Merry Christmas!

The cutting of the curls.

December is... peaceful chaos, overeating, joyous traditions, and one irreplaceable manger. And so it begins. 

The Parade of Lights takes place in Sutton every year and it is one of my favorite traditions. The excitement of the event has only compounded now that I can share the memories with my little man.

Trevin wasn't fond of Clifford but enjoyed frosting cookies!

And eating them... 

There's a Christmas concert that James and I have attended religiously since the first year we went. It's Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God tour. We have gone each year (minus the year that didn't make it to Nebraska) and this was our 4th time. The concert was on a Tuesday night, and I was scheduled to get my wisdom teeth taken out on Wednesday (2 weeks ago) in Omaha. It just so happened that the concert was in Elkhorn this year. So we made an over-nighter out of it. The concert was incredible and seems to get more intimate every year. We had a great time and met James' sister and brother-in-law, Hannah and Dalane, there.  It was a wonderful evening and is perfect to get us into the holiday spirit.

Then it was time for the wisdom teeth to come out. I was under the impression that I would be knocked out for the procedure, but apparently I was wrong. I sat down in the dentist chair and they immediately started shooting numbing solution into my gums. My mind panicked and kept screaming, "I'm awake! I'm awake!" It was horrifying. The first tooth hurt terribly, it was numb, but I could feel the pressure of the yanking of the tooth. The second tooth went smoothly. The third tooth was just as bad as the first. But the last one was a doozy. I guess I wasn't fully numb and they started drilling. I pulled my head back and they shot me up again. Started drilling again, still intense pain. This time they shot it right into my root? Or something like that... All I know is that I cried. I actually cried. It was such a sharp pain. They started drilling for the third time and it was finally numb. You know how when you cry you start shaking and taking quick breaths? Well as I was trying to avoid convulsions, the dentist was pulling with all of his might to get that stinkin' tooth out. Then it broke. The head of the tooth was out but now the roots were each still embedded and would have to be dug out separately. The last tooth was worse than the first 3 combined. I told the dentist, (with numb mouth, lips, and tongue, I remind you) "Nn Nnnw Nowww I  shee why peep people put dis off." He smiled. He smiled, and I cried. Recovery was rough. I almost threw up and passed out in the Walmart parking lot waiting for my prescriptions, I swelled up like a balloon over the next few days, and I could barely move my mouth. I did, however, lose a pound, there's always a silver-lining...  I didn't really do the ice cream thing, because I don't care for ice cream. I'm cold all the time, and ice cream only adds salt to the wound. So I don't like ice cream, why do you care? You probably don't, so moving on.. Now I get food lost into those holes that I can't reach with my tongue. This is my life now.

Got to spend a day with these kiddos. Too much fun. 

Merry Christmas from the Kliewer's!

Check out that hair! Whew. 

The basement is coming along nicely. We are completely through and concrete is poured!  Next we'll be framing and cleaning out both basements completely before starting the remodeling process.  So lucky to have married such a hard worker! 

I don't know if you realize this, but Christmas is next week. WHERE DID THIS YEAR GO????  The good news is that my Christmas shopping is done and I'm ready to take on this marathon. 7 Christmas parties. I love to give gifts, but am generally terrible at finding the "perfect" gift, which I am convinced, doesn't exist. Ashton and I went black friday shopping again this year. The opening times were ill-placed. Walmart - 6:00 pm, Kohl's - 8:00 pm, Gordman's 5:00 am... and a few stores opened later. We hit up Walmart and Kohls (and Rue 21 since it was close!) and were done shopping by 10:00... We went to Perkins to try and buy some time. We each had a chicken salad, fries, and hot chocolate. It was weird, but tasted so right. By 11:15 we were sitting in our car ready to take on the almost 6 hours before our next store. We lasted until 11:30 and said "ok, let's go home and sleep."  We managed to come home with a number of bags and some awesome buys. Until next year, black friday...

Guys, it was time. Do you see this? It was out of control. My plan was to just trim it, but of course, that never happens as planned. When we wet it down, it made for a nice picture. I'm still kicking myself for not cutting the sides first and snapping his first full mullet shot. Maybe next time. 

The first cut! And check out my cheeks. This was 5 days after surgery and I was feeling pretty good. It was pretty funny going to church though. Everyone kept looking at me and I could tell they were trying to decide if they should ask me if I had something done this week or if I always looked that balloonish in the face. It made for a good laugh, and then pain, from laughing.

The bangs got a little short... As soon as I brought the scissors to his face he wasn't sure about the process. He moved his head and the bangs got chopped. 

So after 20 months of growing, the hair is long gone. Sad to see it go, but now it can grow on. 

