The Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney With Care

My amazing husband has been working so hard on finishing off the interior of our house. He finished the fireplace wall and mounted the mantle before Christmas so we could hang our stockings. What a guy. Here are before and after pictures.

Before:

After:

We had an extended Christmas celebration. Chris' parents drove down Christmas morning to spend the day with us. Hannah was so excited to see them, as were we. We had dinner with them and my grandmother Mimi and her husband Tommy. The next day my dad, stepmom, and sister Colleen drove down with their dog Kodi and spent the day with us. Again, lots more attention and present opening for Hannah. She very much enjoyed opening presents. She would rip off the paper and toss the box aside to go to the next gift without seeing what's inside. Kodi helped too.

The fun will continue tomorrow when my mom, stepdad, brother and sister-in-law all come to town for a visit.

House Update

So here is the long awaited post of the "move-in" condition of our house. Chris has been working so hard, and we are blessed to have many handy friends who have helped us with projects. We have had our share of surprises after moving in, like the downstairs toilet overflowing because of tree roots in the pipes, the pilot on the water heater not staying lit, and the kitchen sink backing up with water. Praise God for our home warranty! Two out of the three issues have been taken care of and hopefully the sink will be fixed today or tomorrow. But my dishwasher works! It's quite the luxury after almost 5 years without one. All the floors have been replaced, except for the tile in front of the fireplace. The kitchen cabinets have their first coat of paint and just need a stain finish. Hannah's room still needs a door. Hannah has adjusted well and is enjoying her new house and all the space to play in. Her favorite spot is to be on the step stool in front of the pantry. Since the door is off she has easy access to snacks. Enjoy the slideshow. Below it is an updated picture of the fireplace. Chris plastered the wall last night and it looks great! The dark spots are where it is still drying. We plan to have a mantle up by Christmas for our stockings.

Give Thanks

Psalm 100

A psalm of thanksgiving.

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with THANKSGIVING;
go into his courts with praise.
Give THANKS to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

A Leopard and her Pumpkins

Ok, here's the very late, standard kid post of the halloween costume and pumpkins. Hannah was VERY in to pumpkins this year. She would point them out all the time, and even called and orange sandbag a pumpkin. A highlight was painting pumpkins with Ali. She also loved trick-or-treating on our street. The whole concept of knocking on a strangers door, having them tell you how cute you are and then drop candy in your bag was absolutely thrilling for her. After each house, she would look in her bag at her goodies and say, "Oh boy Hannah!" The only candy she got to eat was half a fun size 3 musketeers.

A Toddler's Mind

I've learned that toddlers make associations for everything. Like riding the train, twice Hannah has been on a train with Ali, once on Amtrak and once at the Underwood Farm. And now when she hears one blow it's whistle or (even better) sees one go by, she says "Ali, choo choo." It's very cute to hear, and you know it must have been a highlight of her life to this point. You can read about it here too.

The other association Hannah has made is in the bath. Whenever she is taking a bath, she asks for a cheeseburger. I'm really not sure how that one came about. It's not like she eats a lot of cheeseburgers, and she's definitely never had one while taking a bath. We still can't figure out the connection.

We Bought a House!

Ok, so it's not a single family home, it's a condo. Well, it's not a condo either, it's a PUD (Planned Unit Development). That was a very important distinction during escrow. Had it been a condo instead of a PUD, we wouldn't have been able to get a loan because of new restrictions. But by the grace and abundant provision of God, we bought our first home. Let me tell you, if you ever want your faith stretched or want to learn how to trust God more, buy a foreclosed house and go through escrow in this market. It was a huge learning experience!

When we started looking seriously with a realtor back in June, we prayed for a fixer on the east end of Ventura, and that's exactly what we got! It has 3 bedrooms, two baths, a yard, a laundry room and a two car garage. The catch is...it's a disaster on the inside. The slideshow below is how the house looked when we made an offer. After closing escrow on Friday, Chris and a bunch of our wonderful friends had "Demo Day" on Saturday. A lot of the inside is torn apart now, on it's way to being fixed up. This house is going to be a labor of love, and we're so excited to have a place to call our own. God has provided so much for us already to make that happen. I'm trying to document the whole remodel process, so stay tuned for more updated photos.

