Basement is DONE!

Our basement if finally finished and we are so very excited!! We finished a large L-shaped family room that will house a new TV (which we have started to shop for) and an office area where we will put our computer and a bookshelf. There should also be plenty of room for Nathan's toys and for him to run around, which he loves to do right now (so many rooms and closets to explore). We have a hallway that leads to the mechanical room and an unfinished bedroom. We did finish a small linen closet that is across the hall from the unfinished bathroom that is off the family room. We also have under-the-stair storage and a food storage room that has our freezer and a cold storage under the porch. I'm just about as excited about the closet space and organized storage space as I am the finished parts. We don't have any more room down there than we did before, but it will be organized and I'm excited to get started on that!

Here are a few different angles of the family room.

Looking at the Office Area and Down the Hall

The TV Area

The Play Area and Door to the Bathroom


We also finished a large bedroom. There is a GREAT closet in there, too. We are going to be using that store scrapbooking supplies, games, books and whatever else we can fit in there. It's also an official guest bedroom, so we are open for business if anyone wants to visit! We have the room for you.

Looking into the Bedroom

Bedroom Closet

Random Pictures of "Just Plain Adorable"

Here Nathan is playing at Grandma & Grandpa Taylor's house on Mother's Day. He's a pretty happy kid.




Here is Nathan in one of his favorite sleeping positions. We were setting up the bed in our new bedroom downstairs and this was his way of helping.




We must have tuckered him out with all of the work this morning because he fell asleep in his high chair after he ate lunch - that's pretty tired.

Like Father, Like Son

Nathan loves his dad. Here are some cute pictures of the two of them together.

Reading Bedtime Stories
Nathan listens to The Going to Bed Book while Ryan reads to him. He likes to point out the moon in the book and he loves the part at the end where it says, "they rock and rock and rock to sleep" as he rocks in the chair with Daddy. I love watching them together and seeing how much they enjoy just being together.




Mowing the Lawn
Last Saturday Ryan was mowing the lawn so we got out Nathan's little toy mower and he tried to follow along behind his dad. It was kind of hard to do it on the grass because it was a little long, but he loved being out there with his dad. Today Nathan and I went to the store early and when we came back Ryan was mowing the lawn. The first thing Nathan said was "mower" and pointed inside. When we got inside he ran to his lawnmower and started pushing it out so we could mow the lawn with dad again. Oh so very cute!

Hogle Zoo

Nathan went to the zoo for the first time this past week. He really liked the animals and pointed when he saw them. If the animals weren't moving, he couldn't see them, though. He would make the sound of the animals when he saw them (the ones he knew) and get really excited. Here are his reactions to some of his favorite animals.

The White Alligator
This was our first stop and he just looked through the glass and tried to see the alligator. You can kind of see it in the second picture. It really is white. We passed another spot where there were some baby alligators and he could see those better. It was a whole new world for him.




Elephants
I think Nathan thought these were big horses or something. He kept saying "heee" which is what he kind of says for a horse, but it may have been just an exclamation of excitement and surprise at seeing such huge animals.




Giraffes
Nathan makes the sound of a giraffe by using his hands and saying "chomp, chomp" like they are eating. He raises his arm to show the long neck of the giraffe. I wish he could talk more and tell me what he thought of how tall they really were because his books and stuffed animals don't come close. I think these were definitely some of his favorites.




Gorilla and Monkeys
Nathan makes the sound of the monkey by saying "oo, oo" and using his arms. That's what he's doing in the third picture while he was looking at the black and white monkeys. I don't know what he thought about the gorilla because it was so much bigger, but he liked watching it as it came close to get its lunch.





A HUGE Python
Kyle thought there were two snakes in here because it was wrapped around so much, but it's just one. I'm just glad it was behind glass. It could have swallowed Nathan whole in seconds! This picture is Nathan saying, "more, more." I don't know if he was referring to the snake or just more animals in general. I'm hoping just more animals because I'm not too fond of snakes. He also liked walking around inside where the birds were and said "tweet, tweet" a lot.

Cousins

Nathan and Kyle are so cute together. Even though there is a year and a half difference in age, they get along really well. Kyle is so good to Nathan and Nathan likes to give Kyle hugs - even if it sometimes looks likes he's tackling him.




We went to the zoo with Brittany and Kyle this week. It was fun to watch these little guys together looking at the animals. At the end we spent some time on the playground there and Nathan and Kyle went down a big tunnel snake slide together. They also played on the teeter-totter.







At the end of the day, both Nathan and Kyle were pretty tired. We left the zoo at rush hour, so we had a long ride home. Both of them were pretty good, but Nathan got pretty upset and frustrated about 15 minutes from home. Kyle reached over and held his hand and it made Nathan feel better and he stopped crying and made it the rest of the way home. What sweet boys!

Future Occupations Perhaps

Nathan is at the age where he wants to do whatever we are doing. That includes cleaning- oh how I wish that would last! Here he is today doing some grown-up stuff that makes him feel like he is a part of things.

Computer Programmer
We have two computers - a PC and a Mac. We mostly use the Mac and the PC is normally turned off, but it makes a great keyboard for Nathan to "type" on. It works especially well when I am working on the Mac and he sitting on my lap. He thinks that he is making the things happen that he sees on the monitor.





Maid/Window Washer
We were cleaning the kitchen windows today and Nathan wanted to get in the act. He helped clean the blinds, the walls and the windows. I especially like the picture of Nathan inside and Ryan outside. Nathan really enjoyed it and wasn't in the way too much.

Shorts??

I bought Nathan some shorts the other day because it's been so hot here and he doesn't really have any summer clothes that fit him. He is a little on the small side, but I figured that he would be wearing these for quite a while, so I got him 18 months even though most 12 months clothes are what really fit him now. They stay on his little body (well- he lost his shorts about 4 times today, but with as much as he moves around that's not bad, right?), but there is definitely room to grow - they will last all summer!!

The Little Guy

Nathan is a busy little guy and always wants to be outside. He knows that he needs to get his shoes on before we can go outside. Sometimes he isn't patient enough to wait for Mom to help him put them on. Here is is trying to get his shoes on by himself. Of course, it doesn't work, but it's cute to see him try!




Nathan is also busy being busy most of the time. He likes to play the piano and turns the pages to new songs to play. I think he feels like quite the big boy when he is up there on the piano bench alone. We still think of him as "The Little Guy," though.

Basement photos

Here are some pictures of our basement in progress. It's exciting to see it come together and actually have rooms down there now.

Bedroom


Family Room - Office will be at the end


Family Room - TV section


Entry to Upstairs - we removed the door and took out some of the wall