Christmas - chapter1

The Christmas celebrations got underway this evening at mom and dad's house. Our tradition is to do Christmas eve with my folks, Christmas morning at home and Christmas-later morning with Melissa's family. It is great to have so much family close by.
We are really blessed.
We all had a great time tonight. We had a good meal and the girls had a blast. we all got great gifts but the family is the important thing.
Uncle George gave the girls one of his amazing horses. They kept taking turns riding it all night.
They were very worn out and they both fell asleep on the way home. It was an awesome evening.
ps - Thanks so much to all of you Nebraska folks for the nice comments. It is so great to see your families on your blogs. I wish we were closer but at least we can stay in touch this way. I hope you all have a Blessed and Merry Christmas.

Dancing Princess

Mara had her first recital on Sunday. She performed at the Massari Auditorium here of campus. It was neat, but kind of scary to see her on that stage. I spent so many years working shows in that theater to see my daughter performing there made me realize that time is flying by a little to fast for comfort. My boss had the same thing happen to him as his daughter was running sound for the event.

My rapid aging aside, Mara did a great job. She was only in one number. She is the youngest and smallest in her class but she keeps up just fine. Myka wanted to be in the show also so Melissa dressed her up and had her downstairs in the dressing room. She thought she was pretty cool. Sorry - no pictures of Myka.

Mara is hoping to join more classes next year so she can be in more numbers.
On a side note, the show was 12 years and a day since the evening I proposed to Melissa on that very stage. No pictures of that either, although there is a video in storage somewhere.
The house is coming along. Like the rest of the country we have had too much freezing weather to get too much done. I am still hoping to have the electrical done by the fifth of January when I go back to work.
Mom go her decorations up despite the help of the girls and Wayne. we are looking forward to a nice family Christmas this year.
That is all for now, I hope everyone has a blessed holiday and remember that Christ is the "REASON FOR THE SEASON"!

Snow Days

We've had some real snow the past few weeks. The biggest came last night as a storm dumped about a foot of the white stuff.

The girls have been enjoying themselves. We had so much snow the last 12 hours that Melissa and I both had snow days off from work. I still did some work from home but it is nice to relax and play with the girls for a change.

Myka really enjoyed getting dressed up for the weather. She was ready to go out before the rest of us. Thankfully she was willing to wait for us.

Melissa, Corrie and Brittney had as much fun as the girls

Sadly, the weather, a web conference in Denver, a basketball tournament and a wedding have slowed the progress on the house. The stucco crew have got the wire on and if we can get a few good days they will put the base stucco on soon. We are close to having all of the inside walls done as well.

Happy Thanksgiving

Three great reasons to be thankful an a birthday too!

Kitchen Design

Not to be outdone by all of the outside work, Melissa has been working with Direct-Buy to design the kitchen. Here are a couple of early looks at what the kitchen will look like.

Wire time

The Stucco crew showed up today. They started to wire the house. They have scaffold almost all the way around the house. It won't be long and they will have it all wired up and ready to stucco.

We got it done!

Praise the Lord, it took four days and and quite a few people helping but we got the soffit, doors and other odds and ends done and we are ready for the stucco crew.
Wayne came down today and he, dad and I finished things up. We had the scaffold in some weird places and maybe it was a little unsafe at times but I don't plan on letting OSHA know.
Now we will slow down for a few days with plenty to be thankful for. Thank you all for the prayers.

weekend update part 2

We decided to take off a day from working around the eves to get the doors in place. I think that was moms idea... Anyway, it was a good idea as the four of us (Dad, Mom, Melissa and I) were able to get all four doors installed. I am taking Monday off in hopes of finishing the eves and other things that need done before Tuesday. Keep praying!

big weekend update

Our long weekend of work continued today. Dad, Uncle George and I got quite a bit done. We still have two peaks to do but we got one done today. We are still hoping to be ready by Tuesday.

Soffit going up

Hey everyone, hope all is well. We are getting over the colds we had last week. Myka started things and we all took a turn. It feels good to breathe normal again.
We are done with sports for awhile. Hoehne lost in the semifinals and TSJC doesn't have another home game until mid-December. Our next game isn't until high school basketball kicks off in early December. I guess this means it is time to hit the house hard.
Dad and I have been working on soffit the last couple of days. We need to get it done, get the doors installed and finish all of the outside utilities by Tuesday so the Stucco crew can get going. Mom and Dad decided we needed a little help so they are giving us an early Christmas present. Mom knows a great stucco guy so she got him to give her a good deal. We are very excited to get that done and move inside.
But before any of that can happen we need to hit it hard. We pray for good weather and safety. Hopefully we will be working inside soon.

Kitchen

The windows are in

Wednesday was a great day. I was able to get off early, hoping to just get the big window in. Not only did we get that one in but we did it with fewer people and we got all of the rest of the windows in too! Praise the Lord!
I was planning on waiting until dark when Wayne, Melissa and her dad would be able to be there. Instead we managed it with Uncle George, his truck, My cousin Craig, my dad, Melissa's brother Aaron and myself.
Craig was awesome. He did all of the ladder work when we placed the windows. He also did the leveling. Dad is great because he is willing to climb anywhere and do anything. Uncle George is so helpful with advice and with an experienced eye. Aaron's help sealed the deal for us. He was able to help pass windows around and he held the big window in place while we got it situated. It was a great crew. I am so thankful for family.

Windows

The windows showed up right on time today. We actually partially installed four of them in the basement before the snow flakes and rain drops started falling. Uncle George, Craig, dad, Melissa and I put them in place and now we just need to finish securing them. Melissa's dad finished some dirt work around the house, after giving the girls a ride or two.

Water line is finished

Even though it was Sunday we had a lot of help this afternoon. Along with Melissa and myself we had mom and dad, Melissa's dad, uncle and brother. That isn't even counting everyone who watched the girls for us.
We got the line in from the meter to the basement. Around 1300 feet worth. The plumber will now have to hook us up to the main line but we are another step closer. Hopefully we will have windows tomorrow. Say a prayer