James has been hauling popcorn this week. Trevin has been in heaven. That's what he had for supper... It's the Christmas season, anything goes. 

And he got stuck in the crock.

We went to the church Christmas program on Sunday. Gotta love sweaters this time of year! (PS, thanks for letting us use Noah's clothes Amy! They fit him great! ) I like my boy dapper and my man scruffy. Amen.

Light at the end of the tunnel, growing on the farm...
(Pun intended)

House projects and emergency calls

The entryway project has finally come to a close!
Before:

And after:

I'm so thrilled with how this turned out. So much more welcoming than the closet! We can check this room off of the list!

And just as we finished one project, we began a new one.  The basement. Just saying the words make me grin and shudder at the same time. Connecting the two basements together is going to be intense. I couldn't even get a beginning picture, James dug in a little too fast, but here's the progress so far.

We've hit the other basement wall! Just a little bit further. 

He has this system rigged up in a way that is simply incredible. This conveyor funnels the dirt and concrete right up and out of the window. It's then dumped into the bobcat bucket and drove off to a pile. It's rather ingenious.

One night I was home by myself, sitting on the couch when I heard a noise. I slowly looked over and a cat was staring right into my soul. WE DON'T HAVE A CAT. I jumped up and chased it, it ran down to the stairs, climbed on the conveyor, and was out the window. I was not too impressed. And since this baby shoots straight out the window, the cold air welcomes itself into our home. James did what he could to cover it with tarp, but it doesn't keep everything out. Not air, and not cats.





The past few months I've been having troubles with uploading pictures to my computer because I'm out of space. I would go through and move a bunch to the external hard drive and then attempt to upload more. It still wouldn't always let me and I was really frustrated and confused. One day I was expressing my concern to James and he asked if I was just deleting them from iPhoto or actually removing them from the computer. Turns out iPhoto has a trash can of it's own that has never been emptied. Almost 19,000 pictures. Holy moly. Well that's taken care of now...


Here's another set of family pictures I did for some friends. They are precious.

Sometimes I look up "desert recipes" on Pinterest, just for kicks and giggles, to see how many people still misspell "dessert". 

Annual fall leaves cousin picture!

I'm telling this story because I have humility. If you can't laugh at yourself, then you shouldn't laugh at anyone. A couple days ago I went to get Trevin after he woke up from his nap. As soon as I walked in, he said, "Socks!" and pointed behind the crib. Many times before, he has thrown his socks behind the crib (against the wall.) So like usual, I laid down on the floor between his crib and dresser. I'd done this 10 times, but for some reason this time I rotated my arm under the crib and was unable to get it out. I couldn't pull back because of the dresser and I had it turned palm down so I couldn't bend my elbow. I'm not sure how this happened. It was almost lunch time so I knew James would be coming in shortly. I called him and asked if he could come right in. Here's the conversation that followed...

Yeah I can come in. What's up?

Um. I'm stuck. 

Oh. Uh, are you ok?

Yeah I'm fine.

Pause....

Do you have any broken bones?

(laugh) No, I just.... (then tried to explain how it happened.)

Ok, well can I feed the cows first? 

Serious? I'm stuck.

It will only take a few minutes and I'm on that side of the farm anyways.

Fine, just hurry. 

10 minutes passed and no James. Trevin wasn't thrilled that I was just laying on my face next to his crib. Thankfully he was contained in the crib so I didn't have to worry about him. The door bell rang, and I just laid there laughing with my face in the carpet. Finally a call from James.

Where are you at?

I'm sorry! Someone stopped me on the road to talk. 

So you talked to them?

Yeah, but I'm almost home. But, umm...I gotta go.

It seemed like I laid there forever. Trevin started throwing his blankets and animals on me. I couldn't even defend myself. I tried to reach in and tickle him through the slats. (When I reached up, my back was to the crib, one arm under the crib and the other was in the crib.) Trevin then grabbed my arm and pulled it back. It was like that awful stretching torture of medieval times. Then, once again, a call from James. 

I am coming! I'm sorry! I'm pulling in the driveway. 

What happened?! 

Someone else stopped to talk to me, like a half-mile later. But I'm home, I'm coming. 

He came running down the hall and just busted out laughing. Then he got Trevin out of the crib. And then, he sat on me. Then he told me to try and get my arm out. Like I hadn't been trying this whole time! Finally he lifted the crib and set me free. Folks, I was under there for 1/2 hour. I joked with James saying the fire department could have gotten there quicker. Surely other people have ridiculously embarrassing things happen to them, right? 

Finally got around to taking some 18 month pictures for Trevin! 

And took some more family pictures... 

Thankful for this life, growing on the farm...