The electrical has passed in the house so the electrical and water line needed to be put in. I have been prepping this area for months to clear a path. Potting up plants, clearing brush and moving things out of the way. So getting the pipe in was pretty quick. Then we had to get PSE to come and put the line through the pipe. All that is finished up so we now have full power going to the house. Of course nothing can be quite so simple. So PSE gave us a used meter and did not restart the thing at zero. We were sent a $600 bill which I had to contest. They would only lower it to $200. I had to explain to a bunch of people that there was nothing in this house yet. It didn't even have drywall. Plumbing rough in is not quite ready yet but the line is ready and waiting.
Tuesday, December 26, 2023
Monday, December 25, 2023
Christmas
The boys knew going into this Christmas that there wouldn't be as many presents. They also helped shop for some of the presents at Granny's and a Toy swap event with free toys. So some of their gifts were not as expensive of gifts. But they were very excited to wrap them and give them to each other. They also asked Santa for a combined Lego present so they could get a bigger one. They were also very excited to give dad his bird house. After breakfast we went over to Grandma's for a quiet day. Jake helped Grandma to make fudge per his request. And Grandpa made a prime rib. We hung out and put together their puzzles they got for Christmas and watched Christmas movies.
Sunday, December 24, 2023
Making Cookies
Like every year we spent the week making a lot of cookies. The boys helped quite a bit this year mixing up all the doughs. Then we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to make sugar cookies. And last we did the peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kisses. Tommy had to get asked to leave because he wouldn't stop stealing kisses before they got on the cookies. But Jake got to help put the kisses on. We ended up with a very nice looking plate of cookies.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/W2hutXZyknptb2EX9
Christmas Eve Dinner
Both my brothers were headed to their in-laws for Christmas day. So our family had dinner on Christmas Eve together. They had to get a picture of the very nicely wrapped ornament Tommy wrapped for Grandma and Grandpa.
Friday, December 22, 2023
Making a Bird House for Dad
The boys and I have been saving a bunch of construction materials that were left over from our house building. They finally got to use some today. We made a bird house for Eric for Christmas. They helped pick out materials that would work. We didn't want to bug Eric house to build it so we used a hand saw to cut a few pieces. That is the part that took the longest. Then I preset the nails for them and they hammered them in. Once we were all done we painted it. Then we put a few suet feeders on the sides. They were very proud of their finished work all from recycled materials.
My Precious
Jessi decided she was going to take over the presents this year. So we had to strategically stack them to make them less appealing. Tommy also used some cat nip to try and lure her out from under the tree. Silly cat.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DCBk6fEWz62vvB2j8
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Second Wrestling Meet
The boys had their second wrestling meet today out in Puyallup. It was a super foggy trip out there but I am glad we made it as it was a good night of wrestling. Both kids won two of their three matches. Jake wrestled Finn and lost by a close decision. He then won on points in his second match. He had a much anticipated 3rd match as it was close to the end of the night and he was wrestling a very tall 12 year old. He did great and seemed to really be having fun with it. The other kid wasn't super happy to losing to a 9 year old, but we have to live and learn from each match. Tommy had 2 overtime matches. He won the first one and then last to Lovella in the second one. He also had a pin in his third match but I missed it. Overall a great night.
Saturday, December 16, 2023
Santa at the Eagles
We went up to the Eagles to see Santa and get pictures. The boys also enjoyed the hot cocoa and Rudolph pancakes.
Decorating for Christmas
Work and life have been pretty busy so we are just now getting to decorating for Christmas. Tommy picked out a tree from the yard and him and Jake cut it down. I got some lights on it and some ornaments. The boys also did decorating of the rest of the house including their own tree in their room. And they got out their train which they were very excited about.
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Garage Floor and Doors
They got the concrete poured. We then had Max come over and seal it for us as they were not going to do it. Next they put the garage door in. Eric wasn't super happy about the door as it seemed a bit dented. Sounds like it is a manufacturer shipping defect.
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Wrestling Tournament
The boys did their first wrestling tournament of the year over in Bremerton. Tommy had a rough day. He is in the 12U bracket which is pretty tough. There are no easy matches. He had to wait a long time for his first match. He panicked a bit and had a hard time breathing after getting pinned and then had to turn around and do his second match 15 minutes later. His day was done at that point.
Jake had a really great day. He won three matches and lost two and landed in fourth place. One spot out of the medals. He is really improving and becoming more confident. He did so well it made it a pretty long day due to him being there for the last round.
And then he celebrated with a banana split after that.
Thursday, December 07, 2023
First Wrestling Meet
The boys had their first wrestling meet in Tacoma. Tommy ended up pinning both of his competitors. His form was a bit shaky at times. You could tell it was his first match in a while. He did have a fairly easy group so he got to work on his moves a bit and did improve by the end of the day. Jake did really well. He did get pinned once and lost the second one by 1 point. But he was in a tougher group and showed really good form and wrestled really well. He had a third match and went on to pin his opponent in that match. He even did two egg rolls which he was pretty proud of. It was a good way to warm up the season.
