Kitchen ceiling:in progress

Day one of ceiling reconstruction went well. The handy man came and cut out all of the affected parts and pieced in a new section of Sheetrock. He'll be back tomorrow to tape and mud and maybe texture. So glad it wasn't any worse than this and so glad we're able to get it taken care of.

Kitchen ceiling:before

This is what the ceiling looks like today. No worries, the water didn't make the hole. That was Tim checking to see if there was insulation between the floors. No insulation, which is good in cases like this with water damage. Not so great for sound proofing, but that's a discussion for another time.")
Tomorrow we have handyman Brigham coming with his patch guy and they are going to cut out the bad drywall and replace and retexture. Hazaa!

Posting issues

So I tried two different times to post a pic of Tim fixing the carpet in our bedroom. He's so handy! We'll see if it works this time.

Little builders

My kiddos love to build things. Jackson started it off with his adventures and imagination and the other two look to him as an example.
Today they each showed me something they built out of their Legos. You'll notice that Sis has soft Legos.

Flood. Water. Kitchen. Basement.

Boo.

Sore

Reasons to be sore in our house today...

1. Broder has an ear infection. His ear is sore.
2. Tim slept in a tent on the snowy ground last night and is skiing right now. His back is sore.
3. I ran 3.6 miles in 40 minutes this morning!!!!!!!! My legs and knees are sore.

Jackson and Sis seem to have escaped the soreness. Good night.

My little Sleeping Beauty

Just when you thought you kept a pretty clean house...

....the Rainbow vacuum lady comes and shows you that no, you really don't.

But no, we didn't buy one.  We'll just have to suffer in our apparent state of nastiness.")

A girl and her Daddy

This is what we're reading tonight Papa!

Get those quarters ready!")

Sunday night at Grandma and Grandpa's

Since it is a holiday and there is no school tomorrow, the kids are sleeping over at Grandma's tonight. They have been looking forward to this since last month when the cousins got to sleep over the last Monday holiday. Grandma always plays super fun games like this one- plastic dinosaur air hockey. Thanks Grandma, Grandpa and Sarah!!

Hmmm...must be genetic.

I was flicking through some pictures and noticed a trend. Do you pick up on it too?")

Heart Attack!

My boys earned mega awesome points today. A couple of days ago they were down in the craft room "projecting" away. They left a few scraps of paper and other things out which told me that they had been making something, but I didn't see the final product and figured it went up to their room. Fast forward to this morning when I woke up to a heart attack in my bedroom door. They got up early and got their hearts from their secret hiding place and snuck up to my door and taped them up. Broder cut and Jackson glued. They did it all on their own with no suggestion or help from anyone. My sweet, sweet boys!!!

Valentine's Mantle

Just showing what I concocted out of raffia, lots of glittery card stock, the awesomeness that is the Cricut and my babes. I will probably change out Sis's picture for one of her gorgeous 1-year old shots since the boys' pictures are their 1-year old shots, but it's late and that's what I had on hand at midnight.
Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Overheard

Jackson: Hey Broder, what did you say you did this Fall?

Broder: I told you, I was with my Grandpa in South Dakota hunting pheasants!

Jackson: Did you shoot any?

Broder: Yes, like 50 of 'em. They were attacking my little sister. What in the heck would you do in a situation like that?!?

Jackson: What kind of gun did you use?

Broder: A frickin' 12 gauge, what do you think?!?

***See "Napoleon Dynamite Wolverine hunting scene" on YouTube for original.***

My kids are awesome.")

Woodland visitor?

On my way out to take the kids to school I noticed footprints in the snow on the driveway. I have not earned my Naturalist merit badge, but they look to me like deer prints of some sort. What do you think?

Sunday dinner

Tonight we went to our friend's Brigham and Krista's for a very yummy dinner. It was so good and it was so good to chat and catch up with them. Thanks for the great time!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is my Mama's birthday. I am a very lucky to have such a wonderful, kind, talented Mom. My kiddies are very lucky to have her for a Grammy.
For her birthday my Dad and I went in together and got some old family movies that were on 8 mm reels (I know!) and got them put onto DVD. We watched them tonight and they were awesome. I was 3-4 years old and my brother was a baby.
Happy Birthday Mom- love you so much!!

Running

After last years family Christmas letter where I wrote about all of Tim's running adventures, I decided this year I could run at least one 5K. Others I know have set much loftier marathon and half-marathon goals. I am not so lofty-at least all in one race. Four 5K races almost equal a half-marathon, right? If I do it, I am just choosing to break it up into more manageable chunks. That's what we're supposed to do with our goals, right?
Anyway, I am in training. Tim says one day I'll get to the point where I enjoy it. Not there yet.

Little sickie

Poor Sis is sick. She's coughing and runny nosing and weepy eye-ing. However, she is being very pleasant and nice through it all. We're doing lots of cuddling and movie watching. Hopefully we are on the end of it!

Parent Teacher Conferences

We got to go talk with the boys' teachers today. They are both doing great! I am so proud of them for their hard work, kindness, respectful attitudes and love of school. They both like math, LOVE to read, and enjoy being at school and learning. They each have a teacher who seems to be the perfect fit for each of their personalities and needs. I am thankful for all of the time and energy of our teachers!

Visit to the Doctor

Today included another family trip to the doctor. Sis started coughing yesterday morning and Jackson had some ear pain and Broder was mostly healthy, but got a check up just in case.

Final diagnoses:
Kirsi- Croup- gets to continue nebulizer breathing treatments
Broder- pretty healthy but got some nose spray medicine just in case
Jackson- border line ear infection and got Amoxicillin.  Hazaa!

**Kirsi got to wear the awesome "Mickey Ninja" mask to protect all of the babies in the waiting room from her cough.  She put up with it for a little while, but then the novelty wore right off.**

FHE

Family Home Evening- that glorious night where the gospel is taught, lessons are learned, testimonies are borne and songs are sung. Or in our case, the same song is sung. Every week we ask what should we sing and every week the answer is "Sunbeam!" So every week, the kids crouch down and jump their way through our favorite song. This picture captured one such "beam!" I love them- they're goofy, but they're my goofy's.

Gorilla Guerrilla's

While the semi-boring-until-the-lights-went-out Super Bowl was happening, Grandma was keeping all the grand-kiddos occupied playing the favorite game "Gorilla." This is when Grandma hides somewhere in the house and the kids go away and count to 20. Then they go and search for her like guerrilla spies. When they are close to her, she jumps out and starts chasing them while "ohh ohh ing" like a gorilla. There is lots of screaming and laughing and loud counting in unison. Grandma rules!!
P.S. #goravens

Happy 12th Engage-iversary!

Today for our engage-iversary we went and saw Les Mis. It was very good. We had a yummy lunch and ran a few errands and then went to pick up kids. They had a great time playing and working and reading and roasting marshmallows in the fireplace. Thanks Grammy and Papa!!

Sleepover at Grammy and Papa's

Equals Sushi and FroYo date night for us. Thanks Grammy and Papa!!

(Sushi and FroYo eaten at separate times. This was not some new culture-fusion restaurant."))