Whatchu Talkin Bout Willis Wednesday

Politics
-President Obama - Nice speach. Nice rhetoric. I like the "I am right, do what I say" bi-partisanship.
-Speaker Pelosi- You continue to be an embarrassment to your position. The ridiculous things you say, your immaturity in front of crowds and your over-eagerness to show clapping skills are annoying. And was that a Snuggie you were wearing?
-Congrats to those democrats in the Iowa legislature who voted "no" on the labor bill. It was refreshing to see politicians vote with the people in mind instead of their party. Union guys swing the same hammers as the rest of us.

Sports
-Hilton Magic is dead. The automatic 10 points we used to gain from the crowds hasn't been seen consistently for years.
-Thank goodness for the Twister Sisters.
-Ames' high junior Harrison Barnes is the real deal. I watched him play last week. There truly is a reason Duke, North Carolina and Kansas want this guy.
-Only 6 months or so until football.

Life
-Makenna's trick of sticking her toes in her mouth is cute. I wonder though if she ever gets tired of the cotton taste when her socks are on.
-It's 52 degrees today. Snow and sleet possible tonight? Come on.
-The other day, Allison was convinced I was only 29. I thought that was sweet of her.

Work
-The Ames Tribune supposedly will be featuring an article on Ag Leader and possibly the expansion this Saturday. No one interviewed me though, so I can't vouch for the facts presented.
-Ag Leader just gave us the go ahead and build them another building. I kinda feel like they are just building it to keep me busy.
-The Ames Tribune printed an article on our company's construction of the Iowa State basketball practice facility in yesterday's paper. Some of the facts were wrong, but it made us look even better. Thanks Tribune!

What Makenna Has Been Doing

Eating cereal for the first time

Pooping all over herself and her floor gym.

How-To Tuesday

How-To Make Your Own Growth Chart

For those of you out there who want to learn an easy and cheap way to make a cute/fun growth chart read on. For those uninterested come back tomorrow for "Whatchu Talkin Bout Willis Wednesday".

What you will need:

• a long and relatively thin piece of wood
  
• paint
• tape measure

What I used to make mine was a scrap piece of wood Jared had lying around. Its measurements are 10.5" wide and 1/8" deep and roughly 4 ft long. You can pick any size piece of wood you like. I just wanted something thin.

I painted it white and added the dots and measurements with some hand-me-down craft paint from my mom. You could do whatever color and design you like. I'm gonna make one with cars and trains on it for my sister.

Below is a picture of the one I made for Makenna.

Need Band-Aids?

If you live in Ames, cut coupons, and need band-aids, I found a deal for you.

Band-aids are on sale at (the West) Hy-Vee for $.99. If you save your coupons you should have a $1.00 off coupon for any band-aid product from the Sunday paper a few weeks ago. This means a free box band-aids.

If you don't live in Ames and are making a trip to a Hy-Vee near you, it might not hurt to check to see if your store has the same deal as well.

Just thought some of our faithful blog readers might like a free box of band-aids.

Drug testing

A friend of mine sent his to me. What a great idea I think.....

I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes, and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. At any time I am required to pass a random drug test, with which I have no problem. HOWEVER, what I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a drug test. Shouldn't one have to pass a drug test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?

Understand - I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sit on their fannies, and smoking dope. Could you imagine how much money this country would save if people had to pass a drug test to get a public assistance check?

How-To Tuesday

How-To Make Your Own Hair Bows

This week I decided to attach a link to a website that I found that shows you how to make hair bows. I have made several for Makenna out of scrap ribbon. I plan on making even more for when she actually has hair to clip bows to.

Here is the link for those interested in learning how to make hair bows. It is very clever and simple. I used a 2" cardboard template to make larger bows.

Below are a couple of pictures of the bows that I have made. As you can tell, I still need to attached the ones on the right to barrettes.

I'm still young

My truck has been getting worked on this last week and I have been driving my boss's Suburban these last few days.

