Street Festival

Our church has hosted a Street Festival for the last three years. We are 3 for 3. The kids enjoy the dressing up, playing carnival games and riding the hayrack.




We have an amazing church. It's not without flaws just like every other church. But it is a church that is striving to help people become closer to the Lord. We have been so blessed by the activities, services, and programs that the church as provided for our family.

Halloween Costumes

I just think this is so cute...Cole getting up to have his picture taken.

Laundry Room

I am working on putting things on the walls and hanging/making curtains. Today I finished the laundry room.

Aunt Jennifer gave me the idea for the craftline. The kids are thrilled to add their work to the line.
These are the curtains that I just finished a few minutes ago!

Mark Your Calendar...

Our home is finished
The work is all done
Maybe you helped build
Or you prayed for us through our fun.

No matter how you blessed our family
Through this task we underwent
We want to thank you
By hosting an Open House event.

So, please join us
As we celebrate with Christmas cheer
How God has blessed us
With wonderful friends this year.

Our Family Invites You

to a

Christmas Open House

on

Sunday, December 13th

from

2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

-RSVP-
Although not necessary, acceptance would be appreciated
Email, phone us, or leave a comment

Actual invitation: (click on picture to view)

Kiddos

Here is the latest on our kiddos:

They are in transition stage again. It took a little while to get use to having someone here from about 7:00 in the morning on, every day. Now we are getting use to having no one here. The kids still ask if Mr. C and Mr. B are coming and they scream with delight when they drive in.

Chad is becoming more of a big boy everyday. It is hard to believe that he will be in Kindergarten next year. It is really going to change our world! His favorite sayings are "well..." and "Mommy, can I tell you something?". He is working very hard on his letters and writing his name along with other activities that the therapists suggests. Chad declared on Monday that he is going to play basketball when he grows up. He even asked for a Wii basketball game. Pretty sure that this is going to short lived.

Chad and Kaylee are so excited to have a driveway back so that they can ride their bikes. They have figured out that riding through the garage makes a great oval track.

Kaylee wants to take a doll or purse everywhere she goes. (She would take Ducky - which she now calls "Duck" if I would let her.) This is very bizare behavior with a Mother who avoids purses at almost all cost. She must get it from her Aunt! Her pray a few nights ago was

Dear God, thank you for this food. And God help us, oh God please help us. Help us God.

Kaylee begs to work on her letters. She loves our school time - especially working on letters. For some reason Kaylee has decided to call Daddy "DaDad." Don't know where it came from but it has stuck.

Cole is quite the boy. He has developed a personality that some have called "spoiled". I say he has just developed a personality that is in the process of being molded. This has changed our lives just because we now are disciplining three instead of two! Cole definitely knows when he has done something wrong. As soon as he sees you, he runs! He continues to crack himself up. He will be playing in his room and you will hear him giggle because he did something that he thought was funny. His "thank you" and other words are adorable. Paci continues to be a favorite but the thumb is always a available. He also desires to have his blankie and a stuffed animal.

Construction Day 59

Last evening Mr. C worked to finish the dirt work. Because we are expecting a large rain, we are waiting to do more just in case of runoff. Gravel, topsoil, and seeding will be next. We also have to move back the trampoline, swingset, and fence (we moved back in May!). The family enjoys watching the tractor.


The railing was also installed today. This goes down from the laundry room door to the backyard.

I learned very quickly that ALL Mommys should have a utility sink. Not just because it is great in a laundry room. It makes a WONDERFUL bathtub!!! Just wish that I would have had it five years ago!

Cole 16 Month Pictures

Cole is really starting to show personality now. He continues to find life very funny and giggles at himself or his family members often. Cole will repeat almost any word that you ask him to say. He says "uh oh", "pees", and "thank" very well. Everyone once in a while the kids will get him to say "Kaylee" or "Chad" which they think is wonderful.

He has 3 of his 4 molars in but is still lack his eye-teeth.

His thumb and blankie are becoming very close friends. We are still trying to ward off the thumb with the paci but lose very quickly when he sees something that he can rub.

Cole definitely has an opinion and doesn't mind sharing it. He can stand up to the biggest person if he doesn't like what they do. Papa and Daddy along with Uncle Heath are huge favorites. He can get really excited when they walk into the room.

