Blomstedt Family Dance 2012

The weekend before Christmas most of the Blomstedt family was able to get together. We had a whirl wind of a day with all the activities planned. Friday was ended with a family dance.  I failed to get my camera out very often so I only have a couple of pictures. 

These first two pictures are of most of the cousins sitting down to eat. After all the activity of the day everyone was ready to eat! 

Grandpa and Ashley Dancing

Grandma and JJ Dancing

Kian (? correct me if i am wrong) and Emma dancing. I love the look on his face

Lindsay loved dancing. She also loved taking a cookie break.
 Someone brought her favorite, sugar cookies!

We, as always, had a great time seeing everyone who was here and missed those who weren't. We can't wait until next time!

Bathroom Floor

We unexpectedly had to redo the main bathroom's floor this last week. We were planning on doing it next spring because we knew the laminate in there wouldn't late long. The laminate had not been installed correctly.  But, due to a slow sink leak and a toilet with a bouncy ball, we had the privilege of fixing it early!

Since we were not planning it at this time I failed to take before pictures. This Picture is from when we moved in  in July. You can kind of see the fake pink swirly tiles with glitter in them.  They went shoulder level around the room. and you can see the laminate floor as well. 

Here is a close up of the laminate. I grabbed my camera after most of it was pulled up. 

The linoleum that was under the laminate. 

Under the linoleum was a layer of tar paper and then the wood sub floor. 

 We just had to replace a couple of the boards. Most of it was still dry because of the layer of linoleum under the laminate. I did not take pictures of the sub floor going in.

Tile being laid

This was when we got to the tricky part. Joe did a very nice job cutting the tiles just right for this little space. 

 A few after pictures. 

The fake pink tiles all painted white!

Here is the bathroom all done for now. I am sure as time and money permit more changes will be made in the future.  For now the floor is fixed, the leaks are all gone and no more 80's( or maybe 90's can't decide) pink on the walls!

Coloring Activity

While I was working on a painting project, the kids really wanted to help. So I had them color these cute little wood crafts. They loved it! It also allowed me to finish the project! 

Lindsay's was a Christmas tree and Matthew's was a penguin. 

Lindsay with her tree all done.

Matthew's colored master piece! ( He did not want his pic taken)

Up goes the Tree!

 One of my favorite traditions has always been to put up the Christmas, as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Joe believes we could wait until the middle of December, but he is still a good sport and goes with me on this one. One thing that has been nice this year is Lindsay's excitement. She finds the same Christmas things we have always had but they are amazing this year! Matthew also gets excited about everything Lindsay is excited about. It has been fun and we are still 4 weeks from Christmas!

We had a good time putting up our Christmas tree and watching the Claymation Presentation. These have started to become a tradition to do at the same time. It will probably stick around through the years. I love having the decorations around and listening to the lights play Christmas tunes.

Thankful Tree

Every year we try to do activities to encourage being thankful. We have done different ones over the last few years. This year we did a tree. I made it rather large and taped it directly to the wall paper I don't much care for. All of the leaves on the tree are things we are thankful for. We did this daily through out the month. I think the Kids really enjoyed it and learned from it as well. It is also a great reminder!

And next up to take the place of our Thankful tree will be a beautiful Christmas Tree....