The boys reading early Thanksgiving Morning
A rowdy game of Battleship (with grapes in the center) after our return home
Roger decided that since he was home that morning, it was a grand time to start on the stair railing for the upper stairs, one that we've lived without for nearly 3 years now. The kids are all so well-trained to "hold the wall!" that they still don't use the railing now that it's there.
BEFORE - Good for little monkeys to swing on
AFTER - "Aww Dad, now I can't swing on it anymore!"
Friday, when masses of people were out trampling each other for the best deal on something they probably don't need anyway, we cleaned up and got out our Christmas decorations. Since we live very close to one of the biggest malls in this country, we choose to stay in and not go near any of the roads.
The kids were chomping at the bit to get the tree up. But I explained that FIRST we had clean up the toys in the living room. Every one. Not just some. THEN we had to pull out the furniture and find the OTHER toys that were hiding back there, along with Dust Bunnies, random socks and one lonely lollipop wrapper. NEXT we had to sweep and mop the floors. AFTER THAT we had to decide where the tree was going. AND THEN, ONLY THEN, could the tree come down from the attic.
So we did all that. Roger was out working and the rest of stayed in our PJ's and did all that in order. 'Till we got to the part about where the tree was going. I just could not decide. So the kids, poor kids, patient kids - they helped me move the couches this way and that. They sat with their little eyes wide open while I pondered and "hmmm'd." They humored me when I had them move things AGAIN. And finally I said, "We're moving the TV."
And now THAT took about an hour, there were even more Lost Pets back there, Dust Bunnies triple the size of the ones under the couch, because who really has time to clean behind the speaker that's behind the TV? So we recovered that area, wrapped up all the random cords that went nowhere and used wire-ties to make everything neat and orderly. Then we moved the TV, which is bolted to the cabinet (because of me) and connected (because Roger is Roger) to 2 side-speakers and a giant sub-woofer thingie.
We moved it to this corner, then that corner, then the middle of the outer wall, then to another corner. Still the kids were patient. Each time we moved the TV, I put the couches in a different spot. The living room is not that big. It's just a square with 2 sets of doors. You would think there are not that many options for all of this. We had to consider certain things tho, like not leaving open access to the bay window, as one tiny hand could probably pull down our entire nutcracker collection that sits on a wooden structure on top of our fake snow. But finally, we got it. According to Chase, we had to move the TV "19 times."
And then we put our tree up. Only to realize that last year's lights had burnt out last year and we hadn't replaced them yet. Aaaargh.
2 little elves take a break from couch-moving to draw a picture.
Riley concentrates hard as she fluffs out each tree limb and hands it to Chase.
Chase adds the top piece.
RJ could care less about the tree. He spent the whole time pressing the button on the vacuum, which I borrowed every 3 pieces or so to clean up the needles that were underfoot.
In other news, the Farmhouse got a new roof! It looks great and makes the rest of the house look terrible - lol. Now we can finalize our layout for the inside and get started on electrical and plumbing.
Bare front.
Bare back. Here's the addition, except we're moving the 2nd story windows now after changing the layout a thousand times.
Here's our Sunday night, on the 3rd floor, framing out a window so the roof can get shingled on Monday.
I had no other choice except to bring RJ up in his carseat. He enjoyed the noise of the saw and the nailgun, but other that, he was not entirely happy with us.
Nice new roof!
Totally random and exciting -
My Christmas Cactus is in bloom! More flowers than ever - so pretty! It seems that all my indoor plants thrive in the master bathroom, where no guests will ever see them.... bah.
