Progress

So the house is coming along and our builder is actually looking at being finished EARLY!! Does that ever happen with a build?? I have been horrible at taking pictures of the progress on the house but I did snap a few this past week. The kitchen, bathroom and laundry cabinets are in now along with some of our built in shelving. This week we will be picking out the floor stain as well as the granite for our bathroom, the boys bathroom, the laundry room and the kitchen. It is actually starting to look like a home! We are so excited to move in...anytime Dane can't find something he asks if it's in storage and whenever I say we're going "home" he wants to know if the new house is finished because he doesn't consider the rental "home." Soon, very soon my dear boy! It really is coming together beautifully and the more I see of it being completed, the more I cannot wait to get in there and decorate!

fireplace (behind the cabinets) built in shelving will be under each window

kitchen and butlers pantry to the right, door to mud room in the middle

kitchen

master bathroom vanity

walking into master shower

master shower

Monkey See, Monkey Do!

I cannot believe it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post...that has to be a record for me! We were back in Indiana for an extended stay for Presley's birthday. I have lots to catch up on but until I can sit down and make that happen, here are a few pictures that wonderful Aunt Christy snapped of 2 cute monkeys! Three weeks apart and afraid of the trouble that is to come from these 2! A huge thank you to the Zehrings for putting us up for a few days and to the Polks for hosting a few dinners even in the midst of getting ready for their big Labor day sale!

Anniversary Extravaganza Weekend

Last weekend 25 of us stormed Las Vegas to try to prove we are still young...Vegas won that round without question. Half of the group got in on Thursday night and we stayed up all night, thinking that we were reliving our glory days. All we ended up doing was putting ourselves to bed the next night at midnight. It was a great weekend to kick back with no responsibility what-so-ever and cut loose a little with people who mean so much to us. A HUGE thank you to everyone who came to join in on the fun! We especially missed the Polks but they had literally just returned from Mexico! I do not think we will be repeating a weekend like this for a very long time (if ever) but it was so worth it to do it once. It's been an amazing 10 years and last weekend we celebrated that!

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More Dane-isms

Dane's understanding of things is hilarious right now so I wanted to do a post of the funny things that he has said recently so I don't forget. The other day Dane and I were reading his children's bible. We were reading about Adam and Eve and in the picture, they were naked. So he kept asking if they were "nudeys"...I said they are nudeys and that was because they didn't have time to make clothes yet. Then he asked if the bad guys were coming to get them. I explained to him that there were no bad guys yet and that only Adam and Eve lived in the world then. I explained that they had to have lots of babies to make more people....and of course the only question he had was if they were going to have nudey babies.

Then he turned to the Easter story. There was a picture of Jesus with an angel behind Him. Dane asked what it was and I explained about angels, but he kept calling it the tooth fairy.

We went to the bank and Dane was talking to my mom on the phone. She asked him what we were doing and he explained to her that we were at the bank because "mommy & daddy don't have any money."

Dane was watching Curious George the other day and in the episode, the man in the yellow hat tripped and fell into a patch of poison ivy. On the show, they kept reminding Curious George to stay away from poison ivy by stating "leaves of 3, let it be." Dane put his own spin on the saying..."3 (free) leaves, let it be."

The other day Dane said "look mommy, it's a nickel." My reply was "there is nothing in your hand." He kept repeating something about a nickel. So I finally asked him to show me and he pointed to the freckle on his wrist.

And if there is dirt...our boys will find it!

Hatten update

This will serve as an overall update on the Hatten front...along with a few cute pictures of our wild two-some! We have been very busy with the house...all the tile has been selected and laid except for the basement bathroom (mudroom floor, laundry room floor, boys bathroom floor and tub surround, master bath floor and shower), hardwood floor has been laid on the main floor and 2nd floor. The attic and basement are currently being dry walled, the stain was selected for the porch ceiling and the front door, all cabinets have been selected except the basement. There is so much more to do than I ever imagined...when I was at the house to go through the tile with our tile guy, the builder and the electrician were asking me how many can lights I wanted in the basement, which switch should go with which lights, etc. etc....never imagined we would be making decisions on things like that. It's been a fun process so far and I feel very blessed to be in this situation....always wanted to build but never thought we'd be able to.

Cameron and I are heading to Vegas this week to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We have 23 friends and family joining us for this celebration! We are very excited to have some time to decompress. I am not so good at leaving the boys but as they get older, it does get easier...for them and for me. Grandma and Grandpa Hatten will be watching the boys while we are away.

Dane's stitches healed very well...he got them out one week after they were put in. He has a barely there scar. Kale continues to try to do everything his big brother does....We have had a busy and fun summer thus far. It has been a bit difficult not having a yard but we go to the park a lot or our favorite play place or we make due with the grassy areas around our rental. We also try to go on special outings at least once a week....to the zoo or to the fair or to the farmers market or to something else that is going on in the area.

keeping himself busy while I was on the phone 

eating blue ice cream 

new hiding spot 

Dane snapped this of Kale

at our favorite park

what do you do when there is a heat advisory? head to the arcade of course!

