built-in–Christmas gifty

After we moved in, Bill and I decided that we wanted to put a built-in desk on this wall in our lower level. Bill had randomly stumbled upon Wanye who does custom woodworking and we began discussing with him our options. Bill sketched up our idea and Wayne agreed. We put a deposit down for him to do it this winter. He was able to start working on it at the end of Nov-beginning of December and was ready to install before Christmas. Here Wayne is bringing in the cabinet bottoms. He makes all of it from hand.

the “before” wall.

he had an audience.

stage 2.

doing the electrical for the pendant lights.

stage 3. the final touches (the lights in the pendants were outdoor bulbs so were super bright in these photos).

wayne wrapped up the final touches on Sunday and here it is. We still have to get office chairs (I know the ones, but am waiting until we want to actually buy them). I also have dreams of putting these pretty scalloped gold edged pinboards on the walls behind the desk – but again – when we want to spend more big ones on it. It is so great to have some desk space!!!

this one has the pendant lights on (makes it hard to see with my iphone).

pendants off.

this COMPLETELY changes the use of our lowest level. We also have our projector up and running so I feel like we are really living down here a ton. So thankful that we did this!

charlie cheering on Rodgers and the Packers!! Bill is very happy about his 140 inch viewing wall. When you turn the projector off it is great because the wall is there. Eventually, there will be a media stand, etc – all in time.

Christmas Day 2014

Christmas morning we woke up and had some coffee and were able to chat a bit before we got the girls up (charlie was very patient).

The girls really had JUST been woken up.

sleepy claire.

NOT sleepy charlie.

the christmas treats were out!

they were ready!

opening gifts from each other. We didn’t even know what they were because we had brought them to santa’s elves (an awesome program where you go and they have little elves take the kids behind a curtain to pick out small gifts for the people on their list and then they help them wrap and label them).

Ellie giving Charlie the sweetest hug!

Charlie loving his candle Ellie gave him.

Ellie also gave Claire a microfiber cleaning cloth – Ellie wins for most random gifts given this year.

hugs all around.

Charlie and his candle.

Claire gave Charlie this Santa thing.

Charlie and I had shopped separately for the girls and had found them clip on earrings.

Claire got the cat earrings, which Charlie specifically picked out.

Claire putting on the earrings.

little bit of pain for a lot of gain!

Ellie modeling her snowflake earrings.

Charlie’s gift to us.

a plate he drew – love these things. His was a Christmas tree with a star and with God on the top.

 

Charlie and his lego superman ornament.

Claire with her Elsa ornament.

Eleanore’s Elsa ornament.

opening the stockings – Charlie had a wallet and some tape so they can tape WHATEVER paper they want.

both girls received a lot of the magiclip dolls.

the frozen rings from the dollar spot were the biggest hit.

me trying to remember what gifts are what. I wanted to label them in what order, but Bill said “who cares!”.

new ski underwear for each kid!

claire, as always, was enjoying the gifts and was trying on all of her rings. She was always a gift behind.

Bill was super pumped about his new socks. We decided to stick with our built-in and house stuff for our Christmas gifts.

The girls and I all got matching gifties.

ta da! matching fur vests – claire wouldn’t do a normal smile.

Bill caught up for 4 years of missing Christmas plates (he was trying to get me a different plate each year, but typically gives them in batches of 4).

love them!

Charlie’s transformer.

Claire’s one gift she REALLY talked about wanting. A barbie doll with high heels, long dress, crown.

Ellie’s barbie.

after the gifts we had a lazy day of playing with legos, dollies, going on a hike in 35 degrees and sunny.

on our hike – ellie found some moss for the centerpiece and Claire loved being held by G Pops.

then Nana & I prepped for a delicious dinner since Bubba & Pappy were flying in at 5pm.

all the christmas plates getting used!

Ellie wanted to bring in the moss that she found on our hike to help decorate the table.

my first 4.4 lb beef tenderloin. I followed Pioneer Woman’s peppercorn beef tenderloin recipe and it was ah-mazing!!! as she mentioned in her recipe – this is not cooking light people.

a quick blurry photo of the dinner.

the meat! we ate right after Bubba & Pappy and the pilot of their plane arrived! The pilot of their flight happened to be Danny Kenefick who is Bill’s Uncle Pete’s brother. We were delighted to have another guest at the table and so fun to catch up.

Then Pappy & Bubba gave the kid’s their big gifty – Quadro (a changeable building system).

Bill’s first random build. There will be lots of fun forts and climbing will be had on this this winter – then we will move it outside.

Margit sent these beautiful paintings.

What an incredible Christmas we had! It was such a joy to be home and to have some of our family with us. I look forward to a year when we can all be here!