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Saturday, November 29, 2008

A weekend of Thanksgiving!

My family and I have much to be thankful for this year, as always! The delights of seeing our new home nearing completion is so encouraging! Here is a little look into our weekend of rejoicing and thankfulness!



Oh yes! We have to remember the pies! I have always stacked the apple pies as tall as I can! They get to looking like this before the top crust goes on!

This one is ready for the oven!

I don't really know what got into me! I think I was a little too eager to taste the pie! Apple is my favorite! Yummy!

And this is how you cook your pie, till the oven smokes and the smoke alarms start ringing all over the house. It wasn't the pies! It was the juice that oozed out the side! :sigh: It does that every year! I did find a way to prevent that while cooking the next two pies!

We were delighted to have Michael J visit for the evening before going to David and Keslie's. Lydia thinks SO highly of him! Look at her eyes!

Thanksgiving day! The pies are done and not burned! Our guests were: Grandpa and Grandma H, Grandma E, dad's brother Paul and his girls Katelyn and Kelsie.

Friends of ours gave us these darling turkey cookies to place at each seat! They were so festive and yummy too!

Another thing to be grateful for is that Grandma was able to be with us! She hasn't been in our home since August and with her Alzheimer's we were very nervous how she was going to take all the excitement of the day, but she did very well and seemed to enjoy herself! We were so blessed to have her in our home again!

Our sweet cousin Katelyn, Gracie and Heather just as they finished all the dishes! That was a lot of work, thanks girls!

Then everyone went out to the house!

The hearth is all done! We are going to put rocks from our river on the back wall. It should look great!

All the inside doors look like this one here. Grandpa began hanging them yesterday!
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I have to break the flow of this post with a story that leads up to the rest of these pictures. It is long but I beg you to finish it so you can understand the rest of the post correctly!

Day after Thanksgiving Leftovers

It’s the day after Thanksgiving. Most of my family is painting at the new house and like always they need lunch. There are plenty of leftovers so I have begun to prepare it for warming and transportation. I call dad to see if they are going to take the time to come home for lunch or not. He says not. While I am talking with him Lydia comes screaming into the room with blood running down her chin. She has bit her lip badly in three places after a fall. Now, I’m on the phone with dad, telling him how bad it is, trying to calm a sobbing child, and thinking about the food that is getting too done in the oven. Whew. I ‘m finally able to get her relaxed by turning on an Andy Griffith Show and having her hold a cold damp cloth on her lip. I start flying around the kitchen trying to get everything in portable containers; did I mention that is now 1pm? The painters and kids are hungry! After many trips to the car with the meal wrapped in bathroom towels to stay warm I run out the door carrying my coat, purse, camera, and a roaster oven full of rolls keeping warm. Then I have to shut the door. So, I set my armload down on the porch to get a free hand. The lid slides off and skids a couple of feet away from me. I reach for it with the rest of my load in the other hand. I get the lid back on….it comes off again…I’m ready to leave it there when for the third time it comes off…After totally rearranging my burden I proceed to the van. Yikes! There is no room to set it down! Gracie is scurrying to make room…and by now the handles are hurting my fingers something fierce! After the rolls are safely stowed in the van with the lid held on by one of the girls I start to back up the van. Then yells of excitement burst forth as Sarah and Gracie start franticly warning each other to get a hold of lids and pans as they begin to slide about! Finally, I am assured they have them all secure and we are off. But not for good! Over half way up the driveway, Sarah yells to Gracie to get a hold of the peas since they were bouncing around as the van lurches over the potholes. Gracie asks what peas and says this pan is the gravy. No, said Sarah, that pan has the peas in it! Where is the pan with the gravy? Sigh, on the stove. So, I proceed to back the 12-passenger van all the way back up to the house as I’m thinking about all the heat that is leaving the comforting meal. I run up to the house and grab the gravy and a knife I’d forgotten to get for Taylor. While getting back into the van, I notice that someone had stepped on my seat with a dirty wet shoe….oh well. Once again we were on our way. It isn’t calm yet. We have to go over the potholes once more. The brakes are very touchy in the van, hang on girls! Every once in a while I hear, “Yikes! Hang on to that lid!” “Oh no! This box just landed on top of the marshmallows on the sweet potato pie! The box has most the marshmallows on it now…” “I almost sat in the jello!” Then I would yell for them to hang on as we are going around a corner! Then I look over to Lydia sitting calmly in her car seat with her damp rag plastered to her lip. Nothing fazing her! Finally, we pull up to the new house to see the front door on! What a lovely sight to behold! HOME! The food is carried inside and my family is sitting down to a Thanksgiving meal in our new home! As we are eating I look around and see my dad sitting there covered in paint! What a day of Thanksgiving! We are painting the house and despite all it took to get the food here it was warm (not hot, but warm) and everyone is full and happy and I’m ready for a nap!



