Jingle Bells.... Batman smells....

It's Christmas time!!! Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. And yesterday was probably the most sickening perfect day. Seriously, we were like the Partidge Family.

It all started when we rolled out of bed around 9:00am. We moseyed around the house for a while, had our breakfast & coffee, and moseyed around some more. Then, we put on our mud boots, hats, gloves and overalls and headed for Perry's Farm. Perry's Farm is where we started going last year to cut down our Christmas tree. It's located in Forest Grove and is a pretty neat place. Good hearted people, free cocoa, cider & coffee. You can't beat it.

When we got to Perry's there were quite a few families already running around. We parked and were greeted by an older man who looked a lot like Santa Claus. Ky thought he WAS Santa as he walked up and gave Ky a big piece of his beef jerky along with some kisses and ear scratches. He handed us a saw, a small piece of carpet (to protect our knees from the mud) and pointed us in the direction of where he thought the best trees are this year. With that, we headed out in search of the perfect tree. Christmas tree huntin' that is.

It took about 30-45 mins to find one that we both really liked - thank goodness it wasn't raining! Chris cut it down and we walked back to the hut and told the guy where it was. He got on his ATV and headed down. About 3 minutes later, he arrived with our tree on the back while we sipped some hot cider. No hauling our tree through the mud for us! While they shook down the tree, leveled the trunk and bailed it for us, we had our picture taken for "The Wall of Fame", a place inside of the warming hut with pictures of all of their customers. We finished our cider, loaded our tree & muddy puppy in the car and headed for home.

We still had some day light left and no rain in sight. So, Chris kept his muddy clothes on and climbed up the ladder to hang the lights outside. While he froze his fingers off, I went inside and ripped apart the turkey carcas from a few days earlier, cut up some veggies and started a HUGE pot of turkey soup. A couple hours later, Voila!, we have lights and homemade turkey noodle soup! We relaxed for a bit and watched the news while slurping our soup and bread... ahhh, so nice.

Shortly after the soup settled, we got the hot cocoa and Christmas tunes going and put up the tree. By bed time we had full bellies, a fully decorated tree, and one tired pup. We all went upstairs, put on the fireplace, climbed in bed, and fell asleep.

The perfect ending to a long holiday weekend. See, I told you it was sickening.

I see the light! Praise the Lord!

I can see the light. YESSSSSSS! (said in my best Kip voice from Napolean Dynamite)

Our little house is starting to look like reasonable, normal people live there instead of the wolverine's den it's resembled for the past few weeks. We have actual couches to sit on, and a real dining room table to eat at. And if I want, I could even sit on the couch and use the (drum roll) COFFEE TABLE to set a drink on - at the same time! HA!

Gone are the days of not having anywhere to sit and eat dinner. Gone are the days of stealing Ky's bed because it was the only place soft to sit. Gone are the days of wishing Monday would get here faster so that I wouldn't have to submit myself to more slave labor - aka - home improvements. GONE!!!!

Well, maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit. There is still a considerable mess but it's just a bunch of stuff that had lost it's place while our house was turned inside out. Chris has finished 90% of the floor. We still have the office and stair landing area to complete. But that's it! It'll only take 1 day to finish that... we're shooting for Sunday.

So, with my new found excitement, I must just pat myself and Chris on the back for a moment... With what little energy Saturday's toil and Sunday's trip to the garbage dump (gross) left us, we pieced together the living room and hung some pictures. Then we sat down and had some well deserved hot chocolate and marveled at ourselves and the home we're creating. Looking around, we couldn't help but think to ourselves, "Whose house is this?". New floors, new paint, new architectural details, new furniture, new arrangements... It feels like our home, has the same address as our home, but it sure doesn't look anything like our home!

Let me take that back... it looks just like the home we always imagined it would, and what we've been working towards for 1 1/2 years, but it's so different from what it looked liked before that it's kind of strange to finally see it all together and not feel like we're at someone else's house. Anyone who has done a major remodel can relate... We picked the living room apart last night while sipping our drinks and could only think of 1 thing we would change to that room - only 1 thing!!! (That in itself is amazing) The french doors... They suck. I saw some really nice ones at Home Depot (our favorite store & past time), but they were in the range of $2,000. A lot out of our price range. So, someday, I'll just repaint the sad little doors, re-hang them with new hinges and give them a better life. Someday...

