What can I say about Jan and Feb this year.... Well, two words. Cold and Snow. We are thankful for our new house that has lots of room to run and play. However, even then the days get long and we are all looking for other things to do. As you see below, Adam takes to brushing a doll's hair! We are missing our electric furnace from the old house a bit. We are on propane here at the new one. And while we believe it's pretty efficient (hard to know when you've never had gas before), we have the heat set to a chilly 65 degrees. At $6.30/gallon we are trying to use as little as possible!
To keep busy, the kids play with beans in the kitchen and I've painted a couple rooms. When it's warm enough, we go outside and play. One day we had a heat wave --32 degrees!-- and after Alex got home from school we all bundled up and played in the snow. We also went for a walk, went swinging, down the slide, and even jumped on the trampoline! Yes, everything was covered in snow, but hey, it felt good to get out of the house.
Last week we had a piano moved into our sunroom. A friend from church needed a place to keep his piano for a couple years and we were more than happy to help. The outside has seen better days, but it seems to play pretty well. I'm getting it tuned and checked out next week, so hopefully it wont take much to get it just right. But we play it everyday and Kelli graciously let me borrow some piano lesson books so I can start teaching the boys a few things. But after looking at the books, I realized I have to give myself a refresher before I start teaching anybody anything! Hard to believe it's been almost 20 years since I really played the piano.
Thankfully we did have a break in the snow enough to make it north to the Rummel's to celebrate Casen's first birthday. The boys and Erin were counting down the days until it was time to go to Mimi's house. Erin couldn't wait to see Casen and watch him walk all over the place. The Doll side came over on Saturday to have a birthday party. The kids had fun with the cousins and Casen seemed to enjoy his cupcake, although he wasn't over enthused either. :) Later that night the boys went outside to light a chinese lantern --- those paper ones that you light a candle inside and they float away. Well, someone was wrong about which way the wind was going and it went straight into the tree! It's still hanging there as far as I know, but the candle did burn out after a few minutes. Good thing there's another one and we can try again next time. :)
 |
| this used to be the hot pink room |
 |
| This room will stay brightly colored...a good fit for a toy room. |
 |
| Playing beans |
 |
| a guest in our dog house |
 |
| Sun room -- before |
 |
| Sun room -- after Yes it's basically the same color as before! |
 |
| Andy's new ride. |
 |
| Had to paint the room before the piano came! |
 |
| Dirty keys |
 |
| Clean keys! yes, some ivory is missing though. |
 |
| Casen |
 |
| Grandma Doll with most of the grandkids. |
 |
| Mary (in green) made quilts for some family members. |
 |
| Grandma's quilt from Mary. |
 |
| Lantern in tree. |
