November in Photos

This is how he gets cozy when he is watching a little movie.

He pulls up his special chair and arranges his favorite blanket (aka "deet-deet") on his lap every time.

Sarah's fall festival picture. She is wearing all of her "cowboy girl" gear from Grandpa:

Wrangler shirt and jeans and pink boots that light up.

When we bought our house last year everything was set up for wheelchair access. There was a really nice ramp in the garage that made it easy to move in. But, it took up too much space. When the weather got cold, David decided that he was tired of scraping ice off his car every morning. So, he took out the ramp (it was no small task) and built two steps in it's place. Now, we can fit both vehicles in the garage!

Our first (and only-so far) snowfall of the year.

They rolled giant snowballs to make a snowman, but I wouldn't go outside to stack them.

In fact, I took all of these pictures from inside. 

Yeah, I'm wimpy about the cold like that.

We set up the tree the Monday before Thanksgiving because

Grandpa and Grandma Wiseman were here.

We had so much fun when Grandpa, Grandma, and Laura came to visit!

We even got a semi-decent family photo out of it. =)

David has some amazing concentration skills. 

He's doing some editing while little Davey uses dad for a chair.

When Grandpa Chuck came for Thanksgiving he showed up with a full mustache and goatee. Kathryn thought he was scary and didn't believe he was the same Grandpa that she played with at the lake this summer. Then he shaved it off--they enjoyed watching that--and she declared him to be her real Grandpa after all. 

Thanksgiving dinner (Grandpa with a goatee). He made some awesome potatoes, turkey, stuffing, and pie. I made a sweet potato casserole and attempted to make rolls again (failed). 

Sunday morning before church (sans goatee), right before he left. The kids and I all loved having family come visit for the holiday. It was so nice to have the extra help around the house. The kids enjoyed playing games with their grandparents and sharing their talents (they were constantly drawing pictures for them or singing songs they had learned).

Blog trivia: how many times did you spot Davey's blanket in various photos in this post?

Ice train

We saw this in McCall, Idaho on our trip home from the funeral in January. I took this picture right before I was pulled over. I guess I accelerated a little too fast going out of the small town (got up to the 55 mph a little too soon)...we were on only 3 hours from home on a 12 hour trip and the kids were getting to "that" point. You know. Anyway, the cop took pity on us and just gave me a verbal warning. Maybe it was because I didn't speed once I hit the 55 zone or maybe because of the 4 crying kids in the car, who knows, but I was grateful.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Snow Day!

We've had a lot more snow this year than last year. Most of it melts away by the afternoon, so it's not really too bothersome for us. The kids love it - they want to build a snowman every time it snows. Today was great -- it wasn't too cold and the snow was just perfect for rolling snowballs, it was so sticky. Here's our morning in pictures.

Me: Kathryn, you need to put on pants, boots, a hat, gloves, and coat before you go outside.

Kathryn: I don't need pants!

Me: Okay, go ahead and go outside.

Approximately 2 minutes later...

Kathryn: MOM...I need pants!

Now she's ready to play in the snow. She is wearing boots but insisted on having the plastic bags too.

Joseph was also stubborn about wearing a coat. To his credit, it was probably near 40 degrees, so not as cold as it looks. After 20 minutes or so he decided a coat might be nice. He is wearing gloves though.

They are shoveling the backyard. We have to put that snow shovel to use somehow. I bought it in early January because I got tired of having 3 inches of packed snow on my front walk throughout November and December. Then, just as I predicted (Murphy's law!) we haven't had any major snow that lasted more than a few hours since then.

Rolling the snowball. They made this one all on their own.

Getting....hard....to....push...

I helped them stack the top two, then we decorated him. Joseph went inside right before this because his toes were cold and wet. He didn't wear his boots.

Kathryn went in when we started the snowman and found a warm corner where she could read some books. She wore underwear this morning, but it was a disaster. She refuses to actually use the toilet, even though she knows that's what is supposed to happen and that she will be rewarded well for doing it. I did borrow some plastic underwear/diaper covers, so at least she isn't getting our carpet dirty anymore. Today, she told me that she would use the potty "when I am grown up".

