Happy 1st Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Cousin Bryce!

We love you and hope your day is extra special!

80 Years Young!

Happy 80th Birthday, Great Grandpa!

We love you and are so glad you were able to come and visit us!! Hope you have a wonderful, special day!

Sand, Swings, and Smiles!

What a beautiful fall day the Lord has blessed us with!! It's warm, sunny, and dry, and we have thoroughly enjoyed it! (I took more pictures this afternoon than I took in the previous two weeks!) :o)

The colors simply can't compete with the Adirondaks, but they're pretty none the less! :o)


And here's my little guy who was reveling in the opportunity to be outside! :o) And he sweetly obliged me with lots of smiles for the camera. He's a hoot though--he smiles so big his forehead puckers and it often looks more like a grimace! :o)

Ahhh! Bare feet!

"It won't stick together, Mommy!"

Aww! Best of friends! :o)
Love these pics of the two of them!

Once they switched seats, Peter gamely tried to swing Hannah . . . give it a couple more years, buddy!

And here's my munchkins each on their own . . . it's hard to believe how quick they're growing up!

And while the thought of cleaning our feet in the tub was met quite unenthusiastically, Plan B of cleaning them in the sink was wildly successful! :o)

Happy Fall!

Go take some pictures! :o)

Fall is here!

And we're enjoying the great outdoors! :o)

The kids do enjoy watching the men fell trees and had fun doing so again this past weekend as Chris took a couple hours to clear out a couple more. This evening as they were taking the garbage out, Peter "asked" Chris if they could cut down more trees (by using a sawing motion with his arm.) When that reply was negative, he presented a new plan: right hand moving in swift level, circular motions followed by both arms thrown up in the air and spread out. Interpretation: fly the BIG airplane (i.e. Daddy's model airplane . . . ). Although the answer once again had to be negative for multiple reasons, Daddy was quite pleased to be asked! :o)

Playtimes . . .

It's just plain fun to watch our kiddos play together! :o) And it's also rather helpful to have a 4-yr-old who can interpret for the still rather non-verbal 2-yr-old. Just this morning, we were in bathroom brushing hair and things and Peter was sitting on the toilet with his foot resting on the space heater. He started saying "Mommy, mommy, mommy," more in the tone of a commentary rather than a request. I really wasn't sure what he was talking about (nor was I giving him much heed, honestly.) But then Hannah interpreted.

"Are you saying that the heater came from Mommy's bedroom?"

"Uh-huh" accompanied by vigorous nod.

Ah!

And for the record, we are very thankful for space heaters as we hit record lows last night at 32 degrees!! Brrrrr!

Grocery Blessings

Blessings upon blessings!

Total spent: $16.23

Retail: $61.08

For an average savings of 73% :o)

For nearly everything I had coupons to combine with "Buy 1 Get 1" sales. :o) My favorite deal is the yogurt . . . $0.25 for each package of 4 containers. We've rotated through about three different varities of these "four packs" now, and each time I've stocked up during B1G1 sales with 4-6 packages and that last us till the next brand goes on sale. :o) Everybody but me enjoys yogurt, so my family is very glad for these particular deals. And, at $0.19 each for the veggies, I can't complain about that either. :o)

Actually, just tonight I was reminded again of how thankful I am for the deals I'm able to get with coupons. I'm fighting what I believe is a sinus infection which has followed a rather nasty cold. Needless to say I haven't really felt much like cooking. My menu plan for the week had a crockpot meal listed for this evening, which I simply did not feel like preparing around 2:00 this afternoon. So I decided to bump a stovetop dinner from later in the week. Maybe I'd feel a bit more like cooking around 5:00 . . . Well. I didn't. At all.

At 5:15 I'm staring around my kitchen realizing my family was hungry--for that matter, I was hungry. And cereal for dinner just doesn't appeal to me. And I had already pulled a frozen pizza out earlier this weekend when a similar predictament struck. (And the leftovers from previous meals were long gone.) So I'm staring through the cupboards and the fridge and freezer straining to find something that seems remotely appealing but requires next to no effort. And I spy in the freezer behind my well-stocked shelf of frozen chicken a Bertolli Skillet Dinner--something fancy with shells and chicken and spinach which the kids probably wouldn't like but which sounded absolutely delicious and bragged "Ready in 10 minutes!" Adults covered. Kids . . . I had multiple healthy canned soups in the cupboard, so I let Hannah pick one and both of them were thrilled with Campbell's Healthy Harvest "Creamy Chicken Afredo" soup. Then for a side dish I pulled out a microwaveable package of Green Giant's Peas with Butter Sauce. A reasonably nutritious dinner with almost no effort or cleanup. At retail, it would have cost around $10. I picked everything up at various sales for around $3. And it's just been sitting there waiting for "such a time as this." And for tomorrow, I now have chili in the crockpot. It really isn't hard at all to prepare, and after a good dinner, I had a bit more energy to pull it together. So now I have at least two more meals covered. Maybe by then I'll feel like cooking again. :o) For now I'm thankful the Lord had me covered. :o)

Our Littlest One

Our littlest one is doing well at a little over 12 weeks and kindly waved for his or her first picture last week . . . :o) My due date is April 24, two days after Peter's birthday.

