Snow Day

A few weeks ago we woke up to a white snowy day. I decided to bundle Tralee up and take advantage of the white fluff, as we hadn't really played in the snow all year. She loved it, and was quite disappointed when I made her come inside for lunch (even though her mittens were soaked through and her little fingers must have been FROZEN from the cold!). The snow is all melted now, but was fun while it lasted!

I put this last photo in because you can see our house and Jim's shop in it. Oh, and there's a cute little munchkin in the picture as well.

Country Life

A few days before our computer went belly up, I looked out my kitchen window and noticed that our neighbor's horses seemed a lot closer than usual. I didn't think much of it until I glanced out the window a few minutes later and noticed that the horses were not only closer than usual, but right outside our house. There are four horses total, but these are the only images I captured before I yelled for Jim to go do something.

We didn't want the poor horses to wander onto the road and get hit by a car for goodness sakes! I mean about every thirty minutes or so another car happens to drive by!

Jim was the hero of the day. He wrangled up all four horses, took them back to their pasture, and made sure their fence was securley latched.

I'm not used to this country life yet. It was pretty exciting to have horses wandering around our property. A few houses away some neighbors of ours have billy-goats fenced into their front yard. I guess the perk to that is, you don't have to invest in a lawn-mower, but I wouldn't like to clean up the mess the goats leave behind. I think I'd prefer a lawn mower to goat poop.

And. . .

We're back!

Our computer is fixed. Hooray! Now I must go through the millions of pictures I have, and decide what to post. Sit tight, and when I get a minute I'll start the task of catching up.

I missed you blogging world. It's good to be back.

So Sad

Our computer is kaputt! I'm using a friend's right now to type this. Anyway, until we figure out a way to get ours fixed, I won't be posting anytime soon. I just wanted to let everyone know we're alive and well. I really don't know what I'm going to do without a computer, it's very frustrating not to have one. I'm quite sad about it, but what can you do? If anyone knows a computer genious that wants to fix our computer, without charging us $300 - $500 to do it, let us know. Oh. . .and they should live in the Boise area too. Okay, I'm done. Sniff sniff. Goodbye.

For Those of You Who Don't Know

Here's the story with us moving. About a year ago Jim purchased two acres of land out in the country. The land had an old manufactured home on it, and a little shop. The plan was for us to live in the house, and Jim would work from the shop. The problem was, the house wasn't livable. Slowly but surely Jim worked on fixing up the house, and in a year we've poured a foundation, and pretty much gave the entire inside a face-lift including new floors, new paint, new doors, etc.
There's still some stuff that needs to be done, but when it became livable we moved in. Also, with the economy as it is and Jim's work slowing down, we really couldn't afford two housing payments anymore. So, with the house still not 100% complete, we decided it was time to move into it anyways, and fix up the rest after we moved. There's really not too much left to do to the inside. Small things like light fixtures changed, finish painting the kitchen, closet doors hung, shelves built, are what's left. Jim also needs to finish the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. As of right now we're still using cardboard shelves Jim's Aunt Michelle helped me fashion after we moved in. They look great (sense the sarcasm) but they're functionable (is that a word?), and that's all the matters.

When spring comes, Jim has plans to fix up the outside of the house. It needs a little TLC as well. As does the landscaping. It will all get done slowly but surely. For now we feel comfortable enough to call this place our little home for a spell. We're surrounded by peach and apple orchards, as well as vineyards. We're definitely out in the country. When I look out of my kitchen window I see chickens running around and our neighbor's horses. It's different, but change is good.

We're not planning on staying here forever. We're hoping by the time this place is done, we'll be able to sell it and move onto something else. However, for the time being this is home.

I Guck!

The other day I heard Tralee saying "I guck. I guck." I followed the sound of her voice only to find this happening in our room:

Yes, she sure was stuck! I grabbed the camera and took this shot, before I helped her out of our blinds. Only one blind was broken, and we have a replacement for it. So, no harm, no foul. However, since this happened, I've attempted to teach Tralee that we do not play in the window blinds. It hasn't sunk in yet. We're working on it.

