Cell Phone Camera

So here is my dilemma with cell phone cameras.  Yes, they are convenient.  Yes, you always have it with you.  Yes, it technically has more mega pixels than my several years old phone. 

 The pictures just don't come out quite as sharp as I would like them too...  blurry, or unfocused, or something.

Thank goodness the subjects tend to make up for it.  I have a few more Christmas posts to post, but I don't know if I will make it before the actual big day.  Then, we have all manner of things coming up this following week....  Wish me luck!

On a flight to Chile

Our layover with Jonamon was pretty fantastic.  He gave the kids more attention than I have been able to recently, and they ate it up!  He also has a great deal of patience.  He spent about 2 hours teaching my children to play "Trouble in a Bubble".  Which is really just the board game Trouble that we got from our Christmas Elf :)  I also had an OB/GYN appointment while he was here, and my lovely brother watched the kids for me.  I discovered when I returned that he had done every single puzzle we own.

Last night we drove to the airport, and dropped Uncle Jonoman off.  By now I think he has landed in Chile, and is enjoying the company of our parents.  But, last night Kaitlyn cried all the way from check in to the highway.  I think she enjoyed the attention and playmate who wouldn't take her toys.

Thanks for the visit Uncle Jonoman!  We had a fabulous time!

Santa Visits

Our children have had the opportunity to visit with Santa twice this year.  Once at the Church Christmas Social, and once at the Annual Shriner Party. 

I am told Dylan had the cutest grin on his face, but you can't tell because all he would do was look at mommy (who was helping hand out goody bags) or look somewhere else.  No where that we could get a good picture.  Yup.  That is my finger featured there on the side.

Close enough, right? :)

Kari, or course, knew exactly what to do.  Unfortunately, it was loud enough it was kinda hard to hear,....

The Shriners also throw a party for their patients.  Families are invited.  He even brought things for the patients siblings (provided by someone whose name starts with an M and ends with an E).  Kari was a very good chaperone.  She walked them up and stayed with them while they talked with Santa :)

See?  She was very sweet :)

I don't really know why, but the younger two didn't sit on Santa's lap.  Kari, however, jumped right on.

After Santa left, the clown took over.  He asked Kari to join him for a trick.  It started with him trying to fit a small hat on her head.

He made it bigger and bigger, until...

... it showed her true colors :)

We are getting closer to the day, and hubby picked up our last little thing today (I think). 

 Merry Christmas! :)

Love my Brother

The company my dad works for is super cool.  Because they have sent him out of the country, they pay for one trip back a year for a little stateside relaxation, or something like that.  They also pay for one trip "home" (in this case: Chile) for any dependents he may have.  Guess who is lucky enough to still fall into that category?  Yup!  My baby brother, who is still a student.  His trip happens to be during this Christmas time, and he was nice enough to have a fairly long layover that he wants to spend with us.  However, I think he may have thought twice, or even three times about it before he actually committed.  We had thrown around the possibility for a bit, and when he finally asked "So, you up for a visit?" to which I replied "When was your last tetanus shot?"  I think he may have briefly reconsidered.

He got in on Friday evening, and doesn't leave again until Tuesday.  Yay!!!  The pick up (around 5:30pm), and resulting dinner at Mickey D's was a happy and uneventful reunion.  We got everyone home, and the kids in bed so we could visit for a little bit.  That night, as we turned in, I reminded him to wear his dirty clothes in the morning.  After breakfast, we went outside to demo an old shed we technically own.  It is old, and dilapidated, and our home owners insurance said if we wanted to continue with them, it would have to come down as it was a safety hazard.  Fine by us.  It was also an eye sore.

This is pretty much a BEFORE picture.  That hole in the middle was there when we moved it...  The stuff in the trailer is just things they picked up off the ground. 

 Everybody likes to swing a sledgehammer every now and then right?  Especially when "being careful" is not part of the equation.

 It ended up taking a bit longer than we thought, mostly because it ended up taking 2 trailer loads.  So, we had to stop in the middle to make a trip to the dump.

