Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Parties!

Nicoles BFF is moving to Washington DC and we are REALLY going to miss their family. We hosted a farewell for them and even though there were tons of people outside and lots of goodies outside as well, I came in and saw the two of them playing happily as can be, chatting and laughing.

The flash makes it look really dark but at least you get a pic of the fun. It was meltingly hot for the first hour and then was great until the party was over. We had a bring your own meat barbecue and over fifty people and their kids came to say goodbye to the Kinneys. It was quite a party!
Michael Huff enjoying a huge piece of cake. The kids Nicole's age had the time of their lives with the unlimited supply of goodies for three hours straight. Nicole didn't wake up until 9am the next morning (this is unheard of!) to sleep it all off.
On Sunday Jim and Jacob took a well-deserved nap. Sundays are pretty exhausting for us all.
Daniel turned 19 yesterday and we were honored to have him with us to celebrate his special day. We ate at a restaurant of his choice- he took us to a new place (yes, a new place!) and we all loved it! After dinner, we sang happy bday and gave him his Shark Attack cupcakes I made and played some fun games like "Don't Break the Ice" and "Cootie."
All day Nicole had been begging for one of these (and eating the scraps from when I was decorating them).
Michael chose a life preserver (with a doughnut on top it's practically two in one and he is all about MORE food). Nicole chose the shark because she knew there was a Twinkie in there somewhere and had seen how long they took to make :-)
Jim went for a school of fish and Daniel got a shark too!
Mom sent some presents so Daniel had something to open too! He got some Ukraine gear and books to read before his mission.
The Cootie game takes forever to play and Nicole was totally beating us before even she got tired of trying to roll a 6. We skyped with Marian and Mom and that saved us from having to finish :-)
Big news for the business- Medicare showed up yesterday (at least a month before we expected them) and luckily Jim and Daniel had just organized the lab that morning and everything went great! This is a huge blessing to have them come by so quickly because no other insurance company will consider having a contract with you until you have the Medicare number. We had told Daniel he could have his bday off from work, but he still went in. If he hadn't gone in, we would not have been ready. Can I ever say how awesome Daniel is and how grateful I am for his many sacrifices? Jim's first patient also comes on Thursday. We considered throwing confetti and getting his autograph and picture...but decided the idea was probably the effect of all of the cupcakes and candy we'd been eating :-)

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Precious

So sweet and precious.

Moving in and Office update

One of the patient rooms to be used as a gait room (they try walking on their new prosthesis)

Reception room artwork- I love this piece, it totally catches the eye when you come in!
The lab room now has VCT flooring and Daniel-as I type-is constructing the lab!
For the privacy required by Jim's governing institutions, there can be no see-through doors. So I ordered these window clings. Much better than some black covering.
The kitchen! Yes, I have more than 5 cupboards and I have SPACE so all of my pots and pans aren't in a leaning tower of Piza mode all the time. I also was able to get out my souvenirs from Ecuador, Europe, Africa, and Lithuania and display them above the cupboards.
Nicole's bedroom has the cutest closet- it's kid size and she loves it!
Michael's bedroom doubles as the playroom and need I say more?
The other side of Michael's room. He's never been happier about bedtime...and neither have we :-)
The backyard is nice and big- the lot is a quarter acre. The left side of the picture is a playhouse that is carpeted and has a big chalkboard on one wall. The kids love going in and out a thousand times (something fun about opening doors?). The right side of the pic shows the "man shed" as it has been officially termed. It has a/c and wired for internet. But we use it for storage since we have no garage.
The other side of the yard. The kids love foraging for sticks! Nicole brought me a worm a few minutes ago. I asked her why she picked it up and she said "It's slimy!" as if that were a good thing. Who raised this child?
Nicole's bed. Her room is so cute! We aren't done arranging stuff in the house, but this should give you an idea of what it looks like.
Jacob will be in Nicole's room. I'm waiting until he is more regular with his wake up time, so he's in a pack n play downstairs by our bedroom for now.
View from the front door. The stairs are just to the right.
Looking toward the front door. We were so glad to fit the fish tank! Only one ghost shrimp didn't make it, we were so glad not to lose any other fish!
Obviously we're not finished with the living room. But it will have to be done by Saturday because we're hosting a farewell party on Saturday for a family in our ward. We LOVE our new house and the kids are in heaven and play in the backyard so much it is wonderful!