The rest of our weekend...

Friday - we strung colored LED lights in the overgrown bush near the road and our two low lying bushes in front of our house. Many of our neighbors have had their lights up for a good week... so we needed to get on it!!! Later, took the kids to their first movie on the big screen - Fantastic Mr. Fox. Marly devored plenty of popcorn and Dean was enthralled. I was glad no one had an accident and peed their pants!


Saturday - We purchased our first real Christmas tree. We had grandious plans to go to a tree farm, cut our own, and strap it to the top of the Pacifica, but we lost our ambition, didn't have the time for that kind of adventure, and went to Lowe's instead. The tree fit into the back and through the seat, so it wasn't even loaded on top of the vehicle! That night we went to my Dad's pizza party. It was a small crowd because all of our cousin's and uncles are still harvesting. It was a delight to see Michelle, Toots, Dee and Kris (and their families).

Sunday Afternoon - I worked morning/afternoon at the Mall of America for the Miss MN/Brooke Kilgarriff CD release/holiday concert. We got to invite a group of Gillette families to a pre-party before the show. Booke is absolutely lovely, not to mention she is a wonderful singer. - Check out here CD HERE. Proceeds from sales benefit Children's Miracle Network/Gillette.

While I was working, Mark took the kids to Martin Huwe's 3rd Birthday Party.

Sunday Evening - We began to decorate the tree! After hanging a ball or two, Marly ran to her room and decided her step stool would be helpful. What a smarty! Love the stiped leggings with striped shirt Marly! What happened to your polka dotted sweater....

Mark and I decided on a red decorating theme with white accents for our kitchen/living area. The tree skirt is a $1.99 Good Will purchase. It was one red thing I didn't already have. It still had the Target tag on it (it is a cheap one, it was only like $5.99 anyway). Getting tired of thirt store mentons yet? I dragged Mark and the kids there on Saturday when we bought the tree, because I saw the skirts there on an earlier visit, but hadn't purchased it.

I think Dean got in a tussle a cat or a kid or something at the birthday party... Also, I swear we always comb Marly's hair... but it always seems to look mussy! More product perhaps?

Look at our Twinners! I think Dean may now have even more then 2 inches on Marly???

Tuesday - Pretty much the last of the Thanksgiving left overs are in my lunch for work. My turkey carcuss is in a trash bag in the freezer. I hope (with Toot's help, or advice, or information) to make some turkey soup with it down the road... but I didn't think to save the neck or gizzards and there is no more left over turkey... so it may not be possible.

Family Photos

Okay, Okay... I just couldn't resist. It is 10 pm at night and I should be prepping my coffee pot for morning, making my lunch, and hitting the sack... BUT, the CD from our family photo shoot a week and a half ago arrived in the mail today, and I simply couldn't wait to share just a few shots.

The photos are by Deitrick Geisk, who was also our wedding photographer. They were taken at a park in Edina. I really tried to resist posting, since Mark and I just finished creating our Chistmas card on Shutterfly, but I couldn't help myself. I made sure to share only shots that clearly won't be on our holiday mailing.

Here is the LINK to lasts years family photos.

If you should be mailing us a card this holiday season, please remember our address has changed. Feel free to contact me for our updated contact information.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The Thomberg's had a lovely day. Here is our photo play by play!


At noon on Thursday Marly and Dean were ready to greet their guests! I took Wednesday off (while the kids attended daycare) so I was READY to greet the guests too.

We live in a split level home, which was not the design Mark and I originally hoped for when house hunting, but we are liking it surprisingly well. This cabinet and counter area is opposite our fireplace in the lower level. When guests arrived, we showed them downstairs for appetizers and drinks. Mark just added the tin tiles last week. We love the inexpensive, easy decor update!

Mark's family relaxing before dinner. This area is now 1/2 painted...

Wednesday I shopped, cooked, cleaned and gathered the china, linens, and crystal. I mashed the potatoes, set up the green bean casserole, etc. Above is my cranberry relish in a beautiful Waterford Bowl, which was a wedding gift from Chris. The candle sticks (below) are also Waterford. Have I mentioned I LOVE Waterford and its beauty. I visited the factory in Ireland in college.

