Stair project is still ongoing

Last week I got the curtains made for the storage under the stairs. There are black bears and rustic wood/birch bark printed on the fabric. The window curtain is only temporary as I didn't have the kind of curtain rod that I needed. Gramma Marshall's homemade braided rug matches the rustic way the room has started to come together and adds a nice touch at the base of the stairs.

Walls both upstairs and down were freshly painted brownish-beige today. Stairs are still plywood as carpet will be the last step completed.

Nice office area at the top of the stairs. This used to be Noah and Levi's bedroom. The railings are temporary - the next step is building cedar railings. New overhead light is in the box to the right of the stairs...I was pretty happy as the bears on the light fixture match the bears in the curtains I made for the understair storage area.

Bonus cute baby and suicidal Jedi...

From downstairs looking up. The big desk was a family heirloom from my Grandmother and is quite a unique item with all kinds of neat cubby holes and drawers.

Not to shabby for two non-carpenters to put together. Seems like every day when I come home from work Michael has done something new on the room. Finishing the wood alone took weeks. And the best part of the whole thing is that by adding this stair case we now have two bathrooms, double the living space and storage space we never had before.

After this project is done it gets even more fun - a whole new Master Bedroom complete with a fire place.

More Christmas pictures

What a beautiful Christmas we had. Parents gone home now and getting the house back in order. The tree will probably come down tomorrow. I always miss the decorations once they are gone.

Christmas with both sets of Grandparents.

Matching PJ's that were a bonus of my early morning black Friday run at 4AM...Noah and Levi were pretty excited to match Silas.

Mommy and Daddy's birthday and Christmas present to each other. It was deliverd at 7 on Christmas Eve and it sure beats the old broken, ripped, pilled one that was taken away.

Decorating Christmas cookies as a family. The ones the boys did had more frosting and sprinkles than cookie.

Noah giving Silas a taste of frosting.

Noah was singing while he worked.

This is how we saw Papa Davey all weekend - camera in front of his face.

Noah and Levi had to wait until the clock said 7 before they could get up. I was awakened at 7:06 by the thunder of them charging upstairs and out to the fireplace.

Even Papa Davey had matching PJ's ;-) and his camera of course.

Noah was so anxious for Silas to get up and get his stocking he kept asking me what time it was every 5 minutes - driving me crazy. Finally shortly after 8 he woke up and they both helped him discover the contents of his stocking.

Silas's big gift was his Step2 train table. Michael and I brought it in and put it together after the boys went to sleep. We put the cover on and Silas spent the morning climbing over it while we opened gifts - he had no clue it was for him.

Once we took the top off, we knew it was an instant hit. He didn't want to go to sleep and had to have some aggressive encouragement when it was nap time. At bed time he snuck out of bed to play with it and it was the first thing he went for to play with when he woke up in the morning.

We went to my in-laws in the afternoon for round two. Here is the result of a Christmas gag gift that keeps on giving. Annette gave him the hat and boxers as a joke one year and now every year he adds something new to the outfit. The suspenders were a new addition this year.

Silas packs himself up as a Christmas present:

Jenna was in the middle of a potty training crisis - Silas and Mya tried to get into the action and we found them in the bathroom, they insisted the door had to be shut and they were each sitting on a potty laughing to each other. Here Silas saw me open the door and was getting down to push it closed.

My parents tried out my big Christmas gift - the Wii Fit Plus. Sure made for some good laughs.

Silas up to mischief

Silas loves this rocking chair that he got from our friend Dell. He always drags it from his room out into the living room to sit and watch videos.


He really wanted to take a bath...of course he's fully clothed and there's not water...but that didn't stop him from trying.

Christmas tree

Life with three boys...

It's snowing outside and now the tree is up.

Silas went to Gramma's while we were decorating so he would try to "help". When he got back he wanted so desperately to touch it, but here he is restraining his hands trying to be good.

Into the woods...

On Saturday we went into the woods to cut our Christmas tree.

It's always handy to bring a Jedi with you into the woods incase things get dangerous ;-)

Mya and Silas met up in the big field.


Levi showing off the tree he cut for his room.

Mya and Silas were fascinated by the bumper and trailer hitch of Papa's truck.

Noah looking very thoughtful and mature. Growing up too fast that boy.

The only way to get all five cousins in the same picture. Left to right: Levi, Jesse, Noah, Silas and Mya.

Daddy and Uncle Matt cutting down a tree.

Mya and Silas peaking out of Papa's truck.

It was a beautiful day. Usually our toes are numb by the time we get back to the house - but this year it was over 50 and WARM. So now we are in the Christmas spirit and ready to decorate.

ARGH

My three pirates.

Busy busy busy

A few more construction photos...from a couple weeks ago. Note the lovely shag green carpet - I swore 10 years ago when we bought the house we HAD to replace it ASAP since it was so hideous I couldn't live with it in all three upstairs bedrooms. HA! 10 years later and we're still living with green shag - but we will recarpet and do the stairs soon/in the next couple of months. Hey green shag is coming back in style, maybe we should stick with it - not likely!

Daddy's little helper:

Noah took the camera around to capture all the action - so here's a (not very flattering) rare shot of me in action.

Usually when Noah gets his hands on my camera I find things like this when I download my shots:

Noah and Levi both have requirements to do daily reading for school. Must be Silas was feeling left out because he went and got a picture book and sacked out on the couch with his brothers.

He thought he was pretty cool to be just like his big brothers. I think the thing I've been enjoying most with my little guy is watching how he looks up to his two older brothers and how they enjoy him and work to include him whenever they can - especially Noah.


When Levi was about Silas's age he got this big Pooh Bear for Christmas and it was love at first sight. He was very attached for many years and only in the past couple of months has transferred his attachment to his stuffed Eeyore. Well, Silas saw Pooh downstairs tonight and instantly claimed him as his new best friend. Won't hardly let go of him and loves to "wrestle" with him. Good thing Levi has move on already.

Trick or treat

Obi Wan Kenobi -note the cloak mommy spent 3 hours making the night before since Daddy decided his costume was too plain without it. It's supposed to be dark brown, but I didn't have any brown fabric, so I substituted dark purple and told him he must be a royal Jedi. He didn't seem to mind the color substitution.
A "Fighter-fighter" - to quote Levi - he's missing the really cool air pack that Daddy made for him in this picture - he decided it was a pain to wear it while walking through Main St.

Jedi and mouse:

I don't ususally like mice in my house - but this one is awfully cute.

All dressed up to visit the neighbors.

cutting off his baby curls

Though I loved his "long" hair that curled around his face, we knew it was probably time for a trim. It was a good 3 plus inches over his collar in the back and always looking wild.

Silas really didn't want a trim and complained loudly the whole time Daddy and I working around his head:

He decided to get over it pretty quickly and headed downstairs to show off his new "do" to his brothers. Note the still under construction stairs.

The end result is kinda cute - but I hate how much older he looks all of the sudden.