But that's just the living room, dining room, and TV room... don't get me started on the kitchen, bathroom, garage, basement, office, and upstairs. We have a long way to go to perfection.

Oh little house... who would've thought you could bring so many woes and happiness at the same time?

Whole lotta shakin' going on

Apparently, this little girl likes nuts. I just ate a handful of peanuts and that really got her going! We must be related - I love nuts too! heehee

uh-oh, does this mean I have to share mine after she's born? shoot!

"Um, hello baby? Remember those peanuts you just had. Yeah, well, it turns out they are very, very bad for you and will make your hair fall out. But, I have super powers that make me immune to them. I got them from grand-pappy George. So, when you see mommy downing a handful in the kitchen, remember that. You wouldn't want all the kids at school to laugh at you and your shiny, mis-shapen head, would you?"

Problem solved.

Our house is coming along... slowly, but surely.

The house is beginning to come together.... kind of. I have all the coats of paint on in the living/dining rooms. Just need to do some trim work and touch ups. Next comes the chair rail and finishing the baseboards. Once those are all finished, we can put everything back where it belongs! yipee!!!! A real live house again!!

The floors are also looking near finished! Chris has finished the dining room, living room, and hallway. Now he's working on the last half of the TV room. After that, we're going to find a way to move our piano over so he can finish that section and the office. I'm not counting on that part being done before Thanksgiving but it would be nice. At least the rooms where people will be are going to be finished and pretty.

I tell ya, I'm about done with home improvements. It was fun for a while... but this is getting out of hand! Thank goodness we're almost done! For now.

Someone likes apple juice

I had some apple juice before laying down last night and shortly thereafter, baby starting kicking really hard. I felt 4 kicks from the outside! Chris was walking out the door to take Ky for a late walk (10:00pm - past my bedtime) and was disappointed that he missed it. I think I'll try that game again tonight and she what she does.

She's getting bigger and stronger everyday! She is already measuring about a week and a half bigger than average at 14oz. Chris said I'm going to get HUGE, then quickly and wisely, altered his statement to include the verbiage, "but only in your tummy, everything else is the same".

I married a smart man.

It's a GIRL!

We just got back from the ultrasound... baby looks great & we have a bunch of pictures. I drank some lemonade beforehand so that baby would be awake and moving around. It worked, and she gave us the money shot - a few times! The tech won't say 100% of course, but everytime we looked, there were 3 lines. So, baby is officially A GIRL! I was so sure it was going to be a boy... but in every dream I had, it was a girl. We are very excited!

So far, she weighs in at 14oz and has all her fingers & toes.

I see you have a sense of humor, Baby.

Baby is getting big and strong enough for me to feel some kicks! The past couple of days I've definitely felt some kicking & tumbling going on in there... I had waffles for breakfast this morning and that really got the baby going for about an hour. Baby was just kicking all over the place! But every time I put my hand where I felt a kick - the little stinker stops! Then, I take my hand away and a few seconds later - kick, kick, kick!

Already a jokester huh? You better not be playing any jokes on Monday little bugger!!

It's the Name That Baby game!

In preparation for the BIG ultrasound on Monday, we are trying to come up with names... we already picked a boy's name. I said, I like the name ________. Chris agreed, and that was that. very easy. But, we cannot agree on a girl's name. We have not found any that we're in love with yet, but plenty that neither one of us like! There are a few on the table that are OK. but, I'm not stuck on anything. Hopefully that will all be put to rest this weekend!

And just so ya'll know - the names are top secret! :) Since we plan on sharing if baby is a boy or girl, we'll be keeping the name on lock down until he/she makes an appearance. And if we can't determine the sex, we still won't be telling! HA HA HA

Stay tuned... we'll have exciting news on Monday!