Heat and computer problems

Well, we have heat. It was just some small part that needed replacing, but it looks like we might be leaking CO so, we are having a new furnace put in Wen. Not a big deal, we have been expecting this since we moved in. We are lucky it lasted us this long (almost 6 years) The unit is about 26 almost 27 years old.

In other news . . . I might finally have my movies up and running so I can get Christmas presents out to my Grandparents. If this doesn't work I am going to cry. It still has 2 hours of doing it's thing before I can test it out. Wish me luck I am going to need it.

Blizzard 06-2

Well, we are getting hit hard again!! There should be a cul-d-sac between us and this house, but as you can see it is missing today.

Our jet skiis were stolen for the second time this week. We had just gotten them back too. As you can see it was the same culprit as last time. They took the skiis and let a big pile of snow in their place.

But this is the view of the snow we have had most of the day.

The furnace went out and we have no heat, but it is warmer in the basement so we are hanging out down here today.

Katie and TJ are making the most of the situation!

I am really cold!

Scott is getting all the insulation put up in the basement and taking care of a few other things down here. Plus we are moving stuff around to get ready to start on the bathroom.

Even Sadie and Diamond are cudling together to stay warm!

Christmas Pictures

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MORE SNOW!!

Can you believe it??!?!?! We are gettingm ore snow. It is really coming down out there. I am so excited. I love this. The weather broke long enough for us to have a nice Christmas with family and friends and restock and now it is snowing again. I love it. We have gotten a lot done around the house today while we were "snowed in" Scott rehung Katie's closet door and hung a hang board over our closet door. Then we cleaned out the basement and I am doing some Freecycling and Craigs Listing. I suppose we will need to shovel at some point. I will be sure to get pictures up of the latest storm!!! WOOOHOOO!

Well, the snow is out and it is time to play. Scott and the boy across the street made this tunnel that spans from the front door to the side walk. It is pretty cool. We sure had fun today shoveling out and talking to neighbors. Blizzards have a way of bringing a cul-d-sac together. Merry Christmas and Happy Blizzard of 06!

Blizzard 06 Update

Well, we are on day 2 of the blizzard of 06. Reminecent of the blizzard of 03, but not nearly as bad or as long. This is the view out our front window this morning. The driveway and car were both clear about 9:00 last night.

Here is a view out Katie's window. This was taken around 10:00 am this morning. At that time the snow was still falling.

Currently the snow has stopped and there even seems to be some melting. Although, the sun is not out yet. The boy across the street made a snow tunnel for the kids. You can see TJ going through it here. More pictures to come!

The Snowman

Well, ask and ye shall receive. Katie got her snowman. If you ask me it looks more like a snowconeman, but se is happy. It is still coming down hard. As you can see I couldn't get a great picture because of all the flakes of snow in the air.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Well, as I am sure you have heard on the news we are in a Blizzard warning until noon tomorrow. I would say there is at least a foot out there. It is hard to tell because of the drifts. I went to my neighbor's this morning to borrow cupcake liners and it was an expedition just to get over there. Thankfully our neighbor across the street (with a plow on his mower) shoveled us out this morning and has been packing down the cul-d-sac all day. Katie's school was cancelled today and tomorrow. Unfortunately that means no Christmas program. That was supposed to be tomorrow morning. I even had Chase for about an hour today, because his daycare center closed at 9:00 am., but then his dad got out of work early. So did Scott. He was home by 3:00 amd I doubt he will have to work tomorrow. It is still falling. Scott and Katie just got back in from shoveling the driveway. Katie had a lot of fun doing that. She is ready to go back out and make a snowman, but I am making her warm up first and giving Daddy a break.

The Office

Well, it is finally done. The carpet is in. The shelves are up (and loaded with books). We are pretty much moved in now. There are still a couple boxes to unpack. We are pretty much done though. The next room will be the bathroom. I can hardly wait. That will be so nice. Hopefully that will come by this time next year. We will keep you up to date as we make more progress!

Ski 2006

Here are pics from our A-Basin trip. As you can see the lines were horrible. I didn't get many pics taken since there wasn't a memory card in the camera so I had to use all internal memory, opps! The weather was nice though. We tried to go to Ski Cooper on Monday, but when we got up there we found out the first couple weeks they are only open Fri-Sun. We were sad.

Monster Trucks

TJ, Scott, and TJ's God-Father went to the monster truck rally a week and a half ago. Or, at least, they tried. They changed the time form 6:00 to 2:00 so it wouldn't interfere with a stupid Broncos game. So it was over before they got there. They still got to see some trucks though and got to watch them put little tires on them to load them into the big trucks that take them from show to show. Scott even got to talk to some of the drivers. I guess TJ was a little scared when they started them up, because they are very loud. He was a brave little guy though. I really like the picture of him with the Spiderman truck! He loves Spiderman.

The Office

No, not the super awsome comedy on Thursday nights. I am talking about the room in our office. It is just about done. We are just waiting (and waiting and waiting) on the carpet guy. We are so excited to get moved in. We got a bookshelf up that is not in the pictures, but that has been a big help. You will get to see it when I get the next round of pics up. This first pic is a view from the basement door into what is now the office. This is the office once we finished framing.

This is our current view from the basement door.

This is the inside of our new office. You can see where we started to put shelves in the upper left corner. They go all the way around the room now.

