kennel

Fall has been exciting for us so far. Colter started kindergarten, Ellis started preschool, and Ben went to dog school in Harrison, MI, about 2 hours north of us. He got the best graduation present...a dog. Named Emil. He's from Slovakia and doesn't speak English. But he does bark. And he's trained to sniff out drugs and bite (hopefully only) bad guys. He's also not welcomed in our home, so Ben spent the summer building him a nice kennel in the garage. Thankfully we had some time to prepare for Emil's arrival. Ben found out in May that he was selected to be the next K9 handler at HDPS which was a dream come true for him. All we knew at that point was that he would need to go to a four week school “sometime this fall” and until then life would be status quo. We finished up a few other projects around the house and as soon as we got back from vacation in July Ben went to work on the kennel. When we put the addition on the house we did so with the eventual plan of adding a dog kennel. Ben hoped it would be for a K9 someday but regardless, we wanted one for our yellow lab and first love, Belle. We asked that the garage be extra deep to accommodate an indoor kennel. What we ended up with is a two sided indoor/outdoor kennel; one side for Belle and one for Emil. Each inside section has an enclosed “house” and open area to the garage and a doggy door to an enclosed, two sided outdoor kennel. The outdoor sections each have a patch of bark for the dogs to do their business in if needed. Project Ben put so much thought into this thing and it has so far served our purpose very well. They have figured out the doggy doors, which took some training with cut up hot dogs and a child or two showing them how to do it.

While we were on vacation in July, Ben got the official word that dog school would be September 5-29. That meant we finally had a line in the sand of when we needed to have a place for Emil to live, and Project Ben got right to work. The first Monday back from vacation he enlisted some guys from work, his brother-in-law Mike, and my dad to help him pour the cement pads for the outside portion of the kennel. Mondays are always a daycare day for the boys and I work all day, so Ben planned on having that entire day with no distractions to run around gathering supplies for the cement pouring and then pouring said cement. What happened in actuality was Colter threw up at daycare and Ben was out of commission doing his thing, so I had to leave work to pick him up and take him home. I worked from home that afternoon taking some calls, but I ended up being around to supervise (a little) which is always Ben's worst case scenario. He won't deny it, either. Additionally, my dad picked Ellis up from daycare early so he could watch the excitement, Colt snapped out of whatever funk he was in and ended up outside, and a few of the other guys' ladies and kids stopped by. So what was supposed to be a productive "guys day" turned into all those guys plus four kids and three supervisory women. To quote my mom, "blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape." 

After cement day, Ben chipped away at the kennel on his own timeline, requesting my help once in a while when he needed an extra set of hands, but for the most part this was his baby. Result is pretty cool! Nice work, Project Ben.

shopping for a new pillow for Belle's dog house

He's trapped inside. Belle's trapped outside. Irony.

one family of five trip to the Restore for a few supplies...rookie mistake forgetting to take the stroller out before we left.

bark day for the kennels...also bark day for our front landscaping! equally as exciting.

finished interior

finished exterior

We survived the four weeks of dog school. Ben did great at school and made some friends while he was up there. I can't really speak to his day to day activities, because I was somewhat drowning in my own, with Colter starting kindergarten, filling in daycare gaps when Ben would normally be home with the boys, and finishing up my busy season at work. I had a lot of help from family and friends, watching the boys, bringing dinner, etc. which was awesome, but definitely made me miss having Ben around. Mostly things went pretty well, except for week two. Monday Colter got hit in the head with a log in the woods at school and ended up in the principal's office with an ice pack treatment. Tuesday a) Colter threw up on the merry go round at recess and ended up in the principal's office b) my dad helped me bring my Acadia away for brake, strut and shock work which left me to drive the small Fusion with three kids the rest of the week. Wednesday a) Colter started to really miss his dad, had a small meltdown at school and ended up in the principal's office b) our well sprung a leak and we were left without running water after Ben's dad came to turn off the breaker. He came back later with jugs of water from their house, which was a lifesaver. Thursday a) I brought Ellis and Jay to my sister-in-law Melissa's for the day and when I tried to leave I had a dead battery in the Fusion, which Melissa's neighbor had to come jump for me b) the well people came right away to fix it but couldn't do anything until MISS DIG came and marked utilities, so we were still without water. As such, I ended up taking the boys to my friend Jennifer's for baths while she was still at work, and she came over later when my boys and her girls were asleep so I could go back to her house to shower. Friday was much better, as the well was fixed and Ben was home from school by the time I got home from work. Hallelujah.

