The Bee Gee's

Alright....so anyone who really knows me knows the real 70's girl that lives inside of me. Today I was searching through my music for something to listen to and I came across one of my many Bee Gee's albums and I just had to put it in. You know there is nothing to lighten your mood and make you want to get up and dance quite like some good ole' disco music.

So today I updated my playlist to more accurately reflect my music favorites and it just wouldn't be right if I left out my all time favorite band....The Bee Gee's. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do :)

Wow...We Have Walls!

I came home from work today to find that I have a basement full of walls. It was so exciting to finally see the layout of our new basement in real life and not just on a piece of paper. This crew is really flying. They have worked so hard the last week & a half and it really shows. Minus a little furnace problem the other night everything is going very well and we really haven't run into many problems....knock on LOTS of wood!!! Thanks everyone for working so hard. This kind of progress makes the inconvenience of living through construction much more bearable.

New Window HOLES!!!

So today we have had quite a crew at our house cutting out huge chunks in our foundation to facilitate new BIG beautiful windows that won't be here for WEEKS. Go figure! Of course, today we have had rain and snow to make the whole process even more enjoyable for everyone. The big concrete cutting machines have been at our house from 8:30 this morning until 6:00 tonight and there has been so much noise and disruption that poor Corbs hasn't been able to nap all day and is so tired that he can't even see straight. Hopefully we won't have many more of these kinds of days for his sake.
Today was Layne's first day working his fingers to the bone with the rest of the crew. They got all the windows cut, the window wells dug, and most of the mess cleaned up so now all they have to do is come pull the extra cement out of the wall to make the opening. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end when we have all that extra light shining in the basement and new windows to look out of. I can't wait to see the final product!

Construction Begins!

Holy Cow! So we are officially under construction. My dad, Ryan, Blake and a few other guys showed up today to demolish the basement. I had no idea that we were going to be doing so much today and I was totally unprepared. My whole basement still had to be cleaned out so it was a very stressful and busy morning. My stuff is now spread from hell to nowhere and will be that way for at least 6 weeks or more. Horray for me :-)!f course, I am very sad to part with all the beautiful original decor such as the red velvet wallpaper, the one of a kind duck mural, the orange and yellow metallic wallpaper and the psychedelic painted doors and light fixtures, but I look forward to a new basement and most of all BIG closets!!!I will keep you posted of our progress!!!

Christmas 2008

We had an awesome Christmas this year. Last night we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Reed's for our Christmas Eve party. We had great food and lots of fun. Corbie wasn't as interested in opening his gifts as he was climbing on everything possible and trying to mimic everything that Brycen was doing. Everyone was there including Arnauld's brother Kevin and Matt so we had a great time hanging out together. Corb's spent quite a long time just hangin out on Grandpa's lap. He sure loves his grandpa!

This morning we had everyone on my side of the family over to our house for a Christmas breakfast and gift exchange. We have had quite a few inches of snow fall over the course of the last 24 hrs, but despite it all everyone was able to make it safely. Thanks to Grandma Bateman's cooking expertise we had our traditional Ebelskievers along with a baked ham and Monkey bread. We all took turns opening gifts and I think everyone had a great time and I am grateful that everyone came. It really made Christmas special for us.

Corbs and Cierra were spoiled to death by everyone. Corbin got a cool train table and a Shake and Go track, among many other things, that entertained even the bigger boys for hours. Cierra got a little purse with a dog that she was carrying around on her arm like a little princess. It was so cute. I'm not quite sure what we are going to do with all of this stuff, but Corbs sure loves it. Layne and I got each other new IPhones and we are both acting like a bunch of little kids with our new toys. It is totally amazing the things that these little devices will do and we don't even know the half of it yet.

This evening we visited Grandma Bateman and the rest of the clan at her house for yummy homemade ice cream and candies. We were able to talk with Brian while we were there which was lots of fun. He was sunbathing on the top of his apartment in Florida today for his Christmas celebration (wouldn't that be rough?).

Afterwords, we visited Grandma and Grandpa Green. Grandpa was been sick today so they weren't able to come for breakfast this morning so we stopped by late to wish them a Merry Christmas. The snow was really coming down, but the beamer was a champ and just moved right along and we were able to get there with no problem.

Thank you to all that made this Christmas so wonderful for me and my family. It truely was one of the best Christmas's that I can remember. Merry Christmas to you all. We love you!!!

Visit with Santa

Tonight we took Corbin to see Santa. We had to stand in line for a while and Scooter watched intently as all the other kids sat on his lap. It was a whole different story, however, when it came to be his turn. He didn't cry....but he certainly wasn't going to stick around for any kind of picture taking. Santa had given him a candy cane, which he initially accepted, but when Santa wouldn't let him down he gave it back to him...I think in trade for letting him go. So this is the picture that we got in the split second that he was with Santa. Oh well....we tried!

Granny's Annual Family Christmas Party

Tonight we went to Grandma B's for our annual family Christmas Party. We had our traditional soup bar that grandma works so hard to prepare for us. We are so grateful for all her efforts.

After dinner we all opened our gifts from Grandma. Traditionally Santa has been kind enough to drop in to deliver the gifts, but since most of the kids have gotten older he hasn't come the last few years....a big sigh from the adults!

Corb's got a Thomas the Train that he enjoyed, but he was more interested in Cierra's princess phone. Good thing Cierra is so patient with him!
The kids also enjooyed pounding on Grandma's piano. I think we have a couple of Liberace's on our hands!































We had lots of fun....THANKS GRANDMA!