Monday, February 27, 2012

Bathroom Is Progressing...

The bathroom project is getting closer to the end...

The walls are now a nice shade of green

The unfinished corner where the shower will be

As of this posting the toilet and shower base are in and that extra insulation isn't showing, but these are the most recent pictures.
Come back later this week or so for a more interesting post of puppy pictures. :-) (I put some on my photography blog too).

Monday, February 20, 2012

Meet the newest member of the family...

Apparently this was pet-birthday-gift year at our house, because Tara got this little guy for hers (but he only just arrived this past week):

Tara's new puppy, Chivery
(named after John Chivery in Charles Dickens' "Little Dorrit")

See more pictures on Tara's blog - and stay tuned because I'm sure there will be more on here before long. ;-)

Monday, February 13, 2012

Playing Catch-Up... Again!

February already... time just flies a little too quickly these days, or so it seems. I'll try to do a relatively short recap of life from Tara's birthday till now. :-)

We posted a happy birthday post for Tara as always, but we never posted about the fun visit from Grace that accompanied that birthday. :-) We had a great time, ate lots of good food, and generally laughed a little too much.

Out for dinner at the Melting Pot... yummmm!

I think this was the Flaming Turtle Chocolate Fondue.
Even the name makes you drool, doesn't it?

The silliness abounds...

We had a wonderful night at the Do-It-Yourself Messiah again, our yearly tradition. Great music and soloists, and best of all, the best lyrics ever. :-)

Me, Jessica & Laura trying to keep our eyes open on the train ride home. :-)

Mid-January found us trekking out to Indiana for a spontaneous trip to attend an English Country Dance hosted by our Reformation Day acquaintances, the Franks. We had a lovely evening of dancing; learning some new dances, meeting new friends, and socializing with "old" friends. :-) I heard we even made it into the local paper!

With Gretel, Rebecca, Lily and Emily Rose

More recently, we've been staying busy... We went sledding with our friends Christie, Lori & Luke, even though there really wasn't very much snow!


Christie was the first one to get the hang of our new little sled thing. If you have one of these things, and keep falling off - don't tuck your legs up on to it. Stick them out straight! :-)


Rehearsing for Liberty Day... it's coming together pretty well!




Visits from friends...


And the biggest thing going on right now is our bathroom is getting remodeled. It was REALLY in need of it. It will have a whole new layout and new color scheme (which is good considering it doesn't exactly have any color scheme right now :-).

Before pictures...




Gutted!
There hasn't been that much visual progress since that, but I'll post some more photos when there's more to see. I'm sure Mr. Riggenbach will be anxiously awaiting my updates... ;-)

That's about it for now, folks... see you in a couple months! (joke... or maybe not...)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Life, DeL-ified

We had the 4 little DeL kids with us this past week from Wednesday to Monday while their parents flew out to Idaho for Jonathan & Allie's wedding. As you can imagine, when you spend 4 1/2 days with 4 kids, 6 and under, there are quite a few opportunities for smiles and even out-loud laughs. :-) Enjoy this peek into the minds of the DeL kiddos...


Sunday night we played church. Corrine was the pastor, I think. :-)
Corrine: Now we will have the Passover. [takes out the fake money and starts passing it out] Here is your money to put in the plate. [proceeds to collect tithes and offerings]
Winston: No, Corrine! The Passover is when you eat FOOD.
Corrine: Oh! [does the Lord's Supper, making sure to assure us that it was gluten free]
Later on in the service it was time for the benediction.
Corrine: Now, a token from God----
Winston (interrupting): Corrine! A token is a INDIAN thing!
Corrine: [pause] Squanto was the best Indian... [and launches into the story of Squanto instead of the benediction]
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While baking cookies...
Winston: Do you know why I'm SO SMART? Because my mom teached me.
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The kids were going out to play in the snow. Because they didn't have snow pants, Tara told the girls to just wear their tights under their pants.
Camille: Mommy said to never wear tights under our pants.
Tara: Well, just this once it is okay.
Camille: But Mommy will know! Even if we don't tell her, she will know. She knows EVERYTHING.


In the car, Corrine was looking at a book, and Winston (in the back seat) could tell she was doing something but couldn't see what. Corrine told him it was a secret (they apparently have this thing about secrets - everything is a secret).
Winston (to me): SHE has a secret, and she's NOT telling me! And I am NOT HAPPY about that!
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We played house, and Tara was the mom, Winston was the dad, Corrine and Camille were the babies, and I was the grandma. First off, though, Tara and Winston had to get married (according to Corrine).
Me (I played a dual role as grandma and minister): Winston, do you want to marry Tara?
Winston (giggling): Yes.
Me: Tara, do you want to marry Winston?
Tara: Yes. [she's a very convincing liar. *winks*]
Me: I now pronounce you man and wife.
They walk back down the aisle.
Winston: That is the SILLIEST part!
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In the car on the way to church...
Winston: I smell beans! MAYBE, we have a BEAN FEEF!
Me: A bean feef? What's a feef?
Winston: A FEEF! Somebody who steals stuff! I bet, the feef was stealing some beans, and he dropped one under the seat! We better make a trap to catch that feef....


Camille: Aunt Joanna said that we can wear a pretty dress and be in her wedding.
Me: Really? That will be fun!
Corrine: Maybe you should have us in YOUR wedding!
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Mom went up to get the girls up from their nap/rest time and found them both cuddled under the covers. As they came down the stairs, though, Camille enlightened her...
Camille: I was dancing ballet in our room!
Mom: I thought you were taking a nap.
Camille: Well, I was dancing, and then I heard you coming up the stairs, and I jumped back in bed so you would think I was taking a nap.
--------------------------------------------------------
We went out to play in the snow, and Tara came out wearing her coat, black snow pants, and a bright pink headband/earmuff.
Winston: You look like Uncle Josiah!
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Winston and Corrine were going through what they could remember of the 10 commandments.
Corrine: Thou shalt not steal. Ummm... Thou shalt not kill.
Winston: Thou shalt not steal.
Corrine: Uhhh... Thou shalt not commit adulurity. Mmm... Thou shalt not steal.
Winston: Thou shalt not make a new covenant. THAT means, Thou shalt not worship a new car.
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I hope this put a smile on your face today. ;-)
-Kathryn

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Happy Birthday Tara!

The baby of the family is 18 today!

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Look what Mom got for her birthday...

This little sweetie joined us yesterday and is already making herself at home. She has tons of energy and is super friendly, and purrs pretty much 95% of the time. :-)

EDIT: The Nameless One is no longer nameless... she is officially named Katije (it's Dutch for Little Cat). It's pronounced kaht-ya... I know, we have this thing for weird unpronounceable cat names... :-)






Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Happy Birthday, Mom!


 

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