Our Three Blessings

We could not be more blessed...

Guttering & Shutters

On Wednesday, the guys surprised us with guttering! Although we could have used it a few days before with the 5" of rain, we love how it looks! The guttering runs along the north and south side of the house. It is something we should have done 10 years ago when we moved it but we didn't. So, we decided now was the time.

Because the temperatures aren't going to stay above 50 much longer, I took advantage of today to get the shutters painted. It took 3 coats but Kaylee and Chad really like them. Mommy and Daddy do to! Tomorrow I hope to do the other 4 shutters.

Pictures of Sibling Love

Kaylee's 3 Pictures

I finally got Kaylee's 3 Year pictures done today.

Builders

For the past 3 months, we have been blessed to have Mr. B and Mr. C a part of our family. The kids look forward to seeing them every morning. For all of the negative things you have heard about building, we have that many positive things and more to say. We thank God for leading us to Mr. C and the wisdom that he has in the building realm. But more than that, we as thankful for the friendship that has begun.

PS - If you are EVER in need of a builder and live near us, please let me know. I can hook you up!

Construction Day 57

Tonight Mr. C and Mr. B came over after work to move dirt so that we could park our vehicles in the garage. The 5" of rain that we got last week and then the anticipated rain Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday have not allowed for much dirt work. Allow we will have a huge mud pit, we are thankful that we don't have to walk through it.

Chad got to drive the tractor for just a little while.


I know that it is a poor picture but just wanted you to see that our vehicles are really in the garage!!!!

Weekend of Work

It wouldn't be a weekend without lots of work and family willing to break a sweat to bless us!

Grams, Papa, Uncle Heath, and Aunt Jennifer came down for the weekend to celebrate Kaylee's birthday and to help us settle into our home. They helped us put cabinets into our garage. Uncle Heath took it the extra mile and added left over trim to "dress" them up and help protect the garage. Our neighbor Donnie helped us once again with the extra tools that we needed. We appreciated his supervision as well. They also put in Michael's shop table. The garage looks so great! We are thrilled with how it looks.



In the next few days we will get things put away in the cabinets and the garage stuff transferred out of the red barn! Now, if the rain will hold off long enough, Mr. C can get the dirtwork down and we can start using it!

Kaylee is Three

This weekend we celebrated Kaylee's 3rd birthday. She was so excited. Anytime someone told her "Happy Birthday" she would reply back "Happy Birthday." Whenever someone told her how big she is getting or how cute she is she would reply "I know". We had to talk about appropriate responses!

Kaylee got to spend her birthday morning at the doctor's office for her wellchild check. Our doctor is very popular and only works part time so she is really hard to get into. Just worked out that this was the best time. Didn't disappoint Kaylee. She has talked about see Dr. F and the shot for three months (literally). Then when she got to the doctor office and was asked to weigh, she got scared! But she finally got up on the scales.

38 lbs - 95th percentile
40 1/4" - 90th percentile

For about three months, Kaylee has wanted one thing for her birthday - a pink forklift. Everyone else just passed off the request. Uncle Heath met up to the challenge. He found her a little forklift and Aunt Jennifer transformed it using pink fingernail polish! After she received that, we thought she was set. But when our builder asked her what she wanted, she was armed and ready. A pink umbrella. Mr. C met this challenge. Kaylee really wanted our builder and wife and his son to come to her birthday party. Mr. C and Mr. B were kind enough to oblige.




Kaylee also requested that Aunt Jennifer make her birthday cake. Kaylee requested chocolate with pink frosting.

Happy Birthday Kaylee

Happy 3rd Birthday Kaylee!!!

Construction Day 56

The driveway is poured! There is still a lot of dirt work to be moved but because of the coming "flood" they wanted to get the driveway poured today. It will probably be next week before the dirtwork is down enough for us to use the driveway. Right now there is a 1 1/2' drop from the end of the lane to the driveway.

Cole watching the tractor work on Monday.

Donnie and Chad watching Mr. C get the driveway ready.

It was cold this morning watching the cement truck.

Chad talking to Bradley


Chad got to drive the tractor with Mr. C