Nairi almost 9 months

Passed out

The first time she has skipped a nap in 2 weeks I found her passed out on the couch at 4 pm. I think she is going to have to be weaned of naps before she starts Kindergarten.

Christmas Day 2011 Pics

Stealing cousin Joseph's ball

We had a very Blessed and Merry Christmas. Lots of fun, good cheer and family.

Merry Christmas!

My brother Aram's 4 kids and my 3!

Merry Christmas 2011

Yay snow!!!!

snow on tree branches = pretty

Apparently the street needed shoveling according to Israel....

" But I want to go INSIDE!!!" Whined the 4 year old after 4 min of being outside and after I dragged my sorry self outside with them and the baby at 730am and after 10 min of putting on snow gear.

So in awe that he woke up to snow

If one must deal with snow loving children at 7 am coffee helps.

She tolerates her snow suit very well

Master Bedroom paint job

As always these pics are backwards. This is the new paint color. Its hard to tell but its a orange/yellow. Its the first step in the master bedroom remodel. Everything in this room was white/almond/off white. I realize it looks a bit harsh right now but the plan is to add a dark hardwood floor like Brazilian cherry and get rid of the nasty off white carpets. I think the dark wood will go really well with the orangish walls and the white furniture. We will get an area rug that picks up the wall color too and yes we will be getting a different bedspread.

Dear Nairi

Dear Nairi, You are adorable and we love you in spite of your high maintenance needs, but could you please, pretty, pretty, please start sleeping better at night? Waking up every 2-3 hours all night long and then waking up for the day at 5 am is turning me into a monster.
Love, Mama
Ps the Sun wakes up around 7am which is a good time to wake up. You should try it!

Little Monster Videos

Teething plus cold= monster baby

But on a different note look how long her hair is getting!!! Its almost past her shoulders. It makes her look so much older than 8 months. She also added cruising to her list of accomplishments. Im curious to see when she will walk. Israel walked at 12 months and Keira at 12.5 months. Nairi was the earliest crawler and earliest stander/cruiser so we shall see!

Family Room Complete

I don't know how much longer I could have lived with the toys spread all over the house!!

http://betterdiy.blogspot.com/2011/12/family-roomcomplete.html

NO MO WALLPAPER!!

In the family room at least!!

http://betterdiy.blogspot.com/2011/12/its-gone.html

Nativity

Up close and personal with the baby Jesus ( who is in fact a stuffed sheep)...


Being a loving wife.....

The "Holy Family" Joseph, baby lamb Jesus, and Mary

Joseph feeding the baby Jesus. I insisted that Jesus was breastfed and they usually "nurse" their dolls but for some reason Keira insisted Jesus be fed a bottle!

Keira wanted to be "pregnant" This pic scares me and at the same time I find it hilarious. I have no idea why she is wearing a wedding dress!!!

Keira is really into the Christmas story this year. They talk about it alot at school and we have several Nativity sets the kids play with. Keira is always asking me silly things like "was Mary's veil blue or white?" "Did she brush her teeth?" and did she "eat salad?"

Yesterday things got really interesting when she wanted to play the Nativity. She made Israel be Joseph and I was the angel. She decided to make her favorite stuffed animal ( a sheep- kinda ironic huh?) as baby Jesus. She wanted baby Jesus in her tummy.

Kids and coffee video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL10YK3CtHk

Happy 8 Months Nairi!

Anytime you would like to start sleeping longer stretches at night is okay with us!! We are ready !!

Out with the Old

This is what the family room looked like when we bought the house.  It has stayed that way since we moved in May 28th.

In the last month in between working on my workshop, we have taken to removing the wallpaper slowly. We borrowed a wallpaper steamer from a friend instead of renting it.  Here are some pictures of the process.  Have I mentioned that I hate hate hate wallpaper.  This is the epitomy of overdoing wallpaper.  Why do one pattern, when you can have 3!!  The bottom is a nice plaid pattern.  The top is a dotted flower pattern.  And don't forget the chair rail blue border!!

The sad thing is the parents of my wife and I actually liked the wallpaper!!  Can't account for style :)

The joy of wallpaper steaming.  Get everything wet.  And after you take off the top layer with the print, you have to go back and take off the the rest of the paper.  Hard to see against the white walls. 

Also, some of the paint came with it.  Mostly in the areas that weren't primed it seems.  There will be a lot of skim coating with drywall compound in this room.

The hardest thing is that this is the most heavily used room in the house.  This is the kids play room!  We have to move the toys around and the furniture around.  Being such a large room helps though.  We really love this house and the space it has afforded us.

Here is another shot of an area that will need to be mudded.

We will paint the wall a nice greenish/greyish/blue color.  The long-term plan is to put beadboard on the bottom half with a chair rail.  This will protect the wall from children and break up the large expanse of the walls with cathedral ceilings.

I tell you, just what we have removed so far has made the room feel larger and brighter.

We have about half of the wallpaper down so far.