Summer Wrap Up

Nothing says "Summer" like a toddler running through the sprinklers in a diaper. Somehow I didn't end up with a lot of pics from summer. It flew by too fast. We did manage to spend some time at the beach, play with the neighbor boys, have coffee with Ali and friends at the "Dolphin Starbucks," go to the Santa Barbara zoo with the Hawkins via Amtrak (Hannah still talks about riding the choo-choo with Ali), take a teeny weeny wigglers class and a swim class. Fall has already proven to be just as busy a time for us. More to come on that later.

So how do you stay cool on a hot day when you don't have A/C? You stand in the refrigerator, of course!

I just had to throw these pictures in of my diva daughter.

Fair-ly Fun

We made two trips to the Ventura County Fair this year, one as a family and once on dollar day to meet up with Amy, Ali and her grandparents. My entries into the fair this year were chocolate chip cookies and dinner rolls. Neither placed but both got honorable mention. Hannah had a good time at the fair, especially the slide with Daddy and seeing all the animals. The very best part for her was the bus ride to and from, which she talked about for days after.

This is Hannah at the fair last year.

Hannah and Ali this year

Conversations

Here are some of the new things heard in our house since the addition of Hannah:

"Can you please pick up the spinach off the couch?"

"No dancing in the basket."

"Let's not play with smelly markers and knives."

"Please don't eat the _____ (couch, shoe, pen, box, etc.)"

"Oh Hannah! That's what the potty's for."

Big Mimi

Hannah is blessed to have many great grandparents. A few live here in Ventura with us, including her Big Mimi (for an explanation on that name, you can ask my brother David). We had Big Mimi and Papa Tommy over for dinner the other week, and Hannah got all the attention she could handle. Big Mimi earned the award for Great-Grandmother-of-the-Year, playing chase with Hannah by crawling around in circles under the dinner table. There were lots of giggles involved, and they finished off the evening with some cuddle time and a book. Thank you, Mimi, for all the love you give to Hannah. She adores you, and we love you too!

Princess

The dress up days have begun...

Friends Part II

So here are some more wonderful friends we have met here in Ventura (well, Oxnard), Paul and Renata. We first met Paul and Renata when they started coming to our young married couples Bible study in 2006 (right???). We love them dearly and have made so many fun memories with them, like camping at Dinkey Creek, playing Ticket to Ride, golf games for Chris and Paul and the guys, and coffee for me and Renata with the girls. To our sadness, God has called them to move back to Orange County, closer to their families. We miss them tons already, but know we'll be seeing more of them in the future. After all, we still have to make it to Jocko's. Praise God for great friends!

(Yes, Renata, I stole this pic from your facebook!)

Friends Part I

We have some wonderful friends here in Ventura County. We especially love Bonnie, John, Colin and Hope. We have lots of fun hanging out with them and playing Wii. Colin is a very good Wii instructor. Hannah loves to jump on their trampoline, chase Sasha, or "cook" in the play kitchen at their house. I am so grateful to them for all the times they have watched Hannah when I've needed to run to work or get some errands done. I love it when Bonnie comes up to me at church and says, "We miss Hannah!" They are also a wonderful example of a loving family that is dedicated to serving and honoring God.

So here's some pictures of a recent visit to their house where Hope and Hannah had a mini slumber party.

Gotta love the matching pj's and pigtails

Happy 4th!

We spent the 4th of July in Cayucos again with the Vanoli/Cagle family. Lots of fun for the cousins! I just noticed that as I was making the slideshow, all my pictures are of the kids and none of the adults. Oops!

Little Mama

Mothering is definitely built in to little girls. I didn't teach her to do this.

Chatterbox

We have recently discovered that Hannah talks in her sleep. The first thing we heard about a month ago was "Hi!" about an hour after she had been in bed. Our guess is she was dreaming about being at the grocery store, where she says hi to everyone. A couple weeks ago, when we checked on her before we went to bed, she rolled over and said, "oh, wow!" And the other night, she said, "Dada." Sweet.

A Random Sampling

Elmo!

This is Hannah attempting to take off her diaper while wearing pj's. Fortunately she only tried this one night and it has not become a habit.

Nothin' but love for Dinkey

Stellan, Jenna and Hannah playing Nona's piano

Slumber party with Ali

Daddy save me from the waves!

A new favorite pastime...watching the garbage trucks go by on Wednesday mornings