And then I got kinda busy doing some other things and didn't get a good AFTER/IN THE MIDDLE picture.  We still aren't 100% done.  We got down most of the roofing and walls, but those big posts are still in the ground, and we need to take care of all the weeds/small trees that have grown up around it in order to claim the rest of that corner.  Hopefully that will be fairly simple and easy.  And no one even needed a tetanus booster!  I call that a success, right?!?!

Dang.

I hadn't originally planned on chronicling every night of the 12 day elf necessarily.  Maybe, maybe not, depending on whether I could get pictures, how the kids reacted, etc.  In our cute little poem the first night, our guest requested we give them a moment or two to get into their sleigh, as they wished to remain a secret.  I was trying my hardest to follow their instructions.  But, last night I botched it.  The dog needed to go out, and since we kinda thought we knew what was coming, we held her off as long as we could.  When I was too nervous to wait any longer (for fear of my flooring) I quickly opened the door, and let her out without looking (yes, I let my dog out in the front yard.  She goes over to the side yard and then comes back.  No judging).  Phew.  No elf sighting.  When it was time to let her back in, I assumed I would know if the elf was around because my fearless cotton ball of a guard dog would bark and let me know.  Apparently not so.  As I opened the door to call her in, I saw just the edge of a red bag.  Crap.  Double crap.  Dang it all.  That was not my intention at all.  Stupid vicious hairball of a guard dog.  I quickly closed the door, and tiptoed back.  At which point I hear barking.  Yeah.  Thanks.  Now she tells me  :p  The dog gets right up to the door, and I let her in.  I feared we had ruined the gig as the elf had warned us that if we caught them, they might end up going somewhere else.  Thankfully, a few minutes later, there was a quiet knock on the door, and we made sure to give him/her 5 minutes to get back to their sleigh ;)  Ironically, since I only saw the edge of the bag, I still have no idea who it is.  I have no way to thank them or apologize to them for opening the door.  So, Mr/Mrs Christmas Elf person family:  If you are out there reading my blog, I am sorry I opened the door.  It wasn't intended.  And, I still have no idea who you are....  I promise.  You'd think that if I were gonna cheat, I would actually get to see who it was, huh?  Oh well.  We'll see if we still deserve a visit this evening.  Stupid dauntless barking ball of hair.... :\

Our little Christmas Elf

Last night we had our first (apparently) visit from a Secret Santa Elf.  For the next 12 nights, he is going to drop something at our door.  The kids, of course, are ecstatic.  Hubby and I feel a little guilty because we know how big of a commitment it is.  We are, however, grateful :)

The first night, according to the song, is a partridge for our pear tree.  Partridges, being hard to catch you see, were substituted for a nice "pear" of socks :)  The kids are all wearing theirs today.  The girls, however, are a little more obvious than Dylan's, whose Cars socks fit inside his shoes as normal.  The girls fuzzy, warm, knee socks...  Not so much.  With all of Kaitlyn's funny outfits, I have to admit I think this one is actually kinda cute.

 And Daddy overruled me and allowed Kari to wear hers to school, but with my stipulation of her NOT tucking her pants in.

Thank you Christmas Elf!  

Christmas Special

I have been discussing Christmas Specials with a friend lately.  You know, the classic ones from our childhood.  I definitely think this falls into the "classic" category, and it is one of my favories :)  I still remember fastforward and rewinding on the old VHS to get to just the right place :)  Here are a couple of my favorite clips.  Enjoy!

Probably my favorite :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Interesting title to start out the blog with this picture, huh? :)

 Last year we went to a fabulous local tree farm.  We got to ride a hayride, pick out our own tree for cheap, and enjoy the whole ambiance of it.  This year, I checked on the internet to make sure it was open and to check for hours.  We drove out there, only to find that, apparently, the website had not been updated, and the tree farm was no longer in business.  This is the third time in the last month that looking/calling ahead has bitten me in the butt.  (First time was calling Walgreens to pick up a Rx.  Apparently the store part was open til 9, not the pharmacy :p  Second time I checked online to make sure the De-pot was open for a late night trip for some supplies, only to find out when I got there the website had not been updated to the new hours sign on their door.  Double :p ) 

There was a sign advertising another tree farm right in the driveway, so we went hunting.  After driving for several minutes (as in 30 by this point between the 2) we arrived at our second destination.  This was not what I was expecting.  It was an actual farm that had pre-cut Christmas Trees for sale.  They were a bit expensive, and they didn't have super great selection, but after spending that much time and gas, I didn't feel like it would be financially responsible (not to mention all I would get from the kids) if we didn't just go with it.  The kids were pretty happy though.  They got to see a litter of pigs (above).  And have pony rides while mommy and daddy decided what to do.

