To be three!

It must be exhilarating!!! Family, friends, gifts, cake, snacks, pizza, and what ever our hearts desire. A birthday to be remembered.

My little man is almost 3!!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Esau turns 3! What a celebration it will be!

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"Our house is a very very very fine house" cont.....

I realized that there were not any pictures of our upstairs. We made the second floor into a loft area for Erik and I. Our "office" space is up there along with our bedroom. It is a different house in sooooo many ways....it's wonderful! And of course I couldn't leave out Esau's wall of creations!

"Peaches in the summertime, apples in the fall"

Our co-op was having a truckload sale, which means that all natural organic produce and products are on sale at wholesale prices!! Since moving to the midwest I have started doing much more canning than I had in NM. Probably because the cold weather keeps us inside with nothing to do, but clean my house and cook. It's okay, I enjoy it and I think that my family enjoys it and of course those who reap the benefits of my delicious food enjoy it too. This year, as last I am making baskets full of homemade gifts for those whom we are giving Christmas gifts too (in lieu of buying things). We simply do not have enough money to make a purchase for everyone in our family. Last year I thought I would put together Christmas baskets with homemade strawberry and rhubarb jam, apple sauce, apple butter, snack mixes and puppy chow. This year I have started with apple butter. Since I have to make soooo many baskets (1 per family) I thought I'd get started early. Oh, the possiblities!!!!

How does your handrail grow?

We had decided to have halloween party. A combination of kids and adults alike all dressed up in costumes. Prior to the party Erik and I thought about what we needed to do to really get ready for people to come stay with us and play with us. So we agreed that building a second handrail on the front porch would be one of the best ideas (considering the intoxicated people may be at our house and want to stand on the front porch without falling off the steps while going up or down). Erik got to work and I am always amazed at what this man can do.




We also needed to take out this huge post that was used to chain a dog up on a dog run that was attached to the house. Needless to say, we really didn't need that. Erik was so manly that he pulled it out of the ground with his hands! (it was cemented in!!)

"Our house is a very very very fine house"

Although I have not had much time to really be on the computer. I thought I should at least update some pictures. Our house is really coming along. We have expanded the back yard, made our chicken coop bigger, mostly finished our kitchen (we still have a little painting to do), added a fireplace insert for heat (burns wood), and so many things its hard to remember them all.

Fiesta!

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A work in progress, as it should be called!

From the day we closed on our house we had a little over one month to get the work done that needed to be in order to make the house liveable. From tearing out rotted walls, patching numerous holes and putting in new flooring, it was an intense job! The kitchen was the biggest project. We put in 2 new walls, coverd up the esbestos flooring, got new countertops and all new appliances.

We could not have done it without the help of Erik's dad, Rob. He sure is a handy man!

Our house became a work zone of wood shavings, bits and pieces of wood, and tools laying around.

We also couldn't have done it without the help of Erik's Mamms and Papps. They tore out all of Esau's bedroom walls and put all new walls in his room! What a huge help!

The upstairs was also a mess. There was a 2.5 in bow in the floor, so if we didn't fix it, then carpet couldn't be put down upstairs. SO, we leveled the floor

The woodburning stove's chimney ran through the middle of the house. It was not a pretty site. My original thought was to paint it. Brick looks nice painted. Rob's idea was to cover it. Much better of an idea. It made a huge difference. You can see a little bit of the chimney at the top of the piture.

This is our room, obviously not finished. It a main area for cutting wood or other things that needed done. It was a mess.

Erik's drywalling job in the kitchen where 2 walls had been torn out. Oh, and the new back door.

We are happy that the hard stuff is over. At least for now.