Our table - Of course most everything you see was wedding gifts, most being used for the first time. Please also notice the buffet transformation (see previous post). What do you think? Not bad for $64, 2 quarts of paint, and 6 new drawer pulls. The table is from our house at the farm. The tablecloth was also my mom's. Yes.. I had my bittersweet moment when ironing it for use after so many years of being packed away. I know this tablecloth saw many, many Thanksgivings at our house with the Toren family when growing up.

The black frames hanging by the window (above) contain seasonal artwork made by Marly and Dean at daycare. We change them out as we get new.

Me prepping the food. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of Mark cutting our 19 pound turkey (with an electric knife). It was moist, tasty, and done on time (I used a Renyolds Oven Bag... worked like a charm). I put the turkey in a bucket of brine the day before. Not sure if that was worth the effort or not.

Dining!

Marly and Dean at their own personal kid table. The children's table is normally in our downstairs family room.

A few hours after the main course we had pie, with home made whip cream and hot 'Bou Coffee. Thank you Pauline for bringing our desert. The bowl with the gourds on the left is another thrift store find for $1.94. If you look in other photos, you may notice mumms in white vases, which are my $.94 thift store purchases. That $6.00 mumm bunch from Cub packs a lot of festive decor punch when divided through out the house.

So there you have it. I am sure you all have similar photos of a similar day, hopefully filled with many blessings.

FOUND!

A while back I lost my cell phone, or rather...It went missing. I had it at home, and then it was gone. Mark kept trying to make me retrace my steps. I kept telling him OVER AND OVER, I knew it was some where on the upper level of our house. I was sure the kids had stashed it somewhere. It disappeared on a Saturday, and I tore the place apart looking for it. On Sunday afternoon, the kids and I made a little trip to the AT&T store in Coon Rapids to visit their Uncle Pat so I could get a replacement. We have no home phone, and I felt very unsure and unsafe to be with out communication. Folks, let me tell you I am NO techy. I had a simple phone, free with the plan, and I purchased a nearly identicle $34 go-phone as a replacement. Say what you like.. but I don't even text.

Well - Just the other day I located my original phone... in the freezer... with freezer burn... under frozen chicken, and at Dean's level! Oddly, it was good timing, because Mark's phone then died and he took this one!

The buffet...

Here it is folks... my thrift store buffet project I mentioned on Saturday! By the time I took the photo, Mark had already removed the doors, and I had started to lightly sand the side before priming. The project is nearly complete. We took home a couple different drawer pull from Lowe's this weekend and found one we both like. After Thanksgiving, my china will be at home behind the drawers, with my silver in the drawers!

STAY TUNED FOR THE COMPLETED FURNITURE ITEM!

New Moon

Yes... I have read the first three Twighlight books. Yes... I enjoyed them as much as everyone else. I haven't read the 4th installment because I haven't come across a hard copy yet, it is not out in paperback, and I have been too cheap to buy it.

Sunday I got to see 'New Moon' with Gretchen, her mom, her sister, and Dan. We saw it at the Imax theater in St. Michael. The movie was fun to take in on the huge screen, and it was an enjoyable afternoon out. Yes... I do think Cullen is quite sexy, expecially when he stands in front of his Volvo!

Dad watched the kids NAP while I was away. Mark had to do inventory at the 'Bou. Unfortunately, the kids slept the entire time I was gone! They had been up late Saturday night because our church had a farewell dinner for our much loved Associate Pastor Kyle.

Sunday night the kids enjoyed the beef stroganoff I had managed to get in the crock pot before departing for the theater... then they were still running WILD at 8 pm, due to their nap time overrun.

Oh well! I did let the 'Madagascar Christmas' DVD act as a babysitter after supper while I slapped some more paint on some patched areas ... and um yes.... I did then pop the classical 'Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer' to get the kitchen cleaned up...

Update and Stuff on Saturday

So... Here are some random updates for you (minus photos) this Saturday afternoon.

