Snow Day

We got our second snow, or first REAL snow fall on December 26.  It ended up closing my office, daycare and just about everything else in town and around.  I asked the girls if they wanted to go out and play and of course, they did!  I decided if we went out the new basement door we would be protected from the wind and would have a warm place to drop clothes off when we were done. 

The first thing Shelby wanted to do was make a snow angel! 

I think her's turned out the best! 

Daddy had to make one too! 

It didn't turn out as well.  Jenna is standing on the angel's wing. 

Then Jenna thought she wanted to make a snow angel, but decided against it after laying down. 

Daddy dug out the sled and the girls took some rides down the root cellar/walk out hill.

Shelby got cold, so she went in to warm up! 

The snowfall looking out our walk-out. 

Milk, Cookies, Carrots, and Oatmeal for Santa...

I didn't realize how much more complicated things had gotten.  We not only left cookies for Santa, we had to leave carrots and sparkly oatmeal for the reindeer.

The plate reads.... Dear Santa, I've been kind of good this year.  Here is milk & cookies for you, plus snacks for the reindeer.  Love, Jenna.  They made the plates at pre-school.  We had a very happy Santa and reineer this year!

Eve of Christmas Eve

We had Christmas with the Hofmann family on Sunday, the Eve to Christmas Eve.  I had my camera along, but didn't manage to take any pictures.  Angel sets up and takes the annual family picture.  She was kind enough to share a copy with me. 

Front row: Kaity, Shelby
Second row: Janet, Carolyn, Christa, Angel
Back row:  Stanley, Leon, Jenna, Lance, Ivan, Kent

Christmas Eve

We opened our family Christmas presents on Christmas Eve this year. 

The girls next to the Christmas Tree.

Shelby and her book. 

Intermission opening presents (we had to stop and play) 

with our new CAT Loader and Tonka Roller 

Mommy got a cupcake carrying case! 

Then we laid on the couch and watched "Blue Mountain Mystery" the new Thomas movie the girls got for Christmas 

Our loot from our Hofmann Christmas plus a few things from Hofmann Christmas. 

Christmas Pictures

If you have gotten a Christmas card from us, or are on Facebook, you likely have already seen the Christmas pictures I took of the girls, but I wanted to share them here too!

 Stanley (Papaw Hofmann) was over visiting/helping one evening while I was talking pictures.  Jenna was wearing her Daddy's boots and Shelby was wearing Papaw's boots!  I thought it was a cute picture.

I laugh at this picture, but Jenna though Shelby was trying to tickle her neck!

Merry Christmas!



Mud, Furnace, Insulation

The house continues to make progress.  The mudders have been around twice now.  They have all the seams taped throughout the house and all the nail/screw holes covered over.  They have one more coat before they start sanding.

Garage

Garage 

Basement 

Basement / Office 

 Our new furnace has been installed.  However, they still haven't gotten the unit hooked up.  It is a little chilly in the new part of the house, but that will get fixed in a week or so. 

 The insulator's came and finished blowing insulation in the attic and above the garage.  We still intend to add "side walls" to the floor of the storage area above the garage, we just haven't gotten that far yet.

 The siding and gutter are finally finished.  The last thing done was the second dormer (center of pic) and between/above the garage doors.  I am happy with the color and the way it turned out.  It looks much prettier than the nasty whitish siding that was on the house! 

We got somewhere around an inch of snow on Thursday evening / Friday morning.  Thursday night we moved enough stuff around in the garage to get both of our work vehicles in out of the weather!  We have been parking inside ever since.  I know we will get kicked out again when they plaster the garage ceiling and possibly a few more times, but it sure was nice not to have to scrape vehicles on Friday morning!

Watch your step!

You never know what might by on the floor around here these days, so if you visit, you should watch your step.  This evening, I got up from working on year-end work suff to go potty and saw a random blanket on the floor.  Then, I noticed the hand and figured out Jenna was asleep on the floor in the doorway of her bedroom and the hallway!  Momma, watch your step.

Christmas Goodies

I decided to make some Christmas goodies over the weekend.  Of course, I had a little helper.  I dipped some pretzel rods and Jenna sprinkled them.

Some had more sprinkles than others, but I let Jenna do it her way!

Jenga!

Tonight, Lance taught the girls how to play Jenga.

None of the games lasted very long, but they had lots of fun!

More Siding, More Drywall, More Digging

 The siding crew has made mroe progress.  Though, I really doubt they are done when I get home tonight.  They still had the point on the front porch, the centers between the garage doors to finish, the one dormer to finish and the peak between rooflines to finish.  Nonetheless, they are making progress!

 The drywaller's came on M,T, & W and were finished Wednesday about 2:30.  They didn't have much waste and had quite a few full sheets left over to return!  All drywall up and down stairs is complete.

Above: living room

Below: Master bedroom 

Great room 

Basement 

Garage 

Entry from garage to house and to storage area above the garage

 I guess for some reason I thought the resident digger was done tearing up my yard.  I was wrong.  Tuesday they came and dug a path all the way around the front of my yard and around the house.  See, the electric wires were above the driveway and attached to the SE corner of the house.  Now the wire is below ground and on the center of the N side of the house.  They transferred electric over on Thursday so all the power is now fed into the house through the new fuse box!

I keep telling myself that we are getting closer.  We are getting closer, we are getting closer.  Soon I won't have to scrape frost and get into a freezing car every morning.  We are getting closer