The Great Christmas Light Fiasco

Five years ago I bought some outside Christmas lights on clearance. For the last 4 years I have tried to get my husband to hang them on the house. He has always politely declined. Well, this year Jacob wanted the Christmas lights hung, and so Randy started to seriously think about doing it (sure, he will do it for the kids, but not for me). On Saturday he helped our brother-in-law Steve hang lights on his house and realized that it is not as difficult as he always assumed it would be. So late in the afternoon he decided to get up on our roof and hang the lights. It was about 4:30 and it gets dark at 5:30, so time was limited. We realized we did not have the right kind of light clips to attach the lights to the roof so I ran down the street to Lowes. Wouldn't you it, they were out. So I went over to the next street to Home Depot, they were out. I went across the street to Wal Mart, they were out too. Oh, and I had Adam with me, so at every stop I had to pull him and his heavy carrier out of the car, run in, run back out, and get him back in the car as fast as I could so I could get home before dark. I was so frustrated, I finally get my husband up on the roof with the lights and everyone is out of the dang clips. When I got home I called 4 more stores in our area, and my sister-in-law Kristin stopped at one for me. They were all out too. How can 8 stores all be out of light hangers! Well, Kristin found some extras at her house and she got some extras from her neighbors. So we did scrounge up enough to do the job, but by this time it was totally dark. We left the lights just sitting stretched out on the roof and figured it would just have to wait until Monday. Well guess what happened today! It snowed! Randy is not getting up on a snowy roof. So now I can't decided if we should just pull the lights down, or leave them how they are. What do you think? They actually don't look too bad in the picture. I have to say they look pretty silly in real life. But, the wind might make the decision for us, it is blowing pretty hard right now.

Every Boys Dream Come True

A construction zone in the back yard! My boys love watching the tractors. The novelty has worn off somewhat now that is has been going for a few months. It still serves as a great distraction though, "Nathan, go see what the trucks are doing." And the near constant rumbling from 7 am to 5 pm Monday through Saturday is great, especially when the whole house shakes during nap time. But seriously, it will be great when they are all done. The field behind our house is now the future site of several fun things. Right now they are building and elementary school. It should be done in time for Jacob to start Kindergarten next year. I will be able to spy on my kids at recess! They are also going to build a library and a rec center. We are really excited about both of those. We love the library. Who doesn't like free movie and video game rentals. The rec center is going to have a swimming pool and a gym. All of this within walking distance. I really have no idea how long it will take to complete the whole project. I hope we can live through it. Oh, and they are doing something funky with the road into our neighborhood. I am not sure how it will turn out. So, if you haven't been here in a while, you might want to call and get directions first.