. As the 17th approaches, the only time Jon will probably see Julz is on Sundays, but the end is in site! I know everyone there is looking forward to the end along with all their families. =)

Nothing much else is going on with us. This Friday, my friend and I hope to take Julz to the zoo. It will be fun to get out and do something different. Hopefully the weather cooperates. That's all for now! MUCH LOVE!

Julianna holding Joslyn with the help of Opa

Monday, March 19, 2012

Whoops! It's been almost a month since my last post. There really isn't much to write about these days as tax season is still in full swing and Jon spends most of his time at the office.

Tomorrow Julianna and I are leaving for Michigan to visit with Oma and Opa and the aunts and uncles and cousins. There happens to be a new cousin in the bunch and for once it's a girl! Jon's brother's wife had her baby on the 15th, earlier than expected, and after having 4 boys, they finally got their girl. It's very strange to think of them with a girl. It's strange thinking of anyone on that side with a girl because Jon's sister also has 2 boys. It will be fun for Julz that there is another girl she can play with when she gets bigger. We are looking forward to meeting the newest addition while we are up there.

Otherwise, the only exciting thing around here at the moment is our new mailbox. =) Because we live on a busy road, our mailbox has been hit a few times. Only once since we were living here but clearly its been hit a few times before we purchased the house. We aren't sure how it gets hit because the post is just fine but the box, not so much. But either way, we purchased a new one on Saturday so hopefully this one will keep my mail dry and it's plastic instead of metal so maybe it has a better chance of surviving these little hits. Who knows! If we need to replace it again in six months, it didn't cost us much.

Jon also purchased a plow and disc thingy to start our garden in the back yard. We aren't planting yet, it's still to early, but he has begun to play with his new toys so our backyard looks interesting at the moment. We purchased seeds of things we want to plant so we are ready when it's time. This year is more of a trial year to see how things grow and how bad the deer will be. Next summer we will try to do more serious growing.

Anyway, that's all for now. I will write another post after our adventure to Michigan! MUCH LOVE!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

I recently purchased a new camera and yesterday it arrived at the house. I've been busy testing it out and trying to learn all it's new features. Needless to say, my 2 1/2 year old photo subject isn't the easiest to photograph, but here is the best of all I took outside today.

Lovin' the new camera!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Life Lesson #1435

Today I was reminded why home ownership can be so frustrating! Jon woke me up this morning to inform me that our furnace was leaking oil and that I would need to call someone to come out and fix it. It was 7am, what a great way to start the day. So I called the people who serviced the unit before and they sent someone out. While I was waiting for the guys to arrive, I went down to the basement to survey the damage myself. This was no small leak, it was pouring oil out of the filter when the furnace turned on. Jon had put a bucket under the filter so at least we were now catching the oil, but there was a large puddle of it all over the floor and the whole basement smelled of oil. Ugh! Well the guy arrived, took the filter apart and immediately new the issue. We needed to replace the entire thing. Wonderful! So a couple hundred dollars later and the furnace is up and running again. Let's just say, I'm tired of handing out money to replace parts because the house sat empty for so long before we purchased it. Learning experience is what we could call this. Probably should have made the sellers call out service men to check over everything before we closed so they would have been paying for all this. Lesson learned.

Since we are so into paying for service men, I guess we might as well call the septic guy and get the tank located and pumped because who knows what else might be wrong and we have no idea when it was last pumped. Hopefully after that we are finished with major repairs. Oy!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Big News!

On Monday, my brother and his wife called to inform us they are expecting their first child in August!! We are all very excited for them! We just ask for prayers for Kelly and the baby. She has a genetic blood disorder that is life threatening to the baby. However, she and her doctor have it under control with daily injections and a number of pills and things are looking very good right now. So prayers are welcome by all for our little niece or nephew.

Friday, February 10, 2012

It's Tax Time

It's tax time at our house. Our account and future account are hard at work preparing our tax return!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Here is what I saw coming down the stairs when she was supposed to be napping!
I couldn't help but laugh and take a picture! She looked so cute with that hat and carrying all her favorite things with her! Oh JuJu! =)

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Thinking of Warmer Weather

This weather has me looking forward to spring time! I've already made a list of all the outside toys we need to acquire for Julianna now that we have our own lawn. This list includes a swing set, sandbox, playhouse, trampoline(okay, that one might be more for me than her!), a john deere gator(the power wheels version, not the adult version), toddler size gardening tools since I know she will want to garden with Jon...and the list goes on. =)

Needless to say, I can't wait to be outside with her instead of being cooped up inside the house. We've played in the snow the few times we had enough to make it worth putting on all the gear, but it's just not as nice as when it's warm and you can just walk outside in what you have on and not have to put a million layers on or find that one missing glove that you swore was in the coat sleeve. =) Ahh, the joys of spring and summer time!

So with that said, we are looking forward to all the fun we will have this summer. I think Jon and I pretty much agree on what we are getting Julz for her birthday and are very excited! But for now, we will enjoy our little glimpses of spring and hope that the winter weather leaves us soon! Groundhog day is just around the corner!!

