Kitchen progress

We're making progress!!!  So far we have recieved and installed 3 of the 4 appliances and stained/sealed the grout on our tile floor.  We got our new countertops today!  We have granite!!!!

All ready for new countertops!  Sink and laminate removed by my wonderful husband.

 Granite in our driveway!! eeeek! :)

 Countertops!!!!!!

Undermount sink!  Now Brian gets to install it :)  oh, and the faucet too...

 Isn't it pretty!  It may be a little bit before the tile backsplash is installed but at least we have granite!!!!



18 Months

Tori has really been picking up words and phrases lately!  Just in the past couple of days she's started saying"night night" when we lay her down to bed, "peek-a-boo," "this is a doggie," "1,2,3, go!!!!!!!!!" (major emphasis on the go), "blankie," and "book."  Tonight she started saying "Hi Tori!" hehe, its so cute!!  She's so full of energy and a bubbly little girl!  She has us laughing all the time, what a joy to be her parents!!  I hope we have another someday just like her (except maybe a boy version that would maybe sleep a little more). 

Winter boredom buster=build a tent and tunnel village!  This has been a huge hit for the past few days!

She drags you in even if you're unwilling.  She grabs your hand and pulls until you follow her...  Love this picture, Brian in one end and Tori in the other. =)

Playing with daddy in the tunnel

She even got Daisy involved!

Look who's finally big enough to play in the McDonalds play place!  She still gets run over by the big kids and we have to go up with her but she loves it!  The last trip took somewhere around 2 hours...

Ok, this kid looooooves blueberries but she doesn't get them very often because they're such a mess so when she does she gets so excited.  We've compomised with blueberry eggos for breakfast.

Tori's new game.  She gets a blanket and lays it out on the stairs or floor or couch and arranges all her stuffies.  :)

We're so in trouble, Tori loves new clothes!  Looking at her new spring clothes kept her busy long enough to start freaking me out!

"bye bye" as she hides in the cabinet with a bag of sun chips



Blizzard of 2011

We survived the snowpocolypse!!  The aftermath was not nearly as impressive as the storm itself.  I tried to get a video but it was too dark to see the crazy snow and wind.  We never lost power and we weren't snowed in for long either!  The city actually did a great job plowing quickly and I had no problem getting to work the next afternoon. 

This is the first time that Tori has really wanted to play in the snow :)  She stayed outside with us much longer than usual and played by herself instead of wanting to be carried most of the time.

 Where are my feet!?!?

 We went ahead and let Tori shovel the driveway, we were still tired from digging my car out of the snow the night before (story to follow).  Its ok because we paid her $10 right?

 Brian went to the middle of the front yard with the measuring tape....

 Just under 14 inches!  (I think the official total was 11 inches though)

 Tori was having a great time playing in the yard while "we" shoveled and I took pictures of her playing :)

 Climbing up the snow drift.

 Ok, I'm ready to go inside now mommy!!!!!

 The house (notice most of the landscaping is buried and you can't see the stairs leading up to the front door!)

 Ok so the story of digging my car out of the snow.  I was working at Walgreens on what has become known as snowpocolypse.  Most businesses and doctors offices closed around 2 or 3pm as the impending snow storm started to really take hold.  Walgreens doesn't close unless there's no one to work or the government shuts us down so I was stuck at work.  We finally decided to close at 7pm once we got word they had stopped plowing the streets and that drivers were going to be recieving tickets for reckless driving for being out in the storm.  So at 7pm (in the dark) I start my 1/2 mile journey home.  2 hours later my car makes it into the driveway!  I got stuck after slowing down to turn into my unplowed neighborhood and got stuck just past the entrance.  It took Brian and I and 6 of our wonderful neighbors shoveling, snow blowing, and pushing in the freezing, crazy wind dark to get me home!   I tried to get a picture of the guys working on my car and this is all I could get.... It was pretty nasty out!!

 The story of this picture is I got stuck and tredged a few blocks home to get a shovel.  Brian told me to stay home with Tori and he would see what he could do.  (Im not one to pass up that deal!) so Brian headed out to try to move my car to the side of the street so I wouldnt get hit if someone lost control).  After half an hour he wasn't answering his phone and I was getting worried so I loaded up Tori in the sled with a big blanket blocking the wind and snow from hitting her in the face and I sledded her down the middle of our street to my car. :)  She loved every minute while I arrive to the car red faced and wheezing!  Its hard work walking in snow almost a foot deep with that wind!

Then I find Brian with a few neighbors and they've got my car about a block farther than it was originally.  We asked the next door neighbor to watch Tori and I helped them.  About 90 minutes later we were both parked in the garage!  The neighbor that watched Tori for us took this picture on her phone when we came back afterwards to get her.  Dont we look cute?

So thats our survival story from the snowpocolypse of 2011!!  :)