So, today on my 34th birthday, I took the girls to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and munchkins. Then we came home and while the spent forever cleaning their room , Isaac came over and put several boxes into the attic for me and helped me work on the retaining wall in the backyard. Then it was off to my sisters for Stroganoff, carrot coins, salad, crispy dinner rolls and pasta before heading off to Contradancing! On the left side bar you can see two dances that I filmed a small part of, and now I will post pics: Dinner is served:

  My Lizzy  Steven leading a lovely lady..  The back of Christine and Shayna  Steven gallantly leading his Aunt Kathryn into a dance: Young ladies taking a twirl in the hall

We returned to Margarets for two awesome birthday cakes that she, along with Hannah & Elena, made. They were both fabulous!! MMMMMmmmmmm... a great way to end the day. I must say that I did great dancing this time, I've lost 37 lbs. and it's made quite a difference, I didn't get nearly as winded, nor "glistened" as much, and I was able to dance all but one dance without losing my breath! Thank you Lord for great family, friends and fun, and a wonderful new way of wholesome entertainesize! I hope you all have a great rest tonight and a blessed Lords day tomorrow!  We're off to visit with the M. family for small group lunch after Church.

Blessings,

~Kate 

Ok! Pictures of the re-do as it stands now, shame I didn't get some of the tear-out on camera, but I didn't want to make the installers nervous. First picture is looking through the closet door of the hall closet that no longer exists! :0). Next, is looking at that corner where the hall closet was. Now there are 3 cabinets and a plate rack, the only thing missing are the two bottom cabinets that will be a corner unit and wall unit which will be dropped down for the petite bakers....and of course, we're still debating on what to do with the door way.

check out my beautiful new stove! Thanks to the $500.00 appliance bonus included in the kitchen pkg. Another free bee! Woot! and , check out my pantry mock up. it has 3 cabinets and a drawer in the middle, and it's nice & deep! Here is the sink by the windows. Of course, I'm missing counter top so far...and you can see all the newly exposed nasty wall that I have to paint to match my blue. Isn't it a beautiful and cheerful kitchen? No excuses for not baking up a storm now! Flooring will be put in after the kitchen and the other project for which we had to hire a general contractor...putting in a back door where we currently just have windows....are done. We're also trading out the fridge for one we currently have sitting in our shed. We'll be giving this one away first dibs to members of our church.

Well, Isaac and I have finished working for today on the retaining wall-steps that I'm putting in our back yard, pictures of that will come along later.

Tonight Margaret is making me Stroganoff for dinner, and cake! Chocolate kalua or something like that, and I'm bringing the Spumante, my favorite birthday drink. After dinner we'll be going to the local school to do Contra Dancing, I'll bring my camera to get some pictures! This'll be great!

I'll post some of them maybe late tonight.

Have a great day on my Birthday!! te-he.

~Kate

 Another update, wow...first off...Today is my Birthday!! danananana ....it's your birthday too yeah! danananana! At least, it's also my moms birthday, go wish her a good one! Thanks mom for sharing your day with me.

And for our housewarming/birthday/Christmas/whatever for a long long time....a kitchen re-do at our new home!:

The Old Kitchen: The problem? Not enough storage, a dust shelf (woohoo!) an oven that burns, and undercooks food depending on shelf and placement and of course, you must rotate it all half way through....the bane of Christmas cookies everywhere!; rotted out cabinetry from an improperly installed dishwasher...etc... So I took advantage of a major good deal at lowes...cash cards for evey $ spent at Lowes on anything for several months, and considering I'd already had doors installed and flooring bought for the big room, that made quite a dent. So I got like $1,000.00 back...free! Also a $600.00 bonus for doing the kitchen and a phenomenal kitchen designer who helped me cut corners all over the place. Here's a tip, the pantry unit that many company's sell costs like $1,000.00 all by itself, but you can stack 3 cabinets and get the same space for about 1/3rd the cost. Cool beans. She also found another $500.00 off bonus from another store bonus doohicky, life is good. So, on with the pics:

next to the oven is this wall which is the back of a small hall closet. I had the installer hack it out to make it part of the kitchen. Also ordered the base cabinets that will go there to be dropped to have a lower work surface which benefits baking, rolling out, and petite members of the family!

