Derek and Brent were on a team and Gina and I were on a team for Cranium. I am not sure what exactly Brent was going for here, but his topic was "humpback whale." Yeah....this is a "G" rated blog here people......
Derek had to make Brent act out "surfing." I was laughing pretty hard by the end of this one!
We also played "Apples To Apples." Not saying any names or anything, but someone STILL can't STAND to lose!! (cough.....Derek.....cough)........just saying!
Actually, all in all, it was a wonderful day! We are indeed very thankful for all of our wonderful family and friends and to be here to celebrate this year rather than in a hospital!! (The turkey was WAY better here!! :-)
Hello Willey's, Shumacher's and Withuhn's! This is what you look like from the other side! (zoomed in a ways!)
I about choked when I saw the ticket......Wanna take a guess? Let's just say it should be called, "Baby Champagne!" :-)
This is today:
It is still so incredibly hard to believe this all happened. I cannot wait to see it all on TV! When we arrived, we intended to go watch the Gavin Rossdale concert, but they weren't set up quite yet. So, we decided to take a walk down the street and check the house out one last time. We were glad we did! When we arrived, there was a boom camera up by the driveway, and a brand new truck. They had not filmed it yet, so we hung around to watch. A little while later, out comes Ty with the family!
It was pretty exciting to watch it up close and see the family's reaction.
One of the most exciting parts happened later on. Calder had accidentally dropped Mylee's bottle in the street, so we were needing to wait for a crew member to walk by and help us out. In the meantime, everyone was hollering at Ty. I joked that maybe Ty would come over and pick up the bottle for us. A few moments later, Ty came running up to the crowd (I couldn't get my camera up fast enough so the pics were very blurry). He apologized telling us he had to do more taping inside. Before he ran off, he looked over and Tanner asked him if he would pick up the bottle, so he nicely did so, and handed it to me! Then he gave Tanner a hug and ran off!! And my darn camera didn't get any of it--UGH!!!
He then saw a few more people, then the girls hopped up there. Calder didn't want to get a picture, but enjoyed watching. 
The coolest thing was, Paul kept talking to Tanner in between people coming up. He would call Tanner by name, and right before he left, I thanked him.
We didn't end up staying for the concert--it was sooo chilly out! We kind of felt like we had a pretty good day! I know it is an experience I won't forget, and I don't think the kids will either!
They were doing the filming where Ty runs out and says "The house is all done, let's get the furniture!" Everyone in the crowd begins screaming, and then the rest of the designers run out.
The masons were able to get going at around 2:00. Stub is the one in the yellow hard hat. I told him that made him easier to pick out!! He did tell me that later on in the evening, Micheal Maloney came by to do some filming and Stub was right there. So, watch for the yellow hard hat putting stone on a pillar on January 25!!
Well, while Stub was busy working away, I decided to go back to the house to see what was going on before heading home. The kids were getting pretty restless, and wanted to go home, but I convinced them to go check it out one more time. The Ekrich people were handing out lunchables, so that helped my cause!! So, the kids had a snack, and then Paul DiMeo came out and began filming with some people in the crowd. He was asking a couple about the tornado. At this same time, a production assistant walked up to me and said he needed to talk to me. I thought he was going to ask me to move down the way because Mylee was fussy and we were disturbing the filming. Instead, he started explaining a scene that Micheal Maloney wanted to do with some babies. They wanted Mylee & Jentree!!!! So, like any protective parent....I said "YES!!"
We went to Micheal's trailer, and they filmed him talking to a bunch of babies. They all started crying (Jentree and Mylee just kept smiling), so it was pretty funny! Then, he was asking questions about the nursery and Jentree pipes up and starts talking to him. Yes, I was a proud stage mom! You just never know what you are going to get from Jentree, so this was pretty funny! Mylee just sat and observed the mayhem (she probably just felt right at home!). They did multiple takes, so I am not sure what will actually get used, but it was a neat experience!
The four older kids were not able to be part of the shoot, but they were SO GOOD waiting. Michael agreed to come out and take a picture with them. They were so excited!!!
We'll see what makes the episode, and what ends up on the cutting room floor! We will keep our fingers crossed!
The driveway was being poured while we were there. The kids thought that was fun to watch. They were using a really long pipe that spun to smooth the concrete all out. It was pretty interesting. 
Paige working on a house in town.
This is the back of the house. We decided there were many jobs on the site that we would have been very good at. We would have been excellent at standing and observing for instance!! :-) We decided to walk around to the other sites that have construction going on, so off we went toward the park.
We arrived at the park (after telling a nice security man that we PROMISED we would stay on the sidewalks--we kind of lied!), to find a group of people working on a sidewalk. Deb and I had on our K-State coats, and one of the men came up to us. He noticed our coats and then told us that the work was all being done by KSU students. Pretty cool! After visiting with him for a few moments, we learned they were worried about the rain ruining their work. I said we had some tarps at home, but Deb remembered that the family across the street from the park had some tarps, so she asked them if the students could borrow them. So, we carried them across the street. We think that should be worthy of a blue shirt!!!
After our very arduous task of obtaining the tarps, we headed past Irvine's house and then up 7th street to come around the back of the house. Along the street, we met a nice security man. Kassi noticed his badge. 
She says, "E...D...Security. What kind of security is that?" The man waits for a second then replies, "Ed...that's my name!!" We did come to her defense and explained that she is a kindergarten teacher working with 5 & 6 year olds all day. I love you dear Kassi!! 
Jentree was pretty enthralled with the "big trucks" and all of the movement going on. When we arrived, we came in the wrong way, and walked right into the construction zone. Stub just kept leading, so I was nervously following. He is obviously much more "at home" on a construction site than I am!! One of the security guards (the cute one!!) asked if he could help us. He told us that we were OK, just to keep walking toward the barricades. Then, a lady security guard came up to us and told us we needed to not be there. Kind of funny!!
Derek, Gina, Renae, Deb, Kassi and I all tried signing up to help volunteer to work. None of us were lucky enough to get chosen. So tonight, Stub makes one phone call to a guy he works on and off for (he has the masonry contract for the project), and he gets to go work on it!!! OK.....Stub just now tells me, "I just realized there are going to be all of these people just staring at us working." Ummmmm YEAH!! Oh Stub!! :-) Anyone want to road trip over this weekend to stare at Stub while he works? He says he will talk to "his people" about meeting Ty. :-)
The stretch Excursion that the family ended up leaving in. And to think everyone thinks my Excursion is big?? :-)
We didn't get to see Ty, but we were lucky enough to see Paul DiMeo. He is telling the family goodbye here. I can't even begin to imagine what they must be feeling! How exciting to know that you are getting ready to leave on a phenomenal vacation then you get to come home to an amazing brand new house! How cool is that?
This is the "Before" picture of the lot, where their house stood before the tornado. I can't wait to see the "After" results!! 
And, just in case you gotta "go", this is the spot to take care of business!! That's a whole lot of potties!!
I hope to make a few trips over to be a spectator this next week. Anyone want to go on another road trip?
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