Week 51

Welcome back and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We've had some great family time the past few days and are looking forward to more as we prepare for the new year.  I'm ready for a fresh start and can feel that 2019 will be a good one for that.

Here's a look at last week's pictures:

Day 351- Monday. 12/17/18

Justin got his first college acceptance letter today from the University of Pacific with a scholarship and grant money.  He's happy about it but also bit concerned because it's the most expensive of all the schools he applied to..  No worries though there will be more offers soon.

Day 352- Tuesday, 12/18/18

Tyler was able to come to Brandon's home game tonight.  Too bad it was a close one that they lost so Brandon did not play because of that.  Hopefully there will be another game Tyler can catch where his brother actually plays.

Day 353- Wednesday, 12/19/18

The pool/bar room is finally all unpacked and set back up.  Christmas decorations kind of took priority over it for a few days.  Also John's car was hit in the parking lot while he was out to lunch.  Thankfully it was not a hit and run, but now he has to deal with repairs over the holidays.  No fun!

Day 354- Thursday, 12/20/18

I banged out a good chunk of wrapping today, and then when I picked up Brandon from practice he was sporting a new team sweatshirt.  Nice! I like them a lot and so does he.  The team will look sharp in them for sure.

Day 355- Friday, 12/21/18

TGIF and cheers to the start of our holiday break.  We're both pretty much off for the next couple weeks and are looking forward to some good family time. The kids also just finished finals for their first semester and even the pets are ready for all the holiday fun to begin.

Day 356- Saturday, 12/22/18

Not too fast--we're here in Sacramento at the second game of the week and Brandon did play but Tyler couldn't make it today.  Such is life.  While we were out John and Justin worked together to finally get the outside of our house decorated.  It's a minimalist version but hey it's done and we appreciate their hard work on top of everything else they had to do this week.

Day 357- Sunday, 12/23/18

Justin and I started the holiday baking this morning and will finish up tomorrow.  We're breaking in that new kitchen and so far loving how it all works.  We're also dreaming of all the magical moments sure to come over the next couple days.  It is the most wonderful time of the year after all!

Wait!  One more-

December's Family Photo

Us in front of the tree of course.  Happy Holidays!

That's it for now.  Less than a week left in this year and I can't hardly believe it!  See you next year--wow!!

Week 50

Hello and happy Tuesday!  Only 1 more week until Christmas and I'm mostly done with shopping but have not wrapped a single thing yet. The tree is looking a little bare under there. It's going to be a busy weekend pulling it all together but the magic will happen and hopefully between some holiday baking. Thankfully I pretty much have the next two weeks off to regroup and get myself and my family set for the new year.

Until then here are last week's pictures:

Day 344- Monday, 12/10/18

I'm enjoying a hot cup of tea in my new kitchen after a cold winter day at work.  I can't wait to do some festive baking and cooking in here.

Day 345- Tuesday, 12/11/18

We're here at the only basketball game this week and it's at home.  Yay!  This is so much better than having to travel for multiple days.

Day 346- Wednesday, 12/12/18

Justin finished putting the last 2 chairs together today since he had a minimum day and was home early from school.  Now our new dinning room set is complete and we love it.  It's finally all coming together and feels wonderful to be able to relax in my usual spot to watch Survivor.  So many blindsides this season--these people know how to play!

Day 347- Thursday, 12/13/18

Rusty still trying to decide if he likes the new area rug or not.  I think he misses holding the old one down, but I do know he likes having all the furniture back where it belongs and having free range of the house with no scary construction noise.

Day 348- Friday, 12/14/18

Happy Day!  Tyler just flew in from LA after his last final and as per tradition we toast to having "Eggnog" back for the holidays.

Day 349- Saturday, 12/15/18

I'm so behind in so many things but trying my best to catch up.  It was a busy weekend where we managed to unpack the final boxes and get the last of the rooms set up.  The only thing left to tackle is the office which is a mess of Amazon boxes filled with gifts that need wrapping.  That will have to wait for another day, but I was able to bang out some Christmas cards.  It's a bit tricky though because I lost my address list on the computer during the spring months.  Those files were recovered but corrupted.  Ugh!  Slowly I'll build it back up and keep a hard copy this time.  

Day 350- Sunday, 12/16/18

Time for some Christmas fun.  The boys and I made Christmas crack and then they added a few of their ornaments to the tree which so far has had just barely the basics for the past week.  The sun is shining brightly too but it won't last because we are expected a big rainstorm this evening and throughout the night into tomorrow.

Ok that's it.  See you next week but a day late because I'm not posting on Christmas ;0)  Have a happy holiday everyone!!

Week 49

Hi there and welcome back.  Our home is finally feeling like a home again which is wonderful so we can all relax and enjoy it for the holidays.  For the most part we still just need the pool table/bar room put back together and that should happen this week.  Aside from the house, basketball is also dominating our lives right now so we are looking forward to a slower week ahead. Oh yeah and Tyler comes home soon so that's always a happy thing.

Here are last week's pictures:

Day 337- Monday, 12/3/18

John's been working hard at home painting and adding final little finishes here and there.  This helps keep us on budget by not having to pay extra to have the contractors do it.  Here he's adding a towel rack to the side cabinet that holds the dishwasher.