That's all for now! MUCH LOVE!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Random Things

Have you ever had a dream during the night that involves people from your past and yet when you wake up you can't figure out who the people were? Totally had a dream like that last night. And then, the light bulb went off in my head and I realized the people in my dream where friends I haven't seen in years. Dreams are so weird. I wonder what causes us to dream about people and places we haven't seen or been to in years? And before I fell asleep I had been reading the Bible. I'm currently in Numbers reading about sin offerings...so totally unrelated to my dream. Who knows!

Speaking of my Bible reading, I have decided that 2012 is going to be the year I read the entire Bible. I've attempted a couple of times while I was in high school, but never even came close. I've started at the beginning and so far things are going smoothly. Of course, I took a college course on the first 5 books of the Bible and really enjoyed it, so it's fun reading the books again and picking up on the things I missed the first time. I'm looking forward to accomplishing this goal by the end of the year.

On the home front, we had a leak in our kitchen which has finally been solved. There was water leaking from the corners and trim of our kitchen window. We thought at first it was an exterior leak, because it seemed to only leak when it was raining outside. However, it wasn't all that bad until a few weeks ago, so we never really paid close attention to it. Then a few weeks ago, we got a huge bubble in the paint by the corner of the window and decided it was time to call the home warranty company that was provided to us by the sellers and have them send someone out to take a look at it. Good thing we did. We had a leak from the toilet above the kitchen. Because of it's location, the water was running down the pipe and then down the window instead of leaking in a normal place like the ceiling which is why we weren't totally sure where it was coming from. Anyway, 3 holes in the ceiling later, the leak was located, the old pipe replaced. Let's just hope we don't have any further leak issues.

Jon is busy studying for the audit section of the CPA exam. He is scheduled to take the exam Feb. 6th. Praying he passes! That would mean he would only have one section to go. YaY!!

Julianna is still busy, busy, busy. This past week seemed to be better on the hitting and tantrum front. Hopefully she keeps up the good work. She really is a character. We love her so much!!

Well that's all for now!! MUCH LOVE!!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Three kids in One!

I've come to the realization that Julianna is like three kids all wrapped up in one. She can be sweet and cooperative one minute, bouncing off the walls the next, and then throwing terrible tantrums the next instant. I am very grateful I am 1) not pregnant and 2) do not have another child at the moment because I am exhausted just dealing with Julz and her personalities right now.

Julianna also has a hitting issue. In a lot of ways, I'm glad she only hits me 95% of the time, but it gets tiring day in and day out and she is becoming stronger so her slaps and punches are beginning to hurt. I've tried just about everything to curb this behavior but have yet to be successful. I've searched the internet numerous times for ideas on how to deal with this behavior and have found nothing that has worked, but wouldn't you know, when I was about to give up, my Parents magazine arrived with an article dedicated to toddler's bad behavior and gave me a wonderful idea: a "chore" chart. Julianna loves stickers and loves M&M's or anything sweet for that matter. Why not put that all together and reward her for good behavior?! Haven't tried that idea yet, so what do I have to lose? While there will be chores on her chart, it will also include no hitting and kicking. I realized to make this successful, I have to include some things I know she will be successful at every day so she doesn't get discouraged. I'm still working out some of the details for the reward part, but I plan on putting this into action tomorrow. I will let you all know how it goes.

Otherwise, things are moving along. This past weekend was Jon's holiday party for work. It was at the aquarium at the Pittsburgh Zoo. It was a nice party and I got to know more of the people Jon works with and the new firm that HBK is purchasing was there too. The best part of the party, though, was getting to pet a penguin!! Very cool!

Tax season has begun which means 6 day work weeks have arrived. Jon hasn't decided if he wants to go in early and be home for dinner or go in a little later and be home later. I told him to try out both scenarios and see which he likes best. Some days it won't matter when he gets to work, he'll be late anyways just because there will be a lot to get done. Based on how everyone was talking at the party on Saturday, it sounds like this season is going to be a doozy! I wish them all the best of luck!

Well that's all that's going on at the moment. Hope everyone is enjoying this burst of winter we all got! Tomorrow the high is 52 here in Pittsburgh! MUCH LOVE!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Big Girl Bed

This past Monday, we went and bought a mattress for Julianna's big girl bed. She was VERY excited and so began her transition from her crib to the bed. The first night went really well. She slept the entire night in her bed. The next day, I went and put her down for her afternoon nap which didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped, but she did sleep and stay in her bed. However, I did return to find that she had pulled one of her flower lights out of the wall. Not good. So we had a "talk" about touching the flowers and she has left the other one alone since. That night, we put her to bed, both of us had to get her down. We thought she was asleep, until we heard "Mama! Come Upstairs!", "Mama!"....so up I go, and what do I find? She had ripped up a book in her bed. Lesson learned, nothing beside her bed. Last night, however, was much smoother. She is getting the hang of the big bed and loves being in it. She keeps asking us to put the crib away. =)


Next thing to work on with Julz.....to stop her from saying "Shut Up!" to the dogs. Guess I need to pay more attention to what comes out of my mouth.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Sledding

Yesterday Julianna went sledding for the first time ever. She LOVED it!! We have a great little hill in our front yard that was perfect for her. Sadly, most of the snow is melting today, but next time it snows, I'm sure we will go sledding again!