Later, I'll put up the pics of the re-do as it stands at present. Still waiting on the dropped cabinets and I have a ton of painting that will have to be done. They just have to install counter top and finishing around the cabinetry...but it looks great so far!

off to do some manual labor with my nephew on my birthday! Woot! ~Kate

  what, you thought all of my posts were light?! Here's to show I can produce some genius, at least via my progeny....

First up is Hannah who says...: see, I can do this! and it's like a bun and ....

my finger is a hot dog! see? in a bun. I can do stuff like that cause I'm a genius."

Thanks Hannah, for lowering the bar a bit...anyone else? I can do that, so I'm a genius!

Next up is Lizzy who displayed her immeasurable powers of deduction through a conversation I overheard between her and sister Elena. "Elena, did you know your ear pipes go in your brain and so it knows what you're doing...watch, "La...lahhhhhhhhhhhhh...lalalalala.." That's a song see? It was actually a bad song,my brain said so. And watch "Ha! ha ha hahahahahahhahaha" that's laughing. Isn't that cool?!"

Elena: (laughing at sister) You're a goofball.

Lizzy: What?! (voiced disbelievingly) You never noticed?

Ahhh...how lucky I am genius and amazing humor all wrapped up in one. It's good to be a mom.

Next up, it was Elena's 9th birthday on the 2nd: my patcha then:

 and now:  in the horse jumper I made her and:  the cape I made her, it has cowboy hat buttons at the neck. And lastly a picture of all my lovelies:

notice Hoppy's snazzy pink cast. Poor kid. She gets it off in 2 weeks and another x-ray to see if the bone at the top has started to heal straight yet, last check it was still bowed.

Hope you have a great...and above all, smart, day!

~Kate

we get to chatting about years gone by....and of course, there's no conversation about years gone by without some mention of Jon "Bowser" Bauman...or as I called him :the Do-De-Do Man from Sha Na Na. So, in honor of him and for those of you who missed hearing their Goodnight Sweetheart (which I couldn't find unfortunately), I posted their song Saturday Night at the Movies.

Hope you're having a gread Saturday!

~Kate

As with all Youtube songs, beware of going to their site and looking at comments, there is much that is inapropriate being a public domain thing.

A brief tour through Christmas Day.  We've had a great Christmas so far. My brother Richard, and his wife Cathy and their 4 children (plus one in utero ) are visiting; my sister, Margaret and her 4 children who live a mile away were also hosting our dear friends the Dorny family, Steve, Heather and their boys. So the whole gang got together after breakfast at my house for gift giving. We began by reading the account of Jesus birth from the gospel of Luke. Then, Steven led off with handing out gifts in true Tando fashion....one at a time, and we all watch as the reciever opens their gift (we ooh and ahhh) and thanks are said. 

We decided not to do a traditional meal, but instead to set out food and have a continuous buffet. We had left over chinese food from Christmas Eve, an old Sister tradition from the days of staying up late to put things together, chips and dip, chicken breasts and spinach-strawberry-feta salad.mmmmmmmm....plenty of chocolate to go around too.

This year we did several homemade gifts. The first you will see is Lizzy's stuffie Tony who is wearing a mock up that my mom and I made of John Thornton's outfit from North and South (BBC miniseries). I even made a pocket watch from an old watch face I had and some jewelry making chain. I think he looks quite sharp. this is Liz and Hannah the day we decorated the tree

and Liz with Tony and his fiancee,Belle. Hannah got Liberty doll from Vision Forum  Mom made the guys sweatshirts with the Calvin and Hobbs stylized snow men.:  

Steven & Maxwell looking totally excited : 

Mom wearing traditional bow headgear:  Random shots of the gang:  Mom got the kids these foam swords to play with. I was quite the smithy fixing broken swords with hot glue in the kitchen. Officer Gaelan, no he's not asleep. He's wearing one of the crowns from our Christmas crackers. Hoppy with her new sparkle red shoes: 

