Merry belated Christmas! I hope your 2017 is off to a great start. 2016 did not end how we had planned on it ending. We were supposed to close on our farm house on the 28th. However, due to our contractor having issues with our bank, we had to find someone else and are working with contractor number 3.
Meanwhile, Collin's mom's health took a bad turn right before Christmas and we needed to make an emergency trip to see her in New Mexico over New Years. We decided to wait until after Christmas to make the long trip to avoid traveling on Christmas. Thankfully my lovely mother-in-love is pulling through, slow progress but is making progress and we got to see her. The kids and I briefly since she was moved to the hospital and they don't allow kids under 12 to see patients. She's now out of the hospital but in hospice. So still not out of the woods. Please keep her in your prayers. We have greatly missed talking with her like we used to and want her to feel good again. When we went to visit her, we got to see Collin's oldest brother and sister-in-law, along with their kids and grandchildren.
We kept Christmas gifts pretty simple this year. We did something you want, need, wear, and read. The kids each asked Santa for a gift and got one present from him. They got boots to wear, pjs to wear, and books regarding some of their current interests. From Santa, Caden got an Angry Birds Lego set, Grace got a 3 Little Pigs game, and Jackson got some cool wooden trains for our train set. They also got gifts from each other and something from their aunts and uncles. We are just trying to do with less and believe me, this Amazon addict struggled not buying everything that looked interesting for them. I'm working on controlling my spending so my house is not overrun with things. Not to mention, the kids were excited about their gifts. Although Caden really wanted another kindle or video game system.
Onto our crazy house news. We're in the process of buying a little farm. It has an older house on it that we are wanting to have completely renovated. There's a pond on the property, 4 horse stalls, it's crossed fenced, and we can have any kind of farm animal we want, including pigs! We were supposed to close the end of December but if everything lines up, we're looking at the end of January. The contractor we're working with has much higher bids than the previous one. So we're trying to decide if we get everything on our list done or pair down some and what areas. I'll have to write another post about the farm house.
I'm lacking sleep and need to get to get bed soon. Here are some pictures from Christmas, New Years Day, and I'll add one of my beautiful mother-in-law since I don't think many people read this blog and one day my children will.
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| Our hotel had a cool water slide. Sadly, it wasn't running. |
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| Hotel |
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| New Years Day was spent driving home, 14 long hours...playground at rest stop |
