A little bit of this...a little bit of that!

I know I've been slacking on my blog. My mom has been visiting for the past week and I've been a little too obsessed with Facebook lately. So, there you have it, my blog has suffered!

We had a great visit with mom. She got to stay for a week and a half.

We played lots of cards, relaxed, and hung out.

Marley is starting to get in big trouble.

He and my vase of flowers went over the edge of the banister.

He's lucky he's cute!

Those flip flops are LONG gone this week!

I don't think it broke 10 degrees today. BRRRRR! Mom and I spent the day house hunting with the Realtor, in the snow. We didn't find their new home, but it gave her a good starting point. Boy, I don't miss that process. I'm VERY happy that we are almost all moved in OUR house!

Have I mentioned lately...

...how much I LOVE the sunshine!!!

Ahhhh! Today was a flip flop day. Not only has it been sunny, as always, but it's been WARM. I never would have imagined that I needed to move to Colorado to get my 70 degree days, in JANUARY! It has been in the 60's all week, today and tomorrow over 70. It was just SO gorgeous today. I couldn't get enough of it. The mountains looked so just beautiful. They took my breath away, as I did my errands today. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera!

Marley's first adventure outside.

Odds and ends, from the past few weeks.


The kids got quite a kick out of throwing snowballs at me, even though I was behind the door.

I have finally succumbed to the realization that we will not be finishing the basement for quite some time. So, we decided to set some stuff up.

Caleb's racetracks can overtake the basement, as long as he leaves my living room ALONE!

Caitlin is working on her art studio. We still have a lot of stuff to get out and set up.

So, this past week, I've finally unpacked. (Yes, we still had 75% of our stuff still in boxes, 2 months after moving in!)

I have to say, I was quite annoyed to find ANOTHER box of toiletries yesterday. I'll admit, after unpacking 2 boxes of toiletries and having them all fit nicely, I was proud of myself for getting rid of so much, before the move. That was until I found the third box. Then I was just utterly disgusted with myself that I truly have AND moved that much hair product!

This is what wouldn't fit under the counter or in the other bathroom closet. My word!

On the bright side, none of it leaked or exploded, during the move. Everything was in Ziplocs, but it still would have been a mess.

Snowy Fun

Well, every muscle in my body is officially sore, but by golly, we had fun yesterday.

The kids decided to make snow caves out of my piles of snow from shoveling the driveway. We quickly realized that we needed two.

Here is Caitlin's.

Here is Caleb's. They had fun.

Caleb was a little tuckered out and almost went to sleep. What a goof!

How quickly I forget

~How much of a work out it is to walk Caitlin to school in 5 inches of snow, with Caleb and his SHORT legs, UPHILL!

~How annoying early morning snow is, because no one has time to shovel their sidewalks. Here's to hoping it's shoveled before we pick Caitlin up.

~How quickly my scrawny muscles start aching, when shoveling snow.

Well, I guess, if nothing else the snow is a good work out. But I pretty much hate working out, any way you slice it!

My back yard does look prettier though. Even after doing yard work all afternoon yesterday, the snow STILL looks better!

We will at least have fun, when Caitlin gets home from school.

Slow...But Sure!

Now that all of the Christmas decorations are put away and I'm almost caught up from all things Christmas, I've gotten back to work on the house. I'm happy to report, that after painting and caulking all day, for the past two days and doing touch up today, I can officially put the paint stuff AWAY...at least for quite a while. We still have the kid's bedrooms to do and the downstairs bathrooms, but those jobs are more than just painting. So, we probably won't get to them for quite some time. Plus, at $45 a gallon, I think our finances need a break too! Come to think of it, maybe we'll use cheap paint on their rooms! :)

~Our Bathroom~

Before

After

~The Hall~

Before

After

Before

After

So, now, to attack the garage. Yes, I STILL have MUCH to unpack. Christmas pretty much brought everything to a halt. Now that all that is put away, I have someplace to put all our other stuff. Now to start hanging things on the walls. It was actually painful to put nails in our fresh walls, to hang up a few Christmas things. I suppose I'll get over it. I just don't want to see a paint brush for a LONG, LONG time!

Fun Visitors

Okay, I know I've been slacking on my blog. Sorry mom! :)

We were blessed to have Mom and Dennis come visit this past week. They got to stay for a whole week this time. We sure enjoyed sitting around and being lazy with them. They started looking around at different areas here. We can't wait for them to find something and move closer soon!

I'm ashamed to say, but mom got me out on the bike path for the first time since we've moved in. It seems I'm just too busy to make exercise a priority. I need to get better. Who could ask for a better view on a walking path that runs by our back yard!

Me and my momma. I sure miss her!

(Don't mind this picture of my big fat face, it was the best one. :)

This is pretty much what Caleb looks like 24/7. That poor kitten is constantly being held, moved, or forced to do things.

This is always a common sight, when Nana is around.

Caleb, teaching Papa the ropes, on his new Lego Indiana Jones PS2 game.

Papa and Caitlin tried their hand at digging for gold in the backyard. I bet you can imagine how that one turned out. ;)
We finally got a little snow, if you want to call it that. It was only a couple inches. It was enough for the kids to drag out all of their new snow toys.

I have to say, I'm a little jealous that Portland had 18" of snow for Christmas and we haven't had more than a couple inches for over a month. How ironic is that! I'm sure I'll be complaining as soon as we get it, but my yard looks much better covered in snow. I sure can't complain about the many 70 degree days we've had this past month though.Caitlin tried out her new igloo makers. We need a little more snow to actually do it. I think we'll also have to wet the snow. It's just too dry here!
So, I set up my new fake tree to make sure it worked, before packing it away for next year. Yes, I'm a horrible mother and dragged my kids to the store the morning after Christmas. Yes, I probably gave my son horrible birthday memories, but we did eat cinnamon rolls before we left, does that help? It was bad enough to be forced to buy a fake tree, I couldn't stomach paying $300 for it! I think I might be able to get use to the fake tree thing though, as much as I hate to admit it. I have had a real tree at Christmas all my life, but I've grown to hate the whole mess and light thing. The idea of just folding it up and putting it back in the box, with no mess, suits me well! I will miss the wonderful smell and tromping through the tree "fields" with the kids, but those days were over anyway. New traditions! I do feel a bit traitorous though.

Unfortunately the new tree suits our trouble making Marley too. He didn't touch the real tree, but something about this one was really fun. What a nut!

Sleeping buddies

The sunrise out our patio door was just beautiful the other morning.

The sunset was too!

Happy New Year

We have had a wonderful New Years. Mom and Dennis decided to come to town. They've been here for a few days now. It's been so nice seeing them and hearing about all of their new adventures.

We had a great New Year's Eve. I pathetically realized that the last time that we actually went out and did something for New Year's was 8 years ago, when we were visiting Utah. How pathetic is that!!! My dear friend Jessie invited us over to her little get together and mom and Dennis watched the kids for us. We had such a good time. It was so good to bring in the new year with an old friend. Jessie and I were roommates in college, 9 years ago. We've stayed close over the years. It has been so great to be living somewhat close again. We just need to make the time, more often to get together.

I don't know how this was ten years ago! Man, time flies! Here is Jess and me and our Ryans, and some other friends. Good times!...skinnier times. Man, I need to start working out again!