 1 "Em and ems have chocwit inside dem!" |
 2 Before... |
 3 Sammy has an improvised tool belt on to participate in all the kitchen remodeling fun :) Here we are putting together an undermount sink! |
 4 Styrofoam works great as "plywood"! He can actually screw things in like a big boy. He wants a "saws-all" for Christmas. You can do a lot with one of those! |
 5 Dave and our neighbor/plumber Mark who came over on short notice to get our sink up and running, and our fridge, and dishwasher :) |
 6 See the plumbing? |
 7 Here he is on his helicopter. Neil - we put an "up" and "down" button on it for him :) |
 8 "Now I'm taking off!" (pushing the "up" button). |
 9 Steering to the Big Island... |
 10 Mom and Pete making eggs for breakfast - first breakfast in the new kitchen! It's maybe 80% done here. All appliances and water-fed things are functional. Still doing some trimwork and brick needs to go on the walls. |
 11 Here is Sammy making a call to "Dado." |
 12 A snowman at the library story time :) We ate it shortly thereafter! |
 13 Sammy's little brother! |
 14 Santa came to visit Learn with Me on base! |
 15 On our way to the beach for an office party that Dave coordinated for his gang. |
 16 It was WINDY - it's the windward side, after all. |
 17 Sleeping in his tent while the other kids blow whistles and the wind howls. Not sure how he does it! I guess sleeping through nail guns for two weeks is good conditioning. Actually - he's been napping quite frequently at Mom and Pete's :) They enjoy their nap buddy very much! |
 18 Daddy peeking in on his little buddy. Dave was afraid the tent would "huli" the wind was so strong. You should have seen him trying to take it down :) I think it was actually harder than putting it up was for me! |
 19 Getting our Christmas tree! |
 20 Putting it up on Daddy's "zippy" car - my car, actually. I miss it! |
 21 I need mittens! |
 22 Everyone brought cookies and enjoyed some holiday cheer before heading out. There were 75 adults and almost as many kids! |
 23 Here we go to the next house! |
 24 Christmas caroling at a friend's house - Sammy has a stocking hat and we're the only ones with a headlamp :) He loves wearing it! |
 25 Checking out the spread :) |
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 27 Such a cute little buddy. He tried every cookie I think - at least we shared! |
 28 In the middle is a friend of a friend - Vicki. She lived on the east coast for a bit so we enjoyed talking about how we miss snow. |
 29 Sammy tried his first egg nog here, too. He loved it, of course! |
 30 Puppet time at the library. Sammy was a little hesitant to get up there but Gramma got him going :) I was home with the kitchen remodeling...sorry I missed it! |
 31 Here he is - I think Gramma said he's fifth angel :) There were 12 kids for the 12 days of Christmas. |
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 33 Giving Santa puppet a hug. |
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 35 Sam is using "grout" and "mortar" to put Lincoln Logs together. Can you guess what we're doing in the kitchen? |
 36 Christmas cookies from my friend Dana - she dropped off a fresh batch almost every night last week! So sweet :) See daddy's big fat fingers getting in there and Sam watching carefully? |
 37 Now he's monitoring me, too! |
 38 Holiday haircuts with Gramma! This time he went for the whole shebang - wash and cut! |
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 41 He enjoyed making faces at himself in the mirror. |
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 43 Adding some product :) |
 44 More faces... |
 45 Dave doing some wall patching. We're going to put up some glass tile here. Recycled glass...very cool...wondering if we're going to do it ourselves...it's the last step in the remodel. |
 46 Joe working on the brick facing. He is third-generation mason and former Marine. He did a really nice job. |
 47 The beach...which I've only been to like twice in the last month. I've been house-bound almost every day as people work on the kitchen. |
 48 Tackling Pete! |
 49 Mom went for a walk on the beach and found some great sand castles. |
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 51 Christmas Eve traditions continue to evolve as Sam grows and understands - here we're making sugar cookies with Gramma :) We had a little sugar in a bowl and mom asked Sam if it was sugar or salt. Would he like to test it? He did, and said it was salt! Then he decided no, I need to test it again. It is sweet. It is sugar! |
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 53 Helping mix! |
 54 Yum! |
 55 I think Daddy likes the tradition, too! |
 56 Reading with Gramma. He puts her in position and climbs up. I like the legs poking out. |
 57 Telling a funny story about how a "flea came DOWN the curtains and INTO my bed and then FLEW up to the lights and the flea was HOT." (Emphasis provided by me so you can "hear" his intonation.) I don't know where this story came from! |
 58 The fun part begins! |
 59 Daddy is helping make a star. |
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 61 Decorating! He really got into this... |
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 64 Baking in the new oven! |
 65 Baby Ben watching, too ;) |
 66 Thumping it vigorously like a drum! He was even wiggling and dancing. |
