Reveal #1: Master Bedroom Edition

BEFORE



AFTER



BEFORE

AFTER

December

Our December has started off with a BANG. December 1st (Jared's birthday), we were moving into our new house! Two days later, we left for Milwaukee for a family wedding.

All dressed up for the wedding!

Jared's side at the wedding

Upon returning home, we spent the week painting and unpacking (next post), and then in our insanity, braved the 8th largest blizzard in the history of the Midwest to get a Christmas tree...

Ready to conquer the elements

Marshmallow man

Brutal...

and insane.

The girls with their favorite man in the world!

How can this many people ALL be so crazy?

Decorating the tree!

Please note the amazing ornament placement. This is my FAVORITE Christmas tree yet...

Our deck after the storm

Our picture perfect picture window.

Each morning brings a new delightful present!





On Wednesday, we brought the girls to their first movie at the movie theater!
Please note: they both wore their Tangled dresses that they got for their birthday. So funny :)

We saw Tangled (HIGHLY recommend!) and they have not stopped talking about it since.

And THAT has been our December so far.
Now, on to Christmas...
Here we go.

Home, Sweet Home

We have a house!!!
This has been a C-R-A-Z-Y adventure, that I'm overjoyed to be done with. We started actively searching for a house last September (as in, 2009). We attempted to put offers in on 3 houses, but all three times, another offer was accepted before we could even write ours. We succeeded in putting an offer on another house, but got beat out with a higher offer. That's when we started to watch the housing market with an eagle eye. As soon as an interesting house would pop up, we would schedule a walk thru as quick as possible and submit our offer same-day. We found a suitable house (though, not ideal) that was a short sale and submitted our offer, and then proceeded to wait.... FOR.EV.ER. Seven months later, when we still had not received an answer from the bank (no acceptance, OR denial of our offer), we began our search once again. We found this gem, scheduled our walk-thru, fell in love, submitted our offer, and had an acceptance from the bank all within 36 hours!!! What?! Yeah!
After two full months of playing games with our broker, we scheduled our closing date for Novemeber 15th. But our broker wasn't ready. So we requested a two week delay, and rescheduled our closing day for November 30th, with the understanding that if we did not close then, we would have a difficult time persuading the bank to delay again. After two more weeks of shenanigans with our broker, we arrived at November 30th, closing day, with still no concrete promise of closing that day. We didn't even know for sure if we were closing until 11:30am... closing was scheduled for 1:00pm. We arrived, signed papers, and then waited for the funds to wire transfer to complete the process. They didn't come. So we left, with our closing incomplete. BUT! At 5:00pm, we got a call that the funds had transferred and the house was now ours. OURS. Yes, ours.

And we moved in.

Amazing, God. Thank you.

Monkey Butt



Ever since Brody solved the mystery of crawling a few days ago, all I see is his rear end. I missed his sweet face smiling at me all day...



Problem solved.



Step Aside, Elvis

We are getting festive over here this afternoon. I have my "Christmas Tree" candle burning. We're sipping on egg nog. I set my phone to the Christmas station on Pandora, and let the music blare. After a few minutes, a deep, sultry voice crooned, "I'llllllll be hoooome for Christmas..."  Sophia's eyes light up. She looked up at me with excited eyes and squealed,

"That's DADDY singing!! Mama! It's Daddy!!"

"Oh! Really? I think that's Elvis."

"No! It's DADDY!"

Lovely Locks

Sophia and I have really been enjoying our afternoons together while the young'ns are napping...



Sophia worked her magic once again!




Camera ready




Picture perfect



Ready for a date with my little man

He reeeeallly liked my hair... I'm not kidding. He wanted to eat it.

Me and my personal hair dresser

(And by the way, Sophia took a lot of these photos. Not bad for a 3 year old!)

Tread Lightly

Brody is a funny little sleeper. He sleeps in our room in a crib. He can sleep through some of the girl's screams from the other room, but when we make the almost inaudible noise of pulling back our covers to climb in bed, he wakes up. It has become a running joke between Jared and I. Last night, as we climbed into bed, Brody started to stir. I got an inch from Jared's ear and whispered,

"Shhh! You're breathing too loud!"

He came right back with,

"No, I think there was some lotion on my hands that just evaporated."

A loud laugh exploded from within me and I could not contain it. Brody did not wake up. Go figure.

Snow Much Fun

Guess what we woke up to this morning?

