Making Valentines

We took on a little project of hearts and glitters in honor of Valentine's Day. Oliver made valentines for his classmates at preschool (with a little help from Meredith). It's been snowy and cold here, so it was good to have a project to work on this afternoon. We also made sugar cookie dough so we can make heart cookies and decorate them for his class.

Snow Day

The snow began last night and when we woke up the ground was covered in white. It's still snowing. Schools are cancelled and Alex and his dad are working on the basement, so the kids and I are hanging out (need to post updated pics of the basement soon). Here are a couple of the kids and Daisy playing in it.

The Big B

And I do mean basement. We started to remodel our basement two years ago in an endeavor to create more space in our house. Since our house is old (build in 1927) it has posed some interesting challenges. Alex (with the help of some friends and our dads) has done the work himself. We started with replacing the heat and air. The old heater had the repair recipts from 1962 laying on it when we moved in seven years ago. A time bomb waiting to explode or break. We had ductwork put in throughout the basement and had the furnace moved to the corner to take up less space. Then came drain tile and a sump pump to keep it totally dry. Then plumbing, electrical, and framing. We just passed our final inspection today through the city of Wichita. Yahoo! We are going to hire the drywall hanging and finishing as it's a majorly dirty project, and Alex has to be gone so much. When it's finished we'll have a family/play room, full bathroom, laundry room, and storage room. I need to dig up some beginning stages pictures to post, and get down there and take some recent ones of the process. Targeted finishing date: before baby gets here. Can't wait until it's finished...and of course we have vowed we won't ever take on any home project like this again. We'll see.

Christmas

Oliver holding one of his two new baby cousins, Lena. He's getting some good practice.


Christmas Morning

Our best attempt at family pictures.



My sweet girl and me.

I'm Back...

I haven't been good at updating my blog this month. Alex just returned from a two week work trip and it was all I could do to just keep the kids fed and clothed:) I am, however, starting to feel better. At almost 11 weeks, the sickness is subsiding. I am getting more and more excited, and can't wait to find out if this sweet little baby is a girl or a boy. We debated on whether or not to find out since we have clothes and bedding for both sexes, but neither of us can wait. We kind of consider it our suprise halfway through. We'll keep the name a surprise, for an added bit of fun...and I welcome any girl name ideas anyone has.

We will be home this Christmas, which is nice since Alex has been on the road so much these last two months. We'll spend Christmas Eve with Alex's family and Christmas Day with mine. I did so much of my shopping online this year, and we cut back all around on gifts, which has been a relief. I'm so looking forward to spending time with our little family and our extended family.

I'm hoping to get a good picture of our family at Christmas to either snail mail out or email. Kind of behind on that...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

In July

In July, Meredith will be big sister for the first time, and Oliver will be a big brother again. I found out when Alex was flying overseas, and waited to tell him until he got home. The kids wore these shirts (made by my amazing friend Tara) to the airport to pick him up. We are thankful and excited! I just have to get through all the sickness of the first tri-mester.

Halloween

Daddy, Oliver, and Uncle Max after carving pumpkins.



Dora the Explorer, and a sweet little cowgirl and cowboy.



Our friends Zoe' and Anthony hosted their annual Halloween/Birthday Party. After we mingled a while, we took all the kids trick or treating in our neighborhood. The kids had a blast, and it was warm, thankfully, since I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.