Saturday again . . .

The roof is finished. Finally - no more pounding to replace the shingles. It is a shake shingle roof and it has been over 3 weeks. First they have to scrape off the old shingles - very noisy work. Then they have to staple a couple layers of stuff and then they nail down the shingles. Ahhhh - now it is quiet!

I have wanted to post the "before, middle, and done" pictures of the kitchen. This may be as close as I get. You can go back to here to see the "before and middle" pictures from last summer. We have ordered the new lights and the new stools but they are not in yet so we are waiting. Knowing me, however, I doubt I will ever take the time to clear the counters again.

It has been an interesting week here. We decided to have a Christmas Open House this coming Thursday evening so we are busy getting lots stuff done. It has been fun getting ready, but crazy work as well. I am going to get some of the appetizers from Costco and then make four or five as well. We are excited!

We have also decided that we are going to head to Palm Springs for our winter trip this year rather than Arizona. We found a really good deal on an RV lot at a very nice park in Palm Springs so we will be there in March for sure. We had planned to get away for longer than last year when we were gone 6 weeks, but we need to be flexible and see how things are going here with family stuff.

Mom came home on Monday and she has rebounded quickly from being tired from the trip. I am not totally sure why she decided to come home after only a week in Arizona with my sister rather than staying the month or more she originally planned. Who knows?

The first cute picture is Walker with his new friend, "Baby Bunny". He is so funny with his stuffed animals. Weston didn't ever have any interest in any special little stuffed animal friends. Walker has a whole zoo full. He has "Cow" (the most important one), and "Monkey" and "Wolf" and now "Baby Bunny" and those are just the ones here. Baby Bunny is usually in the arms of the big rabbit that covers the vacuum, but he spied it and decided he needed it in his flock when he is here. And here is Weston, getting all grown up. He is really enjoying kindergarten. Grandpa taught him how to draw the continuous 5 point star and he loved it. We bake and decorate sugar cookies each time he comes out.