Easter

Its kind of tradition to have the neighbor girls over to help us decorate eggs-we sure are going to miss them when we move:(

 Katie and her friend Sydney love them

 Serious business...

 GREAT JOB!!

 Easter morning the Easter bunny left a trail of eggs and candy to their baskets

 Sis got flip flops, hola hoop and apron and Bro got t-ball set and some balls

 After Church it was off to Great Grandma Janes house for dinner and Easter Egg hunt

 Getting ready to hunt eggs

 Look at this one Mom

 Brody did a good job and was really into it this year.

When did Easter turn into Christmas?!?!?   

Becoming Business Owners

Its been one full year now since Ryan started his own business and officially went full time self employed July 2012.  I haven't really talked much on our blog about the business or how it all started but thought since we have so much going on right now (I will save the MOVE for another post) maybe I should make a post. 

 

I thought my husband was crazy when he threw out the idea in Oct 2011 of starting his own business.  He worked for a great company, he enjoyed what he did and we were financially stable.  He started researching franchises over the next month or so and came across Mr. Sandless.  I must say the business was pretty intreguing mostly b/c we have hardwood floors that I wanted refinished but didn't want to deal with the mess and inconvenience of having them sanded. 

Ryan did a ton of research, we had many of discussions, and in December he and my father decided to go out to Philly (Mr. Sandless headquarters) to meet with the CEO and go out on some jobs to see how the process works.  He came back from the trip SUPER excited & was convinced this was something he wanted to invest in.  Me on the other hand not so much-I was pretty negative overall about the entire idea.  I just didn't feel like it was the right time (Actually I was just hoping that in a week or so he would forget about the whole thing) why now?!?!  Ryan has ALWAYS wanted to be in business for himself and its not that I didn't believe in him its that I just wanted to stay in our "comfort zone." 

After a few weeks and many many discussions we decided to meet with an attorney to have him go over the 300+ page franchise agreement and make sure there were no hidden terms/fees ect & by the end of January we were officially business owners of Mr. Sandless of Central IL.  HOLY COW was that FAST!!! 

So that brings us to today-its been a little over a year now and there have been many bumps in the road which we knew there would!!  I couldn't be more proud of my husband and his accomplishments in such a short time its opened many doors for us and the business is doing really well.  My father has been a HUGE support system; he having owned his own handyman business for years has a lot of knowledge.

 

Here is a picture from the Peoria Homeshow -he had a booth in Peoria & Bloomington both were a huge SUCCESS!

So if your needing a free quote on refinishing your hardwood floors w/out the mess of sanding and the convenience of one day process give my husband a call-309-349-1FLR (1357) or visit

Mr Sandless of Central IL

Kane's Pirate Party

Kane had the coolest 4th Birthday Party!!  Matt & Rachel worked REALLY hard on this AWESOME pirate ship.  Even had a real working canon. 

 Ashlyn & Syndey getting ready to shoot

 Brody & Ashlyn digging for gold

 Yummy food

 Time to open presents

 Happy Birthday to my sweet nephew hard to believe he is 4 already

 Love this cute picture

Sick Boy

Well we thought we lucked out and missed out on all the crazy sicknesses this winter but they both caught a virus that lasted about 4 days.  Ashlyn really had no other symptoms other than a fever but Brody had a fever and cough/congestion & we could barely get him to eat anything for 2 days.  Poor guy can't afford to lose any weight.  Hate when my babies are sick but this picture is just so sweet!

Snow Day

We have all been extremely healthy this winter I think Brody has missed one day of school b/c he was running a temp and Ryan has had the flu but other than that we have been great.  Friday morning I walked into Brody's room and he had gotten sick in the middle of the night and slept in puke for what reason I'm not sure but I felt horrible that I had no idea that he had got sick and there was puke everywhere poor baby!

Ashlyn and Ryan were going to be gone most of the day she was helping him get stuff ready & set up for the Peoria home show so me and Brody got snuggle time. 

 Since we finally got some snow Ashlyn & Daddy headed out to make a HUGE snowman

 Great job!!!  Poor Brody standing at the door:(

 They were trying to hit me with snowballs but I kept telling them not to get the camera wet:)

 Poor Brody he was pretty sad that he couldn't go outside & help.

Not really sure what kind of bug he had b/c he only got sick that one time and other than taking a 3 hour nap he was his normal spunky self-I think we all just needed a Snow Day:)  

Happy Valentines Day

The kids were pretty excited to make their valentines day treats for school.  I have to admit I was a little unprepared this year-this past month has been nothing but CRAZY for us (I will explain in a different post) so I was rushing around Wednesday to get treats, gifts, and stuff to make their valentine boxes. 

I lucked out Walmart had these cute little box/kits that the kids could decorate (so I took the easy route:)

Ok even though they aren't home made they are pretty cute and the kids loved them.

 Sis was in charge of cutting out hearts & writing her name on all of them to put on suckers for her class.  She was taking her job pretty serious. 

 Since her school will allow home made goodies we made a yummy snack (thanks to Pinterest) for her and Brody's class.

Ryan surprised me and had a card, balloons and box of chocolates in my car that morning-it was a great way to start Valentines Day.  I knew he was going to be working late to finish a job in Bloomington so me and the kiddos got YUMMY carryout from Basta and had it all ready for him when he got home.  Totally forgot to take a picture of the kids opening their gifts-Brody & Daddy got a cool nerf gun set and Sis got candy, gum & some new art stuff she had been eyeing since xmas.

Monster Trucks

At the last minute we decided to take the kids to the Monster Truck Rally in Peoria & Matt, Rachel & Kane met us.  The kids were really excited about seeing the BIG trucks.  I can't say I was overly thrilled but I figure I would be the good mommy & tag along:)

 It wasn't terrible but after 2 hours in a confined area with lots of fumes I was ready to go. 

 The kids LOVED it and Brody cried when it was time to leave.  So now Brody has a love for Monster Trucks and Tractors!

 Grave Digger was definitely the BEST!

Iceskating Video

Ashlyn made some friends at the rink she is such a social butterfly!!

Ice Skating

Sorry for the not so great pics didn't trust myself on the ice with my nice camera so used my cell to capture a few.  Ashlyn & I have found a new love on Sunday afternoons while Brody is napping and Daddy is catching up on bookwork.  Pekin Iceskating rink has open skate on Sunday's 2-3:30 and we have went a couple times & Ashlyn is getting so good and LOVES it.  These pictures were taken the 1st time we went-believe it or not I didn't fall once and even though Ashlyn had to use the little walker the 1st time by the 2nd time she barely used it at all.

Daddy wants to come next time but I kind of like it when its just the 2 of us having mommy/daughter time:)  I guess we will let Daddy & Brody tag along next time so we can show them our SKILLS!!!