New pictures

Keeping up with this blog has its good times and bad. Plus, I don't take that many pictures, unfortunately. But, thanks to my dad, I have a few to post here.

My parents came up in October along with my sister Kelli and my neice. We had a good visit, and went to the zoo and garden of the gods. Kelli had her baby boy just a few weeks later. Can't wait to meet him!!

The boys just finished swimming lessons. They start basketball in January. Charlee feels very sorry for herself that she doesn't get to do these things. I'm thinking dance lessons in the next year or so.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...at our house at least

I am that girl...the one who listens to Christmas music right after Halloween, puts up the Christmas tree before Thanksgiving and this year I even put the lights up a few days before Thanksgiving. I can't help myself. I just love this time of year. I don't feel so bad about the house lights, though, because I've got at least 6 neighbors who turned on their before I did.

I hate my crappy camera and the injustice it always does to everything, but here is one of the house lights, which I proudly did myself! I had to crawl on the roof to get the lights up beyond the driveway. It was really scary at first, but I got over it and then it was fun to look around my neighborhood from that vantage point.

In other news, I finally created a website. I have been resisting for years because it was just too intimidating. But I finally did it because I really need the exposure. So, if anyone actually reads this blog, check out my new website and give me your constructive criticism. Really. I need all the help and ideas I can get. It's www.hopemidwifery.com. Since I don't have my cushy birth center job anymore, we are feeling the crunch a bit here in Colorado since I am still attending births and paying babysitters, but not getting paid for any of them. So I was hoping to make up for it doing doula work, but that has not worked out for me yet. I think that the competition is pretty fierce here. So, I need a lot more exposure. Any of you business minded people out there in a sharing mood need to give me all your good tips.

The kids are growing up fast and they amaze me everyday. Jayden is doing well in school. He is a super speller and he loves being in school. When I ask him at the end of school how it was, he says to me, "It was super, super, super, super, super, super fun!!!" And then I say, "What was so super, super (you get the idea), fun about it?" He says, "We had gym!" I think he is going to be the athlete of the family.

Charlee is talking like a big girl now, which makes me kinda sad since she is my baby. I was in my room, and she came to the door and started to close it. She says to me, "Goodnight, sweetheart." It was 9 in the morning. The other day, James found a spider in his bathtub. I came in and killed it, but not before all the kids took a good look. This morning, I told Charlee it was time for a bath. She said, "No mama, theow a scawy spida in the bathtub." I said, "No, I killed it, remember?" She screams, "Oh, yeah! You kiwwed it. Yea!!" and then strips naked and sings herself all the way to the tub. She loves to sing. She sings to herself in her carseat all the time. But if you pay too much attention to her while she is doing it, she'll get shy and stop. I love it so much.

We still have a job

So, about a year ago we found out the Air Force was doing what they call "force reshaping." Which basically means laying a bunch of people off. They do it by year group (the year you came into the air force). They told us they were getting rid of quite a few people in Jason's year group and we have been very worried about it ever since. We prayed a lot about it, and we felt like we should stay in the military as long as we could, only getting out if they kicked us out. Many people got out voluntarily, but it would not have been worth it for us to do that.

So, Jason has been telling me that the AF said they would let everyone know in November, which we interpreted to mean Dec or Jan. But he was surprised today at work to find out that the force reshaping board results were in. He was called into the commander's office and handed a paper that says, basically, "You have been selected for retainment in the Air Force..."

We are so very blessed. There are many who were not as lucky, and we feel for them right now.

This has been a faith promoting experience for us. Because we were extended several times in Montana, Jason had to "compete" against fewer people than if we would have moved earlier, as we expected to do. Also, Jason's leadership the last year or so in Montana were really great guys who helped a lot with making Jason "look good" on paper, and we were so blessed that they were the ones in leadership positions at that particular time. Of course, it helped a lot that Jason came out of his training in California this summer as a "distinguished graduate." I was and am so proud of him.

