Snow!

We're in Spokane for the weekend celebrating Christmas with Sean's family. It snowed here last night and all morning... and it's beautiful! When the kids woke up this morning, I drug them outside in their PJs to stand in the snow for a brief moment. I love the feeling of snow falling and I wanted them to feel it too! Reagan thought it was really neat until she realized that she was getting wet... then it wasn't so neat anymore. Ian took it like a champ and just smiled as usual!

Here are a few pictures of our morning snow...

Update

Okay... here's the latest on our washing machine mishap. We don't know too much, but I'll tell you what we do know!
1. We have a home warranty that covers the repairs of the washer (but not the secondary damage caused by the washer)
2. We have FANTASTIC homeowners insurance (USAA--- Thank you Dad!!) and they cover all of the secondary damage caused by the washer.
3. The washer malfunction was caused by a pressure tube line that failed to tell the washer to stop filling the tub. The water (and soap) overflowing into the other cavity of the washer caused additional damage to the bearings of the wash tub that allow it to go into the spin cycle.
4. Because of the secondary damage to the washer, our homeowners insurance now covers the washing machine also.
Now... isn't that full circle?

We had a contractor come on Tuesday to check out the house and give our insurance company an estimate for the repairs needed. All I can say about those numbers is... OUCH!! And.... Praise the Lord for Homeowners Insurance! Now we just wait for the contractor to begin. Looks like the project should be all done by the end of January...

We'll keep you posted!

Bummer.

One of the things we love about our new house is that the laundry room is upstairs. I confess... I used to be terrible about putting the clean laundry away... and having the laundry room upstairs gives me no excuses about putting the clothes away.

Here's the problem. When the washing machine, conveniently upstairs, decides to continuously fill the tub with water and therefore overflow... and flow... and flow... it has all kinds of fun places to "flood". For instance... the laundry room, the hallway, the kids bathroom and a portion of Ian's room. For more fun, the water decided to make a grand entrance into our downstairs family room via the walls, ceiling, trim around the windows and baseboards. Hence the title of this blog... bummer. As a result, we now have very large fans, blowers, heaters and dehumidifiers all over the house... as well as a large hole in the ceiling and wall downstairs, no carpet pad in the family room, hallway and Ian's room and no flooring at all in the kid's bathroom and laundry room.

Here's the good news! We're in great spirits! There is always a blessing to be found in situations like this... from the moment we discovered the "rain" in our family room (as Reagan and Asher (my nephew) called it)... we've laughed. And we've tried to laugh a lot in the last 2 days! In fact, when I saw Asher yesterday morning, one of the first things he said to me was about the rain in my house and how cool it was! I'm so thankful for the fun that kids find in the midst of a bummer of a situation... We are confident in God's purpose for this minor inconvenience... and it's a great reminder that we need to store up our treasures in heaven and not here!

Here are some pictures of the result of our "rain"

The big hole in the ceiling

The "hole" in the family room wall

2 of the many pieces of equipment littering the house...

And finally...

the perpetrator.

I pray that my next post will be the resulting new walls, ceiling and maybe... new carpet!

Oooooo.... Rice Cereal!

Today was a big day in Ian's life. His first taste of food! (Although... I can't be sure that rice cereal counts as "food".) Apparently Ian thought it was pretty fantastic... he would dive at the spoon as it came towards his mouth. It was really funny! Reagan wouldn't go near the stuff... so needless to say, I was quite surprised when Ian ate it with enthusiasm!
Here are some pictures of his newest discovery.

Pictures I love...

I got a friendly lecture from a friend of mine today (you know who you are! :) )... she said that I don't update our blog enough. So... I decided to post some of my favorite pictures from the last few months. You can click on the pictures to see them larger. Here you go!