This makes me feel old

This is Finn's first time reading these pages in Hop on Pop. The video was taken a couple weeks ago and he's already doing so much better! I promise we're not pushing this on a three-year-old, he's just so interested in letters and reading and soaks it all up faster than I can teach him. The other day he read the word Elmo and said, "Mom! His name's not El-mo it's O-mo!" After I explained that he read it right and his name really is Elmo, his reality was shaken...but he's coping with it well.

Where We Live

So this post is only about 6 months overdue, whatevs. I have been meaning to post pictures of our new house, but have been waiting until more renovations are done and more pictures are on the walls etc. Well I've realized that our home is pretty much going to be a constant work in progress so I might as well show you the 'befores' and 'afters' now...and I will post more pics as we get more done. All these before pictures were actually taken after we started demolition, so you can't quite appreciate what the house looked like before...but at least you can see what a wreck it was in the middle!

Living Room: (This is after we ripped the carpet out)

Office/Guest Room:

Kitchen...One of two rooms left untouched:

Bathroom: (other untouched room)

Finn and Kate's Room:

View Down the Stairs:

Basement: These pictures don't match up, but you can still get a feel for what we changed. I didn't take pictures of our master bathroom which has a tub, primed walls, and plumbing done, but will be finished in a few months.

Part of previous store room, now our Master Bathroom is built here:

Looking from current master bath area, through a wall we knocked down into the master bedroom: (That door is to an extra closet that we knocked down later)

Here's what the master bedroom looks like now. The master bath is to my left.Our Backyard! Looks a lot better in the late summer when all my grape vines are grown in!
We still have a lot to do (baseboards in the basement, pictures on the walls, plants all around etc etc etc) but seriously, I can't believe how much the place has changed. We love it here.

Christmas 2010

I didn't take nearly enough quality pictures during this Christmas season. Albeit undocumented, we did have a pretty amazing holiday. Let's start off with this little gem:
I hope you didn't get queasy at the end...I thought that the shot would look better with more Christmas tree in it and wrongly assumed that the camera would adjust when I flipped it like it does with still shots...my brain shocks me sometimes. Notice the guitar Finn's using? On a Saturday I went out to run errands while Aaron stayed with the kids and when I got back, he had made that for Finn. It's actually really sweet. He cut the shape out of cardboard, figured out a way to staple the elastics in securely, spray painted it and spray painted the letters to glue on it. Wow. If Finn had asked me to make him a guitar, I would have handed him the one from Guitar Hero and called it good. Finn LOVES this one that Aaron made for him and plays it all the time. Thanks Super Dad.

We were all impressed when Aaron got the tree up in record time this year without any frustration. We sipped egg nog and listened to Christmas music while decorating it. Kate was in awe of all the different ornaments. She managed not to shatter any, but it wasn't from lack of effort. She pointed and said, "stah!" (star) a lot and exclaimed "oooooooh!" amid the grandeur of it all. She might actually think Christmas trees are called ooooohs, I'm not sure. Finn was a good sport and helped Daddy with the lights and got to put the star at the top again. We DID take pictures of this, but I think Finn deleted them since I can't find them on my camera and there is a new suspicious picture of a tape measurer on there. At least we have a couple videos...I just don't have the patience to wait for those to upload :)

The whole Harker crew (even my sister's fam from Calgary!) was in Utah for Christmas this year and it was pretty fantastic. My parents stayed with us and it was so fun having them here on Christmas Eve/Christmas morning. We all got together for two big family meals and just spent a lot of time hanging out with eachother and playing games. Also, my Dad did a TON of work on our house while they were here and fixed a million little things that we wouldn't have gotten to for months. Best Christmas present ever.

On Christmas morning, Finn had to walk past the tree to get to our room and he woke me up saying, "Mom! My stocking's filled up! It is!" and I said, "Oh that's great Finn, (and then because it was so blasted early) why don't you snuggle me for a while and then we'll go up and see what Santa brought you." and he replied, "OK Mom, I will snuggle for ONE minute." I thought that was funny because that's what I tell him sometimes. After he layed by me for a few seconds he said, "I'm getting up now" and went upstairs alone to check out the tree. Finn NEVER gets up without me alongside him so that was pretty huge.

My mom helping Kate with her stocking while Finn opens candy from his. He kept waiting for me to tell him to put the candy away and when I didn't he said joyfully, "We get to have LOTS of treats on Christmas!"

Kate's favorite present by far. She could hardly wait for me to put it together before she started pushing her new Winnie the Pooh around in it.

LEGOS: Extreme Edition

Finn really got into the true meaning of Christmas this year and had a great time playing with his nativity and singing Christmas hymns. He had a cute book from the library called "Twas the Night: The Nativity Story" and while reading this part to him I felt the truth of the words, "...all the animals were awed, to know that this child was the TRUE Son of God!". I am so thankful for this season, and it's power to remind me of the Savior's birth and the life that he lived for me, and all of us.