If a picture is worth a thousand words, does that mean a thousand words is just as good as a picture? because we're somewhat short on pictures! It has been an eventful few weeks, but i didn't have the camera out. then i did use it, and misplaced it, so when i really wanted it, i couldn't find it! so Hannah has become quite the artist recently, maybe thanks to brett and jes' christmas present! she can now draw people. or something like it. the one on the right is me, apparently. i mentioned how i don't look very happy. so, we erased my my mouth and she drew me another one.  don't i look happy now? what does that say about my general overall countenance? :-)

so last week got off to a bang.  monday we had lots of kids, and so it was most unfortunate when Charlie and I started throwing up. What is worse than a toddler being sick, or a busy mother being sick? both at the same time. and i have the worst gag reflex known to mankind. it was not a good day. you know how hard it is to get an 18 mos old to throw up in one place? thankfully we have hardwood. Hannah started to ask us to go upstairs to throw up. oh, gee, how can i accomodate you my dear, the healthy one?

it took me a full 5 days to get back to normal. due to pregnancy, i guess. patrick came home 3 days in a row to me already in bed, waiting for him to take over. and take over he did! what would i do without him? he even made things like fettucine alfredo.

 we were going to make a cake together, as a fun activity. but as i ate nothing but toast and applesauce for the week, he was on his own. so he did it himself and decorated it specially for me! so good!

as you may have noticed, the middle of the country has been getting alot of snow. the first round, 2 wks ago, we didn't have much accumulation. (we wouldn't have gone outside anyways, with highs of 10 and windchills below zero!) this time, we got more snow than i've had in my adult life. (not strange, considering i've been in the south, and senegal) unfortunately, it was difficult to summon the energy to get everybody bundled up and outside much. we did one day, just me and hannah. we made snow cream, which was actually really good! 1 gal of snow, 1 c sugar, 1 Tbs vanilla, and enough half and half to make it liquid. then we added cocoa, because we like everything chocolate :-).

so we recovered in time for our valentine's day weekend. saturday david and des were here and we met them for lunch. so nice to be able to do that now that they're close! then we went to a special dinner here in town that a church was putting on as a fundraiser. it was a japanese hibachi grill theme, and really quite authentic. childcare was included in the price of the ticket, so we dropped them off in the nursery. patrick said i looked the nicest i've looked in a long time. which i think was a compliment :-). yet we still didn't take a picture. it was a fun evening.

then sunday we hosted a sunday school fellowship, which for some reason i thought would be fun to do a fondue theme. not a single picture of that either. not the pretty luminaries patrick made for the walkway. not the co-ordinating plates and table runners. not the strawberry cream cheese cupcake tier. not the impromptu picture wall, with everybody's wedding pictures. not the 16 people we had squeezed into our dining room. it was so much fun. at least i thought so. if i picked my head up from my plate, i noticed i was the only one actually using my fondue fork, everyone else just put it on their plate. this was no small undertaking. it was very much a group effort. i drafted 2 friends to help me, and with the 3 of us working very hard, we were ready on time.

 fast forward 4 hrs. 11 pm. everbody's gone. i'm standing in the kitchen, surrounded my piles upon piles of mess. the 2 big cooking pots, the 4 cheese pots, the 4 chocolate pots, and everything in between. i have 3 extra kids coming the next day. (patrick offered to help, but he had a really big day today and had to leave early). it all worked out. now tonight i'm working on getting chocolate out of all my white tablecloths!

my children are doing so well, i (we) love them beyond our comprehension. even so, it happened again. for the 3rd time in my life. lying in bed last night, feeling a tiny flicker in my belly, i had a sharp fear: what if i dont' love this one like i love my others? how can I possibly love someone else as much as I love hannah and charlie right now? i remember sitting in barnes and noble with my mom, a few days before charlie came, sobbing because i was worried i was going to resent baby 2 for intruding on my life with baby 1. and before Hannah came, i was convinced i would see her as coming between me and patrick, taking my attention away from him. (which in a way, she does, of course!) but i know better this time. when i look at charlie and hannah, hold them, teach them, laugh with them, i still can never imagine loving anybody as much as i love them. i guess that's part of the miracle. 20 wks today.

this old house (long and descriptive!)

 we had just enough snow to make a snow castle, even though it was mixed with grass and dirt!

 so we put charlie at the table for the first time, instead of his highchair, and of course he loved it. thinking he's big stuff. of course, didn't make him eat any better. bread, fruit, a few vegetables, yogurt, and ocassionally peanut butter. i've started giving him a multivitamin. i guess all he's missing is protein, though.

 the best kind of story time.

 ok, we've been in this house for 7 months, and i should have done this along time ago. actually, i should have had before and after pictures. we were too busy working, i guess. so the kitchen. we did the most work here. patrick took out the old floor and laid this tile himself, along with quarter round. we repainted the cabinets, inside and out. we got new countertops, and had to get appliances because there weren't any. we also repainted the walls. i think we did a good job, but now we're both no longer crazy about our decor! by the time you get aroud to getting something decorated, you don't like it anymore.

