Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The start......

We are not waiting this time around any amount of time to get our basement finished...especially with three small children and mounds of toys...but we did get a little smarter this time and we are hiring it all out - almost - Eric is doing the wiring - TOMORROW!! But here is a little glimpse of what has been done so far.....the framing is done, HVAC is in and the plumbing is roughed in. It's great to think that they could possibly be hanging sheet rock in a couple weeks.



This view is from the far corner of the family room looking down the hallway to the furnace room, bathroom and there is a bedroom back there too.


This again is from the same corner in the family room - looking more toward the stairs coming down....we have a silly pole in the middle of the room - RC code....but it will work great for light switches and outlets.


This is again from about the same angle - looking toward the other bedroom downstairs (a.k.a. - toy room for the time being) until Ana feels brave enough to sleep downstairs....and then right at the bottom of the stairs is a HUGE storage closet - kind of a bonus room - it is more like and underground cellar - it's completely cemented in and actually sits below our front outdoor porch but we plan on finishing it off and making it usable storage.


This angle is from the area just outside of the bathroom looking back into the family room and the bedroom.


And this view is from the bottom of the stairs....we have nice walk out basement with lot's of light! The big wall there we plan on turning into a full wall entertainment center and Eric has already bought his TV to be mounted up there.

NEW SKILLS

Ema has totally made the turn in the last couple weeks from being an infant to the interactive baby stage and has started showing us all her new skills.....


Sucking on her hands and starting to grab for things is how she occupies herself most of the time.


She has also mastered the art of blowing "raspberries" at us (a.k.a - lot's of bubbles and drool)


She is now holding her head high - while on her stomach.....



And just today showed me that she can roll from her stomach to her back......

Monday, December 29, 2008

Em- always ready to pose......

While the others were off playing inside or out....Em was ready and waiting to pose for a picture.





Frigid Fun....


We ventured out into the Frigid Tundra one morning to try and get a family photo.....it really was just a little too cold though......


You can see that A was not really enjoying herself....


We did however have to take advantage of the enourmous amount of snow in Fergus.....despite the cold tempatures...E did manage to get the kids out a few times....


E for the most part was not a happy camper in the cold and snow....he mostly just stood out there and cried for E to pick him up...so he never lasted very long.


Not quite sure why Uncle D was laying in the street in this picture....but it gives you an idea of how big the snow piles were around the house....

What happens at Grandma's......

STAYS AT GRANDMA'S!!!





Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas!


FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas before CHRISTMAS......

We ventured 5 hours west to Billings last Thursday night before driving 11 hours East to Fergus to celebrate an early Christmas with G'ma and Papa.....A , E and Em had a great time and are so thankful (or at least their parents are) for all the gifts and the good time we had there! It was well worth the visit...but we were sure glad to be out of the car last night......







Friday, December 19, 2008

An afternoon with Oma.....


Oma - and 3 of her 9 great grand-children.....



A & E playing with the new choo choo!

Candy Cane.....GOOD!


Monday, December 15, 2008

3 at 3 months.....

Here is a comparison of the three kids - all at three months of age. What do you think? I think A & Em look so similar but others really think E & Em look really similar.



3 months old.....


I can't believe I am typing that Em is 3 months old (Last Friday)....it's been a really quick three months!


As you can see she is totally enthralled with watching her siblings act out of control.....



Thursday, December 11, 2008

Baking Cookies....


Today's activity consisted of making our sugar cookies.....A is always asking to sit on the counter and help. E would probably be interested in helping if it didn't require sitting on the counter. He is scared to death of sitting up there (probably has something to do with him falling off of it a couple weeks ago) so needless to say he decided to occupy himself in other ways - if you look closely he now is also scared of the lazy susan - which he proceeded to get his finger stuck in today.

Need a little Ema fix.....


There were so many cute ones...I really couldn't decide which one NOT to post......
(and yes - the other kids are still here...they just are not very willing to pose for the camera anymore!)