The view out our back door

Instant winter

Heavily laden branches bent over under the weight of the snow almost touching the ground

"I wanna get on my snow coat, and my snow mittens and go outside in da snow, Mommy."

 First steps in the 2010 winter wonderland

She was so delighted, she was giggling.

 

Playing with Mama

 

Makin snowballs!

"I like snow, Mama!"

 

Snow throne made by Daddy

Snow princess on her snow throne

Booster chair

Trying out the booster!





Happy Heart

Sophia was born with a VSD (hole between two chambers of the heart). When she was less than a year old, the hole closed rapidly, but not entirely. So today, we had what we were hoping to be her last cardiologist appointment. We prepared her ahead of time by telling her she would get to have stickers and wires all over her tummy. She was SO EXCITED to go the heart doctor, and told everyone she was gonna have "stickers and fire on her tummy!"

Sophia at our last visit



Hooking up for the EKG

So happy about all the stickers and wires!

She had to lay very still during the EKG. She did excellent!



After we were finished, she wanted them to put the stickers and wires back on! It went to fast for her.

The Dr concluded that she does still have a teeny tiny hole, but it is nothing to worry about at all. She asked us to come back when she is six to another check up.

Ring Bling

I guess Sophia thought Daddy's ring needed a little... something extra. She asked him to take it off, and handed it back to him like this a moment later...

I think it's an improvement.

When Mom's Too Busy...

...writing on her blog, sometimes you've just got to do things yourself.

Like get your sister changed and dressed.

Grown Up Speak

As Sophia gets older, she uses more "grown up" phrases everyday. It always takes me by surprise, and always makes me laugh.

Here are two from today:

#1~~

Me: Sophia and Jazlyn, are you in the bathroom?

Sophia, walking out of the bathroom: Mamaaa! We're hangin' out.

#2~~

Me: Soph, I'm going to put Strawberry Shortcake on now.

Sophia: That's a-MAZ-ing, Mama!

Bad Dreams

Every single morning the following scene plays out:

Walking into the girls' room...

Me: Good morning Angels, how did you sleep?

Jaz: Goot!

Me: Good! Did you have any dreams?

Jaz: YAH!!

Me: What did you dream about?

Jaz: Baby Jesus!

Me: Baby Jesus?! That's wonderful!!!

Sophia, sad face: I have bad dreams.

Me: You had bad dreams?? Oh no! What were your bad dreams about?

Sophia: NOT about baby Jesus.



Every morning.
Without fail.

Shout Out

This one's for you, Jared.

I had a prior commitment on Sunday evening this week (Halloween night), and I missed part of our girls' first time trick-or-treating (I was able to join them later). As I drove away in one direction, and watched Cinderella, Tink, and Blacktooth pile into the van with Yanni, I lost it. I cried hard. I hated missing this. And it was just Halloween. Not that important, but I wanted to be there. I wanted to see their shining faces, and hear their shouts of delight.

Driving away and missing it because I was honoring my commitment was difficult and I only got through it with tears.

This is what Jared does every day. He goes to work nine hours a day, five days a week, knowing full well that he is going to miss a whole heap of "firsts." And yet I have never once heard the words "It's not fair" fall from his lips. I have heard the way his heart aches over missing these treasured moments, but I have never once even detected an attitude of resentment. Every time he leaves this house, he honors the commitment he made to provide for this family. Every time he walks out the door, he ensures us of the extreme love bound up in his heart for all of us. Every time, he knows he will miss something amazing, but he sacrifices the joy I get to experience daily, to provide for our needs.

Jared, you are quite a man. Thank you for sacrificing so much for the sake of your family. It does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. You are a hard worker, wonderful husband, and amazing daddy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you.

Happy Halloween!

BEST Halloween yet...

Cinderella

Tink

Pirate

Arrr!

Our princesses ready to go!

First up, trick-or-treating with the cousin Emma!

Next, over to hang at Minnie Mouse's house!

We spent the evening with Baboo, Uncle Tom, Josh, Shinae and Phoebe!

Yanni (obviously) and his pirate baby

Yanni, Yanni's wife (obviously), and their pirate baby

YARRR!

Sophia RAN from house to house, exclaiming after each one "Oh Mama! This is SO FUN!"

Stopping to inspect the potentially dangerous pumpkin

Ding dong!

Best Halloween ever!

What a perfect little pixie

Going through the loot