Trains, Trains, and more Trains

There was a model train show at the Union Station in Ogden this Saturday and because Grady is soooo into trains we decided it might be fun to take him to see the trains.

As long as he was on the ground he was fine to be by the BIG trains
but he really didn't want to get on the BIG trains so Grandpa went with him.
OK ......I've waved to you NOW can I get off!
This was much more to his liking... if his nose was any closer the train would have hit him.
7th heaven... look at all these Thomas and friends trains and the best part is that the lady there would let the kids pick them up and hold them.
Here Grady is running the train. Big stuff!!
This is the look on his face most of the time we were there.
"Grandma! pick me up so I can see better".
My favorite part was the "Lego Trains" every thing in this room was made with Lego's

It is amazing at all they can do with Lego's I could have spent much more time in this room
Thomas and all his friends..... Grady knew who they were.

Thanks Grady for a fun morning. Grandma and grandpa had a lot of fun just watching you

Puzzles

I really like to do puzzles and have done several. This year for Christmas Galen got me a puzzle that I thought I would never finish. It is a Bev Doolittle puzzle. And as you can see there are several smaller pictures, actually there are 16 smaller pictures, in the one large picture. It took me just under a week to put it together. Galen even helped me there was one piece that I thought was missing... he found it and put it in.

Now I need a new puzzle........ or not.......... I have to go back to work Monday.

The final pictures and some.

I have the hardest time remembering to take the camera when we have a field trip. But Galen came down and brought me the camera Chester just came from Kindergarten and was really interested in the Llama. "Eat this it's really yummy!"

He loved feeding "Joshua" he would have fed him the whole bucket full

OK .... the office has been finished for a long time, the problem was that I never could remember to take the camera.

So here is the office all finished and in working order.

I LOVE HAVING ALL THIS SPACE. WHEN THE KIDS ARE IN HERE THERE IS ACTUALLY ROOM TO MOVE AROUND! Thanks again Mike!

Stage 3,4, and.....

we have had a lot going on at Kiddie Kollege this past week and things have been moving FAST Remember.... well the drywall men came in and taped the walls then Galen and I painted the wall and then Mike and his brother came in and built the shelves.

We got up the next day and painted the shelves...It took us longer to paint the shelves than the rest of the room.

Look at all the shelf space I have.

Next came the carpet.

Can't really see the color but it's a dark grey with different colors in it.

Time to move every thing back in and find a new home for every thing.

Monday the electrician will come and put the finish on the plugs and lights.

when It's done tomorrow I'll take a better picture and you can see how much more room we have....Because there is now a window it doesn't feel like a dungeon.

We're almost there!

Stage 2

The men came to day to hang the sheet rock... I'm very excited to see some more work done.

They installed the electricity a while ago so we have just been waiting for this next step.

Oh here we go again Ann! And after you do such a good job cleaning.

It really looks good!

With each stage finished I get more and more excited to have it finished. Then we can Paint well.... Galen will paint..... maybe he'll let me help.

What I forgot to post last time!!

As the kids were helping Mike and his brothers all the kids had to have gloves just like Mike!! It was a little hard finding enough gloves for everyone that wanted to help but THANK GOODNESS I FOUND GLOVES!! Grady and his gloves he really was the best helper... he loved hauling out the wall board and this is why I was glad they had gloves....

I think this is Cordell holding what Mark found between the wall.....5 mouse skulls....yuck! so he showed them to the kids and they were fascinated them...actually the boys found the rest of the skeletons
but I wouldn't let them play with them... the only reason they got to hold the heads were they had to show Grandpa!

We really do clean!!

In my defence I have to say these were really, really, old....way before my time :) Any way we now have a machine that puts out a sound that the mice don't like so they don't come any more.
Thanks Galen!

DEMOLITION day 1

My Mom and Dad built the Kiddie kollege the year Brian was born so if you know how old Brian is you know how old the Kiddie Kollege is... Well they did an amazing job. Dad built things to last and last if one nail was needed then 3 or 4 were even better.
Since Mom died and Liseanne and I have been running the school we have been really crowed in the Yak Yak room, so I decided that it was time to remodel and make more room. The only time we used the office was to hang our coats and do the books. the rest of the time we didn't use it, and were in the yak yak room (our work room)
So here are the pictures of the demolition:



I couldn't believe all the STUFF we have in the yak yak room...I had to cover it so the kids wouldn't want to play with everything.

The first to go was the paneling in the office then the wall between the office and the yak yak room

Mike got more help than he wanted....they each had to have gloves because Mike had gloves

Don't do this at home......

they each had to have a turn with the hammer GREAT FUN!

the hammer was almost bigger then he was.... but he had to have his turn

they were so nice to the kids that wanted to help so they pulled the wall board down in small pieces so the kids could haul it to the dumpster

and even let them knock down a few 2x4s the kids were in seventh heaven

get a harder swing

NO more wall

Ann just vacuumed that floor!!!! Sorry Ann!!!

who would have thought we would have filled the dumpster

can you see the Wall board that's my dad use every bit you have and use it some where ....this was under the paneling in the office.

even the shelves went out and a new wall up.... it will have insulation so maybe it will be warmer in the winter

Mike and his brothers are finished for the day... they left some spider webs so dad got the vacuum and got rid of them.......he is standing in what used to be the office

not much left of the 2 rooms

Did I say how excited I am to get this done!!!!! Thank You Mike, Mark, and Tony.