Don't be fooled.

Don't let the folded arms fool you. This girl was doing everything BUT trying to be like Jesus.

Curly- Haired Queen

My baby knows what she wants in life, and she doesn't back down! Paige is as stubborn as anyone in our family (oh my!), and she is not afraid to make it known. It seems she is Queen these days, the rest of us scrambling around at her every command. The third baby will definitely make you eat your words (if the previous two haven't already); Paige is nearly two and still has a bottle twice a day!

The terrible twos have come early, and her tantrums include slapping herself in the face and flailing in the ground. She has figured out how to use her plane as a step stool and has found herself in many precarious positions! It is terrifying for her mother! She spins circle after circle as she dances and sings, and is constantly hollering to play a game. Her crazy, curly hair fits her personality and makes us laugh daily.

Paige is also polite- always saying "thank you" and "you're welcome"- and as sweet as the come. After months of trying she will finally say "love you." She first said that to her Daddy. She is our baby and everyone's favorite.

Aig and the Big 6-4

We all got together for the Wilson Birthday Bash the day before my Dad's actual birthday. We stayed later than we should have visiting, and my Dad (called "Bumpa Aig") put Annie to sleep tickling her back. This is a common sight when we visit. I snapped a picture and sent it to him on his birthday with the title "Happy Birthday Bumpa Aig!"

His response:

"I stayed in bed watching 'Let's Make A Deal', had cake for breakfast, listened to the Beatles song 'When I'm Sixty Four', and put this picture on my PC background. Love, Aig"

Life is simple, and life is so so short. I believe that is whey we have such a hard time with "aging"- we can't fathom that time has actually moved that quickly! Each stage of life brings new joys- from having your back tickled, to watching your daughter have her back tickled, to being the grandparent that tickles the backs.

I hope I get to reach 64 and enjoy similar things. For now, I am thankful that my parents are still alive, and that I get to share time with my kids with them. I am lucky. 

52* in January?! I'll take it!

Week 22

We all pushed hard this week and were able to truss the Monson's house. We got that house framed and trussed in only 8 days! We are definitely getting faster at this house building business.

The Monson's house has giant trusses- twice the size of the other homes. It was crazy to move them, and even crazier to see them craned up. It's always a relief when we finish and no one is injured. 

The walls on our house are completely sheeted, and the trusses are braced and ready to be sheeted as well.

Next week we hit our 4 month mark!

Week 21- Truss!

We had a beautiful sunny Saturday to fly trusses on our house! Our roof is more complicated than the other plans, but everyone did great.

Doesn't the house look great? It's surreal. We are making great headway over the last couple of weeks. The last 4 families that are finally seeing progress on their houses (us included) are putting in extra hours to get things moving and it is paying off. 

I have been framing a lot lately and I really like it! I spent lots of time on Saturday putting up exterior walls at the Monson's house. It's such a good feeling when you know what you are doing on a task.

We had a pretty big storm at the beginning of the week that dumped a lot of heavy wet snow. I spent 3 hours shoveling snow out of my house on Wednesday. I'll tell you what- nothing will make your house feel plenty big than shoveling snow out of it!

Week 20!!!

I must say, this was my favorite week of building so far because this happened:

We have a real house! It is all buttoned up and ready for trusses, which will be happenin next Saturday. We walk through it constantly and love giving tours, so let us know if you would like to visit! The more we work on it the more we love it. Lots of great features to be excited about- like our mudroom!

The weather was great this week. No rain or snow and it was warmer than usual. We were able to make great progress on the other house as well. We are at a great point with lots of visual progress happening- it makes us want to work harder!

Happy 55th Kristie!

We got to celebrate Kristie's 55th birthday with her! She comes down once a month to watch the kids while we build, and this month landed on her birthday. Liesel came up too, and we had a great time playing cards (and eating cake!) together. 

Once There Was A Snowman

Annie is a persistent little girl. She was determined to build a snowman one day.

In the morning she woke up, tested the snow, but it was still too frozen so she had to wait.

Right before school she tried again. No luck! It wouldn't form a ball. Did she give up? No!

After school it was finally ready. She refused all offers of help, and this sweet 5 year old built a snowman all by herself! I dare say I have never seen a cuter snowman, or a cuter 5 year old in my entire life.

Week 19

This past week has been awesome as we have seen lots of progress on our house. Dallas and I put in some extra hours thanks to New Year's Day, and we were able to finish framing all of our exterior walls and move to the inside.

The other big story for the week has been the bitter cold. Tuesday night Dallas and I worked in sub zero temperatures. At one point I nearly burst into tears because my hands became so painfully cold. A kind neighbor saved our lives with a cup of hot chocolate! We moved slow, and the tools had a head time functioning in those temperatures. Thankfully it warmed up slowly as the week continued. 

