Happy New Year's Eve!

As I could say in any of these types of posts.. a lot has happened this past year. But 2011 was a really big year for Ian and I. We bought our first house. It was important to us that this wasn't our starter home. The intent was to make it a place we would want to live for many years. I think we succeeded! I'm hoping that the driveway will be finished in the early part of the year and we can finish our time lapse video... In the spring, we plan to put in a few trees to get them growing.

The one big disappointment for this year was that I didn't get to see my family enough. The main reason was because of our big purchase. But after hosting Christmas, we decided that 2012 will be very different. The first visit will be in April and we have rough dates for 3 more visits. I'm going to have to start helping my sister plan Max's Big Blowout Birthday Bash Bananza!

Aside from looking forward to visits with my family, Ian and I will probably begin thinking about starting a family. As people have been reminding us, we have nice big house to fill!

Best wishes to everyone, my love to my family and close friends. Thank you for listening or reading the constant House Building Talk. Thanks for being supportive of me and my crazy worries. Happy New Year's Eve and I hope everyone has a good start to 2012!

Showing My California Love

On New Years Eve!

Significant Snowfall

On average, Kitchener, Ontario gets 52 inches of snow each winter. So far we've had maybe an inch or so. Today, there was a good coating. It was heavy wet stuff so Ian decided to shovel it tonight. It's still snowing and we're expecting another 2 inches. Fun!

Post Christmas Cheer

My New Toy!

It's a Scoshe myTREK! It's a thing for working out. It fits around my forearm and tracks my pulse. It connects to an app on my phone and shows how my workout went. Love it!!

Same As Coal?

Ian got a brick for Christmas. Is that like getting a piece of coal? :)

O, Christmas Tree! - 2011

Since it's Christmas Eve AND I just found the missing SD card... here are some pictures of our first Christmas tree. I think it was a learning experience for us... When I cut the netting around the tree, it reminded me of this clip.

It was a little hard to get a good picture of the tree since it's white outside (not as white as I wish it was!).

 

 

And here it is lit up. I'm not sure I'm totally sold on the colored lights. I think we might try white lights next year. I don't know. The colored lights seem more traditional to me. Either way, I love it!

 

The Cookie Incident

It has been about a week since my family left. Ian and I have been missing Max and Coop hardcore (and everyone else...). We had gotten Max the following toy...

One of the cookies ended up getting lost before they left. On Tuesday, I opened the dishwasher and saw this...

Ian and I just stared at it going what the.... Turns out somehow (*cough*Max*cough*) the cookie ended up in the dishwasher. We had opened and closed numerous times... I think we even ran the dishwasher at least once.

I guess Max felt that it was best if the cookie stays with us. =P

My First Snow Shoveling Experience

It was awesome. Short though. Ian grabbed the shovel from me. =P

Max Quacks: Who's Into Art?

I am!

Loading The Tree With Lights!

Updated Countdown

I've switched the countdown on the left to Max's Birthday Blowout! We are going big once again for Max 2.0~

New Backsplash!

During the annual Christmas visit, we decided to put Derek's home reno skillz to work and put up a new backsplash. He suggested to put the tile up just behind the stovetop and then continue it along the wall if we liked it. I loved the idea of only putting it up in that one spot that I immediately started to find the tile. Here is the finished result. Many thanks to Derek for taking time during his vacation to give our kitchen a little sparkle.

 

Here is the tile close up. Some of the pictures I took made it look really white... but the tiles bring out all the colors of the kitchen. The gray tiles seem to pull the blue out of the wall color. I love it.

 

 

Our Chubby Christmas Tree

..pre-flooph! (Before the branches relax and spread out. =P)

Snow Is Coming Down

A good Friday at home... wish my family was still here. But I'm happy that the Petty gang is not driving in it.

Coop Scoop: Cheese!!!

Adorbs.

Max's Favorite Spot at Aunt B's House

The front window. Low to the ground. Full view of all the haps. :)

SNOWBALL FIGHT!!

(Not really... but almost!)

My Favorite Road: Winterized

Merry Christmas From The Petty Boys

Max Quacks: Yes Aunt B?

I love his expression.

New Backsplash

Here is Ian cleaning up the tile he and Derek put up. By Saturday it should be done. I'll post finished pictures then. Thanks Derek and EEEEEE (Ian in Max-speak).

YAY

These little ballers are rolling up here tonight. Can't wait!

Blurry Proof

...of the first snow at The House!

Max Quacks: Just Posin'

Coop Scoop: First Dentist Vist!

This happened last month... but I just wanted to show what a cool cat Cooper is. Look at the hand behind the head. Cool as a Cucumber! He is awesome.

UNLEASH THE ARMY!

Preparing For An American Invasion

This weekend was all about ready the troops (Ian and I) for battle against the incoming American invasion. A.k.a. My family is coming to visit in a little less than 2 weeks. Yay! We've been setting up the guest bedrooms, cleaning and making lists (as Ian said "No one else does this...." and my response was "You married a Project Manager - deal with it").