A couple of his high school kids drive it the most so I was a little curious to see what kind of music they had in the CD player.

Much to my delight, I knew 10 out of 12 of the songs....and I liked almost all of them. Does this mean I'm still "cool?"

Random pictures

Makenna is such a charmer. I hope she breaks a lot of hearts when she's older.





I love where we live. How many places in Ames can see this every morning?

Valentines Pictures

We celebrated Valentines day the way I'm sure it was intended : eating Mexican food. We went out for a quick lunch and threw it down before Makenna got too fussy. Good chips, good meal, cheap and really fast.

Allison gave me the perfect gift - a cake.

I gave her the world.


Makenna was totally excited about her Wal-mart gift card!

Our neighbors, the building masters

Back in October, I posted a blog about some houses going up in our area. (click here for it) While one house has progressed as normal, the other builders have managed to cram about 2 weeks worth of work into the house.

Since the lumber was delivered back in oh....probably May, here is the accomplishment.


Since I took the picture a few weeks back, they have managed to stand a few walls in addition to what you see above.

Pretty good.

A Happy Birthday Wish From Makenna

Makenna wanted to say "Happy Birthday" to her Auntie Erin.

Here are a few pictures from our attempt.

Happy Valentine's Day

Jared,

Instead of a card that I would end up throwing away in a few weeks I thought I would post a simple slide show that I made for you.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Enjoy!



I Love You,
Allison

Whatchu Talkin Bout Willis Wednesday

It's still not everyday that I am able to believe I am a dad.

Even after hundreds of diaper changes, being spit upon most ever day, listening to the crying/whining, and enjoying the laughing, it is still somewhat tough to believe that I am, indeed, a dad.

Makenna turned 4 months old today. Most everyday these last 4 months I have enjoyed coming home to see my little baby grow. The things she learns everyday are amazing to me. Her personality continues to develop and shows itself in many forms. Seeing her laugh and laugh with a huge smile on her face can definitely make anyone's bad day seem a little better. Her newest trick is laying on her back and holding her legs at a 90 degree angle up in the air.

I never really knew what to expect being a dad myself, and really, I still don't. Life happens. The changes it brings just create new experiences to remember and learn from.

I can't wait to get messages like this one my good friend Mark got from his oldest son.

This One Is For You Grandma Janelle

How To Tuesday

I decided that I would try to do a weekly post like Jared does. Instead of "Whatchu Talkin' Bout Willis Wednesday", my weekly (well, hopefully weekly) post will be called "How To Tuesday". Just like the name states, each post will hopefully be centered around some sort of How To or something that I have made or tried that has worked well. Some will be really simple and maybe even common sense and some will be more detailed. I'm gonna try to mix it up.

So here is my first "How To Tuesday".....

How to make a simple wall decoration/picture frame.

I got this idea from one of the 4-H projects at the State Fair. What I used was an old window from a torn down calf barn at Jared's parents dairy farm. (Any old window would work.) All I did to improve it was lightly sand it and paint it white.




I am displaying it right now above Makenna's changing table but sometime (hopefully soon) I plan on putting black and white pictures in it.

Makenna's Highchair

My dad made Makenna an amazing highchair. Click here to see a couple pictures of it that my mom posted on their blog.

Video of Makenna's New Accomplishment

Breaking News.......

Makenna has been close to rolling over for about a week. She finally did it tonight. She started out laying on her back, rolled to her front, then continued rolling to her back again. After a few minutes break, she rolled to her front again. Then got fussy.

I was glad I got to see it happen. One of those "firsts" that is pretty exciting for a new parent.

Am I Losing My Mind?

So Makenna has had a rough couple of nights......

This morning as I was unloading the washing machine I found a very wet but clean diaper. And NO we don't use cloth diapers. What a mess!

I might be losing my mind.

(and yes, the first sentence is my attempt to justify my actions this morning)