Snow Days

 It's been flat COLD in the Ozarks lately!  My kiddos look stinkin' adorable all bundled up (Erin especially reminds me of the kid off "A Christmas Story") so I've had to take a few pics of them and their snow/ice antics!

 This was at Jack's birthday party.  Rob was showing Jack icicles, and of course Jack immediately wanted one.  Elise followed along, too.  They didn't hold them too long--those suckers were cold! 

 With 8 inches of snow, you kind of HAVE to go out an play in it.  Even if most of your cold weather clothing is still in storage and the storage unit has been locked up tight since snow started falling. 

(Bright move, Jacksons)

 Snow Angels were about the only thing to do in the powdery snow.  It wouldn't pack, so there were no snow balls or snowmen to be built. 

Cold weather brings on cold toes.  Luckily, Larry the Elf knew just what the girls would need to stay warm and toasty in the frigid temps!

Thanksgiving

Elise-age 4 (almost 5!), Link- age 3, Erin-age 16 mos, Mia-age 11 mos

 Stevens Thankgivings are packed full of babies again!  Between my 2, Lacy's and Nick's--and now one on the way for Micah to join us next year--we've got babies again.  Before Elise was born, Lydia was the baby.  Lydia turned 16 this year.  Craziness. 

 Speaking of craziness, I can remember how exciting and wonderful it was to pack Nan and Pop's house full of family each year at Thanksgiving.  It was such a great time of year--and Thanksgiving reigned as my favorite holiday for a very long time.  All the fun of family togetherness without all the stress of presents (this was of course my thought process as an adult--as a kid: bring on the presents :))

It is such a blessing to me to be able to show these little babies how much fun a big family can be!

Our kids are blessed with big families on both sides--the Jacksons are a huge family, too!  Their "main event" is at Christmas--and hopefully I'll remember to charge my camera (I meant to take pics at the Jackson Thanksgiving of Elise, Erin, Jack, and Claire this year, but the camera died!)

"Before" Pics

Living Room/Entrance showing fire place.  It will stay, but a new insert is going in.  New front door, too.

 We closed on our new house in Strafford mid-October.  That weekend, before the work started, I took "before" pictures.  I am sure that after it's all done, I will be so glad I did.  In fact, even though at this point it's only half done, I am glad I did!  We will be removing all wallpaper and painting throughout. 

Kitchen.  We'll be putting in tile, new counter tops, and appliances.

Living Room.  We'll be putting in hardwood. (Elise finds her way into a lot of the "before" pics!)

Hallway will also be hardwood.

Girls bath.  We'll be putting in new tile, vanity top, and light fixture.

Elise's room.  Yes, that is linoleum, in a bedroom.  We'll be putting in a new light fixture and carpet.

Erin's room.  New carpet will be going in and a new light fixture.

Master bedroom.  We'll put in carpet, take down the wallpaper border, and put in a new light fixture.

Master Bath.  Putting in tile, vanity top, new toilet and light fixtures.

Dining room (and laundry room in background, goes out to the garage).  We'll be tiling all and putting in a new light fixture.  New back door, too.

Bonus room was added on later and not done right.  It's going to be converted back to garage space and will house Sean's weight equipment.

Back yard (YAY FOR A FENCE!).  Deck will be redone, and yard will be resowed with seed.  There used to be a pool there.

Front yard.  I am sure Sean has some great landscaping ideas up his sleeves.

If everything goes according to plan, we'll be moved in (with just a few more projects left to do that can be done while we live there) before Christmas!  We are all so excited to officially become Strafford residents!  Miss Erin is even starting her new daycare on Tuesday!

Halloween

 Halloween exhausts me on a good year.  This year, being in a transitional house, it was darn near too much.  Elise insisted on doing pumpkins since she got one at her field trip to the pumpkin patch, so we compromised.  I got Erin a little one also, and we let them paint. 

 Erin was more interested in her paint brush than the actual act of painting.  Of course the child immediately got paint in her mouth, too.  I swear, she keeps me on my toes!

 I think Elise is going to be an artist like her Daddy.  She is very particular about what colors she uses where and always wants you to draw an example for her to mimic.