Farewell Ol' Boys!

Thank you Christy for sharing this with me...definitely hit very close to home! Christy shared a blog post from the Vanzant family and I wanted to share it with all of you because it's exactly the way I felt about our "boys" and it makes me feel better that another family struggled with the same decision. So...here is the blog post that made me tear up again reading from thevanzantfamily.blogspot.com:

After months and months of debating me and Matt decided it was time to find our dogs a new home. We have 3 labs. Two males and one female. Our female, Roxanne, lives in the house with us and we ARENT selling her! Our males, Ralph and RJ, live outside in an invisible fence. Our invisible fence got struck by lightening a few weeks ago and hasn’t been working ever since. So with the fence broken RJ and Ralph have been roaming and causing a bunch of “unnecessary” dog drama with the neighbors. Ralph is really smart and can get inside a truck to sleep.. well that’s what he has been doing to our neighbors vehicles. And apparently they are “harassing” other dogs too. I am a huge believer in keeping your dogs and pets contained and it drives me crazy that they have been running. It is not like I can run after them either, I am at home with two babies who need my attention. I completely understand why the neighbors are mad, but they don’t keep their dogs contained? Why are you complaining about mine when I ALWAYS have until recently?

Anyways, we have decided to sell our baby boys because we haven't been able to give them the love and attention that they need and deserve. Every since the twins came into our world we have neglected our baby boys. Don’t get me wrong, we love on them as much as we can and we feed them but its still not enough. They need a home where they will be loved on ALL the time. 
I put them on craigslist to try and find a loving home for them both. I thought it would be best for them to be separated. We have had a few interests in Ralph and one lady fell in love with RJ. We emailed and text back and forth for a couple of weeks to setup a time and day she could get him. She is a single mom of three girls and they’ve been wanting a dog for a long time. I knew RJ would be perfect because he would love on them and protect them. 

We met her on Saturday and RJ went with her to his new home. I hadn't been able to deal with it “emotionally” because I was so busy trying to find a new home for them. Well, Saturday came and my emotions did too. I cried like a big baby all day long. I knew it was the best for him but he was my baby boy, before I had an actual baby boy. RJ was such a momma’s boy. He use to follow me around and sit in my lap. I love him so much and it was so hard saying goodbye, 

We met her at Wal-Mart and when we got out of the truck he ran up to her and peed on her!! He's never done anything like that before hah! I guess he was just “marking” his new mommy. She was so sweet and she thought it was funny. I said goodbye and gave him a hug, then got in the truck and the tears just started rolling. My baby boy had left, he was gone and had went to a new home. It makes my heart ache but I know its best.

She texted me pics of him and his new home all day long. It made me feel so good. She text me pictures of him cuddling with her girls and asleep in her bed. I truly couldn’t have found a better home for him. I'm so grateful to her and he family for caring for him so much. I hope he is wonderful to them and has a great life. They live about 3 hours away so we plan on going to visit him in the fall;) 

Goodbye sweet boy, we love you so much and always will.


On a side note, Barley & Roscoe continue to do really well with their new mommy. I do stay in touch with her and although we haven't gone to see them, she does send me pictures. The door is open to us but I am not sure I would be able to leave them again...so we just have to make due with the pictures from her. They do go and stay with our old dog sitter when their new mommy has to go out of town too.

Summer Lovin'

It's been quite the crazy summer thus far...selling, moving once, settling in the rental, preparing to move again all while trying to keep a bit of normalcy for 2 little boys! We've had a fun summer and we look forward to many more fun outings with our little monkeys before the weather turns cold! Dane is taking ice skating lessons again once a week. He also has a week long water play camp this Monday-Friday....not sure what I will do without him from 9am-noon everyday but he will love it. Kale and I will likely head to the pool! Cameron and I have a big 10 year anniversary celebration planned in Vegas the first weekend in August as well. Here is a little montage of the Hatten summer happenings so far...only half way through so I am sure we'll have much more to share in the upcoming months!

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Home Sweet Home

After searching for a short time, we've decided on our next home!! We walked through a "shell" spec house and really liked the layout, the location and the fact that it would need no work because it is brand new. We signed all the paperwork on Friday and today we picked out all the tile for the bathrooms, mudroom floor and laundry room floor. Never in a million years did we think a "build" would fall into our price range but a crappy market does have some privileges!! The house is slated for completion in mid October so we will be in before Thanksgiving and Christmas. We feel very blessed and excited about this new adventure. Please come visit!

This is it!! Our new home!

The boys at the tile store!