 67 Dave in the new kitchen making Christmas Eve pasta dinner. Should I include a picture of the kitchen as it was before??? I think so... |
 68 Dave with no glasses! The PRK surgery went well two weeks ago and his vision is now 20/20 or so and no complications. We are blessed. What a great benefit for the active duty folks. |
 69 And after. Whew! We love it! We can't believe how we tolerated the old kitchen for so long. The wall came down to open up to the living area. Fridge was moved to the other side and close to the dining table. Stove was put in where the fridge was, and waist-high in a wall oven cabinet. It feels a lot wider in there with those simple changes. It is much more open and functional. Oh - the dishwasher is now to the right side of the sink instead of the far left and trash is concealed in a cabinet. More photos to come after we install glass tile backsplash to right of cooktop and over sink area... |
 70 Relaxing before dinner. |
 71 Our tree and stockings by the window. That's how Santa gets in here...where there are no chimneys :) |
 72 Dinner is served :) |
 73 Looks like the reindeer enjoyed their snack! (This was SO funny to listen to from inside - Dave went out on the deck and literally sounded like a reindeer munching, splurting and spluttering, shredding and tearing. As usual, Dave is very authentic and 110% into whatever he does. I haven't laughed that hard in a while - wait - not since Angel was over last night :) !) |
 74 And so did Santa :) More authentic munching sounds! |
 75 Using the cookie shooter to make more special cookies for tomorrow's festivities. |
 76 I think he likes this so much because it's like gear. You screw parts on and off to make the different shapes. |
 77 The living room on Christmas Eve :) |
 78 Getting Nana and PopPop connected via webcam... |
 79 There they are! |
 80 And here we come all ready for festivities... |
 81 Good morning Nana and PopPop! |
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 83 Christmas morning! Good morning Nana and PopPop! They joined us by webcam and got to see Sammy walk down the hall to the living room where all the treats were, then went out to see the celery chomped by the reindeer. |
 84 Chutes and Ladders from Aunt Debby and Uncle Brett. |
 85 Clothes from Aunt Kate and Unce John. |
 86 A special ornament from Aunt Kate :) |
 87 Mom and Pete :) |
 88 The drill from Daddy was a big hit! See the tool belt, too? |
 89 Showing the drill to Nana and PopPop! |
 90 From Carol - the lady they rent the cottage from. |
 91 Panettone with yogurt...for Christmas breakfast. |
 92 More tool time! |
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 95 All the boys like the tools. The space station from Unce Dan and Aunt Heather needs some repair. |
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 98 Mom and Pete are his "workers." Dave is in the kitchen making French toast with panettone bread. |
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 103 Caffrey in the Christmas cape : |
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 116 Rib roast with yorkshire pudding, creamed spinach and mashed potatoes...so good!!!!! |
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 118 This filled up Dave's stocking nicely :) And made for a tasty lunch snack :) Aloha Josh - your b-b-b-beefstick story lives on :) |
 119 More twist ties! Dave and Pete were working simultaneously on two John Deere tractors from Gramma. He loved them and came all the way back down the hall to thank Pete for one of them. |
 120 Popping some wonderful champagne that Pete brought over to celebrate the new kitchen. |
 121 Sammy likes to toast, too - he's got sparkling cider in his glass. |
 122 Dave's rib roast!!! |
 123 Big fat peasant mommy barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen salivating over the roast which is almost done :) |
 124 Smootches! Dave is scared by my beady eyes staring him down! |
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 126 We are so ready to dig in! Sammy is wearing a nice new outfit - a Christmas present. |
 127 Salad, Yorkshire pudding, garlic mashed potatoes with thyme and rosemary from the garden, creamed spinach, and standing rib roast. Dave also made horseradish sauce but we forgot to pull it out of the fridge! |
 128 Mom making hard sauce for the plum pudding. |
 129 Dave is wiped out from all the chomping! (He just corrected me - he's wiped from the cooking!) |
 130 Pedaling standing up! |
 131 The hibiscus is really making a comeback! |
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 133 There's snow on the tracks! |
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 135 Dave's roast pork stuffed with dried fruits and sweet potatoes with pineapple... |
 136 Birthday party for one of Sammy's friends - held at the zoo. Nice family outing. |
 137 Not so sure about the visor! |
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 139 Big smiles for the heffalumps! |
 140 Daddy helps him get some candy during the pinata frenzy! |
 141 Gear-testing the new trail-a-bike! |
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 144 Off to the marsh trail! |
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 146 Now mommy gets to pull :) |
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 149 Sammy draws a baby bat :) |
 150 Testing out the new fryer! |
 151 Mom's nice cake for our anniversary :) This is us on 12/31/01. |