Pie Auction

Well, the pie auction has come and gone again. I reall wasn't into it this year so, I only made 4 pies. I made chocolate mint, lemon rasberry, pineapple, and grated apple. My good pies went low and the ones I wasn't so sure about went high. You never know what is going to happen at the pie auction. The reason I was not as into it this year was beacuse the middle and high school ministries have joined with other churches so there were 5 or 6 churches at the auction and it was not even at our church. It ended up still being a good time and a lot of fun. I will be back on my A game for next year. The kds had fun helping make pie as you can tell from the pictures.

Katie's Thanksgiving 2006

I suppose since it is almost Christmas I should finally post the pictures from Thanksgiving! These pictures are from the aprty they had at Katie's preschool. The first picture is when they were eating their Thanksgiving feast. It really WAS a feast there was SO much food!

This picture was taken when Katie got her pie. Mommy's world famous Key Lime Pie at that.

This picture was taken when they went back to their class for a craft and story. She is sitting on her carpet square for story. Mommy got to read the story.

Here Katie is dancing in her indian dress. The same indian dress that Gramma made for mommy, many years ago.

Her she is posing pretty in her costume.

My December Column

Thanks, but no thanks Santa
This time of year is full of family traditions. In our home some of them have been passed down from our families, like a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas, and pizza on Christmas Eve. My favorite traditions though are the ones we have come up with since we have been married, and in most cases, since we had the kids. Our newer traditions are reading the kids T’was Night Before Christmas before they go to bed Christmas Eve and reading them The Nativity Story before they open presents Christmas morning. One we started last year was my husband and the kids put up the Christmas tree while I am out doing some Black Friday shopping and I decorate it with the kids when he is at work on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Our strangest tradition though is telling Santa not to visit. Don’t worry his feelings are not hurt. He has many houses to visit any he can skip saves him time and money. This was a decision we made shortly after getting married and years before having the kids. We were pretty sure that people would think we were off our rocker, but surprisingly we have met friends that do the same thing. We were shocked not to be alone in this decision. It was a little harder for Grandparents to get used to, but after a couple years they got on board too.
There were a few factors in making this decision. First, we wanted our children to know that Christmas was about the birth of Jesus and not about toys and candy. Second, I wanted to save them from the traumatizing year that comes to every child when they get too old for Santa. I personally was older than I like to admit and I was still traumatized. Third, it just makes life easier. No waiting in line at the mall, no sending letters, and no figuring out how he gets in our chimneyless house.
Of course, there are some drawbacks. Now that Katie is in preschool we will have to explain to her why Santa is visiting her friends and not her. Right now she doesn’t even know who he is. Last year she called him “Snowman”. We didn’t bother to correct her. Once she has it figured out we will then have to teach her not to tell her little friends. We certainly don’t want her to be the kid that . . . well you know.
We are happy with our decision. Our oldest at only 3 already knows why we celebrate this holiday and that brings great joy to our hearts.

Fun Pics

My November Article

I love fall. Although I am not a fan of the cooler temperatures, I do love all the family traditions that surround this time of year. There is the ever-popular leaf diving, corn mazes, and pumpkins. Not to mention fall has fun holidays, hunting and football games.
The great autumn childhood past-time - leaf diving. During the summer we are blessed with a very tall cottonwood. This tree gives us shade in the hot afternoons and evening and is home to lovely birds and squirrels. On the other hand, in the fall, it is a major pain. This is the only tree of consequence in our back yard yet the leaves cover the whole yard, and we have a very large yard. We always end up with a huge pile of leaves. Perfect for throwing a couple kids into. It ends up being 4 times as much work, because the kids are throwing leaves, kicking leaves and in all others ways undoing the hours of work, but it is worth it. You get great home videos and great photos. They squeal with delight. Plus you can't find anything cheaper to entertain them with. We used to have a dog that loved to lie in the leaves too. What can I say? It is cheap fall entertainment for everyone.
Every year our family goes to the corn maze at Chatfield. This year my husband had to miss out, because of a twisted ankle. So, instead we took a Gramma a Grandma and 3 aunts. It takes a lot of relatives to make up for one missing Daddy. TJ was completely content kicking back and eating snacks while being chauffeured around in his wagon. Katie on the other hand was sure to get us lost trying to convince us to go down routes we could clearly see were dead ends. She is a tricky little one. Although both kids tolerated it, I think the experience was not as much fun for them as it was for everyone else. I am sure they will like it more in the coming years when they understand better what is going on.
This was the first year we went to the pumpkin festival at Chatfield. The kids had a lot of fun. They wanted to put every pumpkin they saw in our wagon. By they time we were done it felt like we had. They each got to pick out one little pumpkin and we got one BIG family pumpkin. What happens after picking the perfect pumpkin? Well, the carving of course! I like to pick a difficult and scary looking design, but seeing as how the kids are getting older, I let them decide. We ended up with a big happy face. Oh well, it was still a treat to see their faces when we lit it for the first time.

Voting Lines

Wait time for voting seems to be the hot topic of the day. So, I got to the end of the line at 5:38pm. I had my friends daughter with me who I was supposed to get to violin lessons by 6:45. I walked out of my polling place at 7:33. Total time 1 hour 55 min. My feet hurt, but my goal was clear.

Train Museum

Yesterday we went to the Colorado Railroad museum. It was a nice warm day and we had a lot of fun. TJ has been playing with his toy trains more now that we have gotten back. He really love the small model train track they had set up. There must have been 6 trains or so running on it. They got to ring a bell and pretend to drive and look off the back of a caboose. They had a great time. We will definitely have to do that again.