April Little Things

Sofa building another track

 

A special afternoon snack.  I can't remember the occasion, but James was gone for work and we needed a special treat....so Rick's bakery it was for muffins and watching them decorate cakes.

Who knew the spray expansion foam stuff could be so exciting?  The kids followed him to every door and window as he sprayed each one.  Let's just say the insulation is lacking just a tad in the house.

The window casing is finally finished!

The sunrise was pretty on one of my morning runs.

Family movie night.  We haven't done this in several months since we've been working on the house.  James was at work this Saturday evening and I was out of energy to work on the house so we snuggled up and watched a movie.

This is what my birthday present came in.  Apparently we're lacking in bags/boxes/wrapping paper.  It made me laugh!!

Lots of helpers for putting up the fence.

Hannah insisted on wearing the measuring tape the proper way.

James at work digging the fence post holes.  And grateful that the second post hole digger actually worked!

This is the pile of wood that became our fence!

Aunt Becky and Bryson came to visit.  Needless to say our kids were excited and had lots of fun!

Cooling off in the stream.

While Beck visited we pretty much put her to work painting/staining/etc...

This is how Bryson felt about us by the time their trip was up!!!

My morning helper for making pancakes.

Us transporting our living room rug home.

March Little Things

Lots of time spent cleaning at the new house.  I had to take a picture to prove the amount of dust on EVERYTHING!!! Gross!

 

The kids went to work cleaning up pine needles while we tried to get work done inside the house.

 

James painting 18' up all by himself.  That ladder is resting on paint cans. 

 

We watched some friends and I had to document this.  There were 5 kids happily playing with the race track thingy.  The best $4 ever.

 

Sofia caught and tortured a lady bug.

 

First major demolition involved taking out this wall/shelving.  The girls were happy to help.

 

Just a little painting in the hard to reach spots.

 

I taped off the ceiling and was proud of my tape job.

 

The pulling up of the tile floor was messy business.  And a lot of work on James' part.

 

Pulling up the carpet was much easier work.

 

We spent lots of time at Imagine this month.  It was a crazy month with employees health/family issues.  The kids enjoyed it for the most part, but by the end of the month were saying 'Please don't make us go there to clean again!!!'

 

Easter Egg Hunt!

 

Who needs a tramp?  They had lots of fun jumping on the carpet piles.

 

This is us transporting 1000 SF of flooring to the house.

 

And following close behind James to make sure it all made it home.

 

Getting ready to put the flooring in.

 

We have a rule that all rocks/twigs/etc...from outside stays outside and doesn't enter the van. Sofia insisted on taking a picture to remember her twigs.

 

Here we are killing time at the temple.  Sofia got some pretty awesome bubbles.

Hannah getting braver and braver on the scooter.

 

We visited Liberty Jail.

 

And ate at Chik-fil-a for the FIRST TIME EVER!!! I know, we live deprived lives.  Our kids liked it.

 

Day 1 of actually installing flooring.

 

Me giving James some alone time to actually get work done at the house while we took advantage of a local easter egg hunt.

 

Too many days spent at the house fixing it up.  This is what happened too many times to TJ.

 

Kids helping me paint.

 

The tulips we planted for joy school last fall bloomed before we moved!

 

Another lady bug tortured by Sofia.

 

They were banished to the outside while I did the last cleaning of our old apartment inside.

 

This is what our air filter looked like.  We had taken the van to Sears for an oil change and asked them to check the filter.  They came back saying it looked great.  James didn't believe them so he pulled it out....this is what it looked like.

Christmas 2015

We had a pretty quiet Christmas.  In lots of ways it's really sad being away from family.  But I do like the fact that we keep things simple and are able to focus on what's important.

 

Here was our spot for presents - out of TJ's reach.

 

Christmas Eve we acted out the Christmas scriptures.  Hannah was a very excited Mary.  TJ wasn't quite so sure about his part as Joseph....but he managed to sit there long enough to pick his nose.  :D

 

Sofia was really excited to be an angel, but got a little timid about announcing the birth!

 

And our tradition of Christmas Eve pajamas.  They were excited to open a present.

 

Our next tradition (2 years running) is one of my favorites.  We have the girls earn money to buy gifts for each other.  It's fun to see them excited to get something for someone else.  It's also very interesting to go shopping with them.

 

After the kids (TJ really) was in bed we put our presents under the tree. 

 

And Santa knew we were going on a long car ride the next day so he helped out with some car activities and a few snacks to keep them entertained.

 

Grandma and Grandpa sent some fun presents for each kid.  You can't see TJ's cars because he's too busy playing with them to pause and take a picture.

 

The other Grandma and Grandpa sent some awesome gifts as well.  TJ is rather excited!! 

 

Here's TJ playing with his cars.  That was the first gift he opened and he was to busy playing with them to care about opening any other gifts. 

 

It was a simple and enjoyable holiday.