up and running

i can't believe how quickly Christmas is coming. andrew and i were doing some final shopping yesterday. i have all of our gifts wrapped and under the tree. we have one left to get but it's all food so we thought we should probably wait until closer to the day to get that one. haha!

i made our stockings this year. i was excited to have a project to finally try my sewing machine on. my grandma had gotten it for me for my birthday and i had to find the time and a good project to try it on and that was perfect!

so it's been a really long time since i have posted and so much has happened since then i'm not real sure where to start. we have three new additions to our family since february. as you can see a baby. Bennett Michael, October 12, 2010, 7lbs - 5 oz, 20.5 inches. Moose, his birthday is May 30th, but we got him in August - he is a blue tick/walker hound. and Peter - not sure when he was born, but we got him for Easter this year. i am over-run with boys...but then again, i always did hang out with the guys more than the girls.

i am at home now, not working anymore, being a stay-at-home-mom. i love it. it's fun being able to be there for all of Bennett's big moments and watching his progress daily.

andrew is leaving for basic training January 4th and we will be and are sad to see him go but it is going to be so good for our family. he is hoping to be able to get a job working at an airline when he gets home. i think it's a good goal and i am very proud of him for

planning on going after it!

in progress

Well...things are rolling right along...there are only 50 days until the BIG day...

At this point I'm not sure that I want it to come so soon and at the same time it just can't come soon enough for me. I am really enjoying the anticipation and the planning...although things are really starting to crunch now...

We are just finalizing orders at this point and making final decisions. Andrew and I have attended counseling for the past month or so. Just on Mondays. That has been really enjoyable. I would definetly recommend taking the class. Even if you are single or married already. It's great!

All of the girls have their dresses. I am going to look into alterations pretty soon here...

Mom was working on the floral arrangements the other day, we picked out music last weekend...that's still in process.

Here are some engagement pictures that are long over-due...

on February 12, 2011 i was re-reading posts and thought maybe I should actually add engagement photos.

The Kitchen

This is my favorite part of the house I think!

This is my purse hook!

Inside-Downstairs

Here are some of the inside of the house...just the downstairs though.

Living room-we are making this side like a den of sorts.  I am going to make cushions for the bay window!  yay!
We are having a print of an engagement picture printed to put in the frame...and the book case probably will not stay there, but for now it is filling up space nicely.
MMM!!!  Green bathroom!  I likey!  haha!
I ADORE this bay window!

Andrew's free leather couch.  Nice!

Kayla's mom updating her blog...

We wanted to post pics of the house. Kayla closed on the house on Friday, June 4th...just 3 months before the wedding. We moved Andrew in, did some painting, panelling, and cleaning over the weekend. The Lord provided a renter for the summer. A friend who will be leaving for college right before the wedding.

Welcome to our home!

It has been fun seeing Kayla choose colors and arrange things. What really brought me mom-joy was her priorityin purchasing plants to hang on the front post...It is fun to see her do things like me...know what I mean?

Kayla's aunt Angie said she wants to hang her umbrella on the mailbox! :D
Back door guests enter here...

Still need's to be mowed and cleaned up. The garden shed needs siding on the front...but cute isn't it?

Old garage...

I found a caribou coffee on the way to paint... =D Kayla made the arrangement from my gardens...

One more to the wedding party

Here's my flower girl!!! what a honey!!!

House Buying

so...here is the house-buying tale. andrew and i had been searching high and low for the right house for us. he wanted to move to the star prairie/new richmond area...i was opposed to that. i wanted to stay in the amery area because then at least one of us would be able to make it to work almost every day without having to worry much about vehicular situations...well...we weren't finding anything and weren't finding anything. the few houses that we did look at all turned out to be something we would never be able to get financing for or else they became unavailable the next day. i was finally like, ok, we really just need to get andrew moved out and find a place that we can both be happy with and that isn't going to cost us a lot and that both of us like. so i looked at a whole bunch of different web sites to try and find more to look at.

i found this one. it's in new richmond, wisconsin. it is a half hour from both amery and hudson-meaning a half hour drive for both of us. yuck. but it is what it is and i have to be happy with what God provides for us. so we went and looked at this house and i wouldn't say fell in love with it, but we all knew, including our realitor, that the house was for us.

at this point, i have to sign some papers and take them to our realitor. basically the house is ours because the bank has accepted our offer and now we are just working the finishing details out.

so that is where we are at right now. we basically have a house. i don't think that i have actually let myself admit it to myself because i still am not like jumping out of my skin excited about it and you would think i would be...but...that's the skinny so far. i haven't told many people yet. keep it in prayer though.