Now for the REAL 2015 family photos!

Blessings from the Hege family in 2016!

And here are a couple more photos for good measure:

More work on our house...

Yes! We have TWO rooms totally completed! Makes me so excited and happy! There are a number of other rooms that only need a small amount of work, so I'm expecting to see the number completed go up a little more quickly than these first two. Especially once Baby's here and Jere takes some time off of work...

Anyway, here are the pictures!

Upstairs bathroom, in the midst of the project...

Upstairs bathroom, completed!!

That towel bar is a piece of driftwood from the shore of Lake Superior, and the hooks are boat cleats. I was attempting to go beachy with this bathroom.

Master bedroom, before. There was mold in behind the drywall so we ended up having to gut it.

Master bedroom, after.

The nursery area.

Aren't those closet doors just something?!!! I LOVE them! My man is so talented...

End of school! And other notes...

Yes, we have reached the end of the school year! What a joy to see our children growing up and learning. And what a relief to not have school assignments every day! I love teaching them, watching them learn so many new things, and learning alongside them (yes, I'm learning too!), but I'm also glad for summer break.

End of school year party! Jaron finished 2nd and most of 3rd grade, and the other two did preschool work. Hooray for them!

Here are a few random glimpses into our lives...

Occasionally the boys' parakeets are allowed to fly around the house. One day they decided to join us for lunch. We discovered parakeets don't like rice. 

Jere built this shelf for a client's trophy buck, and also did the chinking in this fancy log cabin.

Happy birthday to Jaron!!! What a big boy he's getting to be. 

Delighted with a nice, new, binoculars. A gift I was happy he got, since one of our big subjects for the next school year is birds and other flying creatures!

Things are going pretty well around here. We have broiler chicks in our basement right now, which will hopefully provide meat for the coming year in a couple of months. Our cow and heifer look like they'll both be calving in the next month or so. The cute little garden is all planted. We decided on only enough garden to provide fresh veggies through the summer this year, since I doubt I'll be up to canning much over the time Baby is supposed to come! With one of Jere's sisters getting married, I have some serious sewing to do in the next month. But thankfully I have nothing else to do for it besides show up early with a camera.

Baby seems to be doing well, growing and kicking just like he or she is supposed to. We did have an ultrasound to make sure we didn't have another repeat of Jaron's hernia, but the tech was not able to tell us if we are having a boy or a girl--much to my disappointment! As for how I'm doing... well, the end of July can't come quickly enough!

Raising children has its challenges, but it has its fun too. This morning the power went off suddenly, so I did a few non-electric things and waited for about 10 minutes before letting Jere know. I might have waited longer if we hadn't had chicks that need a heat lamp. He called me and said that he'd had the boys recently helping him with some electrical things, and taught them to turn the outside (main) breaker off and on. Sure enough, the main breaker was switched off! One of the boys confessed to it and both were educated with the importance of leaving electrical stuff alone unless under direct supervision. *smile* Life is a never-ending adventure!

Out and about

Last week I was blessed with the opportunity to go with some very good friends for a girl's time out. We had a blast, and it was very refreshing to just hang out with such wonderful ladies, and go shopping and swimming. And the most important, of course, was LOTS of talking! Love those ladies!

Just a couple days later, we left for the Lake Home and Cabin Show in Milwaukee. Now that was a bit challenging! It was too far away to drive back and forth every day, so we stayed in a hotel. We had many adventures, such as trying to park the enclosed trailer in a parking garage that gave us only a couple inches of clearance to the ceiling, and whose parking spots must have all been designed with an economy car in mind. We also had to run to Walmart to grab a few last minute things, and I fought culture shock as we ended up at the most disorganized, crowded Walmart I've ever seen--made me think inner city, though it wasn't. I know, I'm a country girl all over! But the show itself went well, and we made a lot of contacts.

We went down to Milwaukee early Friday morning, and spent the day Friday setting up the booth and moving into our hotel room. And taking naps, to make up a little for the early morning start! Then on Saturday I took the children to the zoo while Jere manned the booth. Now, that was interesting, driving the big truck out of the parking garage, through downtown Milwaukee, to the overcrowded zoo (which, on an odd chance, was having a free day--nice on the pocketbook, but VERY crowded!), and then pulling out of the parking spot where others had parked very close. So much for choosing a nearly empty parking lot so I could maneuver! Big city attractions are obviously made with small cars in mind...

At any rate, the children had a blast at the zoo! There's been a lot of talk around our house the last couple weeks on bears, so it was nice to see bears in real life that weren't all that scary. :-) Jaron, for the first time, was able to read the plaques when he wanted to, so that was an exciting discovery for both of us!

The thrill of the day was getting to ride a miniature train. The boys were pretty pumped about that, and I was really glad for the opportunity to rest my weary feet! And, to have all three children contained in one spot for once, not getting lost in the crowds.

