White Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas! I wasn't really dreaming for a white Christmas this year, but we sure got one anyway! Anyone that has watched the news this week has probably heard of the snow storm that has dumped an insane amount of snow on us this week! We are 2 days into this and already have at least a foot! While we haven't gotten outside to enjoy it much (except for Kurt shoveling and blowing if that counts) it sure hasn't dampened our holiday spirit. We have enjoyed being house bound for a few days and especially as the kids are having a blast playing with their new toys!

Last night as I was putting Blake to bed and we were talking about Santa (and his preferred mode of entry into our home...Blake wondered why he would come in through the chimney versus the windows) he told me that Luke told him he wanted a trampoline for Christmas! Well, first off, not much I can do about a 7pm Christmas Eve Santa snafu. And second of all, Luke is not even 18 months old...pretty sure he did not request a trampoline! Too funny! Blake was so excited for "waking up time" today and to see what Santa had brought him. He came and got into our bed at 6 am (no thanks to us putting the boys to bed at 7 pm last night) and huffed/puffed and tossed/turned for an hour and a half! Finally at 7:30 we let him go downstairs where he was SUPER excited to see his new piano and microphone. It was so cute to see him peeking through the stair rails and saying "a piano, a piano" while he was supposed to be waiting for Mama to give him the green light. The boys got quite a few new toys, but none have had quite the power of the piano. That was a homerun. Only issue are all the fights that have ensued today. We might end up with a second one and some sort of dueling piano routine with these boys! There were lots of other fun toys...an airport, school bus, blocks, sorting game and tool bench for Luke. Hot Wheels Track, a Zippity, books, art supplies, blocks and binoculars for Blake.

While the holidays would certainly be better if we could see all of our family more easily, we do love waking up on Christmas morning and having our boys experience the joy and mystique of Santa in their own home. This was the first year that Blake really had fun with it and it just makes us more excited for the next few years!

We hope every one has had a wonderful Christmas and is looking forward to a happy and healthy new year! Travel safe our fellow Minnesotans!!

I Need a Pinch...

or a kick in the behind! I really don't think it has sunk in that we are moving in a couple of days! There is so much to do and yet here I sit typing away! I wanted to get some last pictures online before we move in and junk it up! I'm sure there will not be time later this week. It's really hard to believe that I could have had another baby in the time since we first put our home in the market (for the record, that is not to mean we are having another baby) and went through the whole process of trying to figure out where to move and what to build. I must say, the easiest part for us was actually picking everything out. The hardest part has been these last few weeks trying to orchestrate the closings, the move and just being patient. In case I haven't mentioned lately...it is no easy or stress-free task of trying to sell your house and move out with two small children under foot. It's also hard to leave the home where you brought your babies home. To not see the spot where they took their first steps or crawled ever again is a tough pill to swallow. And to top it all off, work has been insanely busy the last few weeks and it was very sad to lose a wonderful co-worker to cancer last Saturday. But we are doing our best to stay excited and not let the stress or melancholy thoughts of it all dampen our spirit!

So, here are some pictures we took at our walk-thru this morning. I would say the house is 99.9% done. There are a few little things here and there that will be fixed Monday or after we move in. We LOVE the house. Our selections came together so nicely and we really like the colors and flow of the entire house. The space is exactly what we wanted and needed and we really love the bright open feeling of the layout.

View from the foyer

Upstairs landing

Master Bedroom

View from our end of the upstairs hall looking at the boys bathroom. Blake's room is on the left and Luke's is on the right.


Upstairs laundry - can anyone say Hallelujah!

Guest Bedroom

Family Room

Playroom

Basement Bathroom

Upclose of the wetbar

Family Room

Maintenance Free Deck - Yay!

Pocket Office

Dinette

Island - hard to see in pictures, but it has a beautiful antiqued glazed finish.

Kitchen

Great Room - still waiting on hardware for the cabinets

Foyer

Powder Room - also has that neat glazed finish on vanity and what you can't see is a chandelier that matches the other light fixtures on the main level.

Dining Room

Mud Room - there's a spacious walk-in closet here that you can't see, but I am very excited to have a place to put our shoes and not be tripping over them any more!

Rock Star

We always knew he had it in him, but today Blake finally unleashed his inner "rockstar" and FINALLY sang at one of his school concerts. We weren't really sure what to expect this year since he has cried or refused to face the audience for all of his other concerts. But low and behold when the class marched out and he took his place on the risers...his mouth opened and the singing began. I'll be honest, he sort of had this petrified/peed off/concentration type look the entire time, but he did sing! Sadly there are no pictures yet. I am hoping my dear friends Liz or Michelle will send some my way as my hands were full with all 27 pounds of squirmy wormy Luke and Daddy had the video camera. This picture was from Perkins where we took our little musician before the concert to build up energy for his performance!

