Jolly Old St. Nicolas

For some reason it just tickles me to see the kids run down the porch steps to catch that big yellow bus. We have a tradition that on St. Nicolas Eve if the kids set out their shoes, his elves will leave a present or surprise for them to find when they wake in the morning. Some years it's been an ornament or a color book. This elf was lucky she even remembered to leave anything at all!

I spent the afternoon stringing garland and lights. Elmers had it all rigged up with hooks and light plugs so all I had to do was fasten on the garland and lights, plug the cords into the lights on the porch ceiling and flip a lightswitch next to the door to turn them on. Genius!!!

Flowers in the fridge

Isn't this banister devine!My friend Kendall took Brody from 11-8:30! I got much done. He had lunch, napped and went with her and her girls to the ZOO lights. The girls are jealous at the fun things Brody does with his favorite babysitter. I love that family!!!

Organized the pantry. I have the same theory with a pantry as I do with a fridge. My mom puts fresh flowers in her fridge as a little surprise when you open the door. Yes, they do take up room.....but all condiments fit nicely in those side doors anyway (that's an inside joke).

The sunset these last few days has been beautiful. We can see lights of the homes across the fields light up with twinkling red and white displays of Christmas.

And no, that is not my banister. I just loved the garland on it.

Moving day madness

Todd and I wanted to get a jump start on loading out of our old and into the new on Friday. We borrowed a trailer, had a good friend watching the kids and loaded up as much as we could. Luckily we made it out to Elmer's before Todd's truck completely died! Altenator went out. I called our hometeacher who came to rescue us, give us a lift home and lent us his truck for 4 days! I will miss Eric and A.J. The bright side to the moving was this awesome weather we had! The view out here changes as the sun is rising and setting. The veiw of the mist on the field across the street is breathtaking.

The men in Harmony ward came to lend a hand. They were awesome!!! Everything loaded in 2 hours.

These were 2 of the heaviest peices of furniture. I'm not sure where I was when the heaviest one came slipping down the stairs and nearly crushed Jared. Luckily he moved just in time!

The men from Lacamas Creek helped us move in as well as 3 of the elder missionaries and my friends Tim and Cyndee. Bless their hardworking hearts! Got everything in the house in 2 hours. It was an entire 3 days of moving and getting the house cleaned out and ready for the new owners. Boxes, boxes everywhere!

Todd and I worked late into the night Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday....now Tuesday, getting things put away, beds put together and generally triying our best to get the house ready for some sort of Christmas!

I went back to our home one last time to pick up a few items and snap some pictures. I did get a little teary. I couldn't have one last good sob like I'd wanted because Brody set off the alarm on my van and then was running out into the road. He put the kabosh on me trying to be sentimental!So many friends helped me out with the kids.

Amy Morgan took the girls ALL day on Friday. Heidi took Griffin and Brody. Carrie and Jewell took Kennedy on Saturday while Camdyn went back to Amy's house all day. Griffin went to Heidi's and Kendall took Brody from 8:30-6:30. What a huge help that was!

The icing on the cake was the meal brought in by Suzanne Reid to the new home, just as Todd and I were wondering what to do for dinner as we were famished! SO delicious!!!

Thanks to the Jackson's for providing dinner on Sunday. Still thinking about that turkey gravy and hot fudge sauce!

Feast for a "King" City Fireman

Thanksgiving was spent loading and unloading mutliple trips in the van...in the typical NW drizzly rain, along with a little bit of painting because when I get an idea in my head I want to roll with it right away!

We headed out to Todd's station out in King City around 2 p.m. for a Thanksgiving feast along with 5 of the other firefighters, their family and a King City Police officer.

I am sorry right now to whom I may offend, but this was probably the most delicious Thanksgiving dinners I have had! Todd even went so far as to purchase me some saurcraute! He did not make the dinner, the guy to his right did. The yams, oh my. The stuffing with artichoke and rosemary, me oh my....and I don't like stuffing. Homemade rolls, turkey on the traeger, which was so flavorful and moist. Desserts aplenty. Pecan pie with real whipping cream. I do think I was sick. Then again, my tummy may have shrunk from being so busy these last few days and barely having time to eat! I think it's all stretched back out now.

It's nice being able to visit with these other families, moms who share the same schedule and time away from hubbys and dads on holidays like we do. We stayed for about 3 1/2 hours.

Once Brody took his pants off and started to dance, it was time to head home.

Kids helped me packing up their clothes.

Yes! My house CAN look messy!

