Glasses

On our Thanksgiving road trip Chris and Ellie were playing the alphabet game (Find an A, B, C...) Chris later informed me that I needed to make Ellie an appointment with the eye doctor because she couldn't see anything, she kept insisting that a round bale of hay was a buffalo. So I took her in and sure enough...

What a cutie!

He did it! ...and I helped a little too

The attic project is finally complete, well it has been for a couple weeks, but I'm just getting around to blogging about it. Chris started this monstrous project February 2009 and finished November 2009, adding 830 sq. feet to our house without changing the exterior/roofline at all!

Here are a few pictures of the process:

The first cut into the office wall downstairs. He had to move the door over to make room for the stairway. I was really nervous and kept asking "are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Before pic of the attic

You can see now the door is moved and there is a space for the stairs (previously a closet and 3 feet of our office)

And there are stairs! partially at least. This was an exciting day when we could get up there without a ladder.

So a lot happened before this picture, but I can't seem to find any photos. He did all the framing and laid all the plywood. As well as the plumbing before the insulation went in.

Putting in a window/skylight

Drywall guys came and spent a week up there and transformed it into a real space with real walls!

The beautiful finished staircase- I love this!

Bathroom

Bedroom

Game room

Now comes the sad part. It's finished, it's beautiful, and someone else is going to get to enjoy it. We're off to a new adventure!

Thanksgiving on the farm

For Thanksgiving we headed up to Missouri to visit Grandma and Grandpa and the Hirst cousins one more time before we leave the country.

Lots of Family!

Teresa and Kirsten

Garrett, Kirsten and Newel

Teresa, Rachel, Mom/Grandma, Jill

Garrett and Jill

Kirsten and Ellie

Lots of Food- of course!

Save some for us!

You can never have too much meat

In Paul's defense, this was not his apron.

Eat your veggies!

Mom's homemade rolls- I wish I had a few of these right now.

Carmel Apple Cheesecake Pie- yum!

See recipe HERE

Lots of Fun- inside and outside

Puzzle Pro

Napping- that's my kind of fun!

Caleb got to go out with the big kids and shoot a gun for the first time. Mom thought it better to stay inside so I wouldn't be too nervous :)

A little kite-flying, we had great weather our last day there, not too cold, but nice and windy for the kites.

The kids had left kites there a couple summers ago and were thrilled to see that they were still around!

Jensen house

Jensen farm

This is the neighbors barn, but I've always liked it :)

Halloween and other Fall Fun

We didn't get a chance to make it out to our favorite pumpkin patch this year, so the kids wanted to choose their pumpkins from the YMCA "patch".

Caleb triumphantly "lifts" his pumpkin, with a little help :)

Ellie loving on her pumpkin, she's such a poser- that girl could totally be a model!

Carving- don't you love how Caleb is standing!

Cleaning out the glop, yuck

Then on to Halloween...

As busy as we've been getting the house ready to sell, it was nice to takes some time and hang out with the kids. Friday night we went to their school's Fall Fest, which is a really great fundraiser they do every year. They have carnival games, bounce houses, cake walk, etc.

Then Halloween night we went with our neighbor friend trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. After a couple hours Caleb and I were wiped out and went home, but Ellie was still going strong! The only reason she came home was that she needed to go to the bathroom!

A scary witch!

She made that scary face in almost every picture we have from Halloween!

A brave Jedi

A vampire and her dinner

Down for the Count

Things are really starting to come together with all our projects around here! Chris has taken the rest of October off work so that he can finish up the attic. The sheetrock guys have been here all week and now we have walls up there! I know this may not sound all that exciting, but after 9 months of construction this is a HUGE step for us, it's the beginning of the end. Once they finish up it's just a matter of painting and doing the other finish work (connecting lights, baseboards, etc). I am so excited, but of course sad I won't be able to enjoy it for long. We're planning on listing our house for sale as soon as the attic is finished. I still have some painting projects that I need to finish before then- I have to neutralize some of our bright colors.

Then it's on to packing. We have a load of stuff that we're going to take up to my parents at Thanksgiving and everything else is either coming with us or being sold.