Saturday, December 02, 2023
Winterfest
Well, we had to rush there after a day of painting. But we had a nice time at Winterfest. We clipped coupons from the Beachcomber and turned them in at all the stores for a drawing for giveaways. Then we saw the parade with a lot of lit up cars. They had a tree lighting and some music and Jingle Bells by the third grade class. We then went over to the theatre where they had some more music and a guy in a Grinch costume. I made my boys get a picture with him. Including the head Grinch himself. It was Eric's birthday after all. Then we went to the free showing of the Grinch.
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Underwear Monster
When you ask your kid 5 times to put on his underwear. And he is such a smart butt that he goes and puts on 5 times the underwear because he said I told him to 5 times.
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Creating a Berm
We had a lot of extra dirt that we needed to do something with. We decided to put a berm near driveway entrance to create a bit of a blocker from the road. There was much debate over where exactly to put the dirt. Let's just say Eric got his way over threat of paying them to move the dirt again... Then we planted a bunch of ferns along the top that needed to be moved out of the way. It was a challenge to get the really big ones to the top. After that I had the boys plant more ferns on the sides as well as foxglove that was going to get ripped out otherwise. Then I had them plant a bunch of things I had in pots. I potted up a ton of hellebore's that had been there around the property when we got there. They like shade and will be good in this spot to fill up space. And the deer have never seemed to care much about them which will be good as this will not be a fenced in area. I also had a few daffodils in pots. I will likely keep an eye out for more to put out there on the shady side of the berm when things start growing in my pots. I also had a bunch of sweet woodruff ground cover that I had potted up from the shady area of our garden that I had them put in there. I am sure we will add things as we go, but that was a pretty good start.
Saying Hello to Rudolph
They had a free public event up at the theatre today. We had to race up there after we finished painting. But I am glad we made it. They had 2 real reindeer that they kids could see. Then they had a free showing of Rudolph the Reindeer.
Friday, November 24, 2023
Shopping for Appliances
We took advantage of Black Friday so that we could buy our appliances for the new house. We got a great deal and are really happy with what we picked out. It was a early morning and a long day. But I am glad we made it there to get it done. We asked them to deliver it the latest date possible in February as we are not quite ready yet to install.
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Thanksgiving
We had a quiet little Thanksgiving with our family. We spent the morning cooking and watching the Macy parade. Then we went over to Tony & Susan's house. I think Eric needed a post dinner nap on the couch.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/a33TfyTZu48Sn5ZZ8
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Tommy's Last Fun Soccer Practice
Tommy had one last soccer practice for the season. It was a fun practice. They asked parents to come out and challenge the kids.
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Worker Bees
My little worker bees have been helping the best they can with the project. Once we wrapped up the wood splitting they moved on to new jobs. Picking up rocks has been happening ever since they disturbed the dirt and every time they disturb it again. There has also been a lot of trash pickup, picking up and board, and picking up nails all around the outside. It is a constantly occurring job. They have also been helping to save pieces of wood for fun projects later. They have been collecting the left over but still usable pieces of wood and taking the nails out. Then stacking them to use later. I am thinking there may be some bird house making coming in their future. Also there was lot of getting water out of the house and wet vacuuming it up. And now that it is dried in there is lots more to keep vacuuming all the time. There have also been more plants to move and more cleanup in the yard. Lots and lots to do. Tommy has been very busy with both baseball and soccer this fall. And far almost all his away games for baseball he got a ride so we could keep working. Jake did not have as much going on do he did a lot more helping. He was such a great helper although there can be grumbling at times from both of them. I keep reminding them why we are doing it.
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Tommy's Last Soccer Game
Tommy had his last soccer game today. They did not manage a win today, but it was one of the best teams in the league. They had a great season though. And they wrapped it up at their namesake Island Queen with a party.
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Sea Lyon, Orca and Troll
We had been wanting to head down to Pt Robinson to look at the troll. And since we heard about the big orca show down there last weekend I was watching to see if they would show up again this weekend. I saw a post about it while I was outside working in the yard. We dropped everything and rushed out the door to see if we could get a glimpse. It was a bit of a wait, but the boys played with kelp and threw rocks. And there was a very active sea lion flopping around a fish and getting attacked by seagulls. And then after a fair wait the orcas showed up. It looked like maybe 5 of them. Hard to tell. I was told they were transient orcas. The were not as large a group or as big of orcas as the one I saw two years ago. And they didn't come as close to the shore. But it was really cool. And the boys finally got to see the orcas up close as they weren't with me last time. Jake was so excited he ran down the beach past the keepers quarters trying to chase them down. Once the orcas had left and I retrieved Jake we went up to check out the troll. It was pretty cool to see all the little details in person.
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Putting Up Siding
They now have the siding up. So guess what's next. Paining in November and December. I am sure that will be fun.
Tommy's Sixth Soccer Game
Tommy's team played again today. He came so close to scoring a goal. He is really hoping he scores one this year. They also did some team pictures. Those goofballs.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3cSr2mTSagHws6RQ9
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