Ta da! The front door is on!

The front door from the inside!

Our first Thanksgiving in our new home! haha!

Dad with a painted face though it did get MUCH worse as the day progressed!


There was not enough room at the table for the kids and the food so they got the hearth with the warm wood stove behind them!

Trying to get the sprayer unclogged. It turned out it was the primer that was causing it to clog.


Dad shooting the boys closet!

Grandpa has everything set up to hang the powder room door!

Now he is covered! LOL! Lydia wasn't sure about him and said he was scary!

Without his hat!

Now, that is a sign of a hard worker! It's a big house to paint! Thank you daddy!

Saturday Josh G. came and helped the boys chop wood, move painting stuff around and fill buckets, and some last minute work under the house! Work like that is always more fun with friends! Thanks so much Josh!

The masked man is Derek A. who came today to bring our paint, spray like crazy and critique Mom and Heather while they rolled our room! He was a great help and knows a lot about painting! He also has "friends" in high places and was able to get us an incredible deal on excellent paint, thank you so much Andrew R. you are a true blessing.

Thanks Derek, you were a great help!
(Oh, and also a big thanks to him for letting me use his camera while mine is getting fixed! Now you all can get more pictures!)

Saturday, November 22, 2008

A new house and a play house!

Here is another house update!


Since the drywall is safely stored in the house they were able to put the window in the attic and then finish the siding there. All the siding is completely done! They did the same thing to the attic dormer on our side as well.

See! The dormer window is in!

Dad and I worked on the hearth for the wood stove and these are a few pictures of the progress.

We had to play with the blocks to make a pattern. Once we got that down, it went very well!

The gray stuff is hardi board and it smells awful! Yuck!


The hardy board all cut and in place and the blocks actually glued down! Dad has finished the front and edge, but I have yet to get pictures of it! I'll post those soon though! Dad hopes to get the wood stove in today, that way we can get the house warm so we can paint!

We've had lots of fog and it is lovely!

I was reading to the children this week about the early civilizations. I had them build a hut as best they could and make it livable! They took me up on that and even built a fireplace with a chimney that really works! You should of seen the flames shooting out of the top, great ventilation.

Sarah snuggled up in her bed of ferns, notice the bare toes!

The outside of their hut.

I think Gracie got something in her eye! The children have had so much fun out here, and we've had fun watching them.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Catching up!

Hello Everyone! I feel SO bad about the lack of posts here. One of my excuses it that my camera broke and we are waiting for a car to sell so we can get it fixed. So for over 3 weeks I’ve been without a camera which is really sad. =)


Keslie’s family came for the weekend and was able to attend David’s swearing in service at the police department. It was a wonderful time to watch David standing there while his dreams were coming true! We are so proud of him and thankful to see God blessing him and his new family.


(All these pictures were taken by Kami! Thank you so much!)


While they were here we celebrated Grandpa’s birthday!



Thanking God for our Grandpa!

Since he really didn’t need or want anything all his 5 kids and David bought him a ticket for a hot air balloon ride, which is something he has never done but always thought would be fun. He was so surprised and amazed!


We all were delighted to see him so happy!

Grandpa's favorite Birthday Cheese Cake I made for him!

He is counting the candles! Look how young he is!

Okay, this picture merits a long story! For ever so many years, Grandpa has loved this cheese cake that Grandma made and every time he takes his first bite we always stop to watch his "Cheese Cake" face! It's one of pure delight! Kami was able to snap a picture of his "Cheese Cake" face this time!

Our little munchkin girl!

I get to take credit for this picture! Kami was showing me a new setting she has been using and David and Keslie were were just too cute to pass up!

After the party Kami was gracious enough to take pictures of the house progress for us! The dry wall is all done and mudded and next is the texture, which will begin this week. Mom and I have spent many hours picking out paint colors for inside the house. I think we have them all picked out except for a few rooms. It will be much too exciting to see color on the walls of our new home! What a joy it will be!


Gracie and I in the living room.


Sisters!


LOL! This is Gracie in the Library pretending like she is reading!


Annie and Kami in the guest room! If you come for a visit folks, this is where you will be sleeping!


Mothers and daughters. We were watching the man on stilts! It is really amazing how easily they can get around on those things!


Hummm...looks like trouble to me!

"Our beds are going to be here!" ZZZzzzzz


Mom in her room!


Me in Grandpa and Grandma's livingroom with their breakfast nook in the background.

Gracie is right about where the island is going to end. The light is coming from Grandpa's side and the stairs you see to the right go up to the second floor.

Thank you all so much for bearing with me and my lack of posting! I do hope you check back soon since I have pictures with the progress that dad and I did on the fireplace hearth! That post will be next unless something else dramatic merits attention on this blog!