Shayne and Dallas are not amused with the cold. Crystal humored me with a smile. Brrrr!

Week 18- Three Months

There has been a lot of confusion about how we have been working on "our house" for three months now, but still haven't had much progress.  Dallas and I have been putting in a minimum of 35 hours a week for 3 months now, and there has been a lot of progress in the group- just not on our particular home until the last week or so.  Just look at what we have done in the last three months!

House 1- The Jensen's.  This was the first house we started on, and took the longest because we were all learning our tasks.  It is currently in subcontractor hands as they do the Hardie board siding, insulation and drywall.

 House 2- The Robinson's.  We are sooooo close to getting this one out of our hair for a bit as well.  We have a little bit of roofing left and a few minor things to tweak on the inside.  The four-way inspection is scheduled for next week.

 House 3- The Seawright's.  This house is also in subcontractor hands!  I will also add that this house was the easiest (and will be the easiest) of all the houses to shingle.  I will always love this house for that reason alone.

 House 4- Dexter's.  This house was kind of a "cheater" house.  It looked just like this the day we started as we absorbed it from the group that was before us.  Dexter's house is getting finish work and prepped for paint.  It is projected to be completed by the end of January.

 House 5- The Norton's.  We still need to shingle this roof, but it is completely dried-in (covered in tar paper and ice shield), and will likely be ready for its four-way inspection very soon as well.

 House 6- The Baker's.  Lots of progress has been made here in the last little bit.  Two dormers go on the roof (it is the same plan as the Jensen's), and then it will be ready for the roofing as well.

 House 7- The Nicoll's.  Our house!

They finished our sub floor this week and it looks awesome!

So if you were keeping track, in the last 3 months we have been building SEVEN houses.  Not too shabby, I say!  We still have 3 more homes in the group that are currently just foundations, but we are about ready to bring them out of the ground as well.

This work week included Christmas Day. We still put in nearly all our hours, but were only required to work 25. I took one night off to wrap up some loose ends for Christmas and was grateful for it!

It is getting colder and we have experienced our first snow hurdle. We spent quite a few hours just clearing homes so we could get to work. January is going to be a grin-and-bear-it sort of month, I have a feeling.

Here's to the next 3 months!

Happy Ho-Ho-Holidays!

The Kaiserman brood all waited for Santa to arrive at Carolyn's annual Christmas Eve party.

 Below you will find the best Christmas moment ever!  Annie jumped out of her seat and gave Santa the biggest hug when he called her name.  It was followed by a Christmas fail.  Annie received a football from Santa.  She was barely able to hold in the tears.  You see, Santa had noticed that for weeks at school she had been playing football at recess.  Annie was always searching for a football around the house, so Santa thought this would be just the thing for her.  Well, Santa didn't know about Max.  Max had recently told Annie that she couldn't play football anymore and she had to be a cheerleader.  Max.  That kid ruined Christmas.

 We opened presents on Christmas morning with the Nicoll crew at Grandma Kaiserman's house.  There were 14 of us.... and way too many presents to not feel ashamed.

 This was as good as it was going to get.  Either Paige was looking away, or Dallas was.  Tsk, tsk.  There are plenty of other pictures of Paige, but not as many of that handsome husband of mine.

 Teagan, as you can see, was unimpressed with Christmas morning.

 Seth and his Christmas socks.

 Dallas gave Will his first pocketknife for Christmas!  He's a scout now, so he needed the proper tools.  Will was excited!  And promptly cut his finger open less than an hour after this picture was taken.

 My favorite part of my Christmas presents- this tag.

 Abby gave Annie this book and wrote the sweetest note saying she hoped that every time she read it that she would think of Abby.  I couldn't even read it because I immediately started to cry.  Annie has a soft heart just like her mama.

 I fulfilled all of my childhood wishes and surprised Annie with an American Girl Doll.  Oh, how I loved to see her face when she opened it!

 

Will and Annie got matching electric scooters from Santa!  Amazing that we have had the warmest weather for all of December, but Christmas day we are buried in snow.  They will love them in the spring though!

 It has been a long time since we have been able to look forward to a missionary phone call.  This was my favorite part of Christmas day as well all gathered around the speaker phone and talked to Abby for 30 minutes.  She has been mistaken for a Brazilian because of her olive skin and soccer skills, and the language is coming well!

 We topped the day off with a visit to Grammy and Grandpa's!  Sam was sick, but everyone else was able to be there.  It's wild with all of those grandkids running around these days!  I sure love that crazy bunch of Wilson's.