The Holidays

Well it has been so long since I have posted that I think I will just sum up the past four months in one long post. Sorry if it gets too long and boring. I have started this post about 20 different times but it just hasn't worked out.

For New Year's my parents, sister, and her family came down. We had lots of yummy food on the 31st, then had a snow day on the first.

Brian and my brother-in-law used their four wheelers to pull the kids on sleds. They loved it!




We had a couple of snow days this year with friends and family. I have to say that this one was my favorite because it was in our backyard so.....Brielle took a nap the whole time. I didn't have to deal with tired cold kids at all! This is Brielle getting ready for some grub clueless that she missed out on all of the fun.



Tanner couldn't wait for Christmas this year. He was so excited and facinated with the whole idea of Santa Clause. That Santa knew just what he wanted. Thomas the Train. He loved it so much I had a really hard time getting any pictures of him. He builds tracks lines up trains and hauls coal for a good 2-3 hours a day. Beauty.

Grandma Sorensen stopped by after a dental appointment and brought everything needed to make a really cute gingerbread house. Tanner loved it.

My parents,three of my sisters and their kids came to our house for Thanksgiving this year. All that delicious food still brings a smile to my face. In all of the cooking, cleaning, and fun I didn't take many pictures. I did get this one of the kids doing their "project". Now whenever they are together they ask for a new project to do. The best part about it...they are so quiet when they do them!

Last but not least Halloween. Tanner really wanted to be Spiderman for Halloween. I came across this Superman and convinced him to wear it. I still missed the really cute Amish guy, and Cowboy I had in Halloweens past, but I put my feelings aside and went for the not so cute Superman. Of course he loved it. If you are like Brian and can't figure out what Brielle is, she is a clown and yes I know the bow is huge! I can't help myself.

We hope you all had a great one.

Brian's Side

Brian told me the other day that if I wanted to get comments on our blog I should write about him (he is right our blog gets way more comments when it is about him). I decided to blog about Brian's side of the room which is always a disaster. This is what it looks like today. My favorite parts are: the top of his dresser is covered in receipts and other papers (most of which just need to be put in the trash), there are a couple of coolers that have not been put away since hunting (mid September),and if you look closely there is a box of stuff from the move that he hasn't unpacked.

Those of you who are thinking that I am a slacker by not at least taking care of the laundry I understand. After four years of doing Brian's laundry wrong he asked me not to do it for him anymore, so he is now in charge of his own clothes.

By the way here is what my side of the room looks like.



If any of you would to see more of B's skills they are displayed rather nicely in his car. YIKES!

The House

Some of you have been asking to see pictures of our new house. I have been trying to get everything all set before I post them, but that will probably never happen. So with my limited ability to decorate and whatnot here are a couple of pictures.

This is from the kitchen looking into the living room before we took down the two walls.


Same area as above without the walls.


Close up of fireplace and living room area.


Looking back into the kitchen from the hallway.


Office, which is just off to the left of the living room.


Master bedroom taken from the master sink area.


Master bath, the walk in-ish closet is on the right (sorry no close-up pics it is kinda messy right now) the potty and tub are on the left.

Master tub and pot.

This is the porch that comes off of the master bedroom. Our backyard goes back to the brown vinyl fence. Hopefully the dirt will be covered in pasture grass come Spring.

Upstairs potty. Blue tile on the sink and tub rough to work with!

Brielle's room/laundry room.


Big room in the basement it will be our family room/game room.


On the left is the basement bathroom to the right is our t.v. den. I am still seriously struggling with the paint job in the t.v. room. I will get it right one of these days.


Not pictured because they were a disaster and I had no energy to clean them up:
1. Tanner's room
2. The guest room
3. Storage area

Hopefully this makes sense and feeds your curiosity.

Joy School and The Little Vacuum

This last month Tanner started Joy School. He really loves it. It is fun to see him learn and play with the other kids in his "class".


He was so excited about his Spider Man backpack that he greeted everyone at school with his back to them. Then he started moving at them like a skunk ready to attack saying "Look at my Spider Man backpack. Did you see my new backpack? Look! Look! Look!" It only took about a week to wear off.


Brielle has mastered the army crawl and will soon advance to full on out of control crawling (right now she occasionally gets on all fours and rocks). She doesn't play with toys anymore she just moves around with her little finger and thumb testing and working the floor until she finds something wonderful to put in her mouth. I am ALWAYS vacuuming and sweeping our main floor and she still manages to find something.


I am still working on getting the house together. Between the kids, hunting season, new animals and lots of sicknesses I just have gotten it all there yet. Hopefully soon!

Spoiled

My boys have really been spoiled this month.
Exhibit A Brian's mountain truck

Exhibit B Lucky our "free" horse

Exhibit C Bingo the "free" puppy...


Wish me luck everyone!

Still Alive

Things have been really busy for us. Our new house has some tomato plants that are out of control. So I made this

out of these bad boys.

Then three days later I tackled these guys.

Tanner is loving our new backyard. This is a picture of him catching grasshoppers to feed to his toads. He does this for hours some days. We both love it.


Other updates:
B: Just entered the horse business. He has been pretty busy taking care of Lucky.
K: Ran my 1/2 marathon last Saturday. I felt pretty good about it especially considering I had the flu and only at 3 meals total the previous week.

We are slowly getting our house set up hopefully I will have some pics to post of it really soon.

If Only

I wish this is what my kids were doing right now, instead of being grumpy/crazy kids.



I am trying to get things ready at the house for paint, if only my two little ones would cooperate. Oh well I guess there is always dishes to do and boxes to pack. Brielle is cutting teeth, so a little nap on her part would really be great!