Paint Projects

• Mark continues to paint trim, and the downstairs doors and hallway are complete. Today at Lowe's we picked up two Valspar samples and may have hit the mark for the colors in the lower level family room. The dark trim downstairs is now a nice crisp white like upstairs.
• I have a paint project of my own right now - a buffet purchased at one of my favorite thrift stores (the Salvation Army on University near my work). You all may not know I have a thrift store addiction. I love to search for home accesories, or items I can transform with paint, at the best bargain price. Anyway, I have been searching for a sturdy buffet and finally found one. I am nearly done painting it white, and will change out the hardware. The Ikea side table formerly in our dining area was returned last Saturday. It cost $125, plus the baskets. It was more then I wanted to spent in the first place, and especially in comparitive to the $64 I bargained for at the Salvation Army. One of them is solid wood, the other was not!

Plumbing

• While I was gone to Salt Lake, the kids flushed bath toys down the toilet. We called RotoRooter... then needed to call them AGAIN when it was clear the passage was still plugged. I had a coupon for the first visit. Due to an unusual customer service issue, the second visit (when the toilet needed to be removed to get the busted up squirt gun out) was FREE of charge.
• In the mean time, our bathtub faucet fell right off and water went shooting across the tub. I called our home warranty hot line, hoping this might be covered, and was told it was NOT. I e mailed my neighborhood ladies bookclub list for plumbing references, and was quickly recommended to Paul the Plumber. Paul the Plumber noted our bathtub had no access from the closet behind and needed to create this. He also suggested a high quality Moen bathtub fixture which would be scald resistant for Marly and Dean (he has 4 kids, including twins who are 4). Great! (a nice price tag was attached.)
• Before the bathtub issue was completely resolved (we needed to wait for the Moen spout on back order and had a "temporary" fix in place)....another leak related to the tub presented itself. I again called the home warranty company. Hooray!!! The problem was covered, and a another plumber was dispatched. Much to my surprise, the representative alerted me my first issue was also covered, and I had been misinformed. When Paul the Plumber is finished, I hope to submit his bill for at least a partial refund. THANK GOODNESS! A dry wall contractor (also covered) will be in next week to fix the hole in the lower level ceiling where the tub leaked. Now we have tub access there too. I also have two plumbers I could recommend.

Potty Training - All systems go! Marly and Dean pretty much picked up on the deal pretty much straight out of the gate (not counting Dean's initial 3 day rebellion). Rachel had gotten the kids Pull Ups for their 2nd birthday. We brought those to Daycare Cindy, where they have not been needed. We bought a pink and a blue package for our home, and have not used them. Dean prefers his underwear with Elmo or Cookie Monster, over the solid colored dino underwear. Marly prefers pastel hearts or stripes, and will not wear her Elmo underwear. They do have accidents, but only at home when Mom and Dad get forgetful or are not paying attention, and not in public. They wear diapers at night. Mark and I are very proud of them.

Thanksgiving - We are having Mark's family over (Parents, Kelly and Pat, and his brother Jeff). Today I bought a 19 pound fresh turkey at Costco (yes I am planning for left-overs...yes that is way too big probably), along with fresh green beans, the cranberries, potatoes, wine, and so forth. I am excited to use our china. I must have the buffet done by then. I was also able to spend our diaper dollars on a huge poinsettia plant. That was cheaper then the box of diapers.

Next Week - I am already flushed with anxiety thinking of all the things I need to complete at work and home. I want to take Wednesday off, but I have an important work event next Sunday, and another one the Sunday after. I am trying not to think about it all at 3:40 am when the rest of the world is alseep, and I lay there knowing my house is dirty, the dishwasher needs unloading, and even though I do laundry EVERY SINGLE DAY, it is never all put away...

NO PHOTOS - Flushed with anxiety and not enough time would be the reason there are no photos here of the basement painting progress, or the bathroom stripes I mentioned previously, or an individual post about being a thrift store junkie with photos of my fabulous finds (like the navy blue Stride Rite mary jane's for Marly for a $1.29 which had never been worn). I work... and I don't have time right now. I hope some day I do....

The kids are taking a nap. I should go fold some laundry... (Can't vacuum right now!)