New House

We finally have a majority of our boxes unpacked or hidden in the garage. And it feels like we are settled more and more everyday. So here are some pictures of the "new house" as Abby still refers to if. This is the main level, I haven't taken any pictures of the upstairs or the basement yet. Oops. This will have to tide everyone over for now.

This is the view from the kitchen, Dave had a fire going today it was wonderful.

This is the breakfast nook and kitchen, still a mess but it gets cleaned every night before bed.

This is the formal dining room off the kitchen and living room.

This is the living room, its actually the front room on the house. The only carpeted room on the main floor!

The beautifully decorated stairs to the upper level.

The main floor half bath.

Sally took this of us, we had a fire going. This is after spending the morning outside in the cold and snow.

Winter Wonderland

It's nothing like our friends and family to the north are experiencing, but we woke up to two inches of snow today. Abby was so excited. She is fighting whooping cough but we bundled her up for about 10 minutes to play in the cold white stuff.

Abby wasn't a fan of the big wind gusts, she kept grabbing onto Dave.

Even Proton only lasted about 10 minutes outside, it was cold!

Dave taking Abby sledding down the hill on the side of the house. Proton didn't stray too far. We still haven't figured out the electric fence to keep her in the yard. Thankfully she doesn't have much interest in exploring the neighborhood.

A tired two-year-old after some fun in the snow.

Christmas Program

Thursday was Abby's Christmas program at daycare. It's only week two at the center, and Abby is loving it. It's a little more play and a little less learning but Abby is definetely fitting in. She likes to hug her teacher before leaving at the end of the day, and has only had one accident!

The show was great, and went rather quickly! Each classroom came out and did two songs and moved on. Abby is quite the leader in her room. She was in the front row during their songs. She knew all the motions.

After her class was done, Dave brought her up to watch the other rooms with us. She loved that we were sitting up in the balcony. (I guess we should have taken that whole "get there early to get a good seat" thing seriously.)

We skipped the 4 and 5 years olds nativity scene so that Abby could go to bed on time. But since we weren't staying for treats we let Abby have a small brownie. She was so happy and all about posing for the camera.

St. Nick

We celebrated St. Nick's day a little early at our house. Both Dave and I wanted to be there in the morning when she got her presents. So St. Nick stopped at our house Saturday night.

Abby didn't really understand why Santa was coming but she drew a picture and told me what she wanted.

What does Abby want this Christmas? fishes, big clothes (compared to the small clothes we make her wear?), and more chalk.... I'm pretty sure she just saw it and a box and yelled that out. The next morning when we woke her up to take her downstairs to find her goodies she had a minor meltdown. She thought Santa was still here and she was worried about seeing him again. Once we sorted out the Santa drama she was very happy with her new jammies and chocolate.

Abby Stories

Last night driving home from Walmart and we pass a church with green spotlights for the holidays, all of a sudden Abby starts yelling "wizard of oz, wizard of oz". Did you figure it out? Yeah, she thought it was the Emerald City. She is so smart, I tell ya.

Abby also started her new daycare last week, so far no major problems. The program is through the Methodist Church about a block from our house. This week is their Christmas program. I've been asking her what she is singing at school. And she keeps making weird hand signs, now I know I haven't been to many Christmas programs in recent years but I had no idea what she was doing. So after dinner we were playing by the Christmas tree when she noticed the nativity on top of the piano. So I let her climb up on the piano and check it out, she was asking who everyone is. When I told her about Baby Jesus, and she started singing about Baby Jesus with the weird arm movements. Still not sure what they mean but the song has to do with Baby Jesus, rocking, and giving him a kisses. I can't wait to see the program and solve the rest of the puzzle. I think she is also singing "Jingle Bells" every time she hears the song she points to the sky and says "bells!"

Unpacking

We've been busy unpacking the house for the last few days. There are still boxes everywhere, so no pictures for you yet. They're coming soon, I promise.

Abby always refers to the house as the "new house." She loves it. Well, we all LOVE it.

Yes, it does have its faults. For example, last night around 9:00PM, I was sitting here watching TV. Peggy was taking a shower in the master bathroom. I heard this dripping noise start. I didn't think much of it. I thought it was water inside the drain dripping down and hitting the bottom of the pipe in the basement (I've never lived in a two story with a basement, so this made sense to me). But, then the dripping got more constant. So, I went to investigate. I went to the furnace closet in the basement, and there was a lot of water dripping from the ceiling! At least 6 or 7 drops per second. AHHHHHHHHHHH I thought as I ran up two flights of stairs as fast as possible to tell Peggy to turn off the shower.

After 30 minutes of investigating, I narrowed down the problem to the drain basket. I didn't think I could see any plumber's putty between the drain and the shower insert. So, I finally (took a while) got the basket off and sure enough, no putty. Idiots. It's becoming clear to me that some of the stuff that was replaced/fixed in this house was just plain not done right. Very frustrating. If you don't know what you're doing, then whey are you doing it? I'm pretty confident that this drip didn't just start for us. I'm guessing it's been going on for a while. Argh.

I also fixed the ceiling fan light in the master yesterday. That one we had already known was broken. Then there's the doors. All of the interior doors look as though they've been replaced recently. Well, whoever did it had no clue. There are weird size gaps in places, they're not square, some of them you can see through the crack when they're closed. Argh again. Not to worry, they are fixable, but it's going to require pulling off the trim and rehanging the doors. Maybe that's a project for next summer.

Don't get me wrong, we all looooove the house, but there are quite a few little things that still need to be fixed.

When I pick Abby up from school, she automatically starts talking about the "new house." She hasn't even been able to run in the yard much. I know she'll LOVE this house in the spring when she can run around outside.

In other news, Abby has also fallen in love with christmas lights. Everywhere we go "mama, daddy, christmas lights!" Or, "where christmas lights?" Major cuteness. We'll have to plan a couple of trips out driving to see some more christmas lights. I'm hoping to put some up on our house tomorrow. We'll see if that actually happens. I fear that I've already missed the last good and warm weekend.

Home

We are in the new house! Despite many last minute hiccups that could have delayed everything. We are officially sleeping, eating and cleaning the new place. Pictures to come, if you need our new address or phone number, yep we've officially moved out of the 314 area code, email us.
Much more to come as we get settled.