2007 Re-cap

We didn't include a letter in our Christmas cards this year but asked people to check out our blog, so I'm writing a little re-cap of 2007 for all of those who aren't regular readers (and if you are a regular to our blog the following will be a repeat and boring so I'd stop reading...now...no really...now).

John and I have been busy remodeling our home. We recently had new floors put in, the white walls are being painted, and much to our chagrin we decided to paint the trim as well. Last summer, John planted some new trees and bushes in the backyard and is looking forward to putting in a new deck next summer.

Enough about the house, it consumes us! Over the summer, we had the whole Kjelstrom clan in Colorado for a reunion. John put his brothers to work in the backyard the first day. We watched fireworks, ate lots of food, enjoyed a short trip to Breckenridge, oh and ate lots of food! A few weeks later we went down to Pagosa Springs, CO and met up with a few members of my family.

John is still (yea for still) working at National Valuation Consultants as a senior commercial real estate appraiser. He travels at least once a month all over the country (recently he got to spend almost 2 weeks in New Jersey-he was thrilled!). He took several appraisal classes this year in order to earn his MAI designation (Member of Appraisal Institute-highest designation for an appraiser)-only one more class and a grueling 2 day test left! He continues to golf when there isn't snow on the ground. At church, he works with the Teacher's quorum which he loves. He often relives his teenage years through the boys he works with.

Me-I go grocery shopping, do laundry, wipe noses and bums, plan meals and cook them, play trains, color, read books (children and adult) clean...and some other things I can't think of right now. No, really, seriously now, I do love being able to stay at home with my boys. The moments when they make me laugh or say something too cute completely counter the other times when we all act not so nice. I'm the secretary in primary at church. And Tuesdays I get to play volleyball-that's where I get out any frustrations I might have, I just hit the ball really hard! And I am enjoying the snow this year (that's because I made a promise not to complain).

Jeffrey still loves trains-I meant LOVES!!!! trains. He also enjoys watching movies, going to playgroup and nursery, playing play-do, and going to the zoo so we can ride the train. Oh, he also likes to see the lizards and snakes. He is a wonderful big brother who is most often kind to Sammy. He loves to come with me to get Sammy in the morning. Jeffrey had his first swim lessons this year. He had a hard time floating because he would get too excited-arms flapping, big smile-so he would sink since he was so stiff with excitement. But he was great at dunking his head under the water.

Sammy is growing and growing!! He is a curdle bug. He is like Linus, his blanket is never far and is usually being dragged behind him. If you are holding him with his blanket he will lay his head down on your shoulder, suck his fingers and sigh a bit. He is learning new words everyday. His favorite right now is "No". Dogs are his favorite animal. Sammy started exploring the world around him this year-particularly the toilet and things under the sink in my bathroom. He is also learning to hold his own against his big brother.

2007 has been a great year for us. We are loving Colorado and the friends we've made here. (Hopefully we can get some more family here someday). We wish you joy and peace this Christmas and the coming year.

Deck the Halls....

I just needed to post something new cause I was tired of looking at myself. And just as an update, I am feeling much better about my hair, John likes it, and I'm no longer nauseous. John was out of town most of last week and will be leaving again on Tuesday morning till Friday night. Uggghhh! The only good thing is, I get lots done at night when I'm all alone-like almost all my Christmas gifts are wrapped, our Christmas cards are almost ready (key word there is "almost"). This week I think I'll bake-I've decided to try some new holiday recipes such as fudge and toffee and maybe caramel. (I LOVE CARAMEL!!)

So more 18 month blues....Sammy hates shopping. Which is really bad at this time of year when I have tons of errands to make. We went to Walmart last week for paper and caulk-that's it. And he started throwing a fit because I didn't let him out of the cart when he wanted. It was actually a little funny because he was crying and hitting the side of the cart showing me how mad he was. So then all these old people and some younger folks were saying "Oh, what's wrong, its okay little guy". And I was thinking-what the heck??!! Don't take pity on him, he's in the middle of a tantrum! And serious, my selfish thought was they should be taking pity on me!
I was not amused.

My parents are coming this year for Christmas, the 21st-26th. We are excited to see them. They have never been anywhere but Yuma for Christmas. I really hope it snows for them. Then two weeks after they leave, the boys and I are going to Yuma to visit them-its my escape from winter trip. We just got a ton of snow this weekend-and I didn't complain!! I'm very proud of myself.

The Cut

Today I got a hair cut, a really short hair cut. Change doesn't come easy for me so right now I'm having some regret. I feel too masculine, like I need to be wearing high heels, a shirt with lace and flowers and fur and say things like "Oh my gosh, that is so cute!", to counter my hair cut. I think I'll go buy some girly barrettes tomorrow. John is out of town till Friday at midnight and I don't think he remembers that I was planning on the chop. I think the pictures I took of myself, in my yellowish bathroom make me look worse, but you get the idea. Okay, I'm feeling a little queasy now about this whole thing AND posting it on my blog. It'll grow out right! or I may end up liking it short, only time will tell.