Our First Snow

The girls went out real quick before we went to Mom's house and enjoyed our first snow of the year. I don't know if I am ready for the snow to start. The girls can't wait until they can go out and play a while in the snow.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We had Kent's dad and Kim and his twin brother Kevin and his daughter Colby over tonight for dinner. After dinner we decorated the Christmas tree. The girls had fun playing with Colby. They even got Uncle Kevin to play the Wii with them. It was nice to have everyone here and visiting with Bill and Kim.

Working off Lunch

Uncle Clint and Christy took the girls outside after lunch to work off some of their huge lunch. They had a great time and it was nice to be outside since the weather was nice. Now it's time for a nap!!! Lily fell asleep in the van during the short ride home and Mom and Dave were snoring before we left! Must be all the turkey...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We went to Mom's for lunch today. We had Grandma, Clint and Christy, Mom and David and our family. Lily wore her Thanksgiving hat she made at school. Mom made a huge lunch for all of us. The girls had a great time with Clint and Christy. We hadn't seen them in awhile. Christy is sitting at the kids table with the girls. Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Froggy Day In Linden Town

Abbey had her 2nd Grade play tonight. It was called "A Froggy Day In Linden Town". She really did a nice job. She was a speaker and a dancer. We had no idea she was such an actress. She spoke so clearly. It was really cute. Here she is with her teacher and on stage with her class.

Successful deer season!

I went deer hunting this afternoon at David and Lisa McGhee's farm north of Worth, MO. I went with Lisa and her daughter Courtney's boyfriend, Adam. The deer being held up in the picture is mine, it is a smaller 8 point, Adam's deer is in the foreground and it is a real nice 8 pointer.
The worst part of the whole ordeal was dragging the deer through the bean field and up the terrace levy bank to load in the truck, both deer were a good distance from the terrace levy so we had our work cut out for us, I didn't know how out of shape I am until dragging a couple deer through the fields....glad it is over!!Here is another picture after field dressing. My good friend David McGhee was kind enough to field dress it for me....what great friends we have.

Hot Chocolate

When we got finished setting up the trees outside the girls thought they needed some hot chocolate. We even found the snowflake mugs and plates! It was pretty cold out today!! They wanted pretzels and hot chocolate with marshmallows. Kind of a strange combination! Anyway, they had fun.

Decorating for Christmas

We decided to start digging out the Christmas decorations this weekend since I won't have much time to do it next week with all the Thanksgiving dinners we have scheduled. The girls were very excited to help. Now if I can just get Kent that excited about dragging everything in from the garage . . .

Family Game Night

We had family game night tonight. We popped popcorn and played Uno. Abbey won one and Gracie won one. Kent is still in his hunting gear. He said that he saw a big one but it was too far away. We had fun playing games tonight!

The Upstairs Hallway

These are the before and after pictures of the hallway upstairs. It is fun to see how much the girls have changed so much from just a year ago. Lily looks so little. The girls even got in on the remodel.

The Stairway

This is the before and after of the stairway. We ripped out all this carpet and painted the stairs. We had the carpet bound on the sides and had it laid down the stairs.

The Family Room

This is the before and after of the family room. We painted the walls in here and ripped all the carpet up and stripped the floors in here. The previous owners ripped all the original woodwork out so Kent made all new trim. We hang out in here a lot and watch TV. The girls like to play their Wii in here too.

The Formal LivingRoom/Dining Room

These are the before and after pictures of the Dining room. We took up all the carpet and stripped the floors down to their original woodwork. We also tore out some shelving that was in the room to make room for our hutch.

The Breakfast Nook

This is the before and after of the breakfast nook. Kent and David made a really cool pantry for me.

The House Project - The Kitchen

As most of you know, Shawna and I bought an old Victorian home last fall. The house was built in the late 1880's. We took possession of the house on August 28, 2007 and spent the next 10 months doing nothing else but re-modeling. We did most of the work ourselves. We got the upstairs bedrooms done in November 2007 and moved into the house. We then started on the downstairs and with the exception of two rooms (laundry and mud-room) we have pretty much all the inside completed.
I will be posting pictures of the before and after for each room. I hope you enjoy looking.

This is the before picture of the kitchen and the cabinetry. No, these original cabinets have not been torn up, this is what they looked like when we bought the house. In this picture I have already removed the original island and torn out the cabinet to the left of the stove and what covered the original brick chimney.

This is the after picture. We had the chimney torn out and the refrig. now sets in its place. With the help of a good friend I built the cabinets, the new island, the counter tops etc. Shawna and I did all the work that you see with the help of family and some other good friends for an evening or an occasional afternoon, but mostly just me and Shawna. Quite a transformation!


This is the north wall of the kitchen as it looked when we purchased the house.


This the after picture of the north wall. I moved the sink from the island back to its original position on the north wall under the window.

This is the west wall as it looked. I have already torn out a bit of cabinetry to the right of the refrig. which is what the white area is.


These two pictures are the after, of course. We built a computer deck in what was the corner and opened up the area where the refrig. was setting.

Watching Taylor Cheer

We went to Taylor's game Thursday night to watch her cheer. The girls had a great time watching her and visiting with Grandpa and Heather.