Emil destroyed his bark area the first weekend he was home, so the following Monday the boys and Chris swept up the mess after he and Julie brought us dinner.

Wednesday of week three the boys and I met Ben for dinner in a little town called Lakeview, halfway between home and school.

she'd be the worst.

Ben always came home with treats from a shop called Cops and Doughnuts

It's really amazing to look back over the years and be able to see the pieces come together. As I mentioned this K9 spot has been a dream of Ben's for as long as I've known him, and likely much longer. And this was not the first dog he tried to get. Three times in the past several years he's had an opportunity to interview and test for a dog. The first came when he wasn't technically qualified for the position yet, needing a little bit more time on the road. They let him test anyways which was a good experience for him to go through. The second opportunity he passed up as the timing was not right. The four week dog school would have been when Colter, our first baby, was just a few weeks old. He made the tough call to hold out for the next one, putting my needs ahead of his career goals. The third opportunity stung (for Ben). This came when our two boys were 2 and 8 months and we were living in our perfectly lovely home in Zeeland. Ben told me his plan to test for the new K9 handler spot and I panicked. I felt completely maxed out caring for two small children and working full time and couldn't imagine one more thing needing our attention. I couldn't picture where we would put the dog if we got one. Our garage was already cramped and the neighbor's house was only 20 feet away. I had visions of my kids getting bit, not being able to separate our lovable lab from a trained killer (I'm exaggerating, calm down Ben). I tried to keep my feelings in check and outwardly encouraged Ben, but deep down I was relieved when another well deserving officer was chosen. There was just something in my gut that knew the time wasn't right. Fast forward three years and here we are, in this house with room to spare, a garage with space for a kennel, and two acres of country land where Emil can run and play fetch and bark his fool head off without an entire city block or two trying to call the cops on us. Our big kids understand they need to respect Emil while at the same time know it's okay to use Belle as a pillow and she won't so much as flinch at them. The baby will know nothing different as he grows up and he'll take his cues from his responsible(ish) big brothers. Ask me how my God works and I will tell you this story of his faithfulness. He knew we (I) needed time to trust his plan and his timing. There were times when I thought buying this house was nuts and had more than one moment of regret. But seeing how things have come together full circle...it's just really special. I sure am one proud wife, and thank God each day (especially after week two of dog school) for Ben, and pray for his and Emil's continued safety on the streets. 

life lately

I blinked, and suddenly its August. I barely remember April, May and June, and even though it was still July last week, it's already getting fuzzy. Can I still blame baby brain? Speaking of which, we have a six month old now. SIX MONTHS already. Actually, six and a half. This kid is pure joy, except when he's on vacation, then he's something else. We were gone for a week in July and he slept worse than he did as a newborn. He seems to be back on track again though, thankfully. We got six month and family pictures taken at Kirk Park in Holland on an oddly hazy night in July. The kids were crabby but our awesome photographer (youbyjulie.com) still captured a few gems.

So I realize the last time I posted was back in April while I was still on maternity leave. That feels like a lifetime ago. I'm going to try my best to recap some of the Farmhouse happenings from these past few months before I forget completely.

Once the office was done, we started pretty much immediately on porch projects, like hanging the tongue and groove ceiling. We had a bunch of wood left over from our upstairs addition and wanted to use that up. It seemed like a lot more when it was stacked in the barn, and in reality only covered about a sixth of the ceiling. Oh well, Ben ordered more and drove out to Marne with all three kids and his dad's trailer on his first daddy daycare day when I went back to work. Ben is home with the boys either Tuesday or Thursday each week, which are coined "daddy days" by our boys. Love. He unloaded all of the wood into the garage and it wasn't long before all we could smell was donuts. I don't know why, but that wood smelled amazing. Ben, Colt and I all called it "donut wood" and would often walk into the garage and take deeeeeep breaths. It's the little things.

