Just busy living it

It has been forever since I posted it seems!

We haven't been up to much, just caught up in living the dream I guess.

We had a great Holiday party with tons of friends and food. I cooked up the ham Nick won at the sausage making contest earlier this year. Add on some home made stuffing and it was a hit. Of COURSE my oven would decide to lose its mind and up itself 50 degrees so the ham was maybe...a little dry in spots but the platter was licked clean so I guess all was well.

Nick's cousin Jason and his girlfriend came bearing Gunnar's Christmas gift from their family so that kicked off the season just right. My girlfriend's older boys (Gunnar's favorite entertainment at the party) found the present and were sure to show Gunnar the present opening ropes. As you can see it was not forgotten. Here he is tearing into his third present so far this season. Thanks Phillips':


We were also able to attend a huge bash earlier this week with Gunnar's #1 girlfriend Chella's family. They closed down their restaurant in Welches and put on an amazing spread!

What else? We have all three been passing around a very nasty cold. Gunnar is asleep right now in a humidifier Vick's cloud trying to clear up a bit before another Holiday party this afternoon.

These past two weeks have been unusually dry and sunny. I had to pull the curtains when I put Gunnar down for his nap at 12:30! Bad for the ski resorts but awfully nice for our vitamin D starved souls.

Now some pics of us just hanging out:

Gunnar has really come into his reading genes lately. He went to the library this week with Nick and had a great time reading with a little girl he met there. I am eagerly waiting for him to be able to enjoy all my favorites - Harry Potter!

For all the Granpas reading this blog - his shirt says "Grandpas or bust!". Love you guys!

As with all 1.5 year olds each day is a whirlwind of ups and downs. I snapped this shot of G and his papa enjoying his favorite computer games after one particularly rough evening. You know the routine - I don't want to eat, you don't get to eat and throw in a good measure of crying to boot.

It is this redeeming sweetness that keeps us all going for sure!

Last but not least, the amazing clotheshorses of Brightwood in action. Apparently camo was the theme this day:


Hope all you "virtual" friends and family are doing well and will get a chance to unwind this Holiday Season.

Love you all!

The Londons

The Finished Product

We had a super laid back Thanksgiving this year. Just us and some turkey dog pigs n a blanket for the big day. Nick did have Gunnar's sled already to go in case it snowed. We had beautiful warm weather instead!

Here is the finished product:



And a departing shot of Mr Monster hands on the tractor:

Snow!

This weekend we welcomed our first snow in Brightwood. It was only a couple inches but super wet and perfect for playing in.

Here is G and papa with the snowman we built (that sprained papa's back!):

Wet snow is HEAVY!

Nick had some welding to do and the snow inspired him to get some work done on the cross country sled he has been dreaming up.

His assistant at the ready:


Some general shenanigans:

Damn daddies are fun!

And the frame is done:



Now he just needs to get the frame secured to the skis and we will be ready to hit the tails. I can't wait!

Free For All

We have been super blessed lately by friends looking to offload items for FREE. It all began when the neighbors got new living room furniture so we inherited a love seat and pull out sofa. We put the love seat in the living room and the couch downstairs in the tv room. They are wonderful.

Then we got a call that some friends were going to be getting rid of the oil heater from their home. It was free so long as we took their pair of runner ducks too. Done deal!

Then it got super crazy when anther friend had purchased a new fifth wheel and decided she just wanted the old one gone. Ta dahh we now own a fifth wheel. she was super sweet and hooked us up with the in bed truck hitch and everything. To top it off, the neighbor across the street got so sick of looking at it in our driveway )remember it is a FREE fifth wheel) that he brought his tractor over and grated our side driveway so we have "rv parking". Call the realtor, let's sell this puppy!

Our most recent gift is this beautiful leather overstuffed chair:


As you can see it is a hit with kids and cats alike.

Now who wants our free dishwasher? Pay it forward!

At least for now...

The boy LOVES JIF!

Straight from the jar.

And there he goes. Gotta RUN!

Tricks and Treats

I once again dusted off the old chicken suit for Halloween this year. I totally lucked out and found a little zip up chicken suit at Goodwill so he was my "chicken nugget". A friend hosted a get together so we got to hand out and even hit up a few houses for some candy.

G did a great job of taking candy and putting it in his bucket, but then he would take it out of his bucket and put it into other kids' buckets. Too cute!

Here we are together:


Playing with come of the kiddos:

Nothing like other people's toys!

Flirting with two of his favorite girls:


What, you never seen a chicken touch up her lipstick before?

Catch Up -Tractor Time!

Gunnar has been on a no nap kick which of course means no blog posts. I tell myself I sill do it once he is in bed but that never seems to happen. He is blessing me with a few minutes right now so let's see how much I can catch ya'll up!

After all the flack G received from riding in the Barbie Jeep in Tulsa I was super stoked to find a John Deere ride on for him on Craigslist a few weeks ago. It was a super deal! When I first emailed about it the woman told me someone else had already called but she would let me know if they flaked out. Bummer! However, after the library that weekend I had a missed 503 call on my cell phone. When I called back it was the tractor lady. The original buyer didn't want to drive that far. So G and I loaded up, drove the 3 hour round trip and are now the proud owners of a pint sized tractor.

He is still a bit big for him but that is good since he is growing like a weed. A few shots of it in the house:

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