We came home again Sunday night. It ended up being later than expected, as the truck ran out of fuel thanks to a malfunctioning gauge. At least we had just gotten off the freeway so there was a gas station relatively close. Only, that one didn't have diesel... Needless to say, it was 9 before we got our supper and midnight till we got home. Ah adventures! I was just glad to see my bed...

The basement floor and a bike ride



I guess I technically don't have any pictures of the finished basement floor yet... Guess I should do that. But for now, these will have to do... :-)

I stepped out the door, and this is what I saw! Jere was finishing a last bit of troweling through the window. Thanks, Jon!

 

 By the way, yesterday the last of the block was laid, filling in the holes where the house mover's beams had to come down. That was a good feeling! Now, if we could just get the door and windows in, we'd actually have it all enclosed!

Then on Sunday afternoon we went for a family bike ride on the state bike trail. We did 7 miles, and Jaron rode his own bike the whole way! And then some, at the parking lot where we waited while Jere tore back to the truck to come and get us.

 

Taking a drink en-route.

Here are the flowers my little men picked for me along the way.

Eliott hitting sticks at the parking lot. What children don't find to amuse themselves!

Jaron hitting sticks.

Leanna. Cuteness!

Can't get enough of my girlie!

Look, Mama, Daddy's coming!

 



And here is a shot of the shed that Jere's building right now. I took lunch down to him one day, so I could see what he's been up to, too. He's coming right along!

Another week gone by...

It's been another whole week since my last post, and now I'm wondering what to write to update again! Not that this week hasn't been busy, but, well, it's mostly just little everyday things!

We did go to La Crosse on Thursday to bring the boys in for a dental check-up. Everything looks good. And Leanna charmed a new toothbrush out of the hygienist! ;-) I was amused. We did some more shopping, including most importantly, stopping at Play It Again Sports to buy ice skates for Jaron. He's been begging for skates, and we decided it was time to get him some. We walked out with two pairs of skates, since he really wanted hockey skates, but the smallest ones they had were too big and we bought a smaller pair of figure skates just in case. Well, the figure skates were promptly dubbed Eliott's skates, though they were far too big! So, that's all I've heard about ever since. Hockey, new skates, ice skating. :-)

So, unable to resist his pleas very long, Saturday afternoon we headed to the ice skating rink in town. The outdoor rink was obviously let go for the season, as no one had bothered to clean off the ice with the blower. However someone had taken a shovel and cleared a section, so we decided to go ahead and try it instead of waiting 1/2 hour for the indoor rink to open. We put the skates on both the boys, and headed onto the ice. And were promptly amazed! Our clumsy little Eliott very quickly was moving out on his own, and in about 10 minutes had figured out how to bring his feet back together when he was about to do the splits without help. Of course not really skating yet, but doing remarkably well for being a clumsy 3 with skates 5 sizes too big and his first time on skates at all! Though he did tire of it after about 20 minutes and we replaced the skates with boots. The more cautious Jaron needed a helping hand for at least 10 minutes, but by the time it got dark enough to quit, he was "walking" quite well, picking himself up without complaint and without help, and shooting the puck with remarkable speed, distance, and accuracy whenever he got close to it with his new hockey stick. He did NOT want to go home! All the way to church yesterday he talked about skating, he had to tell everyone he talked to at church about his new skates, and almost all the way home all we heard was questions about skating and wondering if we could maybe go skating again now? One track mind, little guy! I told Jere we're going to have to move north now, and live next to a hockey rink! :-) Then this morning he informed me while he was getting dressed that he was putting on two pairs of socks, so we can go skating today. I had to inform him that skating would not be a possibility today. Poor little man!

Sounds like we're going to get dumped on here in the next couple of days. 8-12 inches of snow! Wowie! Just when we were beginning to think spring... Oh well. I won't complain about extra moisture, and I always like to see the fresh, clean, new snow piling up! But I looked at the forecast today, and I'm not complaining either about the temps toward the end of the week reaching the 40's!! That extra snow won't be around for long. Though Jere's got a worried look about him, knowing he has to finish this logging job NOW, before the field he has to drive across gets too muddy and the road bans go on. I'm wishing I could go help him out! :-) He'll be working long, hard hours as long as the weather holds out...

Pictures and stories!

Here are a few random pictures from the last couple of days.

 

Jere was plowing snow with the tractor, and had the rapt attention of all three children!