 I got this bib for a quarter at a garage sale before Erin was born.  Money well spent.  Here, she's actually tasting some of her candy.

 Costumes are another reason that Halloween stresses me out.  I am not crafty.  Though I may pin all these adorable homemade costumes on pinterest, I've never tried them because I know they'll end up on the "pinterest fail" board.  Elise saw this getup at Sam's.  She wore the wig the first time she wore the costume to the Chamber of Commerce event.  She cried to never wear it again, so it didn't get worn at school or trick-or-treating.

 As I mentioned, costumes stress me out.  So why bother if the kid doesn't know she's supposed to be dressing up?  I saw this cute tutu and bow at the Fair Grove Festival and thought, "why not?"  I already had the Halloween onesie that would match, and she looked just as cute as if she'd worn an actual costume--cuter probably!

 Getting these two to pose together is nearly impossible.  It was made even harder by the fact that Elise couldn't get that darned wig where she wanted it.

Happy Friggin' Halloween.

New Beginnings

 As we were getting ready for another big day of packing and moving (do you have any idea how much stuff a family of four accumulates in 5 years??  I sure didn't!), I had to take a moment to snap a few pictures of the girls in front of the only home they've known.

 I've been a lot more nostalgic about the move than I expected to be when we put the house on the market.  I think of things like bringing both the girls home from the hospital to this house.  I think about all the firsts that the girls have had here--and the firsts that we've had as a family here.

I moved 5 times before I started kindergarten, and then moved six times from the day I left home to the day we moved into this house.  Never, in all of those moves, did I ever feel so sad to leave a place.  Our neighborhood has been ideal for a family.  Our house has been so good to us.  But, it's time to go.

We're under contract on our next home, and we're all very excited about it.  We've wanted to move closer to Springfield for quite some time, and the new house is located in the area we want to be in: Strafford.  

But before we go, maybe, just maybe, Erin will give me one more "first" for our house on Brook Hills Drive and quit faking me out on walking.  I'd love it if she started walking this week before we turned the key one last time. 

It's been a wonderful adventure, 260 Brook Hills Drive!  I hope we're as blessed at our next home as we were in this one.

A Cousin is Born

 Claire Foster was born on August 23rd.  Elise was absolutely in love with her.  She wanted to hold her the whole time we were visiting, and she wanted to kiss her a ton.  She told me many times while we were there and after we came home that she was so beautiful. 

Erin was impressed with her new cousin, too, but we didn't let her get a hold of her.  Erin is terror on her baby dolls when she is "loving" on them.  There is no telling how she'd be with an infant.  Something best left untested until both Erin and Claire are a bit older!

 I am very proud to say I am 2 for 2 on guessing the sex of Amanda's babies.  She kills me that she doesn't find out until they are here (I am too Type A for that!) but I have guessed accurately with both of hers, and had a big bag of pink stuff to bestow on my niece at the hospital that was purchased before she was born.  If I had been wrong, we would've had to make a quick run to Babies R Us for something blue :)

We're so happy you've joined the family, Claire!

First Day of Preschool, Take 2

 Things got serious for Elise on August 15th.  That was Sneak Peek for what she calls "The Big Preschool."  She was ticked in the Sneak Peek pic because we wouldn't let her play on the playground on the way in.  We're mean parents like that.

Her face was decidedly more cheerful when she started at the Big Preschool for real the following Monday.  She told us on her first day that she didn't make any friends.  She acted slightly concerned about it, but when we asked her why she didn't try to play with anyone (she usually makes friends everywhere she goes because there's not a shy bone in her body), she said that she played with the boy teacher (there are two girls and one boy teacher in her class).  She told us the next day she made friends with a boy in a red shirt and a girl in a purple shirt.  She's not the best at remembering names--just ask "Dave" (what she called Evan for a while), Hannah and "Tara" (she interchanges Hannah and Cara still to this day), or "My round friend" (the neighbor boy who has a round face).  

We're a few weeks in now, and she definitely likes the Big Preschool the best.  She still has fun at the Little Preschool, but she prefers the Big Preschool.  By the way, the best that we can tell, the reason she calls it the Big Preschool is because it is at the big elementary school :)