Just Because

I miss having a Christmas tree in our house. Everything looks so bare without all the decorations up, so I was so thankful to see that the bulbs I planted several weeks ago bloomed! It feels good having fresh flowers to brighten up these grey days.

Paperwhites that I planted

Tulips from Josh

Daddy's Little Helper

Our vacuum cleaner stopped working last week (big bummer!), so Josh decided to take it apart to see what was wrong with it. He got some tools out and right away Griffin wanted to see what he was doing. It was cute to see how curious he was. He wanted to hold the screwdriver by himself and didn't want to give it up. They found the problem, a burned-out motor, and Josh ordered a new part. So, in the meantime I've been vacuuming the house using a little sweeper vacuum thing...it's just not the same.

New Year's Eve

We started off the evening with an early dinner with Josh's family. His grandparents have a tradition of making lefse and lutefisk, traditional Norwegian dishes, on New Year's Eve. Most of us at least tried the lutefisk and some really liked it. Lydia even asked for more when she was finished! We hung out a little bit while the cousins played together...

Ronan was making Ethan laugh by playing peek-a-boo behing the couch.

Dylan and Ronan were wearing their matching football shirts.

The "big" kids entertained themselves in this box for a long time (:

After dinner we went home to get our boys to bed. Our good friends, Ashley and Camilla, came over to ring in the New Year with us. It was special having them over because they will be moving to Norway this summer, so it was their last New Year's Eve in the states for awhile (not their last one ever) (: We ate apple pie and watched a movie, and overall had a lot of fun just hanging out. It was a mellow, relaxing evening...just what we all needed after a busy Christmas.

Happy 2008!

Taking Shape

By the end of last week the framers had finished installing the trusses and started working on the attic decking.

Christmas Collage

I wanted to try out an idea I saw on Ali Edwards' website.

Chuck E. Cheese's

For Erik's last night in Eugene he suggested that we all go to one of his favorite places...Chuck E. Cheese's! The one in the Gateway Mall just opened, so we decided to brave the crowds and go there for dinner. We should have gotten in the food line right away, because it took FOREVER to order our food and an equally long time to get our food. It was crazy, but the kids got to play games while we waited, so it wasn't too bad. Erik had told us ahead of time about these super coupons from their website, so we ended up with plenty of tokens for everyone to play as much as they wanted. Tyler, Sadie, and Ronan got really into the excitement and the "big boys" did too (: We were there for three hours...crazy, but lots of fun!

For some reason, this roller coaster ride was going without any tokens, so Ronan and Griffin got to ride it over and over again!

Trusses Delivered...

...the day after Christmas! We woke up to the sound of a big truck delivering the trusses for our house! Josh had the day off work, so he was able to help Nick and James throughout the day when they needed a hand .The truck had a crane that would lift the trusses to the roof. It was pretty cool to watch!