So, we have much to be thankful for as we head into the holiday season this year. It has been quite a roller coaster ride of a year, and it's not even over yet! I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for looking out for my precious family.

As a side note, we went to the mall this evening to exchange a shirt for Charlee. We walked around the stores and played at the kid's play area. In the car on the way home, Charlee shouts out, "I love shopping!" in her cute 2 year old voice. All I can say about that is Wow. She is starting out a little young, isn't she?

The basement from start to finish

OK, I have been meaning to post this ever since our basement was finished. It was quite the process. I may never buy a house again with an unfinished basement after this experience...we'll see. :)

We opened up the stairwell to make it feel less cramped and also to allow furniture to go down.

What will become the rec room and bathroom as well as hallways.

The big open space that will become the bedroom and the rec room.

Looking at the framing for the bedroom.

We had to have the drain jackhammered to move it back to get more bedroom space.

Looking at the bedroom wall from the rec room.

Bedroom after drywall.

The finished bedroom.

Looking at the bathroom with framing and insulation, from the hallway at the bottom of the stairs.

The future rec room.

We insulated the ceiling very well because of the hardwood floors above.

Rec room in the process of being drywalled.

Jayden posing in our newly finished basement.

We bought some furniture on craigslist because we have never had 2 living rooms before. So, we got a screamin' deal on this furniture and here is the way our living room looks now.

So, these pictures don't even begin to portray how hectic and crazy it was to finish this basement. It was made much more complicated by the fact that Jason was in California for training for 95% of the project. So we were trying to make decisions via phone and pictures. After Jason got home, we had drywall, so we painted ourselves and did the woodwork (which was a whole fiasco in and of itself...ug). Anyway, we are very happy with the finished product (minus a few annoyances here and there) and we are enjoying the space. We had a birthday/housewarming party on Friday, which was so super fun. It was funny because we challenged our friends to find the sump pump, which they found to be unexpectedly difficult. The reason it is funny is because it was such an eyesore before and in the worst place ever. Now it is practically invisible. So, come visit us and you too can play "find the sump pump."

Jayden turned 5 and is a Kindergartener now!!

Jason has been home a couple weeks now, and it is so nice. I've been grocery shopping by myself a few times, and it is actually fun. :) I even got to go get my hair done yesterday. Yay for husbands being in town.

Jayden turned 5 last week. How in the heck did that ever happen? Seems like yesterday he was just a toddler hanging onto my pants to steady himself while he learned to walk. But he is a big boy now! He had his first day of kindergarten on Friday. Of course, I bawled after he walked into the school with his teacher, leaving me behind. At least it is only half day kindergarten. We can both ease into it this year before we jump head first next year for first grade.

Jayden could not be more excited to be in school. He was so cute on the first day. The kids had to line up outside the school to wait for their teacher to come and get them and bring them inside. Jayden walked right up to the other boys and said, "Hi, I'm Jayden. What's your name?" Then he came over to me and said, "Mom, that kid with the transformers backpack is Aiden." He did that several times. I was so happy to see that he wasn't too shy or overwhelmed. He was happily telling the other kids about his Buzz Lightyear backpack that is "3D without glasses!!!" I am so proud of him.

We are starting to get more settled in Colorado. Our basement will hopefully be finished within the next few weeks, which will be a relief. My whole house is in terrible disorder (for my liking, anyway) because of the basement construction. Every time someone goes downstairs, they come up and track drywall dust and other crap through the whole house. I will be very glad when that stops.

It has been thunderstorming (ya, I just made that word up) every afternoon for the last week and a half or so. I really like it. Not only does it smell nice, but it means I haven't watered my lawn for a while now. And since we actually have to worry about our own utilities for the first time in years, that is a good thing. Colorado is beautiful, and there is so much more we have to discover and explore. Jason loves it here, and it has been a while since he has liked where we have lived. Hopefully we can stay here for a little while.

Well, as usual, we love and miss you all. Come visit us!!

We took the kids to Mr. Biggs for Jayden's B-day. It was a blast.