Our "New" Home

When we got back from Christmas vacation, we were met with an unexpected surprise ... a pipe underneath one of our master bathroom sinks was dripping steadily. Multiply that by the 10 days we were gone, and you've got yourself a big mess!

Not only was the bathroom tile covered with water, but the carpet in our master closet was also saturated.

When a water mitigation team came over, we also discovered that the water traveled almost five feet high in our drywall, saturated many baseboards, and even leaked onto our entryway tile. For 8 days after returning from our trip, the mitigation team had heavy-duty fans and dehumidifiers running. Boy, was it noisy ...

... and not to mention, chaotic! We had to unload the contents of our closet into our master bedroom. Thankfully, we were able to sleep the next month or so in our guest bedroom. (And since we had just been on vacation, we could just live out of our suitcases for a while longer ...)

At first, we unloaded the contents of our under-stair storage closet (which was also filled with water) into our entry way. When we realized that getting rid of the water was not going to be a quick fix, we took a lot of this stuff into the garage.

Crazy how a little water created such a huge problem! We're so thankful for home owner's insurance! They covered the water mitigation team and all of the repairs after we paid our deductible. Most of the repairs were nothing exciting -- drywall patching, painting, new baseboards, and replacing some wood that wouldn't fully dry out.

But the silver lining of all of these water issues was that, since the water leak caused the entry way tiles to become "unbonded," we got brand new tile in our entry way. Ian watched with interest as the guys pounded on the tile with sledgehammers. He asked if he could get his hammer and help the guys!

He loved watching the tile crack as he hammered it!

After a Ian took a few hammer swings, Ryan, Ian, and Kim watched the rest of the demolition process from afar. :)

Here's the "after" picture ... We LOVE the new tile!

We also had the tile guys continue their work in the dining room,

laundry room, and kitchen. It's so nice to have a continuous floor covering now!

And the other "bonus" of the water issues was that, in having to rebuild the vanity where the leak was, we also got brand new (granite) countertops. What an upgrade from our (old) cultured marble ones!

We also picked out some new bronze hardware -- faucets and cabinet/drawer pulls.

Now, all that's left is getting our carpet replaced. This is the one home improvement project that we were actually planning to do this year. We hope to get the new carpet installed in our living room, bedrooms, stairway, and hallway in the next week or so.

We wouldn't wish water leaks on anyone. It's certainly been a crazy, chaotic past seven weeks. BUT ... it could have been MUCH worse. (We've since heard horror stories of leaks that happened upstairs while people were out of town. Our downstairs leak didn't cause nearly as much damage as that would have.) And, now that we're past the mess, it IS nice to have parts of our house look brand new!

Now you'll officially need to come visit us to check out the changes yourself! :)

Aunts & Uncles!

We were thrilled when Matt's Aunt Jane and Uncle Don (from Oregon) asked if they could come out for a visit! (By the way, our answer to that question will ALWAYS be a resounding "YES!" to any of our dear family and friends.) Don and Jane have the distinct honor of being the first of any of Matt or Kim's aunts/uncles to come visit us in Texas. We made the most of the three days that we had together!

Their flight arrived into Houston on a Friday afternoon, though, unfortunately, Don's checked bag didn't make it along with them. After we apologized for our cold weather, we enjoyed a meal together at home! Uncle Don and Aunt Jane started playing with our boys right away! Aunt Jane read Ryan a bedtime story!

Right after breakfast on Saturday morning, Uncle Don got recruited to help build a wall!

Even though our Texas weather was chillier than most February days here, we enjoyed some time outdoors. We took a walk around our neighborhood. Ian insisted on getting off his bike to get a closer look at a house we've been watching go up. We were even able to go inside the house and admire all of the progress! It was fun to figure out which room was which.

Before getting home, we stopped at our neighborhood park!

While Uncle Don, Matt, and the boys played outside a little bit more,

Kim and Aunt Jane started making fish soup for lunch.

The boys enjoyed more play time. Uncle Don and Ian built some vehicles.

Aunt Jane (who is a piano teacher) gave Ryan some complimentary lessons :),

followed by looking through books together.

After rest time, Matt was excited to show Uncle Don and Aunt Jane where he works! He gave a quick tour of CLHS, and then we headed to downtown Tomball. We've always wanted to see what their Second Saturday Family Nights at the station were all about. It was a fun (though small) festival. We'll definitely check it out again and bring some friends along with us.  Ian enjoyed riding a horse,

but Ryan wanted to get OFF before the horse even started moving.

