CHRISTMAS IS HERE!!

Christmas Eve was spent with the Knight family this year. Leslie was home from Spain and Great Grandma "Farmer" has been here visiting from Washington state. The kids looked so cute all dressed up in their Christmas outfits. Olivia's dress was yet another great borrowed outfit from Addie Julien. Thanks Addie!

After Church while we waited for dinner to be ready Trevor, Ben, uncle Cory and Aunt Leslie did a little sledding. Check out Ben's new goggles. Those were a great birthday present to help keep that snow out of his eyes.

Christmas morning Santa came through and Ben got his new hockey helmet! He was so excited he could hardly contain himself.

Christmas Day we drove to Fairmont to see the Alm family and Eisenminger family. Ben looked pretty sharp in his new hat from Spain. We spent the night at Great Grandpa and Grandma Eisenminger's and Aunt Susie was there from Brainerd.

Christmas day was spent at the the Olingers with all Grandpa "across the street's" family. He got a real hammer from Jamie. So appropriate since he has watched Jamie use a hammer at our house all fall. And of course safe first... as you can see by his very own safety goggles!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our loved ones!

Orchard Park Preschool's Holiday Concert 2010

Ben's Preschool had their Holiday concert on December 23rd. The kids got all dressed up in their concert clothes after nap time. The girls had their hair done nice and they waited for the parents to arrive. They came out one by one... Ms. Erin and Ms. Kristine had them so well trained and organized and the kids did a perfect job. They sangs songs about the Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas. Ben was so excited that he spent most of the just smiling from ear to ear.

New Skates!

So Ben asked Santa for ONE thing this year and that was a Hockey Helmet. So if Santa was going to deliver we figured Ben better learn how to skate. The weekend before Christmas we bought Ben his first pair of skates and off to the rink we went.

Of course Olivia went too all bundled up to endure the cold.

Ben spent more time riding on the folding chair cheering dad on to go faster and faster. You see Ollie Murray is much faster and daddy could not keep up with him.

The girls had a great time too riding around in the sled together. Ben did do a little skating on his own just hanging on to mommy's hand and he did great.

Overall, the skating was a success and the boys had a great time. Only a few tear and lots of smiles!

Sheetrock is UP!

Last week the Sheetrock went up and the mudding and taping started. This means we are living across the street again. Trevor and I moved all our furniture and put plastic over every doorway and closet and we moved out! We packed for a month stay and Grandpa and Grandma's and don't plan on moving back in until after the hardwood floors are set. Here is the new mud room and the 1/2 wall we took out into the living room. The window is where the doorway into our

house used to be.

The hall way back to our new master suite and the vaulted ceiling in the new room.

The KING size bed will fit between these two windows. The second picture is looking at the

closet and back to the hallway.

We are now 10 days into our stay at "Grandpa and Grandma's across the street" as Ben says and we are all still speaking to each other! We will see how the next 3 weeks go...

Christmas Season is Here!

This is the first year that Ben really understands the whole Christmas thing. Last Monday we put lights and a few decorations on our mini tree. Then we hung the stocking. Mom just could not go a year without a real tree even if the house is in complete shambles. He loves watching Tim Allen's The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2 every night (Shrek has temporarily been replaced). Last Sunday we went to see Santa! Santa was at Tonkadale Nursery and it was fabulous! There were no lines and you could take as many pictures as you wanted with Santa. This is Ben and his buddy Cullen sitting on Santa's lap. We also got a great picture of the family and one of Olivia and Kinsley (Cullen's baby sister) with Santa. More to come when I get the digital versions...

1 Year Old!!

Olivia Jeanne Knight was our Christmas blessing last year. On December 3rd she turned 1 and look out world she is on the move! This past year has gone by in the blink of an eye. We cannot believe she is already 1. It has been a wonderful year for our family. Ben continues to enjoy his "baby sister" and mom and dad love to watch their relationship grow.

We celebrated her birthday last weekend with family. She had a great time at her party, she loved the cake and all her gifts.

She had fun poking all the dots on her cake (so did her brother).

Then we cut her a small piece so she could actually get at the cake. Is she showing us her finger full of frosting or that she is one year old? She was so over stimulated and juiced up on sugar that she did not sleep that night (I am not kidding, she was up EVERY 1-2 hour!)

She got this great walk behind stroller from her Aunt Emily and her boyfriend Thomas and the baby doll from "Grandpa and Grandma across the street".

On her actual birthday we sent treats to school to share with all her friends. Her big brother wanted to make sure she got everything the big kids got for their birthdays. He wanted her to have the crown, have all his friends sing to her and make sure she had the royal treatment!

Now we are looking forward to the next year! What will she be like at 2?

Where is the Power?!

So last weekend when everyone woke up to the fresh snow and couldn't wait to get out and play in it the workers at the Knight household were not feeling the same excitement. To top things off we lost power on Saturday morning at 7:30 and it did not go back on until Monday around 1:00 in the afternoon. But, don't worry we just moved in with Grandpa and Grandma and the guys continued their work. They were still able to replace all the existing windows with their battery tools. We have a great crew over there! They were soaking wet and cold but they just kept working.

Here is the new picture window. We can already tell the difference in the temperature inside now that we have all new windows. No more draft!!

Well without power the siding did not get done last weekend so that was the agenda for this weekend. Of course this weekend they got stuck with freezing rain instead of snow! Now the siding is on and so is the garage door. It is starting to look like a house that people may actually live in. Looks like we will have lots of painting to do in the spring, the siding all comes primed but this is not the final color. So after a week of living across the street the Knights are moving home!

Here are just a couple updated pictures of the kids. These eyes and smiles melt our hearts every day!

Olivia finally started to crawl! We actually thought she would go from her butt scoot right to walking but she fooled us. She still likes to scoot if she is carrying things or she is on the hard wood floor but she is doing more crawling everyday.

And Don't Forget About The Construction...

The construction at the Knight household continues and they are moving right along. The Master Suite is framed in with electrical wires in place and the plumbing roughed in as well. As you can see they have busted into the existing house and the kids are no longer able to be in their rooms.


That means the kids are sharing a bedroom and Trevor and I are living in what we call our studio apartment with the door next to the bed which is next to the kitchen table and across from the living room couch.



Trevor and I did the demo on our entrance way. It was fun to bust down the walls and make a complete mess! Now the doorway has turned into a window and the closet is gone forever.


We were lucky to have another beautiful weekend and the guys were able to start siding the house. It has been so much fun to watch it all come together. This up coming weekend they are hoping for more nice weather so they can replace the rest of the existing window and finish the siding.

Master Bedroom

Garage and New Entry

Halloween

Ben was a little more interested in the Trick or Treating this year. Olivia was a little pumpkin thanks to our friend Addie's old costume and Ben got this great football outfit for his birthday from his aunt Kate. When you asked Ben what he was going to be for Halloween he would say,
"I am going to be a 'hut' guy and a football guy". I guess he does quite understand they are one in the same.

Our Little Boy is 3!!

Ben turned three last month and there was lots of celebrating to be done. We had some family over to celebrate with us the day after his birthday and then the following night the Murry's had us over to celebrate Ben's birthday. This is Ben's buddy Cullen.

Ben loves Shrek! Shrek is the only movie Ben will actually sit and watch so we thought it was only appropriate that he had his very own Shrek cake with his face on it.

We have such generous friends and family and Ben got some wonderful gifts. I think Olivia liked some of them as much as Ben did...