House Updates

The past couple of months we've been able to work in a few small remodeling projects around the house. In October we tore into our small bathroom and completely renovated it. It took 2 months and about 50 trips to Lowe's, but it's finally (almost) done.


In the midst of that we repainted Kaylynn's room, and she received a whole bunch of accessories (sheets, bedspread, curtains, lamp, pictures, etc.) for Christmas. She is a big fan and very happy to be in a pink room now.


Last week we decided to replace some of the lights in the house, including two chandeliers. One of those has been put up, along with two other lights. The last chandelier is, unfortunately, hanging from a vaulted ceiling that is around 20 ft. high. I'm still trying to figure out how to get up there and install it. If I survive then we'll post a picture of that later. :>

A busy weekend

We had our first of many busy weekends between now and Christmas this past weekend. Here is a brief summary and, of course, lots of pictures!

Last Friday night Kaylynn had her Winter Program at school. The kids sang three really cute songs, one of which was "Twinkle, twinkle":

On Saturday morning was the annual Children's Holiday party at NCAR. They always have a lot of great crafts and fun games. Kaylynn got her face painted and had a unicorn balloon animal made. She also decided to brave Santa's lap again this year too!

Saturday morning Robin HG also arrived!

We watched Otis that afternoon and night so that Mommy and Daddy and Robin could have some bonding time. Kaylynn loves to have her friends sleep over and her and Otis played really great together. They would like to wish you a Mele Kalikimaka!!

Otis is hoping this is what Christmas morning looks like at his house!

On Sunday afternoon was Kaylynn's holiday dance recital. It was much more low-key compared to their spring recital, but still quite cute!

About a month ago we repainted Kaylynn's room, at her request, to PINK!!! When she saw it she said "Mommy, I love it!" She also inherited a canopy from a colleague that I work with and so we hung that up over her bed last weekend. Here she is doing her Sleeping Beauty impression!!

Finally, we squeezed in some time to build our gingerbread house tonight. I think Kaylynn ate more frosting and candies then actually made it on the house (we had to dig some M&M's out of our stash to finish decorating the roof)!!

We are looking forward to much more excitement this coming weekend - stay tuned!!

Turkey Day

My favorite American holidays are easily Thanksgiving and Super Bowl. They both involve lots of food and usually watching some football on the side. We packed up the car and headed to Montana to spend Thanksgiving on the farm this year. First, though, we made a quick stop in Bowman, ND to see our godson, Kevin, get baptized. It also gave us an opportunity to have a nice visit with our good friends Eric and Betty, now that they have moved back from Alaska.

Us with Kevin after the baptism.


Eric and Betty also have a 2 year old daughter named Danielle. Her and Kaylynn hit it right off and had a good old time setting up some dominoes, and knocking them over of course.


Kaylynn and Danielle also helped frost the cakes for the baptism party.

After leaving Bowman we headed over to the farm for the rest of the week. As usual mom, dad, and Pete showed us a good time. I got to do a little hunting with Pete and his friend Todd. Jamie did some quilting with my mom. And Kaylynn played with the kitties and doggies, played games with grandpa, and did a little horseback riding.

Kaylynn also got to tuck grandma in for her nap.

Of course, we ate way too much on Thanksgiving and drank some Tom and Jerry's. If you don't know what those are you are probably not from Montana or North Dakota and you are really missing out.