We chipped away at the ceiling, which went much better when Ben bought a new double-bevel miter box. It still took several hours over the course of several weeks to finish the ceiling. It's hard to find dedicated time for house projects these days. Oh, but before we hung the ceiling, Ben added can lights around the porch, which also took a significant amount of time. He does a lot of things that amaze me, but I think his ability to do electrical work takes the cake.

this was the ceiling of the original front porch which we covered with the new wood.

We love when "Grandpa Harold" stops by! We bought the Farmhouse from him and try to keep him up on our progress.

Ellis...a lover of "whole apples" and mismatched fashion.

Last board! 11:00 pm! Yikes. Sorry neighbors.

Meanwhile, I twiddled my thumbs deciding on a paint color for the ceiling. We originally thought white, then I thought grey, then I thought blue, then I went back to white, then I liked the original pine, but ultimately landed on a light blue/gray called Kentucky Haze. The ceiling in the original porch was close to this color which is what took us down that path in the first place. And when we were on our honeymoon in Savannah, GA the majority of porches had blue ceilings and that detail has stuck with us over the years. Blue ceilings are common in the South for a few reasons. 1) it keeps birds from nesting there 2) it makes the porch feel more open, like its the sky and 3) to keep evil spirits (haints) away. #3 is really our biggest concern, so blue it is.

accidental selfie. love him. also, I married him for his dimples.

Something that didn't require us to do any work other than write a check was getting the driveway paved. This was kind of a hasty decision quite honestly. It was always part of the longer term plan to pave the driveway, but it wasn't highest priority. But as soon as the snow melted and we had mud puddles everywhere, we both independently came to the conclusion we needed to pave this year. Then I happened to sit next to a guy at the DMV one day who just happens to spend his summers working for a blacktop company, so he gave me some details and a contact and the rest is history. And we are SO GLAD we bit the bullet and did this now. So much more space for the kids to ride bikes and play with chalk, and we no longer have a garage and kitchen full of dirt.

In addition to a huge driveway to play on, Ben also hung swings from a tall tree branch this spring so the kids can FLY.

We were also able to squeeze a few other projects in these last few months, like staining the deck, hanging skirt board around the porch, and painting the garage walls. I'm very much over doing inside projects for now, so I'm happy that all of the mess is outside for the world to see.

Our cousin Chris came and washed all of the windows one windy afternoon. That was incredible...some of them still had the factory film on them so we finally got all of that off, Chris washed them and WOW what a difference!! He and Ben did get stranded on the roof at one point when the wind took the ladder away. Somehow they were able to get Colter to open a window so Ben could climb back in. It's typically best that I don't know what goes on when I'm at work.

In all of my spare time (full time working mom + full time mom mom + marginal wife) I've found a few gems to fill the house and furnish the porch. This is where it's at for me...I love finally being able to envision our spaces and figure out how to make them work for us, then fill them with items we already have or randomly find. I look exclusively on Craigslist, antique store Facebook pages and at Hobby Lobby.

Facebook find at an antique store in Allegan.

Farmgirl Flea Market find...it barely fit in my friend Jen's vehicle. 

This actually came from the house Ben's dad grew up in! Our friends Cody and Kaycie live there now and did some remodeling, so we got this hand-me-down which I love, mostly because of the story that goes with it.

church pew. why not? This was a funny story...I found it on Craigslist when I was 8 months pregnant and when we went to pick it up found out the guy's wife, Dawn, is a labor and delivery nurse at Holland Hospital. She (along with Aunt Gina) ended up delivering Jameson! Such a small world.

Ben actually commended my patience on this one. I almost pulled the trigger on a few other similar pieces but never did. Then found this one at a great price, and I love that it's not painted yet. It fits perfect in our dining room, and I can eventually customize it to fit our style. I did have to enlist my dad to help me get this beast home! 

And to cap it off with a few reminders of why we are putting ourselves through this crazy mess...thank you Jesus for these moments!