I have to say I think we are all having mixed feelings about this move. For the most part I am super excited. But I am also getting a little sad. I'm really sad to be leaving two things 1- friends, 2- my house. I'm not sad, scared about anything else, I'm totally excited to explore a new place and have some new adventures. The kids are moving into a new phase of understanding that we're leaving. Caleb was really mad the other day about not being able to have the attic anymore. He said "we can't move, especially when Dad does something really nice like build an attic for us." I know they'll be fine, it'll be a good experience for them, but it's a little sad to see them upset about leaving the only home they really remember.

Nobody can say I haven't tried.

After being sick all last week I woke up this morning feeling better and motivated to get some things done. After taking the kids to school and going for a quick run I sat down with my Cliff bar, Diet Coke and last night's DVRed NBC nightly news (a new tradition that I'm quit fond of). But instead of finishing and getting to my to do list I fell asleep. I woke up at 10:30 with a new resolve to get things done. I mowed the lawn, cleaned the bathroom, made soup for dinner, and then decided that I'd surprise the kids and take them to Inflatable World after school for some fun.

I thought the break from routine would be helpful for me and them. I've been feeling like I'm in kind of a rut lately. Both the kids are in school full time now, and since I am not going to school this semester (due to our upcoming move) I am left with a lot of extra time. I thought I'd have a lot to do getting ready for the move and getting our house ready to sell, but I have to say, I'm bored. Yeah, there are lots of thing I could do- I could spend time keeping my house cleaner, making better meals, etc. But I find that with Chris traveling all week I have very little motivation to do those things. If, on the off chance that I actually cook something that takes more than 15 minutes to make, chances are the kids will complain and I'll be the only one enjoying it anyway. Don't get me wrong, I"m really enjoying the fact that they're in school all day, I'm just finding it a strange transition, the novelty has worn off and I'm bored and lonely. If I were not moving out of the country in a few months I would get more involved in school, get a job or continue with nursing school. There have been a number of preparation thing I've been working on, garage sales, craigslist selling, and next on my list is painting the majority of my house back to a neutral color. This "moving out of the country" to- do list just hasn't kept me as busy as I would have thought.

Back to today… I felt really good, I had gotten some things done and was excited to take the kids out for a fun afternoon. I picked them up for school and maintained a very positive attitude, which I have found is essential in keeping peace once we get in the car. We had not even left the school parking lot when Caleb and Ellie start arguing about the color of Caleb's new toy. She insisted it was "turquoise" and he says that's not a color, blah, blah, blah. And before I know it he has reached over and was repeatedly pounding her, and when I yelled at him to stop he threw a flip flop at me. Of course I cannot allow that behavior and I cannot take him out to have fun after he acts like that so there went the afternoon. He is currently in his room until 5pm when he finishes his homework time.

All I have to say is that being a mom is hard work!

Rainy Day

We've had some crazy rain this past week, a good thing since we REALLY needed it! So we sent the kids out to have some rainy day fun. They loved it, their favorite was "boat" racing with leaves down the water in the gutter. I know, I know- go ahead and play in the street. Luckily there wasn't any traffic.

Las Vegas Trip- better late than never

I'm finally getting around to posting about my trip to Vegas with my buddies from college. We all met up there and had a free weekend with no kids! It was really fun, relaxing and just what I needed. I have known these girls for over 10 years and we always have a blast together. Needless to say there are lots of fun memories to laugh about!

I flew in a day early to hang out with Eleisha and her cute little boys. They are so cute and even brought me breakfast in bed! Then we went down to the strip to check into our hotel and get in the vacation mode. We met the other girls (who were driving down from Utah) at Serendipity for some dessert.

Eleisha, Rachel, Aubrey, Robyn

Friday morning those crazy girls got up and went to the gym! I slept in till they got back and then we all went to the pool (a whole different world when there are no kids with you)

Then In-N-Out for lunch- YUM!

Out to do some shopping, always nice!

California Pizza Kitchen for dinner.

Back to the Strip for some fun and dessert: crepes at the Paris

After a little Diet Coke mishap it was time to head back to the hotel.

Saturday, after a rough morning of Hilton brunch and lounging by the pool, we got dolled up for a night on the town.

We started with dinner at La Isla (at TI) it was super-good. I could totally go for those fajitas right now!

Then on to the Mirage to see LOVE- the Beatles show by Cirque du Soleil

It was AMAZING- I really loved it, awesome music, great dancing and of course, the acrobatics were unreal.

We finally ended the night at Cheesecake Factory for dessert.

What a fun weekend! I love those girls- can't wait for the next reunion...my house...Australia?