 We got the tree home, mounted in the stand, with lights on it that same day, but were unable to actually decorate it for several days afterwards.  Finally, on Wednesday night, for FHE, we talked about Baby Jesus's birth, and for our activity decorated the Christmas tree...  Seems kinda sacrilegious, I know, but....  We do what we can...  I was in charge of handing out the ornaments, so I failed to get any pictures of the actual decorating process.  But after it was all done, I wanted to get a few.  This is how it went:

OK everyone, come stand in front of the tree and say cheese!

 Um, ok.  How about we put our arms around each other and try again.

 Now look at me!

 Kari, I said smile!

 There we go.  That is a Christmas card if I ever saw one :)  I love my little stair steps!

 Our tree, in all its magnificence!!!

 Again, for whatever reason, it took me another day or two to break out the rest of the decorations.  While I would love to show you every inch of my house, and how it has been modified by snowmen and things of the red/white/green persuasion, I don't have the time/energy, and you don't care.  However, I did take some especially pertinent pictures to share :)

Remember those windows we framed a few weeks ago, and how deep they are?  Turns out they are perfect places for the crafts the girls did yesterday (courtesy of Grandma).

 And, because I know you can't get its sense of full glory, here is a close up of Kaitlyn's.

The other window box.

A close up of Kari's.  They did excellent jobs, if I do say so myself :) 

And remember my fireplace/mantel from a week ago?

Well check it out now!!!  Including, even, a freshly dusted salmon and a bag of concrete (since I can't move it).

 And, last but not least, for some reason, this particular decoration is my current favorite.  I don't know why, but something about the whimsy of it strikes me :)

And, this note is for you mom:  Don't stress.  We don't turn on that lamp.  In deed, it is not even plugged in right now.  See?  It is possible to be a safety conscious consumer :)

Good Morning Thursday

If you have been following me for a while, you may remember my inability to sleep when I am under the influence of a small parasite.  I went back and read some of my posts from Dylan, and boy, was I whiny.  Why didn't you tell me to just be quiet?!?!  Anyway, it hasn't been as bad this time around, for which I am truly thankful.  Most of the time I can fall back asleep after I have to get up to use the restroom several times each night.  Last night was the exception however, and I found myself looking at appetizer recipes at 3 in the morning.  (PS- We are going to an appetizer party on Saturday, and I am looking for ideas.  I think I want to stay away from the desserts, since I would guess there will be plenty of those.  Feel free to make suggestions in the comments).

I crawled back into bed about 4, and was able to drag/roll myself out of bed when the alarm went off this morning.  After prepping breakfast and lunch for hubby, and breakfast for the 3 littles, I proceeded to go outside to warm up the van.  In true Southern fashion, it was 70* and sweat breaking while lawn mowing on Monday, and today there is frost on the ground with a high of 45*.  I turned the key over in the ignition and instead of the melodious sound of a well tuned motor all I hear is "click, click".  Joy.

So I called hubby, who taught me how to use the charger over the phone, and I got the van started in time to get Kari to school, albeit late, but there nonetheless.  Without turning the car off, we headed over to the local auto parts store.  The nice man there took pity on an enormously pregnant woman with two small children under the age of 5, and even changed the bad battery out.  $100 bucks later, and here I am, back at home, hopefully with a wonderfully functioning car, prepared to take me to my many errands today.

What did I title this blog?  "Normal"?  Yeah, that about covers it, right?

Carpet

Before

Check out all those dirt piles.  And all the dust in the air.  Construction is a messy, dirty business I tell you.

Bedroom before.

My fabulous master closet before.

What is the first thing we do on the carpet?  Guess.

Den with bookshelf (which is now full of stuff).

My craft area and the doorway into the master.

And a partial of the master.

