Christmas

We decided as a family this year to start our own family tradition by staying in our pj's and staying home all day together!  It was perfect.  We had such a great day spending time as a family!  Lydia was so much fun opening her gifts (she actually got into it, as opposed to last year when she was still too little to care!) and loving her new toys.  She didnt get much, but then again, she doesnt need much!  She is one special little girl, and we are so blessed to have her in our lives.  She is our world and we could not be happier to be able spend this holiday as a family!  We have enjoyed the time spent with extended family and look forward to more time this coming week with Emily's siblings too!  We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas, and there is only 364 days til next Christmas...get shopping!!!!

Duplo's...are these for Joel or Lydia?  I'm confused! :)

That doesnt look like a safe sleeping arrangement!?

No pics....sorry

Just wanted to let anyone know who might be checking on this that I have forgotten my camera each and every time we have been up to Plainwell in the last two months...go figure.  However, the roof is completed, the bathroom is insulated, all the electric has been run to it, and the cabinets have been delivered so now "all" we have to do is put it together...that shouldnt take too long with Joel's busy schedule, right?!  Also, the bookshelves have been torn out of the front livingroom so we can now prep those walls and prime them!  I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting to mention, but oh well.  Unfortunately the new house is moving slower than we thought, but that's what we get when we do it all ourselves (oh, and I dont have a clue how to do any of it!! Poor Joel! haha) 

Merry Christmas and may all your days be blessed with happiness!

Thanksgiving

Well, we havent made much progress on the house lately, at least not anything picture worthy, so instead we thought we would put up some pictures of Lydia and our holiday celebration with Emily's family! Enjoy!

She had a blast destroying the ads...good thing we already read them!

Climbing on her piano toy...

Climbing on the table...mmmm, popcorn and crachers. 
Pretty much her menu for the day!

Yikes, that's a close-up!  But we love Great-Grandpa!

Lydia searching for "yum-yum's" in Grandpa's pocket! :)


We had a wonderful day!  My mom, her significan other,
and one of my brothers
were there as well and we truely had a great day full of
football, laughs, food and love!

Watching the Macy's Day Parade and playing with the paper...

I just thought it was cute!

Totally Random Pics of Lydia

She loves her IKEA Poang chair and
reading her many, many books!

Look Mommy...I can turn the TV on!!! :)

This was after the Great Mosquito Attack of 2010!

Lydia LOVES putting her money in her piggy
...if only it came back out though, hmm?!

Roofing!

Here's the front after stripping all the shingles.  Most of it is pretty solid, but you will notice
some rotting along the front porch area...good thing Joel's handy!

Yup, there's the rotting!

This was the biggest problem, where the 2 roof lines overlapped. 
The post holding up the top portion had rotted
also so that made the top part drop down and was sitting
directly on thebottom portion of the roof.  This then created more
rotting and an actual hole that was leaking into
the closet in the front living room!

The very early stages! Here we go!






Well, here is my grandparents house that Joel and I are purchasing (eventually, if our house ever sells).   It doesn't exactly look like much now, but I think we can turn this money pit into something great!  :)

Kitchen looking towards back family room and to the left of the kitchen is the garage entrance and 1/2 bath.

Looking from the dining room (yes, we will actually have a dining room...I'm so excited! ) into the front livingroom.

Looking to the back corner of the front livingroom.









Full Bathroom!