Dear Santa.....

T'was a couple weeks before Chirstmas and all through the house every creature was stirring except for the mice... because we have Blue Sky Pest control isn't that nice. But now back to the story of the house of McCabe's where they were busy inside on that rare rainy day. The kids were all sitting to the island you see writing letters to Santa as careful as could be. They made sure to think of all the gifts that they needed and with sweet little hearts to Santa they pleaded...we have been good kids this year as you plainly can see we only fought when there was a real needs be...I am sure when you were young you made little mistakes too there is no way at all you were perfect were you? I didn't think so- so give us a break and bring us the toys on list for heavens sake. Sorry, we didn't mean to sound so rude... we think your the best looking big red jolly dude!!!! So all I can say is Santa take into consideration how good we are when you compare us to the adults in our nation.

I love the letter Patrick came up with for the kids to send to Santa. Since it is not clear here is what it says...

Dear Santa,
I look forward to your arrival this fine holiday season. I hope that the elves are working to the best of their ability and that Rudolph’s nose is working properly this year. It would be a real tragedy if the delivery of my well deserved gifts were hindered because of a bad “headlight”. I mean that it would be a tragedy if you and your staff’s safety were put in jeopardy due to a bad “headlight”. Anyway as always you can count on the be$t cookie$ waiting for you at our house, enjoy!

All the Best,

Once the kids had written their list down we put them in envelopes and the kids went down to the mail box and Patrick let them put them in our mail box thinking that would satisify them and he would get them out the next day...however we forgot to get them before the mail came and when he went back they were gone...sweet there really is a Santa Clause and now I don't need to worry about Christmas shopping!

We were going to bypass the Christmas Tree in AZ this year but the kids talked me into it.

~MERRY CHRISTMAS~

Vacation Anyone?

Building our Vacation (hopefully home someday) Home!

Our Dirt Lot. Dusted with a light layer of snow!

A big hole with cement...progress.

Umm...Pat is suppose to be plumbing this house in few days. One problem there is no house.

Still not plumbable.

Amazing what workers can do with the right amount of pressure. Patrick was able to plumb the house that trip however as luck would have it there was a lovely snow storm that decided to present itself as he and Trevor (his co-worker) decided to get started. With no roof to shelter them they worked a few long, cold, wet days and finally the plumbing was done.

Ta Da! This Picture is of our most recent trip over Thanksgiving (thanks to those who prepared a great thanksgiving feast so we could eat and run. Sorry.). Now it actually looks like a house. Of course there had to be more snow showers while we were there but for the most part we were able to stay indoors. Minus the digging that Patrick had to do around our well. He had to drill the dirt because the ground was too frozen to dig with a shovel. But we got a lot accomplished (thanks to those who watched our kids). We Primered and Painted the whole upstairs, put down the laminate wood flooring in all but the kitchen, got the carpet installed in all the rooms, stained some of our cabinets, Jeff (Patrick's friend) came and installed the garage doors, and we got our pump put in for the well. All in all the trip was a success and we made plenty of memories along the way.

Here are a few photos of our marathon week...

Me on the Scafling spraying on the primer.

Patrick on the ground spraying primer...I think someone is a little afraid of heights!

Where do we pick up the prize for being the world's sexiest couple!?

Madison painted her name on the wall in the Master Bedroom.

Porter painted an alien...

Right now you are probably thinking oh no did he eat the paint?

The answer is YES! Jacob decided to paint the inside of his mouth... it just seemed more logical than wasting all the paint on the walls.

If you look closely you can see the look of distress on Jacob's face and if you could see the other kids faces they would look the same. This picture is right before we were getting ready for the long haul home. The room they are standing in has been their prison cell anytime they were at the house with us because of the many hazards that lurked around the rest of the house. I think they had about hit their breaking point. Poor kids!This picture is in the kitchen...I think I may actually have been asleep standing up in this picture.

Things we learned over the course of the week:

1. When using a sprayer, spray about 18 in. from the target area, go over and back in order to get the best coverage. It leaves fewer lines.

2. When you buy mistake paint at home depot make certain before you mix the paint that they are in fact the same sheen. For example don't mix semi-gloss and satin.

3. When installing tac strip for carpet there are arrows on the tac strip. They are there for more than just decoration they all need to be facing the wall. (A very important lesson I learned after laying three rooms of tac strip and then going back through to un-install and re-install about a third of those rooms again.)

4. Painting all day and staining at night makes Cami a very tipsy girl.

5. Patrick has a difficult time communicating after many days of paint fumes and little sleep. Example...At the Maverik we were getting some drinks and he mumbled a few undistinguishable things to the clerk, told her he was having a brain fart and then said "have a good night" perfectly normal had it not been ten o'clock in the morning.

6. Everything is funnier when you are tired.

7. Your muscles do have a breaking point when they simply cannot be used anymore.

8. We have very tolerant children and extended family.

9. Ice is quite slippery. Especially when you are heading down a slope to a stop sign. We did however end up in a somewhat desirable place considering the alternatives... the front lawn of the local high school. Patrick discoved his new theme song when he realized that he had no control of the truck or the trailer hooked to the truck. "Jesus take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood. If you don't know the song listen to it and it will all make sense.

10. Never eat to many Chili Dogs from A&W. (Thanks to Jeff for discovering that.)

A Special Thanks over the Thankgiving Holiday to....

Home Depot for our many supplies. (Maybe they should be thanking us for all of our business)

All of our Family who took over our Parenting role for the week.

Jeff for his help with the doors and his tolerance of "Kiss the Girl" song from Little Mermaid all the way home.

Our neighbor who brought us dinner one night. It was so nice not to eat fast food.

Courtney and Chris for letting us invade their house again.

Kerrie and Toby for having us over for Thanksgiving and letting us stay at their house.

All those who loaned us tools.

Mom and Dad for braving our energetic kids and for the couches.

And I would like to thank the academy...Oh wait, sorry I got a little carried away.

Thank Heavens for good friends, good family, and good memories.