Back inside and getting ready for lunch. They wanted carrots for a snack! (How cool is that?) Then Joseph and Sarah wanted to peel and slice them, like they've been doing at school. So, I let them and we used the carrots to make a nice soup.

Less than 2 hours after finishing the snowman, this was the scene in the backyard.

I told you it was a "warm" day.

And what has our baby been up to lately? He was napping during our adventures in the backyard this morning. Yesterday he managed to get into the bathroom and play his favorite game: unroll as much toilet paper as possible before Mom or Sarah finds him. Then, proceed to shred it or eat it.

He is really fast and crawls all around the house. He is very strong and stable on his feet too. I have seen him standing up without holding onto anything for support for a few seconds at a time. He's an extremely curious and determined baby. He wants to explore everything and isn't easily distracted. (If he wants to pull on the laptop cord, putting him in another room with a flashy toy won't help. He crawls right back to the laptop as fast as he can.)

This was the snow yesterday afternoon. I know, it's not much compared to Utah, but I surprised at how it was coming down (hard to tell in the picture) in the afternoon in late February. Last year we had snow fall two times.

A New House, a Forever Family, and a New PhD

Sorry for not posting any updates in the past two months. We've been extraordinarily busy. At the end of September we bought a house in Lewiston and starting moving in that day. Within 24 hours we had moved all our belongings to the new house and we set to work unpacking and remodeling all at once. Bad idea!

Sept 30 - Day 1 of moving - the kids loaded all their strollers & bikes

I spent my "free" evenings for three weeks repainting three bedrooms, the hallway and entry way (with multiple coats of paint - including the ceilings and closets). We've also had some new windows installed and changed up some doors in the family room. The largest project was installing laminate in the large bonus (play) room. It took a lot longer than we expected because we found some water damaged sub floor boards and mildew/mold when we ripped out the old carpet and baseboard.
Here are some before and after pictures:

The worst room was this neon green one--

Before

In Process...

Pinstripes under window in the green (baby) room

Joseph and Sarah's room - purple & brown to blue & light blue (sorry, I don't have a final photo)

Before

Almost After (the lower part is now a very light blue)

Here is the Bonus room / Play room -- I didn't get a true "before" picture with the old grayish-blue sculpted carpet before we ripped it out. Sorry!

Water stains...ewww! There used to be a hot tub there.

From another angle - we took out all those stained boards

Mold & Mildew

After - replaced old black sliding door

After (we had those exterior doors removed)

In late October our family drove down to St. George, Utah so we could be at Sterling and Emma's sealing. It was a long drive (1000 miles one way), but so worth it to see all of my family and be in the temple with them. The kids did really well considering the long drive -- thanks to my friend Cari and her portable DVD player.

All the ladies

All the gentlemen =)

During all this craziness of moving, remodeling and traveling 2000 miles David managed to finish writing his dissertation and submit it to his committee. On November 19th he presented his defense and passed with flying colors. Half of his committee members received low ranks though because they showed up nearly an hour late for the event. =) He spent a week in sunny Nashville finishing up all the last details before returning home, the triumphant new Doctor on Thanksgiving day.

Thankfully, I didn't have to be a single mom during that full week he was gone because my dad came to visit us for Thanksgiving. The weather turned sour the first day he was here -- snow started falling and hardly stopped for a week...what am I saying? It's still snowing here. We had recording-breaking low temps. Which means we spent most of his visit in the house washing mountains of dirty laundry, scrubbing floors, and preparing pies for the big dinner.

We tried to build a snowman, but no one had waterproof gloves or shoes.

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with some of our new friends here and it was a pleasant evening with plenty of great food to go around. Grandpa Chuck left the next morning and it was back to the old grind around here. David is still just as busy as always, especially since it's publishing time for Hispania (he's the managing editor).