Shanan's Home Page: December 2011

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

December = too busy to blog!!!

wow! Its been quiet a month! floors are done. We moved in and decorated for Christmas at the same time... how confusing is that?!?! I LOVE my house :) I love having everything done...ok, not quiet everything. one lonesome closet door has yet to go in, and 2 doors need to be trimmed out. but other than that EVERYTHING is done!!!

Christmas shopping is DONE! Have I ever mentioned the fact that I love the fact (redundant much?) that The Pack don't ask for much? Should I say "doesn't"? I go back and forth with the plural tense to follow THE PACK.... they don't... she doesn't... hmmm, confusing :P

Anywho, they don't ask for much. Actually the older 3 don't ask for anything. And when I ask them to give me something for ideas, they try to come up something... anything, that they would like. They usually don't give me much to choose from. Of course the younger 2 add something else to their "got to have" list, seemingly everyday.

I'm thinking "doesn't" is the correct plural tense to follow "The Pack". The Pack DOESN'T ask for much. yeah. ok.

Did you know that December is the worst month to have major appliances go out on ya? Well, now ya do. And did you know that it really really sucks to not have hot water? Well, now ya do. On the bright side, I think our water bill will be much lower this month. You tend to take the quickest showers in the world when you don't have hot water ;) and there is a lot of jumping around and screeching and shivering and then cuddling up by the wood stove to warm up after one takes a shower ;) I love having a wood stove.

I took Blue Eyes and Mouth to the little town next door to get a few things from the store for supper... as we are going super fast thru the aisles, Mouth is looking around and skipping, jumping, being loud, generally just being herself, she noticed that most of the people were looking kinda grumpy. Of course she can't stand it when people are looking grumpy.

I've been grumpy the last few days, (Christmas is always so stressful for me. Why do bills seem to pile up in Dec???) so Mouth taped a sign on the windshield of my van... it said, "SMILE MOM!!!!!!!! :D"
I kinda love that girl.

Anywho... she can't stand it when people are grumpy. So she came up with the idea that next time we go to the BIG TOWN, she will walk around and say, "HI!!!! My name is LILY!!!" then the next time she sees that same person, she will say, "HI!!! My name is GRACE!!!" and just change up the name every time she talks to someone. Of course all of this will happen with a manic grin plastered to her face... she's crazy like that.
And I kinda sorta love that about her.

We had the in laws over for supper tonight. My loverly sister in law made scalloped potatoes with ham and a yummy chocolate cake :) I kinda sorta love her. As we are going thru the line, Mouth walks up to my loverly mother in law, also known as Grandma K, Mouth wraps her arms around her and exclaims, "Grandma! I FRICKEN LOVE YA!!!" and she turns and looks at Mouth and exclaims, "******, I FRICKEN LOVE YOU TOO!!!" Mouth busted a gut laughing! Then she goes on to say she loves seeing the A family, "cuz usually I can't say darn it, dang it, or shoot. Its always, "Watch your mouth, ******". "Be Quiet, ******". Blah Blah Blah... " ;) I kinda sorta love that girl. And her MOUTH!!!

It did make me realize how much we try to stifle her when we are around certain family members or people we know. Which is really too bad. Mouth is Mouth. I love her for who she is. I never want her to think that who she is isn't acceptable to us. If we wanted her to be mellow, low-key and robot-like, we would drug her like over every other kid in the U.S. who has a love for life, a smart mouth and so much energy that I wish I could bottle it up and sell it!

We have a 16 yr old in the house!!! it still scares me. she starts working next week, she goes in for her drivers license test soon. it scares me. By the time Baby Sister is 16 I will probably throw her the keys and say "have fun!! Check in!!" and off she will go. Not quiet ready for that. Poor Beans is our, "try everything out on her" kid. We find ourselves tweaking rules and responsibilities and expectations as the younger 2 get older. Is that absolutely horrible??? hmmmm.

Well, I am off to bed. Hopefully I will find time to get back on here b4 Christmas, but if not....

I want to wish everyone a "Merry Christmas", and remind everyone to not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. Celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. So that, thru His death, we could have eternal life. He truly was born to die. A gift that I will be forever thankful for.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Family Event

We got SO much accomplished this weekend!!! Doors are trimmed. Base trim in the addition. freshened up the pine walls in the livingroom (sanded and polyurethaned), floors sanded AND POLYURETHANED!!!!! yay!!!

Saturday evening I made a call to my mom and begged her if we could camp out on the floor at their place ~ HH informed me that there was NO way we could stay in the house while finishing the floors. (I had planned on spending the time in a hotel, but that gets expensive). Of course she said "yes!" and we got there at 11 o'clock Saturday night. the Pack sacked out in one bedroom and HH and I got my parents room, I guess they didn't want to give up the basement ;)

~REWIND~

Saturday we sanded sanded and sanded some more. Got it done by 2! then got doors and trim done and polyed the wall boards and the trim. Then it was to throw some clothes, blankets and pillows into the van, drop the girls off at CBs house and run back to get the first coat on the floor!

Its BEAUTIFUL!!!! I absolutely love it!!! :)

Sunday morning, HH, Beans, Little Brother and Blue Eyes and I got the second coat on b4 church. but we knew we were gonna be a 1/2 gallon short to finish the floors, so we ran to the store b4 church and they were OUT of the stuff.... urgh!!! so after church it was back to mom and dads for dinner then off to the big big city for some more polyurethane. 3rd coat was on by 630 Sunday night!

Back to mom and dads to crash for the night.

Monday morning we came back home :) we are living in my bedroom right now, as we can't have furniture or anything on the new floors for at least 72 hrs.

My uncle has mentioned that he loved the fact that we turned a house remodel into a family event. That pretty much sums it up :) we have made so many awesome memories in the process of this "little" house remodel :)

The Brat Pack has learned so much. not only how to set rafters and shingle a roof and side a house, and sheet rock walls, and mud and tape, and install hardwood flooring, but how to be flexible and to be understanding of each others moods and how to lend a hand when needed. They were able to see and experience first hand how hard their dad works to support our little family. And how much he sacrificed this summer to get this done. They learned what it means to work hard and accomplish much. How to work thru pain and exhaustion. They learned that having a nice house is work, and that it deserves respect. Hopefully these lessons will get them far in their lives.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Livin at the Funny Farm!

Its one of those days! The Pack is in a great mood! The sun is shining (our HAPPY DRUG!!!), the house is toasty warm (woodstove :), things are getting done, everyone is goofy, silly, crazy, loud. :D

Love days like today! Don't you?

Days like today, things seem to just go, well, smoother.

Mouth flooded the sink and we got bubbles everywhere, which of course called for a bubble fight between the Pack.

I didn't even get mad. Just took out my camera and started to take pics :)

There has been alot of laughing, giggling, screaming, running, sliding, jumping on my bed, which is STILL in the middle of the living room, barking (Remi), crashing, music blaring, singing off key, going on here today.

Its been great :) And now I must go and join in on the craziness :D hopefully we will get the floors sanded and sealed this weekend. And then we can decorate for Christmas!!!! Updating soon!!!