Happy Thanksgiving

We had our first major holiday since we've moved home, and we loved it! Seth went pheasant hunting with my uncle and cousin in the morning. Then we were able to eat with both sides of the family; and at the end of the day, we only had a 20 minute drive home. We certainly don't miss the 3 hour drive from Hastings! We do, however, miss all of our friends from the cities - so now that we're settled in, feel free to come and visit.

Four Generations
My sister, Maria and her fiance, Eliud

Elena & Cousin Frank

I've got a few more pictures of the house. My brother-in-law's mother-in-law (sorry I don't know how to state that simply) came over to help us hang pictures and arrange our furniture. The place is really coming together. Below are a few more before and after photos.

The Laundry Room

The dining room

Master Bedroom (we added a bathroom)

More living room pictures

We're Home!

Well, we finally moved into our home on November 1st, and we've spent the last few weeks settling in. The house is not completely finished, but we've been tying loose ends and adding minor luxuries gradually. We only had to go a week or so without a bathroom door (and we should be getting bedroom doors this weekend!).

The basement is also in need of cleaning. Just as we were ready to move in, the electrician was checking out the furnace and tried to clean all the soot out of it using our shop vac (which didn't have a filter). He ended up blowing soot all over the basement - every square inch of the place is covered in soot. Luckily, we didn't have anything down there other than a dehumidifier (which he replaced). I never realized how difficult soot is to clean up, but it's almost impossible to remove. My guess is it will take a good 4 to 5 days of cleaning to get it all up. He also tracked soot around the house when he went upstairs. We did our best to clean it off, but we ended up having to repaint a few walls and railings. We ended up having to buy a new furnace because there was a chance that if we turned it on, soot would be blown through the entire (freshly painted and newly carpeted) house.


The whole thing has been quite the project. I'm pretty proud of all the great work Seth did on the house. I didn't realize just how much of a handy man he is. For example, we needed a new staircase. Seth says, "No problem. I'll build one."
"Have you ever built a staircase before?" I ask.
"No, but I'll figure it out."
And within a few days, we have a new staircase. We also needed railings for the stairways. So in one day, he designed, built and installed four railings. And they looked great. Maybe that's not a huge deal to someone more skilled in carpentry, but to someone who took an entire 9 weeks of shop class to build a crooked CD rack, that's pretty impressive.

So without further ado, here are a few before and after photos. I will post more later. I've also included a Halloween picture (Elena is the pea pod on the right) and a video of Elena doing her Ray Charles impression.

The Living Room

The Bathroom

The Kitchen

Elena's Room


Halloween

New Photos

Not too much is new here. We're almost done with the house. We plan to be in by the first week of November. That's only 3 months behind schedule - not too bad for a construction project ;) I'll post pictures of the house once it's all done. For now, here are some new shots of Miss Elena.



laughing at Papi


Playing with Ryan


Looking cool



Cuddling with Papi

Still Painting

Who knew painting could be so much work? Well, I guess anyone who's ever painted before (which I had not). We've been painting fools this last week and the place is starting to look like a home; a messy home, but a home nonetheless. It's actually been kind of nice for us because we're to a point where I can help out (I wasn't so hot at building walls and hanging sheet rock), and we're getting to spend more time together. Seth is also thankful to be doing less stressful work on the house.


Luckily, we've had lots of help from family and friends. Our nieces, Brooke and Madison, also came over to help out this weekend. They helped keep Elena entertained (or just held her when she konked out).



Jon came down again last week, and this time he brought his wife, Duquesa, and son, Jerome. Seth and Jon worked on the house while Duquesa and I were able to spend many hours walking around Minneota and talking. Duquesa's about to have their second baby and it was fun to feel a pregnant belly again!

I didn't think we would have to worry about boys for awhile, but I guess I was wrong! While staying with us, Jerome decided to make a move on our little Elena and gave her a few kisses. Not to blame it all on him, though. Elena didn't exactly turn him down! We'll just have to make sure there are no unchaperoned visits between the two in the future :)


Below is the railing by the stairs that I mentioned in the last post and our bathroom - a major improvement from before!

Rolling Around

Since the last post, Elena has finally mastered the art of rolling over and sprouted her second tooth. She has also gotten very good at blowing raspberries and singing very high notes. We think she may be destined to be an opera singer. I've included a video of her playing and laughing with Daddy.

Last month we stayed with some friends back in Hastings. Elena attended her first wedding and was able to visit her friend, Nate. When they were lying side by side, they immediately held hands - it was pretty dang cute.

Elena and Nate

Progress was made by leaps and bounds on the house this last week. We had our friend, Jon, come down from the cities to paint as much as was humanly possible in the span of four days. My dad also came to help, and I was assigned the task of painting a railing in an area that would make a leprechaun feel cramped. Jon somehow mananged to prime the thing. I think he may have had a job as a contortionist at some point in his life. (I'll try to add a picture of the spot later).

Jon and Seth painting

Apple Picking

I'm putting up our newest video of Elena - she's sitting in an apple tree and loving it. I missed her laugh, but at the very end of the video you can hear her squeal.


Elena has had lots of firsts this month. She got her first tooth about 2 weeks ago, and also tried her first bite of food last week (she gagged). She's not a big fan of eating yet, although she loves sucking on apples. She can also sit up on her own for a few seconds, but we're still waiting for her to roll.


Hope all is well with everyone - thanks for checking in!

Playing with Papa

House update

I've had a few requests for more pictures of the house, so I went in this week and took a few more pictures. Our sister-in-law, Tina, has been starting to paint the bedrooms. It's fun to finally see some color upstairs.
We went to a wedding this weekend, and the bride and groom had a live polka band for the dance. Elena danced her first polka with Grandma and Papi. Seth and I did our best to polka without bumping into too many couples - at least we didn't knock anyone over! We forgot our camera, though, so no pictures :(





Our home & a view of the back yard (it goes all the way back to that little white garage)


Here is our office along with a picture of Papi (my dad) working on the bathroom.

Our bedroom and Elena's room

Grandma Langer and Elena sitting at the bottom of our new staircase.