cold rain

enjoying my cold rainy day.

my lovely after

hip hip, its done.  yesterday, i dropped one lucky boy of at school and headed with the other three in tow to tackle my dusty mess.

and a mess indeed,

the two little boys made their way into the backyard with their own cleaning supplies (amazing the hours of fun to be had with a box of baby wipes and a few paper towels).  they detailed bikes and sand toys, along with my windows.

baby girl played in her pack n play while this mama scrubbed her way through the house.  and i scrubbed, and scrubbed.  who needs a gym?  from top to bottom this house is cleaner then it has ever been.  my installer friend, john, finished up the base boards and handed me my house key.  it felt kind of sad, like he was moving out.  oh, john, don't you worry, i will be calling upon you again.  i could keep you employed for a year in this house.

did i mention that in the middle of this my oven broke?  actually i had a roast in the oven and saw a bright flash.  immediately it was turned off and my roast went into the slow cooker.  hours later that old oven of mine, turned itself back on.... so it was time to go.  no fires in this house.

so, while i was scrubbing away, in came the new appliances.  yippie!  i can't wait to use them.

why stop there?  with a clean, empty house, it was time to get out Christmas.  out it all came, and i put up all i could.  the boys reminiscing through everything i put up.  thats what you really remember from your childhood, all the decorations and excitement.  i have a decoration or two up in each room, the stockings are hung, then this tired mama collapsed into bed.

a peek for now... more to come.

before

after

The firehouse

These men work so hard, I could not respect or honor them more.

Luke and I went with his cub scouts group, one of the dads is the fire captian and he really added the magic touch. It was much more then your regular tour. We even enjoyed a few bag pipe songs, it brought tears to my eyes.

Thanks to all the firemen out there risking your lives to save ours.

These times

Oh my have these times been busy! Remember my previous mention of my 'before'? Well we are still awaiting the after. It was all supposed to be completed while we were on our holiday. Here we are two weeks later and my house sits a dusty mess. Note to self, never start a remodel project during the holidays. Not sure what I was thinking. It will be beautiful when it's done. It just needs to get done.

Our blessing is that my parents live close by and have graciously taken us all into their house. They have been enjoying all this time with papa and nana. Especially my little Landon, he does not even come by me when they are around.

Lily had her big appointment with oncology this past Friday. After three hours it was decided that another blood test had to be done before starting treatment. Although I do not want to delay treatment, a part of me is relieved that get to have her as she is for a bit longer. I am not ready for our lives to change.

my littlest one

oh, this little one has me so worried.
tomorrow we will learn more about how to make her well.
she is such a delight.
i love you baby girl, lets have faith and make this right.

boys will be boys

north pole visit

as always, they loved this little magical place.

the workshop

santas preview

lily sleeping through it all, like a little dolly

building their bears to be donated

this one loved the bear he created

the elf helping him write his santa letter

story time with mrs claus

all of us