My birthday diva!

Tuesday, November 25th, was Luci's 4th birthday. All the kids at school get to wear a paper birthday hat on the day of their birthday and Luci was no exception! This also happened to have been the last day of school before Thanksgiving break and was the day that UPK parents were invited to come to school for the "Thanksgiving Feast". Meema and I went and I got this humorous shot of the birthday diva in all her glory!


We had Luci's offcial party this past Saturday, and though attendance was down due to a nasty stomach bug going around, she still managed to score quite the haul! Both Drew and Luci had mild cases of this same bug several days earlier, but were over it within a day or two. Dean also caught the bug and was down and out for a full day as well. Somehow, I managed to miss it...so far!

As for construction news...we have a kitchen! Well, there are still many things to do, but we have cabinets and appliances, so it's at least functional! Below, is a shot of our breakfast area. The table and chairs will most likely be replaced with something that matches better, but that's very low on the priority list and I wouldn't be surprised if they stayed for quite a while. The new frdge is seen on the left, though this is not its permanent home. The people at Lowe's miscalculated the measurements and neglected to order filler strips so that our appliance openings would be big enough. It's a relatively easy fix, and the aforementioned filler strips have been ordered and should be here sometime this week. Also of note is that the two lighting fixtures do match, they just look like two different colors in the pictures. The granite is not yet installed, they come this Tuesday to make the template and then I have no idea how long it takes to actually get installed after that. In the meantime, we have some pretty nice OSB plywood down and boy is it nice! ;-)

Here is a better view of where the fridge is SUPPOSED to go! The area that happens to be loaded with boxes from Luci's party is where our fridge will end up.

Here you can see the other side of the kitchen. This morning, Jim and Dean moved the cabinets to the right of the stove and slid it in place. We enjoyed our first kitchen cooked meal tonight of steak and onion rings! There will also be a range hood over the stove, but it is currently sitting in the box right now.

And last but not least, I have FINALLY gotten my Christmas decorations up! "Finally?" you may ask? Usually I have my house decorated by the second week of November at the latest, but I've been soooo busy lately that I haven't had much time. It's done now, and below, you'll see my beautiful Christmas tree! This tree is pretty old, we bought it around 12 years ago, but it has held up very well and I absolutely love it! Normally I'd be itching to buy something new, but I just can't imagine finding a newer tree that I'd like more than this one! Until next time!