My Mental Health Day was very nice. I got a massage in the morning but unfortunately it just caused the pinched nerve in my neck to flare up. But it's okay... my insurance paid for the massage. =] I wrapped Christmas gifts and got my hair done in the afternoon. I was at the salon for about 3 hours. I had to have my hair striped of the black parts, colored a warm dark brown and then cut. I think it turned out nice.

We put up Christmas lights and slowly started to decorate. I just need to finish the Christmas gift wrapping, put together the grocery list and then we are all set!

Christmas Lights!

The best of the blurry pictures. It looks good. Classic. Traditional. Love it!

One of my favorite carols... Done Muppet Style!!

First Gift of the Season Wrapped!

Oooh.. someone has been naughty!

Winter Is Coming!

Matching Temperature Control

Finally!! We have had a fancy master bathroom. But there has been one missing piece. The temperature control for the shower was not what we picked. It was a basic cheap hotel room crap temperature control. (Sorry I've been a little angry about this.... And yes, I'm silly.) So... after many phone calls and emails... the plumber came today and installed it. I love it. It matches the fixtures in the bathroom. My favorite part is the hot is a sun and the cold is a snowflake. LOVE IT.

Blinds & Guest Bedrooms

I finally finished decorating the Guest Bedroom and take pictures. I know the request was just for blinds but I wanted it to look perfect.

This is the formal Guest Bedroom. It has a Queen size bed in it and that's pretty much all it can fit. Eventually we will be getting some night stands... but it is going to stay pretty simple.

 

This is what we call the Front Bedroom. It has an air mattress in it right now in preparation for my family's visit in two weeks. Eventually it will be a kid's bedroom... so ignore the plain walls. =P

 

Master Bedroom.. self explanatory...

 

This is the Ensuite. I really love how the shutters turned out. The bathroom is supposed have a bit of a Cape Cod feel to it. That's why I went with the traditional style of shutters. You'll see near the taps there are a couple lanterns... and the pictures up on the wall are from our Algonquin Trip. We plan to put up 2 white shelves on the right hand wall. After that.. this room will be complete.

 

Same picture but portrait.. this way you can see the paneling at the bottom of the tub.

 

Overall, I love how the blinds turned out especially with the white "tapes". I never liked see the strings on blinds. Totally worth it... plus I was getting mighty tired of the paper blinds or the towel curtains. (Remember that you can click on the pictures and see a large slideshow)

Missed Deadline

I can explain why you're not looking at blinds. I got busy...... sort of. Ian and I spent the weekend shopping, cleaning, organizing and preparing. My family arrives in 20 days. The guest bedrooms are so close to being ready. I'm 99% done with my Christmas shopping. Ian won't leave one of Max's gifts alone. He starts playing with it, gives me this mischievous look and then runs away with it.

The last couple weeks have been... meh for me. I don't want to dive into why... but it was completely ridiculous. So, in an effort to get back to where I was, I'm taking a Mental Health Day this week. On Friday, I am getting a massage in the morning, wrapping Christmas presents and getting my hair done in the afternoon. I think it's my attempt at hitting the reset button on my mood.

In summary... I am sorry for the missing pictures of blinds. They do look great... but being the perfectionist I am.. I want the rooms to be perfect before I show them off. Most likely I will get to it tomorrow. Promise.

Oskar's Stache

My friend sent me a picture of her dog, Oskar Meyer. Apparently, he wants in on Movember. =P

Post Halloween Wrapup

I have jumped at the chance to turn Halloween into a geeky event! We had 62 trick or treaters. We also saw a few trends. A lot of kids had on costumes that are more expected of the opposite gender (confusing sentence). For instance, we had a female Luigi, 2 male ladybugs, and a female pirate. Pirates in general were pretty popular. The nice thing about our new neighborhood is that there are a ton of babies and toddlers. Lots of poofy costumes - flowers, Mr. Potato Heads, etc. I loved handing out candy to the kids while Ian kept track of the number. Ian is making fun of the fact that my graph only has 1 data point. I told him to shush. =P

Max Quacks: I'm Thrilled

...to be playing Uncle Fester. Can't you tell?

I mean... who wouldn't want to be Uncle Fester for Halloween? Riveting.

Just kidding! CHEESE!!!

Seriously... how do I look? Someone give me a light bulb...

(Note: Google Blogs has updated the site so that if you click on a photo, it pops up an enlarged slideshow of all photos within the post. Just a tip from me to you.)

Coop Scoop: The Happiest Dinosaur Around

Yummy "Mall Pretzels"

They turned out perfect! (Okay, a little poofy... but I like poofy~)

Making "Mall Pretzels"

These were a lot of fun to make. Hopefully they will taste good!