Ryan got his first lesson in lassoing cattle.

Then Ian tried his hand at roping steer.

We got to see a model train in the station ...

... and then we got to climb around on the train car.

Ian and Ryan enjoyed the kiddie games that the Tomball High School students were running, though Ryan couldn't understand why he couldn't take the race car along with him. :)

We were so excited that Don's suitcase arrived to our house late Saturday night while we watched the Olympics! He was a trooper making due without it for the first half of his visit! :)

Somehow, we didn't take a SINGLE picture on Sunday, when we enjoyed worshiping together, showing them around our church, enjoying some Texas BBQ to celebrate our senior pastor's installation, and then some more hang out time -- chatting/watching Olympics/and relaxing!

On Sunday evening, we got a BIG treat when Matt's Uncle Doug and Aunt Mary (now residents of Tyler, TX, in their RV) came to visit, too! They earned the honor of being the second aunt & uncle to visit us in Texas. :) Aunt Mary, a grandma of 7, immediately went upstairs with Ian to get a tour of his room and the toy room. Ian loved showing her his favorites. Matt fixed us some yummy fajitas for dinner, and then we enjoyed an evening together!

On Monday morning, Uncle Don and Aunt Jane left with Uncle Doug and Aunt Mary to head to Tyler.

What a fun visit with both sets of aunts & uncles! Thank you SO much for coming to see us. Thank you for spending time playing with our boys, being interested in our lives, and being such fabulous guests! We love you! Come back and see us any time!

February Celebrations

February has been filled with some fun celebrations for our family!

Daddy's Birthday
Ian was very excited about helping to decorate the house for Daddy's birthday. Now that he knows how to blow up balloons on his own (though Momma or Daddy still have to tie them, of course), he wanted to blow up ALL of the 10-12 balloons that we had in the house. Most of them ended up taped onto Daddy's chair.

Ian also wanted to make Daddy a special happy birthday sign using one of his favorite office gadgets, the hole punch. It turned out pretty cute! :)

We made Daddy breakfast in bed, opened up some presents, and went to a pizza restaurant for a lunch buffet. After rest time, Daddy requested that we go to play mini golf together as a family. Our boys thought that this was a fantastic idea!

Ian definitely understood the concept and played according to the rules most of the time (though it was awfully tempting to just drag the ball into the hole when it got close). :)

Ryan enjoyed hitting the ball around with his club but didn't really like it when his ball went into the hole. He'd much rather be hitting or carrying it.

Matt and I had a great time with our friendly competition as well. After being 5 strokes up with a few holes left, I came back ... and we ended in a tie!

We all really enjoyed one of the final holes because it had a water element! It was fun to watch our balls travel down the stream and land very close to the hole. We played this hole at least 12 times since the course wasn't busy at all. :)

After finishing up mini golf, there was a hill that just beckoned for us to log roll down it!

As always, Ryan wanted to do exactly what Ian was doing but couldn't quite figure out how to get his body in the right position. So cute!

We came home to enjoy dinner and Daddy's special request -- brownie mallow bars that Ian had helped to make! :)

We thank God for you, Matt! What a wonderful husband and father you are! :)

Winter Weather Celebrations
While cold, ice, and snow are hardly a reason to celebrate if you live in the northern United States, here in Texas, they're a reason for joy! Matt even got two "ice days" this winter. While it probably wasn't necessary for all the schools to close, we DID have freezing precipitation and, of course, were happy to have a bonus family day! :)

One morning (actually NOT one of the days that was an ice day), the boys were excited to find some snow accumulation on our picnic table and slide. I know these pics will make you northerners laugh .... :)

Valentine's Day
We were excited to join Ian at his school for a Valentine's Day party, though I didn't get any pictures since I was helping the kids to frost and decorate cookies most of the time. :) We were also excited to celebrate Valentine's Day as a family. Grammy and Papa sent each boy a McDonald's gift card to get a special treat. Ryan devoured the ice cream part of his ice cream cone. He didn't know quite what to do when he got to the cone. :)

Ian thought his M&M McFlurry tasted fabulous!

The boys loved playing in the play place when they had finished their ice cream. Thanks for the yummy treat, Papa and Grammy! 

We'll look forward to using your money gift, Grandpa and Grandma, to let each boy pick out something from Dollar Tree! They'll love getting to choose something to take home! Thanks for your thoughtfulness!