It is amazing the difference the carpet made.  Even though the trim and paint made it look better, the carpet officially transports it from dreary basement to livable space.  Last night we put up shelving in my fabulous closet, so my chore for today is to fill it....  We had to put up parts of the pool table almost immediately because they were making the laundry room inaccessible.  We uncovered the rails while watching Pirates of the Caribbean 4 the other day, and the burgundy pool felt we ordered arrived yesterday.  We already have plans to demo and rebuild the bathrooms upstairs in the week between Christmas and New Years.  Are we slightly crazy?  Not at all.  We are 100% crazy.  But, that means the majority should be done before the baby comes.  And when she does make her now scheduled arrival on Feb 13th, hopefully the large majority of the house stuff will be done, and we can take a large break, only doing little touch up things as we so desire.  That is the plan anyway.  Finish that quote for me "The best laid plans of mice and men...."

Loosing Something

There are a few things you celebrate when you lose them.  Weight.  Annoying roommates.  Teeth.  And it is finally time to celebrate in our house.  When Kari was little, it took her forever to get her teeth.  In fact, she was 11 months old before the first one ever popped through.  I know because the night before we left the Shriner hosptial (after Kari got burned) she was up all night, in fits.  I was worried because I thought she must be in pain.  The next morning, she had her first tooth.  Silly girl, if she had done it a week earlier, she would have been on Morphine! 

So, Sunday night she said her tooth hurt, and as she played with it, she discovered it was loose.  Since then, she can't keep her hand out of her mouth, and she reminds me several hundred times a day that she has a loose tooth, or she can't eat anything crunchy or I have to remind her to take her hand out of her mouth so she can accomplish what she is supposed to be doing.  While it hasn't fallen out yet, I expect it will be soon, so I took the precaution of taking a last picture of our smile full of teeth.

 Therefore, Dylan needed his picture taken.

 Now, it didn't work as well for Kaitlyn.  She was quite upset that she doesn't have any loose teeth of her own.  We tried to explain that she will as she gets older, she just needs to be patient.  However, that lesson is very difficult for a 4 yr old to learn.

 It took most of the night, but she woke up the next morning accepting of her fate, thankfully.

The book Kari is talking about is called Twinkle the Tooth Fairy.  Her nana got it for her.  I should probably be very greatful.  Less Searching.  For now, the tooth is still in her head.  I will let you know as soon as she is one less toothful :)

Bathroom Cabinet

Is it sad that we feel like we have to build everything?  We could build a nice bathroom cabinet, made of real wood instead of MDF covered in veneer, for cheaper than we could buy one at the De-Pot.  Since labor is free and all. :P  At least we are getting all kinds of experience, right?  We spent some time looking at several designs and came up with our own.  This is the inside of the cabinet, all nice and level.

 This is the face frame, with the new stain all ready to go.  It will have 3 drawers on each side, a door in the middle, and then a big long drawer on the bottom, that will hopefully blend in so it is kind of "hidden".

 Here it is, after 3 coats of stain.  It just wasn't getting dark enough.  Since we are going Venetian, or Oil rubbed bronze, for all the fixtures, that was the brown we were trying to match.

 This is with 2 coats of black on it.  As you can tell, it darkened up quite a bit, but you can just barely tell it is brown and not black.  Pretty good.

 And here is the best I could do, as far as the angle of the picture is concerned.  The light fixture needs another bulb, but it was "donated".  The mirror with the frame was $30, at the De-Pot, and I painted it with the same venetian bronze paint I used to paint the one light fixture we couldn't get in our finish.  It does need to move down a few inches though.  The counter top is off the rack, and pretty authentic granite looking, and I love the way it looks with the stained face frame.

I don't have the visual abilities that hubby seems to have, but believe it or not, when we started talking about this particular area of the bathroom, this is pretty much what I envisioned:  A framed mirror, a dark cabinet with light walls, and a dark-ish countertop.  Once the cabinet is finished, and the face frame mounted, we will install the sink and faucet.  We finished this right before Thanksgiving, and haven't touched it since.  But, we are on the way, right?  We'll get there.

One question though:  What cabinet pulls do I use?  I don't want to go chrome/satin nickel, because everything else is venetian bronze.  But, I am afraid that if I go bronze, they will blend in too much with the stain.  That was the point, after all....