Betsy at the mercy of the kids I made this nightgown for Elena since she outgrew her previous one, doesn't she look all grown up? She's also wearing her silver locket which has a picture of Frank & me inside. I got one for each of the girls.   We played catch phrase and wrapped up late in the evening with a talent show.  The girls did their memory work, Hannah sang There are Six Things, Liz did Psalm 8 and Elena did Psalm 1. Shayna played her own arrangement of a Christmas Hymn, Jacob Dorny sang, and my Sisters family did a really funny sketch playing off of their youngest sons germ-a-phobia.  A great Christmas with family, friends and fun.  The next day was relaxing. All the guys went to my sisters to watch the Bourne trilogy and the ladies with the younger kids stayed at my house to watch North & South. All went well, until Hannah slipped off of the top of the couch and broke her arm in 3 places. Poor kid ended up in the ER with me & Conrad until midnight. We came back home to have pizza and then crash.

Today was spent cleaning up a bit, relaxing and at the book store for a return and to make good on Calendar sales. :0). Tomorrow at 10 I take Hannah to the Orthopedic Doctor for a check up and probably a real cast. Right now she's in a double splint. Well, it's late and tomorrow is another day.

I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long. I do read your blogs, I just don't take the time to comment. I'll explain more later. Basically, getting back into the swing of things since Frankie went to be with Jesus.  Homeschooling takes up most of our day as well as cleaning and organizing.

I pray that you're all well and continue to rejoice in the birth of our God-man Jesus the Christ. Praise be to God for the gift of His Son and our Savior! Come Lord Jesus! May you have a blessed New Year. ~Kate.

Dear Friends,

I will update on us as a family soon, but for now, the latest update on Micah P. and his family for you to lift up before the throne of grace. To God be the Glory.

"Dear Church Family,

We greatly appreciate your ongoing prayer and practical support. As
many of you know, over the last few weeks Micah has had some
increasing difficulties that prompted a CT scan on Monday at Johns
Hopkins. In the past few days, I have discussed the results with
several of his doctors. While the scan is not easily interpretable,
it is the consensus of his doctors that the shunt (August's surgery)
is working properly, and Micah's recent symptoms are most likely due
to the growth of the tumor, creating pressure in his head. At this
point, there is no recommended intervention - there is nothing else
that they can do. That is hard, but we are okay with that result and
are at peace. We rest assured that over the past year we have done
everything we can, lead by God, and are thankful that He has provided
some of the best doctors in world to counsel us on our decisions
regarding Micah's care.

So, we move forward. The scan results do not change our outlook,
because we have a steady, incredible hope in God's goodness,
regardless of what we see or the outcome. We continue to trust God
for a miracle as we simultaneously prepare Micah for Heaven. Rest in
the fact that Micah is not concerned, afraid, or worried at all - he
is perfectly content in our care. Our family can see how God has
providentially prepared us throughout our lives, particularly through
the last year, to walk through this trial, and His grace is
sufficient. As you might expect, the scan results do change the
practical care that Micah needs to address his progressing symptoms,
and we are prepared to continue to care for Micah at home.

We all are so very grateful for Micah; for he is a blessing, a gift,
a reward, a treasure, and a very special arrow in our quiver. He is
a fine son, and I am proud to be his Daddy - I tell him that all the
time. He continues to demonstrate strength and courage and is most
definitely our little warrior. We are honored that God chose us to
care for Micah, and he continues to bring us great joy.

May the Lord bless you as you continue to uphold and serve us,
Pete for the P. family "

We are engaged:

Mister and Mrs.Mister:  

Misters Mrs & Misses: 

Thank you Lord for Mister. He was an amazing testimony of your grace and salvation.

We miss you Mister, and are looking forward to joining you and the Saints who have gone on before in the eternal Sabbath.

For it is God who works in you, to will and to act according to His good purpose.

~Kate.

The girls asked to see a music video, so somehow I went from Ella Enchanted singing Somebody to Love to Lego Harry Potter. I had to post it because my 8 & 10 year olds were killing themselves laughing...it was right up their alley. So I enjoyed watching them enjoy it. Life is good with kids. Beware linking to youtube though, because there are many things inappropriate for small eyes & ears. I screen stuff before they see it.

Have a good night. ~Kate