Big Week for Lou Bug

This week Luke officially transitioned to the Toddler Room. I knew it was going to be hard (on me), but I didn't really think it would be that tough on him since a few of his friends have already moved over in the last month. The transition was supposed to take 2 weeks with a few hours a day building up to a full day by the end of the 2 weeks. Instead they built up to a full day by Thursday and on Friday we were to do drop off and pickup in the new room. Drop off was awful. He wanted nothing to do with the teachers, sitting at the breakfast table, or breakfast itself (which if you know my Lou Bug you know he does not miss a meal). He was screaming and trying so hard to stay in my arms and get back out that door. It reminded me of Molly's first puppy training class when during "circle time" she climbed into the sleeve of Kurt's coat...while he was wearing it.

Apparently Luke had a good day after about an hour and all is good for now. I'm still trying to imagine how they have converted him to sleeping on a cot. I think that haircut that I have also been avoiding is getting closer too. :(

T Minus 10 Days...

As I sit here and look at my current home and think about the quick trip we made through the new home earlier today, I can't hardly believe that everything will and needs to be wrapped up in 10 DAYS!!! While I have made significant progress packing, there is still so much to be done! The last of our Craig's List offers were picked up today too. Our house feels so empty...except for the clutter that has been emptied out of closets and cabinets and is awaiting it's new home in a UHaul box.

The new house definitely had some progress this week, but it's starting to get stressful going in and seeing so much left to be done. They were working this weekend, but we've been told that the cleaners come on Friday so I assume everything has to be done by EOD Thursday. I think I might actually wait to go back until our final walk thru...we'll see how long that thought lasts. ;)

2nd Annual Twinkle Bus Ride

We were so excited that our friends, the Lamothe's, invited us to join them on the Twinkle Bus again this year. The Twinkle Bus is a decked out Minneapolis Transit Bus that with a flip of a few switches becomes one of the floats in the Holidazzle Parade. The parade runs Wed-Sun nights Thanksgiving through Christmas in downtown Minneapolis. We were fortunate to have a beautiful night for the parade this year...last year we rode in the middle of a snowstorm! Either way, we are the lucky ones getting to ride in a heated bus while the other floats and their characters have to walk or ride in the cold! It always amazes me how many people come out for the parade even in the coldest of temperatures.

Like last year, we had a nice dinner before hand with Chloe and Jonny's families. This was Luke's first ride, so he was especially excited! The kids did a fantastic job of waving at the onlookers and yelling "Merry Christmas." Luke got a lot of practice saying his new word - "tree" - too. Afterward, we had a quick stop at Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream Shop...Yummy!! That might have been Luke's favorite part of the night! We had so much fun and are already looking forward to next year! Thank you Lamothe family!!

Happy Thanksgiving - A Decade in Minnesota

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It's hard to believe that this is our 10th Minnesota Thanksgiving! Where on Earth did the time go?? I've been thinking a lot today about how blessed we are to have such wonderful children, family and friends in our lives. We are so incredibly lucky to have two happy, handsome and healthy little boys. We simply can't imagine life without them (except on the weekends sometimes when all we want to do is lay around and watch something other than Mickey Mouse on tv!). We are so thankful for our wonderful Minnesota friends who act as our surrogate family and provide us with a constant helping hand. We are grateful for our families and friends back in Indiana who loved us enough to let us go and move here to follow our dreams. We are fortunate that we both work for companies that value our contributions and have allowed us to build careers. We are thankful that we are able to build this new home and move our boys to a wonderful neighborhood full of other kids and with better schools. We hope everyone has had a chance to reflect on the great things life has brought their way this year and are hopeful that the next year will be even better! Happy Holidays everyone...and let the shopping begin! And don't forget - SHOP TARGET.COM!!!

Where the green grass grows...

This might be one of the last yards with green grass in Minnesota if this cold snap hangs around. As you can see we got our sod this week. We were very excited that the landscaping could be done this year instead of waiting until next spring. I wasn't loving the idea of having a muddy dog every time she went outside to potty. Unfortunately if the cold snap stays we won't have painted garage doors until next spring.

Quite a bit of the tile work was finished this week and the stone on the fireplace was installed. There will be some work done tomorrow and Saturday too. They are working really fast now that we are down to less than 3 weeks! I'm starting to get to the point where I want to wait for everything to be done before I go back in, but I know I'll never be able to stay away! We are still pleased with how our choices are coming together.

Pocket Office

Our backyard!

We love the fireplace!

Basement bathroom

Mudroom "dumping station" with a bench. There will also be a corkboard above the countertop.

I am loving the subway tile around my bathtub!

Our shower

Our bathroom vanity

Stairway