Day 338- Tuesday, 12/4/18

Tonight is the first home game for Brandon's freshmen basketball team which is so nice and close.  I like not having to drive over an hour somewhere else, and it was fun to see them ALL play and pull off an easy win.

Day 339- Wednesday, 12/5/18

So many boxes and even more boxes to unpack and try to figure out where it all goes.  The kitchen layout is pretty much the same but the cabinet and drawer sizes are a bit different so not everything works in the same place we had it before.  Overall we have a bit more space but still need to rethink things which is taking way longer than I expected especially on the limited time I have between work and kid activities.

Day 340- Thursday, 12/6/18

Here we go on the road again.  The basketball team just finished game 1 in a 3-day tournament that takes place in Auburn at Placer High School that is a good hour away with traffic.  It's late now--9:30 pm and we still have that long drive home so I needed some caffeine and he never minds a trip to Starbucks.  We sure are getting a lot of car time together which isn't a bad thing because we've actually had some good conversations.  Here's to 2 more days and hopefully 2 more wins.

Day 341- Friday, 12/7/18

It's sunny and clear but with no cloud cover it's also super cold out and even colder in this old drafty gym.  The winter trees look so bare without the fall leaves that pretty much all dropped in the past few rain storms.  It's another win for the team and another late night drive home.  At least they are not missing school though because it's hard to make up the work when you have so many games and practices on your plate.

Day 342- Saturday, 12/8/18

Here we are on the final day of the Placer Tournament and we won the championship game against Roseville.  WooHoo!  The boys are super excited to be bringing back that trophy to their school.  Meanwhile at home John continues with painting and unpacking while Justin works to put our new dinning room chairs together.  It's all about teamwork.

Day 343- Sunday, 12/9/18

Enough of basketball and home improvements.  It's time to get our tree and kick off the Christmas season.  We made sure to have the living room put back together so the tree had a place to go.  There are new floors in here as well as a newer, bigger, area rug but everything else is pretty much the same for now which is fine because it feels like home again and we're happy to have it back.

That's it.  See you next week.  December it flying by.  How many more shopping days?  Yikes!!

Week 48

Hello, welcome back, happy Tuesday, and wow! -- it's December!!  I just can't wrap my head around it being December already partially because I'm so not ready and there is still so much chaos in my life that I can't imagine adding December events into the mix, but as usual I'll figure a way to make it all work.

Until then here are last week's pictures:

Day 330- Monday, 11/26/18

Monday's are hard on the pets because they are so happy to be free of workers in the house on weekends and then have to be locked back up come Monday for more noise, commotion, and stress.  At least we can free them and reassure them each night which they like and soak right up.  Also with the shorter winter days and the time change Bella's walks are in the dark which is sad, but at least now there are Christmas lights going up to help guide our way and add a little cheer.

Day 331- Tuesday, 11/27/18

Fall is coming to an end and winter is starting to set in.  The first picture was taken at work in the morning and then the second picture is at night durning my shift in the Booster's snack bar for a very wet girl's soccer game.  We sold a lot of cup of noodles and hot chocolate.

Day 332- Wednesday, 11/28/18

Here you go--the before and after of our kitchen.  As of today we are 98% done and can start moving back in.  We just need a few small things taken care of like a couple of missing shelves, touch up paint and a piece of mis-matched molding that needs replaced but that is it.  It's finally time to try out all these new appliances and put them to good use.

Day 333- Thursday, 11/29/18

A lot more rain today and it's even colder plus once again we need to drive in it to get to a basketball game.  The boys are required to dress in a shirt and tie at school and to the games on game days during so here is Brandon ready to head out to game 1 of a tournament in Stockton that starts at 8pm.  It will be a late night for us but he's excited for this.

Day 334- Friday, 11/30/18

I had a super busy day at work with no help.  All my students and staff are out for the day so it's just me getting it done and also starting my new set of experiments with the donor dog blood I've been collecting.  Right after work it was time to quickly pick Brandon up from school, feed him and head out for game 2 of the basketball tournament in Stockton.  At least there was no rain this time and John was able to make it.  TGIF!

Day 335- Saturday, 12/1/18

I'm slowly starting to move things back into the kitchen which is hard to do with very little free time.  My chef kitchen pig is back out and happy to have an updated home.  John stayed around to continue getting our house pulled together as Brandon and I headed out for the 3rd basketball game in Stockton.  His team came in 3rd place out of 8 teams which is not bad for their first ever tournament.  This time we got back before dark and after dinner I gave the boys their advent calendars to start opening since we're now in December and can count down the days until Christmas!  Things have been so crazy I can tell by their smiles they were happy and surprised I remembered.

Day 336- Sunday, 12/2/18

Both Brandon and Justin are taking a class at the animal shelter today learning how to train the dogs to "auto sit" which greatly increases their odds of being adopted.  They got to practice with some of the current dogs there and can now do this on their own anytime they are at the shelter volunteering.  For dinner I was able to use my double over to bake 3 pizza's at once.  Yay!  This is huge for our family with 3 hungry growing boys.  I also can't wait to see how handy a double oven comes in over the holidays with cookie baking and feast making. 




Wow!  What a week.  I'm exhausted but still have many boxes to unpack and a living room to put back together so we can get a tree up by the end of next week.  Wish me luck.