In other news, Tralee has learned her colors. While at Jim's Uncle's house, his kids had a Twister game out, and each time we asked Tralee to find a color, she would point to the correct one. Then, today at Church, as she was munching on some Fruit Loops, she picked out a yellow one, looked up at me and said, "Lellow!" I whispered, "That's right, that's yellow! Good girl!" She popped the yellow Fruit Loop in her mouth, and then picked out a blue one, looked up at me and said, "Boo!" I praised her once more, and waited for her to name another color. She didn't dissapoint, and next picked out a green Fruit Loop and announced, "gween" and then munched on it as well. What a smart little girl!!

Christmas

Our Christmas was very nice this year. That sounds generic doesn't it? Well, it was still nice. On Christmas Eve Jim, Tralee, and I opted to stay home instead of go to a Christmas party. We watched old Christmas movies, and read the Christmas story out of the bible. Tralee actually sat very still as we were reading it.

After Tralee went to bed, Jim and I finished wrapping her presents, and then hit the hay ourselves. Somewhere around 4 am Tralee wandered into our room, and I let her stay there, snuggled in between us, until she woke up and we could open presents. I didn't sleep very well Christmas Eve night, but I never do. I'm always too excited to sleep. It used to be I was too excited due to all the presents I would be opening. Now, I'm too excited to see Tralee open all of her gifts. After she woke up, I ran to get the camera ready, while Jim kept her occupied in our room.

Tralee was still a little too young to grasp the whole present/Santa concept, and we had to remind her how the whole opening presents thing went, but she got it after a while. The first thing she saw was her stocking on the couch. Santa left her a stuffed animal monkey, and she grabbed that first and said, "Ooo Ooo Ahh Ahh." It was pretty cute.


All I wanted from Santa was the movie Penelope, and Santa delivered! I guess Jim must have had a conversation with Santa, because Jim told me it was VERY difficult for Santa to find this movie, and it took him and his elves a lot of time to locate it! I'm really glad he did!


After about three gifts, I think Tralee lost interest in opening presents, and she just wanted to start playing with her things. Towards the end, Jim and I opened the rest of Tralee's gifts for her. They were just clothes, and being a kid, she wasn't too interested in them anyways.


The gift we thought would be the big hit, a Tickle-Me-Elmo-Doll, freaked Tralee out! As soon as we set it up, and Elmo was on the floor laughing, Tralee ran out of the room screaming in fear. I wish I would have got it on video, because it was pretty funny. After that, all we had to say was, "we're going to tickle Elmo now!" and Tralee would run out of the room as fast as her little legs would carry her. After a while, Tralee warmed up to Elmo, but only from a very far away distance, and if she was safely in one of her parent's laps. Now Tralee thinks Tickle-Me-Elmo is okay, but she still enjoys him from a distance. Today she carried it up to me, and as soon as I took it from her, she ran across the room to watch Elmo laugh and shake from a distance.

The biggest hit was a little turning puzzle game. I don't really know how to describe it, but Tralee absolutely loves it, and if that's all she got for Christmas, all would be well.

Jim's favorite gift was a homemade card from Tralee. She had a little help with it, but it was mostly done by her.

After opening all the presents, we got ready, and we drove to Jim's Aunt Michelle's house for brunch. It was really yummy, and we had fun visiting with her family, and playing with all of her kids' new toys. We also visited the 21 puppies her two dogs recently birthed. If you know anyone who wants a puppy, I know a place you can get one!


Later on, we went to Jim's Uncle Dave's house to play games and eat more yummy food. Every year Aunt Becky makes a prime rib dinner and we were lucky enough to be invited to it! It was yummy, and as always, we had fun playing games with the Callisters.



Our thoughts weren't far from Jim's Mom and the rest of our family we couldn't be with on Christmas. We were happy to hear that Tricia is progressing more and more everyday. We're also happy Jeff was with her on Christmas, as well as Jim's brother John and his family. It sounds like Christmas was a good day for Tricia.

We also missed going to my Nana's for her annual Christmas Brunch (seriously the best and most anticipated meal of the year in my family) but we're happy to hear the rest of my family had no problem polishing her platers clean of all the yummy food Nana prepared, even without us there to help.

This Christmas is one I will never forget. We didn't have much in terms of material things, but we were so very blessed all the same. Our prayers were answered in ways I can only describe as miracles, and for that I am truly grateful. I'm so thankful for those that have served us, and help our prayers be answered.

We hope the new year brings everyone much hope, peace, health, and happiness. We're excited to see where this crazy ride called Life takes us this following year. We'll be sure to keep you posted.