the_comforts: April 2009

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Kitchen Update

I've made more progress on the kitchen. Most of the cabinets are now in, including doors and hardware!

I still need to finish joining the "L" of the counter top and install those last few base cabinets.

...a little more painting and some tile work and we have a new kitchen!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Drake 1/2 Marathon

This past Saturday, April 25th, I ran in the Drake Relays On-the-Roads 1/2 marathon.

It was a fairly good day for running. The temperature was around 50 with clouds and light drizzle. A big change from Friday's 84 degrees and sunny. I woke up and stepped out on the porch to a chill and drizzle, so I decided to test out my arm warmers and threw on a hat.

The run went as well as I expected, knowing my training leading up to this race was less than ideal. With vacations and the kitchen project, I have missed most of my Saturday training runs, but all in all it was a good start to the racing season.

The SCRC had a good showing with 6 guys in the top 16. I finished 16th overall in a time of 1:18.40

Weekend with Nathan

We spent this past weekend with Nathan and had a great time. Chad and Shay left for Paris last Wednesday and they get back late tonight. Nathan started off in Ankeny at Heather's parents house. We picked him up Friday after work and got to hang out with him till Sunday. I ran in the Drake 1/2 marathon Saturday morning, then we packed up our stuff and headed to Pella so Nathan could sleep in his own bed and play with his toys. As we were getting ready in the morning, Nathan wanted some "stuff" in his hair too, so we both had fun hair for the day.

When we got to his house, Nathan had to show us his cowboy hat and what goes better with a cowboy hat than a good tough guy look.

He pulled his hat down so far, he could hardly see!

After church on Sunday, we grabbed our fishing poles and headed across the street to see if we could catch some fish in the pond.

Heather thought is was so funny that my catch of the day was this stick.

Nathan is a good fisherman in the making!

I gave Nathan a few tips on fishing...

...and he gave me a few tips too.

He definitely had some really good casts.

There is nothing like fishing by the tulips.

Trying to find the fish, we discuss why they aren't biting...it could be that Nathan is fishing with a rubber weight and I casting with an empty hook, but that didn't really matter.

Auntie Heather's turn to try and catch some fish, she is a natural!

Heather asks Nathan if he has caught anything yet...

..."Almost" Nathan replies and he reels as fast as he can!

There were several tulips in bloom, so we took a break from fishing for a little photo session.

Nathan stops to smell the tulips.

We tried to get Nathan to stand next to Heather for a picture, but this was the best one that we could get.

100% Dutch Girl!

Fast fact: this is the same park where I asked Heather to marry me!

A classic Pella picture.

Enough of the photo session, Nathan wanted to get back to fishing, even though he was getting tired, he figured out we could still fish while sitting down!

Even though we didn't catch anything all afternoon, we had a blast!

On the way home, we made a quick pit stop at the park to test out the playground equipment.

We had a great time with the little guy. He is definitely all boy and with a lot of energy. He wore us out, but I think we did a good job of keeping up with him! We played hard and had a lot of laughs.

Kitchen Update

There has been more progress made on the kitchen as of last week. I have got some of the doors put on the cabinets, so it is starting to look more like the finished product.

I put in the pantry next to the stove...

...there is plenty of storage for our food, so it doesn't have to sit on the dining room table any more!

My good friend Ryan Faircloth came over Thursday evening and helped me install the kitchen sink, faucet and new disposal. We are now back in business with a working kitchen sink!

Not much got done this weekend since we were watching Nathan in Pella (look for post), but each night more progress is made. I will post more pictures soon.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Kitchen Update

The kitchen project is making progress, little by little it is coming together. This past weekend we pulled out all the old metal cabinets and got all the new base cabinets in. Big thanks to my father-in-law Brent and my friend Derek for their help. Lots of more people volunteered to help, but 3 people in our kitchen was about at max capacity!

Saturday evening, I was able to hang some of the wall cabinets. I still need to finish painting the walls and ceiling, but it is a work in progress.

Close up of the sweet wall paper we found behind the old counter top. Kind of crazy, but it actually works well with our new wall color...but we will not be keeping it.

Each day I get a little more done. Heather is ready to have a kitchen sink again, so hopefully that will be soon!

New Tricks

We have, what you might call, a little bit of a squirrel problem. They are everywhere! Prior entries in the blog will show some of those problems. Anyway, Heather was at Walgreen's and found this little chew toy...a black ninja squirrel.

Our plan is to give the toy to Riley, which will teach her to chase squirrels and hopefully she will chase the real ones right out of our yard. Riley was quick to take the bait.

...and like a good dog, she torn into that little squirrel!

The squirrel didn't stand a chance against Riley. 10 minutes later, the squirrels cotton guts where all over our floor.

Now only time will tell if Riley can use what she learned to keep our yard safe from the evil known as squirrels!

Siskow turns 30!

This past Saturday, Heather's good friend and co-worker Dawn turned 30. The girls in the office decided to throw Dawn a surprise party with all of her favorite things. Aaron convinced her that they should go out to their favorite restaurant, Felix & Oscars...little did Dawn know that we were all there waiting to surprise her!

I just love surprises so much, I could hardly contain myself!

Evan was more excited about the balloons than his mom's birthday.

Isaiah and Derek were super excited to celebrate Dawn's birthday with some deep dish pizza!

Jon, Kim and Joni are all smiles as the evening of fun gets underway.

After pizza, the girls took Dawn for a night on the town while the guys took the kids home to bed. Next stop...massages, and where better to get a massage than at the Jordan Creek Town Center.