OOoooppss! Been awhile!

I didn't realize that I really have not updated our blog for so long....been a little crazy around here these days!  I think I should start off with updated photos of the kids, house and Christmas!

Alice loves her big sister!  This is at our Pleasanton house by the Walnut tree!

So big!  Reaching and grabbing the mobile.

This is supposed to be the pink bathroom right?

This was Sam's helpful box writing for the moving crew, "Anything of ours."

Here is the kitchen crew from Elements Design.  This is  close to what it looked like when we moved in.

Alice reading on our now empty kitchen floor in the old house.

AHHH  here is the move in kitchen....no appliances, no faucet....we ate out the week before Thanksgiving!

Sammy's bathroom....I was so proud I painted this in 2 hours all by myself!

Here is Sammy's bathroom, closer to finished....do you notice the paint change?

So now we have a faucet and look who thinks she needs to play here?

Well, I guess it's better than playing in the girls bathroom?

Or outside without a fence in place yet!

We had them add the left over granite from the kitchen counters onto the dinning room window  ceil.

What a handsome boy!  Here is Sam after his choir performance.

In case you were wondering what we've been up to......

Yes, we really did have to take out shingles on the inside of our new house!  It is actually MUCH EASIER than horrible glued on wallpaper!!!  The kids loved pulling it out!

Trying to get horrible wallpaper off of the stairway walls!

Kathy Jackson just came to see our house but was quickly put to work.

You can see Alice is in there too!

Our new little town.

Grandma Patsy is the wallpaper whisperer....she was amazing at getting the WORSE wallpaper off!  She spent days peeling, scraping and soaking those walls.

Master Bathroom.  Two things to notice, the floors and the nice metallic gold and silver wallpaper which was underneath the first layer of wallpaper.  Any ideas on how to get that off?  Patsy even tried without success claiming that we would have to just wallpaper over it!  And what's up with the vanity in every house in this area...do women actually have time to SIT and put on their make up?

Look!  No wallpaper.....Ramon worked hard patching and prepping this wall!  This is a picture of our flooring crew.  This poor guy spent two days sanding these stairs!

I would like to point out the baseboards that I alone pulled out throughout the entire house!  It was actually fun....not wallpaper!

Erik studying the door frames.

Grandpa Ramon teaching Erik how to put in door frames....can you see the beautiful job he did behind them?  They look amazing and it took Ramon days and days to get those on!!!

Kate doesn't like the loud noise the nail gun makes.

Sammy trying to learn as well!  Grandpa let Sam do some sanding for the framing, you should have seen his face.  He loves this stuff!  Again notice the nice metallic wallpaper closer up.  Kate's having fun!

Jose and Luke ripping up our kitchen floors.  They took a wall out and the drop ceiling out in a matter of hours!  Again do you see Sam taking notes?

A view of the nice laminate flooring that was placed just so we could get our loan approved.  Not keeping that around!

The kitchen with wires hanging from the ceiling, sub flooring and exposed pipes!
For our weekend, Erik will be tiling with our real estate agent in our master bathroom.  He is, as I type (yes it is 10:45pm), placing flooring in the bathroom and screwing in screws every 6 inches for a nice even floor.....sound like fun?  One day we will sleep again.....just not tonight!
I cannot express our gratitude to Patsy and Ramon for all of their help!  Erik told me when they left he felt a huge weight on his shoulders!  They carried our burdens for a week and a half!  We are so blessed to have their talents, expertise, service and love.  They are such examples to us about how to live and serve and make the world a better place.  We love you Grandma and Grandpa!

Meg in James and the Giant Peach

There is a story about a little boy who goes on an adventure on a Giant Peach with giant bugs.  They start in England and end up on the Empire State Building.  Along the way they squish two horrid aunts, fly away from sharks by way of seagulls, hundreds and hundreds of them, see cloudmen and finally end up feeding hundreds of hungry little children with one delicious peach.  We all thought that the very lady like ladybug stole the show and many others agreed with us.  Upon finding our star after each performance she was surrounded by little children wanting autographs and pictures.  This was the first performance at the new Firehouse Theater in Pleasanton.  It was really special to be the first show there.  This production has been such fun!  Meg was able to shine and enjoyed every minute!  She had to cram homework into her weekends since she was practicing for this production throughout the week nights on top of soccer.  She worked hard and always woke up with a smile on her face and energy for her days.  We are so proud of all the wonderful things that Meg does!  We are also excited to have her around the house more now that her show is over......we missed her!  Her sweet grandparents even came out to support her and see her shine.  

The Star Ladybug!

Meg's Daddy couldn't be prouder!

Meg and cast accepting their applause.

Meg's biggest fan club.

We are so proud of our little ladybug!

Sam and Kate love their big sister.

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Temple Visit

Meg

Look at my baby!  Isn't she amazing!

Alice wouldn't hold still for a second!

We went to the temple last Sunday for Meg to tryout for a performance at the temple lighting celebration over the Thanksgiving holidays.  It was the first time that I had gone on top of the temple.  The view of the Bay and San Francisco was breath taking as usual.  The children had a good time walking around the grounds together on such a great day!