parents again

Ben and Claire have returned after a week with Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Galen. it sounded like they had an eventful week of playing tractors, jumping in the swimming pool, and generally keeping everyone busy. on Saturday we even got to stay overnight in the new camper when we met them in Story City

we had a fun afternoon today, as well. listening to a little music from jason brown, chris kaegle, and others at the big country bash in Des Moines. it kept Claire bopping and swaying for a good 5 hours.

ahhh, progress

after all the financial, planning, layout, coordination - some progress on the house. the general contractor has started demolition, the HVAC & plumbers have demoed 90% of the mechanicals and have started the new install. a little bad/good news though - some of the downstairs has some knob-and-tube, which will need to be replaced along with the entire upstairs, which we had figured on originally

indy comes to town

This weekend the indy cars came to the Iowa Speedway in Newton for the Iowa Corn 250. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the stands were packed.

Grandma, Grandpa, Josh, Jess, cousin Reid and Elliott came down as well, and had some fun. They played outside in the sprinker, played in the park, and ran around our new house.

a little bit of water

Finally, the water has crested in Des Moines. We weren't very close to it - Des Moines is 30 minutes West and Cedar Rapids is 45 minutes east, but that is definitely close enough. On our way to pick up Ben and Claire after their week staying at Grandma Sue and Papa Joe's in Waconia, we snapped some photos of the ball diamonds on the north side of Des Moines.

Ben & Claire are 2!!!

Ben and Claire have officially entered the Terrible Twos. Double Trouble! Their birthday was May 26th and we celebrated with Grandma Sue, Grandma Jeanne, Grandpa Galen, Aunt Loni, and cousins Nick, Katie, and Reid at Bridges Bay Resort at the Iowa Lakes. We had a blast at the waterpark! Ben loved the slides and Claire loved the Lazy River. Nick and Katie went down the big waterslides and we finally convinced Reid to go down a couple of slides. We had Tropical Snows a couple of times (Ben's a huge fan) and ate Bob Dogs by Spirit Lake.

We celebrated with our Newton friends and "family" on June 1st. We had a bouncehouse and snow cone machine. I think both were big hits! We had about 70 people show up and the day was beautiful! And Ben and Claire made out like bandits again! It's a good thing we've got a bigger house to move into with all these toys! The day was a big success thanks in large part to Galen and Jeanne who came to help with yardwork, food preparation, and grilling. Thanks guys!!!

our new house

On May 30th we gained a new project - 217 S. 3rd Ave E. in Newton. Mechanically and structurally a good house, but needs some significant remodeling. We are assuming it was last touched in the 60s or 70s. It has has a few mechanical updates, to help with selling, but otherwise pretty rough.

We are planning on a complete gut and remodel of the kitchen and 3 baths, as well as refinishing the hardwood floors, stripping the dropped ceiling, completely removing all of the knob-and-tube electrical wiring from the upper level, and almost a complete plumbing overhaul. Whew - I am getting tired already.

new blog

After nearly 1 1/2 years absence from blogging, the Breuer family in Newton has returned to cyberspace. Alot has changed over that time, Ben and Claire are now running, playing, and getting into lots of trouble. We have purchased a new house (as of last week) and are remodeling it. I hope you stop by our site often to see what is happening.