February, Here We Come!

Have you looked at a calendar lately? January is almost over. Usually this is a month that crawls by slower than just about any other month... except maybe March... But anyway, back to my point. We've been keeping ourselves busy with the basement and life. What? you missed that we're finishing the basement? Go back and look at the last 3 or 4 posts. I know you love looking at all those 2x4's. This time, I actually have pictures of the kids to share, and more 2x4's.

So we went to IKEA one day after Christmas to get out of the house and look for a few things. We didn't find what we were looking for, but we found this amazing stuffed broccoli! I think Miles has a stuffed carrot. We couldn't resist a picture. This picture is from Tyson's new iPod Touch he got for Christmas. He was still getting used to where the camera was located, thus the finger.

And then there was this one wall...it was wedged in so well, Tyson didn't bother to put in a screw to secure it while we did something else really quick... well, it wasn't as wedged as originally thought.  Luckily it only crushed our already broken computer monitor. We hadn't gotten rid of it yet since it sort of worked part of the time. Now, we can get rid of it guilt free!

The next picture is from our first "big" snowstorm of the year. Good thing the kids and Tyson went out in the morning to play as it had melted by afternoon. The next two pictures are from the other "big" snowstorm we got. This is the only time we've had to shovel our driveway all year. And really we didn't have to aside from giving Miles the opportunity to use his snow shovel. I sure hope his enthusiasm for such tasks lasts!

Here's Ellie with her leftover ponytail hair, talking on the phone. 

 The kids were getting ready to head out on snow adventure number one.

 Here's Ellie feeding Doggy Doggy some yoghurt in the high chair.

 Oh, and here's Ellie playing with the bubbles in the sink. This kid LOVES water! It will be so nice when it's warm outside again.

 Here's Miles while Ellie was at the sink.

 This was Ellie after church the other week when I remembered to do her hair.I love the smirk!

Miles and Mommy enjoying some snuggle time after church.

So we kept the drywall we tore out down in our basement and have been letting Miles hammer nails into it. He loves it!

Okay, I have no explanation for this picture. Every time we go to church Ellie insists on hugging at least one of the light poles along the sidewalk. Often she hugs all of them. Then she complains about how heavy they are and how she can't lift them.

Miles fell asleep in the clerk's office at church the other week when I had a meeting after church and Tyson had some stuff to take care of. Ellie was running around having fun, while Miles zonked out. Giving up naps is such an awkward stage!

Ah the kids in our bathroom after getting showered and dressed for the day. Yes, our kids shower. It's been a long time since we've given them baths, and we love it!

Now I promised more 2x4s... so here they are. We are almost done with the wall framing in the basement (though I reserve the right to take a month to finish that last little bit!) Here's a rough walkthrough:

Turning right at the bottom of the stairs, you can see the laundry room (The washer's even in it! And it works.)

Passing the laundry room you then see the future living room. Hi Tyson!

 This picture is looking back from the future living room (from about where Tyson and the saw are in the last picture) at the laundry room. The door is on the left.

This shot looks from the living room, through a not yet built wall to a bedroom (where Miles is standing) and the bathroom, closets, and one more bedroom on the far end.

 This picture is from in front of the window by Miles in the last picture. The bedroom door will be on the right side of the picture, and then it will be hallway with the water heater/furnace closet to the left, cold storage straight ahead, and another big closet for storage and a deep freezer maybe one day.

 This picture looks down the hall to the right in the last picture. So the bathroom is on your right, a linen closet, and then the bedroom door straight ahead.

 Here's the bathroom. There's a tub under the cardboard box. It's even installed!

 Here is  a picture from inside the far bedroom. The closet is by the window on the far left. That's the tub straight ahead at the bottom of the picture.

I sure hope that made some bit of sense. Either way, we have lots of walls built and it feels good to see so much done. It gives us hope that the rest will get done eventually.