Good Friends + Good Food = Good Times!

We sure love getting together with the Chris and Melisa clan. We always have the best time ... eating too much, laughing our heads off, and some fierce gaming competition beats all. Also - a HUMUNGOUS thank you to Chris who got our internet up and running, in 10 minutes no less. Tyler has spent many hours (including an hour and a half on the phone with tech support) to no avail. Needless to say, we are very grateful and happy to have our computer back (because, what good is a computer without internet? ... besides Cake Mania and Diner Dash, of course) :)!

Aaron and McEwan are like long lost brothers. They have so much in common and can't wait to be in the same Kindergarten class once we move. :)

Who doesn't love Littlest Pet Shops galore?

haha ... are they having fun, or what?

Thanks for a fun night, you guys!

Michelle told me yesterday that she would love it if I posted something. So here it is. I LOVE YOU MICHELLE, you make me smile!

Anyone?

Okay ... so, I know that Melynda and Marissa both LOVE these kinds of games (seeing as they are the ones that got me going on them). But, seriously - me and Tyler will sit and play these together for our Friday night date (well, I play - Ty cheers and coaches). haha. How pathetic are we? Well - don't answer that. We love it - and we'll do it again - LOTS, in fact. Does anyone else know about these super fun games?

Progress ...

On Wednesday our stairs were put in ...

And Thursday .... VOILA ...

Here is each child standing in there own framed bedroom:

The back of the house:

We are so excited!

Up, Up and Away!

The framing on our house started on Friday the 18th. What an exciting day! Of course, we forgot the camera. Here's what they had done by Saturday:

And the following three pictures show what was up by today ... Tuesday, January 22nd ... the whole main level! The trusses for our roof came today, too. There could be big changes just by the end of the week! The kids are WAY excited to see their rooms framed next (so are we!) Stay tuned!

This picture is taken from the garage. We will go in through the garage into this mudroom ... attached to the pantry .... and then into the family room.

This picture is taken standing in the piano room (living room) ... then into the dining room (probably our computer room), and then the kitchen. Cool, huh?

Thanks TyTy - for all the awesome pics!

3 Day Weekend

I love three day weekends. Our car spent the majority of the weekend in the shop, so we spent some good times at home ... but still made it out some, too.

Here we are all hangin' out in our bedroom no less (desperate times, eh?) for a movie night. I sure had a blast ... I hope everyone else did too. :)

We watched Harry Potter ... what cuties down on the floor. I love how the kids are just happy to be a part of things. Can you imagine sitting like that to watch a movie? :-D Gotta love 'em!

We HAD to pause the show for cute Ethan ... we all were drawn to intense laughter. Ethan decided that he needed to find Aaron's belly button - despite Aaron's protests. Ethan was DETERMINED ... and hilarious. We all laughed our heads off.

THEN ... we got to hang out with Jers and Plonns. We went out to eat and watched "Alvin and the Chipmunks". I have to admit - I had VERY low expectations for the show - but it was darling. We all loved it ... and it certainly didn't hurt to have singin' and dancin' kids entertaining us the rest of the day.

Good Times!

Moved Out ... Moved In

Well - we got all moved out of the condo ... we were ALMOST finished before the huge, wet snow storm. We all managed to get cold and wet in the end. Thanks for all the help, everyone! And thanks Kristy, Melynda, and Mom for helping with the kids and cleaning and packing boxes and driving ... and the endless help you give me. :) Sure love you all!

Here are the contributions Aaron made to our weekend move ... that's right ... not just one - but TWO trips to the Insta-Care. Crazy kid. (Poor guy.) He got 2 staples from walking backwards off the bed. Then he scared us with EIGHTEEN stitches after sledding into the gas meter. :0! Sledding is out for us.

We're nice and settled in here at Grover and DeAnn's. The kids are adjusting pretty well. They all have been so helpful. Here is Aaron after setting the ENTIRE table by himself for dinner. He was very proud.

Give this a whirl ... let me know YOUR top three.

In my top 2 were: McCain and Clinton. Perhaps I need to re-assess some of my views? :) (My 3rd was someone I didn't know.) Ty's top 3 were: Obama, Romney, and (UGH) Huckabee. Just because these were our matches, doesn't mean that is how we're voting. We'll see! Let us know your results!

What Pirates Say ...

I have so many things that I want to blog - but we are without our computer right now. I have a heck of a time getting my pictures onto someone else's computer. But - I finally succeeded with this tonight . . .

A Few Tidbits

We sure enjoyed being with the Kent and Leisy fam over the break. We will miss them like CRAZY ... especially Zebber. We all enjoyed him SO MUCH!!!! Cuteness flowing over!!

Here he is hangin' out with Aar-Bear. Kent and Leisy fit right in with the grown-ups OR the kids. Here they are coloring with my kidlings. Mom and Dad hosted a SUPER FUN Bingo party for the Night Before the night before Christmas. :)! The coloring stuff was just one of the millions of prizes we had to choose from. We love you guys!!!

Here we are on Christmas Eve participating in the "I Share My Light With You" candle lighting tradition. It's so wonderful to all be together. Can't wait to have Brandon and Tina back here. Thanks Grover and DeAnn for a wonderful evening!

Here are the Christmas Cleaners! I made the girls these cute levi aprons after Mom made one for the Taylor white elephant gift. The girls loved them and worked hard on Christmas Eve to clean everything up. Poor Marissee didn't feel good that night - after the kitchen was clean, she slept during all the rest of the festivities. (Awwww.) And ... one pic of Christmas morning. Honestly, I hardly took any - but this one of Krystal excited about her "pink scooter" - I'm glad I got. I DO believe I took quite a few pictures with your camera, Mom - I'll be needing those. :)

I can't believe that Christmas/New Year break is over. :(!!! Back to the grindstone, eh? We've been packing up little by little for several weeks now. We'll be doing the big move on Saturday. Emptiness. We've started moving a few things over to Grover and DeAnns. We're so grateful to be able to stay there with them until our house is done. Love you guys!