I've been too busy to bed sad. That is a good thing. I've been too busy to sleep. That is a bad thing. The kids want me to start decorating for Christmas. Normally I would have had it ALL done by now. First I need to unpack! AFTER we put a few beds together.

Our new buyers are great. I feel like I'm friends with this gal just through our emails and I've not said more than "hello" to her in person when they came to look at the house. She even told me not to worry about the nail holes. Now I really love her!

Today on....This Old House

On any given day during these last few weeks Elmers place has been hopping with electricians, sheetrockers, surveyers, inspecters, renovating bids and so forth. Arlon has been running a well oiled machine out at this place! I may have to put him on payroll. The sheetrock in the garage is 98% complete! Just a bit more taping on Friday and it will be complete.

The pad and carpet was laid today. They worked from 9:30 to 5:30. He said the job was taking longer than he anticipated because it is a "tough, durable" carpet. Yes, that's what we paid for!

They called it quits when it got too dark (and too tired) to continue. I continued on my cleaning streak. It smells SO good in there! I have one bathroom left to tackle, but want to wait until these handymen are all done in there.

Todd is working today and Thanksgiving so I was calling him with updates and questions throughout the day. While cleaning the laundry room I called and said "I am so in love!!!" Yes, with him, but also with this charming old house. Especially now that I have it scoured and dusted. I never saw a speck of dust when Cindy resided here, but boys.....you gotta love em, they just don't have that domestic instinct. (Unless your name is Todd Lake or Mike Jensen).


Thanks to Nicole Jackson and crew for an 8:45-5:00 jobber with all 4 kids. Wowza, I did love that!!!!

Next edition: Carpet in the apartment and moving of boxes.

Today on....This Old House

Todd spent 2 1/2 hours last night as well as 12 hours today out at the Elmers house ("our house" sounds strange to me), tearing out carpet and disposing of it. His fingers are a bit raw!!! Now he has to work a 48 hour shift Wed and Thurs, then move our home Friday and Saturday. Good thing this boy likes projects! Arlon called to see if we wanted to keep this tanning bed. Mmm, no. It's a nice touch out here on the front porch though. I guess it won't clash with the Christmas decor if I just turn it on to light up the night.

I helped Todd load these rolls and pad....well he did 75% of it. 450 square yards of each! I can't believe he got it all in this truck and trailer in one load! Plus he had to unload it himself at the recycle center....tough work.

It was near 60 this afternoon. It felt like one of those cool summer mornings. I only sat for about 1 minute before Todd put me on another assignment. His hired hand for the day got layed up in the hospital, poor guy....so I stepped up at helping Todd out, although I kept gravitating toward cleaning in the kitchen.

You know in home magazines when there is a renovation project and they discover hardwoods underneath old carpet? Tah-dah!! Todd wasn't amused when I announed that I wanted to restore the hardwood and forgo the carpets. It could be done, but it would take a LOT of work and even more money....one day, 10 years down the road perhaps.

My project of the day was cleaning out the kitchen. I am a clean fridge snob. I've said this before...... It's pretty gross when one never wipes out the inside. We wipe off counters and sinks, but what about where all your food is stored day in and day out? People come on! Lastly I went over the floors after the tear out collecting staples and dust. We finally came home after the kids had called to say they were STARVING to have a yummy dinner. I whipped up a batch of cookies while Todd delivered the new pad to Elmer's house and the kids and I watched one of our reality TV shows while Todd hit the sack!

Thanks to Ashley May and Baylor for babysitting Brody. A special thanks to Griffin for watching his brother who is really good at being a two year old. And an additional shout out to Jackson's for letting us borrow this shop vac.

On our next edition: Carpet!!! And lots of it.

Sold....In 14 Days

In March of 1999 we moved into this home. Nine months later we welcomed Miss Camdyn into our family and since then two little heavenly spirits have followed. It's amazing the transformation that has taken place in the past 10 years, not only to our family but to this cozy little home. Todd and I have enjoyed making this a haven for ourselves and our children. We have upgraded all we can in a home such as this and I am finding it surprisingly difficult to say goodbye.

Two Sundays ago a prospective buyer came through and 30 min later called with an offer, they met our counter offer and that was that. Their realtor said he'd never seen a home decorated as nicely as ours was and it would be a treat to be able to bring the buyer in the next day for one more look around. How funny...especially coming from a man!

Alas, it is time to move on.....and we've got some great plans in store for our next residence, which just so happens to be my DREAM home since the moment I layed eyes on it!
For more details on that......see next post below.