Before

Here are some before pics of Rachael's big girl room. When I say before, I mean present-time. We just got all the rest of the stuff cleaned out of there and it's pretty much a blank canvas. I thought I'd wow you more if you saw how ordinary it is now compared to how fab it will be when I'm done.

Silent Dance of Joy!

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

I might be a little happy about this. Patrick has finished one room in our basement. It is the most important room because it is the office. That means that the multitude of computers, computer desks, and computer paraphernalia can go downstairs and we are one giant leap closer to Rachael having a big girl room. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

Will post more pics when the said crap, I mean computer stuff is relocated.

Moon Walk

Rachael really likes my shoes. Today she was walking backward in them. Unfortunately, all I had was my phone, but you get the picture.

Counting

Last week I discovered that Rachael can count...well in her own way.

She usually won't say the number that I say, but she's started going to the next one without any prompting from me. She's one smart cookie.

Christmas Morning

Rachael was very cute coming in Christmas morning. I'm not going to include the footage of her opening presents because she was very meticulous (read: slow) about getting all the wrapping paper off each gift. And because I'm in most of it. Next year, I get to hold the camera.

Big Snow

I found all the cords and waited a billion years for the films to upload to the computer, another million to convert them to a blogger approved format...so here is the first video. Rachael in our first really big snow of the season...last November.

The Post That Patrick Was Supposed to Write

This picture was taken at the annual Melaleuca Christmas party, where Patrick was awarded the President's award (highest award they have). The people in the picture are his manager, the bigger manager, the CIO, Patrick, and Frank Van Der Sloot-the president. He got the award for writing computer programs that automate the deployment process for the company's computer stuff, i.e. anytime there is a change to a database, a code change for various internal software, or for the website instead of taking over 100 man hours to incorporate the change, it might take 2. (If Patrick is reading this, I know I don't have accurate numbers)

Patrick works hard and enjoys what he does. I'm very proud of him. And now he doesn't have to brag about himself.

Lifted

For those of you who don't know the saga, here is the sweet & condensed version. Before Patrick and I were married, I bought and lived in a nice little condo. Upon becoming a Gunerud, I moved into Patrick's house with the plan that we would rent out the condo as an investment. Check the date: early 2008. Our fabulous friends rented from us for not quite a year before they bought a home of their own. We're now in April 2009. We list the condo for sale and for rent and wait until October for a renter. Fast forward to June of 2010. Our renter dies in the condo and isn't found until a week later. We decide, "this is for the birds" and put the condo up for sale the beginning of July (after we paint and re-carpet). Remember our timeline: 2008 housing bubble bursts; 2009 housing market sucks rocks; and 2010 no recovery in sight. Due to many miracles, we were able to make 2 mortgages for a total of 11 months of the past 2 years. The biggest miracle, however, is that someone made a cash offer the week before Thanksgiving and we closed on November 30. It is such a relief and a blessing to have this burden lifted from us and to be that much closer to "debt-free".