 the kitchen from other side. it's part modern (stainless steel appliances, dark tile and countertops) and part not (the roosters, our gorgeous wood counter)

 this was the laundry room, right off the kitchen. we moved the washer/dryer down to the basement, and made this into a pantry/office. there was already a cabinet above the washer, so we took the doors off and patrick made shelves all the way down. then he built this little desk in to the wall, for my computer. it's perfect, except only super organized people should have an open pantry, i think. mine's usually a disaster! we continued the tile here, and into the entryway, then painted it all the same colour.

 the back door. used to have a giant cabinet here, which really took up all the space. since we made the other little room into a pantry, we didn't need the storage space so we took out the cabinet (all this was much harder than it sounds!) and put in this bench, added the coat hooks and baskets, and we've got a great little entryway. we changed the door, as well, it used to be a solid one, but we wanted to be able to see. i still need curtains for it, though

the kitchen has extremely limited counterspace. there was this wallspace free, and i wanted some semblance of an eat in kitchen, so bob built this amazing counter here for us. we love the contrast, yet how it all goes together. hannah will sit here and do some preschool work while i'm doing dishes and charlie's sleeping.

 the basement. oh, the basement. this is the room where the wall caved in. obviously not something we could fix ourselves. contractors did the outside of the wall, but patrick did the drywall himself. then we painted again. then we put down new carpet. that wwas half ourselves, half professionals. sometimes you start something thinking it shouldn't be hard, and it doesn't work out that way! we spend alot of time down here babysitting. if we stay in this house for awhile, it will make an amazing school room too.

 attached to the playroom, we use this as a nap room or an extra guest room. this room was extremely dark and gloomy, with wood paneling all around. that had to go. i painted it yellow, to match the rest, and we laid new carpet here too. have you ever painted paneling? it's very hard, because the roller wont' work in between the panels. oh, we spent soooo much time in this basment.

 so it's a pain to cart all of our laundry up and down 2 flights of stairs, but i have to tell you, it's nice to be able to have piles of laundry around, not in the middle of the kitchen or living room. our deep freezer is here too, and there's also a small bathroom with a tiny shower. that has not been updated, and deserves no pictures!

 the basement goes around in a circle. after patrick made our new table, we put this one down here crafts, games, sometimes school.

 some of the small details of this house jumped out at us from the beginning, looking at the pictures online. this little bench is right at the front door.

 all throughout our house, everywhere i turn, i see evidences of how much people have given us. in bedspreads, furniture, or just remembering how hard they worked to help us. we have some amazing family! this little table in the hall is something my mom had, and she gave to us. there are alot of old houses around here, and the dark wood trim is common. someone had already painted this trim white. some people think it takes away from the character, but i like it brighter. we have quite a bit of work to do here, there are cracks all over the walls from when they braced the foundation.

 downstairs bathroom. functions as guest bathroom, as well. this bathtub deserves it's own post. the whole room, actually. we tore up the tile on this floor and patrick laid more. we also stripped the wallpaper, sanded, and painted again. there were numerous broken pipes, all over the house, and i think here is where it started. patrick's spend alot of time in this bathroom! so the tub had been used for something else, i have no idea, it was in horrible shape. at thanksgiving, david helped patrick wash and sand it, then patrick re covered it in bathtub stuff. it was already back in the house by then, and that stuff is strong! we had to go to pizza hut for lunch while it dried. me being pregnant and all :-). the bathtub plumbing was something else, too. that stuff is very expensive, but we found parts here and there, and patrick worked on it forever. it's quite an accomplishment. and i think it adds so much character.

 so this is the guestroom, which yes, we painted ourselves. it's quite bright. but it works. patrick had to go through this wall to fix pipes as well, so there were giant spots on the walls that had to be repainted. we didn't want to do it in the same brown.

i know the light's bad, but this is the dining roon. our table fits perfectly.

 hananh's room, which should look familiar because nothing in it has really changed in 3.5 yrs! we painted here too. actually i was painting in this room when patrick came upstairs to tell me the wall caved in, and to stop painting because we might not get the house.

 this, you can deduce, is charlie's room. i just love how everything came together in his room, the newest addition being this rug david and des had. it works perfectly. and it's so nice to play on a rug instead of the hardwood floor. not sure where baby will go when he comes.


so this is our room, which we painted as well. the closet is terrible, but other than that, i love it. i'm over the yellow, i want to completely redecorate our room. but, we'll probably wait till we move again!

 there are windows on both sides, which is great for light, but it gets very very hot in the summer!

and the living room. this brings us to the end of our home tour. thanks for coming! (thanks to david and des for this rug, as well!)