Praise the Lord, I've been doing very well! Last week was actually the first time I've felt at all sick (besides very minor queasiness when I'm overly tired) and that was due to accidentally eating a bite of bacon at lunch on Thursday which managed to throw off my whole system for about three days. Ah well. As Chris commented when he unknowingly brought home a pepperoni pizza that had been "upgraded" to a supreme with lots of sausage Friday evening, "If I were you, I wouldn't touch that thing with a ten-foot tongue!" I've avoided anything from the pork family ever since I was young due to the minor digestive troubles it caused, but it seems in the last year that it takes less (one bite!!!) to make a much more significant impact for a much longer period of time. Sometime we'll have to arrange for our children to have a ham roast . . . because it's not going to make it on their Mommy's menu. :o) (But for the record, I've yet to find a pork chop recipe in which chicken could not be successfully substituted.) :o)

Happy Birthday!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sam!!

We love you and hope you have a super duper day! :o)

Progress by Leaps and Bounds!

We are so thankful for two things:

1. Grandparents and Great Grandparents were very gracious and patient with the fact that the only functioning toilet was in the basement for their entire visit.

2. They helped us make huge progress while they were here. It's not finished yet, but the end is most definitely in sight. :o) (And the toilet is now upstairs.) :o)

So, here's some pictures. Some are more interesting than others, but for those considering a bathroom remodel, here it is in all of it's wonderful and time-consuming detail! :o) Without everybody's help, we'd probably still be running up and down the stairs! :o)

The kids were first-rate spectators throughout most of the project--Great Grandpa was particularly pleased with Peter's ability to play gopher for hammers and various other tools! He's still not talking much, but he definitely knows what's going on! :o)
Chris used a layered approach to patch the floor . . .

And here's the patched floor, sanded and ready for the subfloor.

Making the template for the luann . . .

As you may imagine, Hannah's eyes absolutely lit up and grew as wide as saucers when she saw such a BIG piece of paper. She had been puttering with some of her own crafts at the time and immediately dreamed up a new project with the declaration, "I need a very big piece of paper." Chris happily donated the template when he was finished. :o)

Ah, the one downside of Autumn . . . dark comes early.

And here's documentation of my husband's wonderful flexibility. We had already "decided" to go with a 30" vanity (even if we did replace the old one), and had already installed the new light bar and outlet in the proper positions for that size. So, after we decided to move things and upgrade to a 36" vanity, he spent an extra evening reinstalling those items a second time . . .

Here's the new water lines . . .

Grandpa and Great-Grandpa's help were invaluable on the plumbing!! Dealing with the old castiron had some rather frustrating moments and Great-Grandpa's reply when I asked him to smile for the camera was "What's there to smile about?" I'm glad he decided his granddaughter was reason enough. :o)

Old pipes are very dirty . . .

And yes, I realize these pictures are not very interesting (and it's our bathroom!), but here's the official documentation of their labor! All new plumbing freshly installed!

Grandma kindly graced us with her exceptional painting skills once again! :o) (She's probably painted more of my house than I have!) :o)

And here's the new flooring--finished at 12:30 AM Thursday!

And on their very last afternoon, Grandpa and Great Grandpa installed the toilet for us!!

It's so wonderful and clean!!! :o)

Considering everything that has gone on, the wall behind the new mirror can tell quite a story!

And here's a preview of things to come! :o) Isn't it beautiful!?!?! I can't even express how excited I am to see how everything is coming together! :o) The sink and vanity are not yet fully installed, and we have a cabinet to hang above the toilet as well as curtains to sew, but our general functionality is increasing daily! :o) And considering that we have spent six years of our married life sharing a bathroom mirror of less than 18 inches, we thoroughly enjoyed our 36 inch span this morning! :o)

Thank you to everyone for your labors of love!

Life's Simple Pleasures

Bubbles!

It's so neat to watch our children learning new skills--yes, even blowing bubbles is a "skill"! :o)

A Wonderful Visit!

What a wonderful visit we enjoyed with Grandparents and Great-Grandparents! It was so special having everyone all here together for an extended visit! :o) Here's a glimpse of some of our fun memories . . .

Storytime with Great Grandma . . .
The undocumented piece of this picture is that this was about the eighth time Grandpa had blown up this balloon and the kids were having a blast chasing the balloon Grandpa "forgot" to tie! :o)

Making very yummy apple crisp with Grandma . . . and enjoying much apple consumption along the way . . .

Having a grand time with the new dump truck!!

Lots of fellowship and chit-chat! :o)

Hannah and Grandma playing one of many games of Memory . . . it's "play" for Hannah . . . it's work for the rest of us!! :o)

Great Grandma working on the finishing touches of one of the dresses she made for Hannah . . .

Peter's "new" hand-me-down shirt that went perfectly with his new truck!

Playing "Hot and Cold" with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma . . . Great Grandpa found all sorts of good spots to hide the buddy!

Modeling Grandma's new dress . . .

Monkey see, Monkey do! Hannah had her picture taken, so Peter wanted his taken, too! Who can resist that grin?? :o)

And what Hannah declared to be one of her favorite parts of the visit . . . watching Grandpa and Great Grandpa make the trees go "ka-BOOM!" :o)

For our last evening together, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Red Robin's where they were celebrating Fire Prevention Week and the kids got to explore a fire engine. (The pictures will come later after we get a reader for Grandma's new memory card--Grandma remembered her camera (Yeah!), but the technician who sold her the latest and greatest memory card (4GB!) neglected to sell her a reader that would work with it!)

Altogether it was a wonderful visit that seemed to fly by all too quickly!