 

Tundra is doing well, coming into the house once a day for her lessons--when I get around to doing them! She's also learning the command "Stay out." I hope. :-/

 

Now for the story. Yesterday I was needing to run to town to do a little shopping. We were about halfway ready to go, when I looked out the window and realized it was snowing, again. I wasn't sure I was wanting to tackle driving on fresh snow on already nasty roads, but a call to Jere didn't help my dilemma. He needed something in town for his job, and if I didn't go he was going to have to. So I went. The trip to town was uneventful. I took it easy and tried to enjoy the beauty of the snow all around us. The first stop was at the hardware store to get Jere's item. On coming out the wind shield was covered in melted/melting snow--and the wipers were frozen. Many times I'd seen Jere quite quickly and easily remove the build up by simply snapping the wipers as they ran, since the wipers on the van rest way down under the hood where it's hard to reach them. So I thought I'd try it. It looked so easy! But, evidently, I don't have the knack. The passenger side wiper flipped upside-down and snapped apart, pinching my fingers between it and the hood in the process somehow. So an emergency call to Jere. The answer? Open the hood! Err, um, do I have to? In the parking lot where everyone can see? Serious? Ok! So when I finally figured out how to open the hood, dropped my phone in the snow, and then figured out how to keep the hood open, it was time to tackle the wiper. But it simply wouldn't stay together. So in inspecting the other wiper I discovered a piece was missing on the broken one. Thankfully it had landed in the snow pack under where the wipers rest, and wasn't hard to find! Then to figure out how to get it all together again. . . But eventually it did. At least, it seemed like an awful long time bending over the stinky engine with snow sifting down my neck!

 

From the hardware store it was a short drive to Wal-Mart to finish my shopping. At the check-out the elderly lady behind me asked if I minded emptying her cart for her since she "couldn't reach". Well, she didn't even try, standing behind the cart and reaching toward the basket! Once I was done paying my bill I set her things on the counter, then set about getting my children bundled back up to face a snowy great outdoors. We then took the back way home, as Jere was working close to that route. We did fine, as I again drove slowly, until we reached one turn. The road I was on had been freshly plowed, and the road I was turning into had a nice ridge of snow plowed across it, going uphill, and another vehicle came around the curve just as I was funning it to get through the slight obstacle. Thankfully he was watching and moved over enough that I didn't hit him as the van slipped and slid and spun till we got over the little snow ridge and started up the hill. We dropped Jere's item off and saw his handiwork in remaking a stairway in someone's cabin. Then we continued on the back way home. Not even halfway up the first hill the van spun out and we sat in the middle of the rather curvy, steepish road sliding toward a gravel pit every time I tried to get started again. Oh, now what? After a little, I turned on the 4-ways and backed down to where it got wide enough to turn around, hoping no one was coming because you just can't see real far either direction on that road. No one came, and we turned around and went the long way home.

 

As anyone knows who has been to our place, turning on to our road from the main one can be a little tricky with the way you almost turn around to go back up. I slid past the turn, and had a hard time backing up, so it took some maneuvering to get going again. Again, thankfully, the car that came by had sense enough to slow way down and move over so we didn't have an accident. Phew! HOME! I was SO very glad to make it over the last little hill and see our mailbox.

 

And at the mailbox is where we stayed. We walked the rest of the way! This photo was taken after lunch and the little ones going down for their naps, when Jaron and I headed back to the stranded van to scatter ashes on the ice under the snow and get our groceries.

 

We took the dog and dogsled to carry the ashes down and the groceries back. The dog wasn't real happy about stopping there--he wanted to RUN! 

On our way back to the house with the groceries. Jere drove the van the rest of the way when he got home from work. :-) I'm so grateful for a man who knows just how to do things!

Last evening we gathered in the living room and goofed off for awhile. Here's the princess with Daddy's phone.

Here are the goofers.

The princess and her daddy. Pretty special!

Our dragged-out remodeling project!

Well, we're still not quite done with the remodeling project in our house. But last Saturday Jere managed to make some significant headway! He finally got around to doing the project I was MOST looking forward to--replacing the ugly chain to our fan (which plugged into an outlet!) with a proper switch and hidden wires!

The finally finished ceiling!

We put a "beam" across the kitchen ceiling as well.

Outside the house

We've done a few outdoor activities lately. Well, mostly Jere and the boys. :-) Thought I would share a few photos from that.

One day Jere hooked Kodi up to the sled and the boys went for a ride. They had a blast! Jaron told me later that "Riding in the dogsled is my favorite!"

And one day Jere left his lunch at home, so we all piled into the van and went to the woods where he was logging to deliver his lunch! I took the camera, and we got some video footage and photos of his work for the website. Sorry to those who saw some of these pictures on FaceBook already, but here they are again for those who don't do FaceBook. ;-)

My handsome logger man!

Daddy and daughter.

Jaron learning all about it.

Daddy and boys.

Limbing trees in the woods.

The morning sun.

 

Hope you enjoyed all these pictures! I knew that I'd better get caught up while I can, with Eliott's birthday coming up, then our trip. For those who don't know, we're heading north for a week to visit family and go to an EMS conference in Duluth, leaving next Tuesday. I'm hoping to update sometime while we're in Duluth--with two long days at the hotel while Jere takes classes, I should have the time! ;-)