The Abbi-gator got adopted!!!!!!!!!!

Her new people drove straight here from Pittsburgh, PA to pick her up, turned around and drove straight home. Holy cow, they're great parents.

They are amazing people that Mark and I would gladly hang out with if they lived closer. They asked great questions, brought us an amazing gift and sent us a text message picture of Abbie on the road.

We feel truly blessed that we knew and loved Abbie. She was a solid friend for me after Beanie died, and made me smile every morning with her gator bombs in bed (she jumped on top of me every morning for 2 straight months).

I cried after she left, but they were tears of happiness that she will know the love that we give to our two girls.

What a blessed weekend!

Melt!

Melt!
Originally uploaded by Rachel and Mark H.

So its 54 and sunny today. Tomorrow is supposed to be 64 and sunny.... Weird weather here in KC... Im ready for our normal summer of hot hot hot and sunshine :)

Gator is almost adopted!

Gator.
Originally uploaded by Rachel and Mark H.

We're waiting to hear the final word, but its possible that my little Gator could be going home to Pittsburgh, PA with an amazing couple this next weekend. They're planning to drive out to get her :)

YAY FOR GATOR!!!!!!!!!!!

Why won't winter end?!?!?!?!?!

Snow in March.
Originally uploaded by Rachel and Mark H.

Kansas Citians are blessed with a pretty amazing midwestern winter. We have warm weather until late November, usually, and it starts warming up in the beginning of March, normally... We have between 4-10" of snowfall annually and its generally sunshine and blue skies getting us through the frigid temps of winter.

This winter we had NONE of that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its been cold, we have gotten 44.3" of snow. Its the 4th snowiest winter on record. ON RECORD!!!

#1. 1911/1912 with 67.0"
#2. 1959/1960 with 58.5"
#3. 1961/1962 with 55.0"

Yep... a co-worker of mine remembers the 1961 winter because it was the year he moved here to start teaching at Rockhurst. He said it was awful.

Just two days ago, I had all the windows in the house open, the dogs were out side lounging on the deck and Mark and I took multiple dog walks outside because it was over 60 degrees. Today its 33 and cloudy, with possible snow tomorrow!

SO SO SO OVER IT! Canada needs to take their damn winter back!

Our first child: Slappy

We adopted Slappy from Reunion Rescue in May of 2003. We're going on 7 years of love with our little brindle girl, and I thought it would be a nice time to remember her first milestones with us, since she is going to be a big sister soon!

This is the second time I met Slappy. I went to visit her at the emergency vet after her spay opened up and she ended up eating part of her intestines and stomach. She required a lot of surgery to repair her. The end result was an alive dog, a fired shelter employee (who drove her to the emergency vet) and a huge ordeal with our rescue being banned from pulling from San Francisco Animal Care and Control... its a long story!




Slappy's first Christmas card:


Her first picture with Santa:


The first time she met her grandpa... who was hesitant to meet his pit bull granddaughter... it was love at first attack kiss!




First trip to the Lake:


First camping trip:


Her daily walk up on the road:


Three generations of Hanses:


Slappy and her BFF Biggie. I guarantee you they got in trouble for this one:


and this one:


Our first foster dog ever, the Dingo:


One of my favorite pictures ever:


Another favorite:


Slappy's favorite toy ever, her eel... Pokey killed it.



Slappy's first appearance in the PBRC calendar:


She used to love sitting in the sun on the grass and helping her dad work on the ford.



Slappy and her cousin Bella:


Slappy's first taste of Missouri snow... check out the look on her face!


One of the first pictures of Slappy and Pokey... I think they love each other:


So far Slappy has visited 13 states, been to beaches, lakes and bodies of water all over the US. We're proud of our little girl.

The floor... a compilation... what a mess!

So here is a pictorial of what we went through with our bedroom floor. It started out as a kitchen, and had an ugly white vinyl flooring on top of this hideous brown flooring. There were 6 layers of flooring before we were able to even get to the bare wood. Also, there were huge nails every 4 inches from each other throughout the entire floor. We walked around with socks to get them snagged to figure out where the hidden nails were... it was gross!

Mark scraped the glue up by hand in the entire 10x10 room.

After 3 hours of Mark and his dad removing the previous 5 layers of hideous flooring:



This floor was filthy, stinky and probably full of asbestos.

Mark chipping away the old floor tiles before he has to scrape up the glue:


The beautiful wood with a top coat of disgusting old glue:


After soaking the glue in water for 30 minutes, Mark used that scraper attached to the pole to scrape up what he was able to of the glue to reveal a severely damaged wood floor:


The entire floor scraped:


First round of sanding:


Final sand:


Stain and poly:



Tada!

So... we're trying to teach Slappy how to use the treadmill...

It isnt going very well because she is just too treat motivated.

