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!

Our favorite time of day...

Bathtime is our favorite time of the day around here...



Both of the kids LOVE the bath. Reagan is undressed and in the tub before we've even filled it with water. And you should see Ian laugh and kick as he lays on the his towel waiting to get in. Now that they can bathe together, we have to remind Reagan that Ian might not like to have water dumped over his head as much as she does...

The snuggle time that follows is the best part for the adults in the house!

Is it possible?

I'm wondering if it is possible for a cat and a kid to be best friends.
I have to say that we, quite possibly, have the coolest cat in the whole world.

Meet Smooches.



I know, it's a crazy name, but it fits him perfectly. I found Smooches outside of my office building in Spokane in 2001... this tiny little white kitten with one blue eye and one brown eye. I picked him up, he immediately nuzzled his nose into my neck and started to purr, and then I immediately called Sean (who said he would never have a cat) and said (like a 3 year old) "Can we keep him, pllleeaasseee?"
He's the most disobedient cat, but he loves our kids more than we thought possible. Reagan calls him "Mooches"-- all she has to do is make the kissing sound and he comes running. He has never gotten mad and swatted, hissed or nipped at the kids-- which is especially important with Ian's grip and ability to roll and reach anything near him. If Ian is playing on the floor, he is right there-- probably next to his head either sniffing him or rubbing his nose on his head. If Reagan is sitting (that doesn't happen too often), he will attempt to sit on her lap and snuggle with her. I caught this moment today-- how cute is that?


So I ask again... is it possible for a cat and a kid to be best friends?
At this point, I think so.

My buttons...

How do I not laugh?
Here's how the conversation went...

Mommy: "Reagan, please don't push my butttons!"

...Long thoughtful pause...

Reagan (while looking all around me): "Mommy, where are your buttons? I want to turn them all on."

Hey Mom!

If Ian could talk, I'm pretty sure this is what he would have said in this moment...



"Hey Mom! Come here! I just spit up all over my hand and then rubbed it all over my face! Isn't it cool?!"
Not sure if my nomination for "Mother-of-the-Year" will come because it took me a few minutes to notice he had done this or since I grabbed my camera to take his picture before I cleaned him up...

Moving...

Okay... so we moved into the new house this past weekend. I probably don't even need to say it, but moving with a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old is very interesting. Check out this picture... As you can see Reagan was tons of help while I was packing. If you can't tell by the picture, that is Reagan in a box. She got into the box right after she took everything out of the box that I had just put in... Needless to say, I quit packing right then and waited until nap time to continue!



Now that we're in the new house, she's lots of help unpacking though... Only one china tea cup was broken and it was my fault! Ian is such a cool kid too... he doesn't seem phased by any of this at all-- thank goodness. God has been so good to give me an extra measure of patience and a heightened sense of humor in this process. Praise Him for that!

It's pretty late now and I'm sitting here trying to get used to the new noises of this house... I was so used to the different noises in our old one. I could even tell when our cats were walking down the hallway. Our new bathroom has a skylight in it and the sound of the rain hitting the skylight is really great. Seriously, I like it!

For those of you reading this who aren't in Western Washington, it is raining so hard here that I asked my dad today if he thought the Ark would show up soon. Crazy. I told Reagan that it was raining Cats and Dogs and she looked at me like I was nuts. How do you explain a figure of speech to a 2 year old? You don't, I guess.