March update

March has flown by. I have grand aspirations of detailed blog posts complete with lots of pictures which give just the right kind of summary of our month. We had lots of visitors - Jack's parents for a week, mine for a visit at the end of the month and sandwiched in between those visits was a visit from my sister-in-law, Becky, who descended upon our humble abode with a friend of hers and 4 young children under the age of 4 1/2 (yes, that made 8 kids in our house). All of our guests were very welcome and all of our visits were great. Some were just louder than others.

In this month we also celebrated Annie's 4th birthday. With all of those visitors, her birthday went on and on and on.... pictures (hopefully) to follow. And Jack and I celebrated our 11th anniversary.

We also filled out our 2010 census. It was just the two of us when we filled completed the 2000 census. With the birth of our fourth child, I needed to go into the bonus space on this census form. I guess you could also say its been a busy decade.

Its rather late at night and I should be getting to sleep. If my ambitious plans to document the month fall through because I fall asleep, I will at least share one of my favorite pictures from the month. Corban is almost 7, but he still loves his blankey and monkey. He takes them to bed with him every night and brings them downstairs with him every morning. On the mornings of my mom's visit, Corban spent a few minutes snuggling on her lap as he woke up and got ready to face the new day. I think Granma was very happy to sit a moment with the Corban boy. Very special.

The house on March 5

The house is coming along beautifully. Our excitement to actually live in this place is growing.

Dormers are framed and covered and windows are in


More windows going in


The unveiling of the stone wall! The picture doesn't do it justice.


And here it is....

Windows!

8 of 'em as of today

The numbers

5 the number of kilometers Corban needed to ski today reach 100 km for nordic skiing this season. (He skied 7km)

3 the number of helpings of lentil soup Lauren devoured at dinner tonight! Lentil soup!

365 the number of days my nephew Thomas has been on this earth. He celebrates his first birthday today

5 the number of months I have to wait to see Thomas!

20 the approximate number of steps Lauren can take in one try

4 the number of rows of knitting I ripped out of my first practice square this evening. I am now at an impasse and need professional help if I am to continue. sigh

11 the number of hours Lauren will sleep in a night. woohoo!

2 1/2 the number of hours it took for Jack and the kids to drive home from Prospect tonight in the snow storm (the trip usually takes 1/2 hour)

6 the number of days until we officially put our house on the market. yikes!

The house on February 15

Here's the latest batch of almost current pictures. Windows start to go in this week.

Exposed rafter tails. Looking really nice, I think.


Jakin is standing in one of the kid bedrooms. There's a dispute as to who gets the back bedroom. Details to follow... Moving down the hall is the kids' bathroom, the guest bedroom (come visit!) and finally the master bedroom.


Annie thinks she's pretty fancy


Looking out of a master bedroom window

What we've been doing

Walking. Lauren is taking more steps everyday.



Laundry. Annie is very sweetly domestic. She likes to "wash" her baby's clothes and then hang them up on the gate we use to contain Lauren.


Ski racing. All 3 kids raced a few weeks ago, but this is the picture I'll share. Jakin skied along with Annie to help her in her race.


Short-track speed skating. Motivated by the all the Olympics we've been watching, the boys played Apolo Ohno on the hockey rink today. Have I ever said what a great thing the hockey rink is? The boys were outside on it for about 4 hours today. I love that. (yes, I know, Corban is wearing short sleeves. I can't fight every battle. And you stay warm speed skating, don't you?)


Happy Winter! We'll be ready for spring very soon, I think...

Catching the Olympic spirit

I'm sitting at home on this Friday evening watching the beginning of the coverage of the 21st Winter Olympiad in Vancouver. In the post about Lauren's birthday, I included a picture of the kids with Andy Newell, a Nordic skier competing in these Olympic games. We had another brush with a local Olympic athlete this week. Our older three kids competed in a cross-country ski race on Saturday at their "home" base, Prospect Mountain. As Jakin waited for his race, he was standing next to Bill Koch (in the red, white and blue jacket), the only American to ever medal in an Olympic Nordic event. Koch was at Prospect that day to cheer on his son who was competing. So, both Newell and Koch on our own little mountain just before the Olympics. Pretty cool, I think. I know NBC covers figure skating (and ice dancing! I'm sorry Tanith, I'm just not interested) and snowboarding, but as for me and my house, we will be watching the Nordic skiing.