Sorry its dark, and the room is an absolute mess. We're still trying to organize after moving our bedroom.

Oh Abbi-gator, why won't you get adopted?

DSC00276
Originally uploaded by Rachel and Mark H.

I truly love this dog... I just wish the perfect home would swoop down and adopt her.

If you know anyone who wants a sweet little girl, she is available!

32 Weeks tomorrow!

We're officially 32 weeks tomorrow. I have started visiting the midwives every two weeks now. So far everything looks great and very "boring."

Its been freezing cold here in Missouri and we're setting records for the most amount of snow they have seen since 1962... :( We also tied the record low yesterday for 9 degrees. The average temperature for yesterday was 46... which would be really nice about now.

We still have Abbie, our foster dog. Its a little discouraging that we have given the rescue about 7 months to find her a new foster home and we haven't heard anything about it. If you want a really sweet, cuddly little dog that is completely potty trained, let me know! I warn you she is a female pit bull which means she is a total brat, but we love her like our own.

Sassy is still going strong. She has a growth on her eye that doesnt seem to be giving her any pain. I am hesitant to take her in to have it looked at because she cannot survive a surgery and we're really just letting her live out her life until she is no longer comfortable. She seems pretty happy to me!

Mark takes his part 2 & 3 of his boards in March. Then he takes part 4 in May. We didnt really plan this stuff very well... but we'll get through it! He is very ready to be done with school and really enjoying his time in the student clinic. If anyone wants an adjustment, he is taking new patients!

Back to baby stuff:

We're getting so close its almost insane. We're starting to get things ready for her arrival. We are attempting to cloth diaper so we can avoid waste, landfills and cans full of stinky poop in our house. We received a really wonderful gift from a friend yesterday of 3 super nice cloth diapers. We have a few others that we found discounted online. My aunt also bought us a diaper service for a month after the baby is born so we don't even have to do our own laundry!

We had another friend loan us a ton of stuff that she had leftover from her little one who is now 2. She saved us a ton of money, and we're super grateful!

I have gained 25 lbs so far. Which sounds like a ton, but I really havent gained anywhere other than my belly. Here is to hoping it continues that way!

The floors are done!

Well, the floors are finally done and I'm very happy with the way they turned out. Our bedroom is almost finished...I still need to install the door and caulk the baseboards.

Here's the floor in the bedroom:


The new guest room is full of crap so I'm not going to post any pictures, but here's a couple pictures of our bedroom fully furnished:



And here's a couple pictures of the baby's room:

1st Coat of Stain!

Its lovely!

Sanding: BEFORE and AFTER!

The difference is amazing!

Before the sander:


After the sander:


He is staining and polyurethane-ing today!

Baby's room and floor updates!

The baby's room is starting to take shape.



Unfortunately its slow going because of the whole floor refinishing project that is continuing to monopolize Mark's spare time. As we speak, he is upstairs sweeping up the remainder of the glue he scraped up so he can actually rent a sander today and get that started. The baseboards need to come down and moved to a lower spot because Mark removed about 4 inches of old flooring leaving a huge gap between the wall and the floor.

The floor looks amazing. With all the scraping, water dumping and uncovered damage, the floor looks pretty decent. We're hoping a nice sanding will reveal strong, nice antique wood that spiffs right up with some stain.

So long 2009, HELLO 2010!

2009 wasn't a terrible year for us, but it certainly was a tough year. We're very excited about 2010!

Things to look forward to:

Birth of our first child around April 21, 2010
Rachel graduates with a master's degree in May
Mark graduates with his Doctor of Chiropractic in August
Mark opens his chiropractic clinic in August

Things we want to get finished:

The baby's room
Tile in the kitchen
Paint the exterior of the house
Find Abbie a forever home

What a year!

I hope everyone has an amazing 2010! We have already started off on a great note! The crib arrived today and we're super excited to get it set up!

Merry Christmas!

christmas gift
Originally uploaded by SeXyMaMa316

Merry Christmas to everyone. We're so thankful to have such an amazing family and friends.

The dogs are enjoying the morning running around in the snow, Mark and I just had our breakfast. Now we're getting ready for the drive to Detroit to see family.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Michigan or BUST!!!

View Larger Map

Our trip starts tonight. We drive from KC to Effingham, IL where we're spending the night. The next day, we jam up to Michigan!

We have two dogs in a little tiny civic and terrible weather! Wish us luck!

Merry Christmas!

100_5812
Originally uploaded by Rachel and Mark H.

Sassy wishes everyone a safe and wonderful Christmas!

Not bad for a floor that previously had 6 layers of vinyl and glue on it!

Floor 12/21/09
Originally uploaded by Rachel and Mark H.

Mark has been working hard on scraping the floor so its ready to be sanded and refinished when we get back from the holidays!

Doesnt that look amazing compared to the before picture?


Before:


In between: