Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Em & Jeff


Us last weekend...I look like I'm on something! :)

Laurance and Kimberly







Laurance and Kimberly were here this weekend...we enjoyed catching up! They are doing well and staying busy--Laurance teaches in a public school, Kimberly works at a bank. They also stay very involved in their church. They were able to visit some friends while they were here. Kimberly enjoyed time drinking (lots of!) coffee with her girlfriends & Laurance hung out with Chuck and some other friends from BJ. Laurance and Kimberly were also able to spend some time with Tom Swanson and his family.
Chuck didn't come Sunday but he spent the evening with us Saturday night. He and Jeff kept me laughing with their crazy physical humor and imitations of accents...former teachers at BJ or whoever. :) Chuck is doing well and is still writing Ginger, but they have come to the understanding that they will just be friends for now. He is considering a GAship at BJ next fall.

Will, Laura and Ella came over Sunday for lunch. We had a good time talking and....since it's a Kannon get-together...playing the guitar. :) Laurance got me new strings & we restrung my guitar. He also taught Jeff some "riffs." Kimberly found a sweet deal on a breadmaker online and ordered that :) We told her how much we love ours, and she misses the good bread her mom makes. Jeff enjoyed showing the attic to Laura & Will and explaining every little detail to their interested ears :) Little Ella showed off her back-arching and rolling over skills, and is getting pudgier every day! She laughed when we imitated her newest mouth sound, doing a click noise with her tongue!
Laura and Will had to leave around 3:30 to go see a house they might buy in Laurens. If it doesn't work out, they said they will be content to stay where they are. It is getting a little more crowded though with the new addition to the family!

Some news for Jeff & me....we are considering a move to Atlanta. (Don't worry, we wouldn't live in Atlanta, but in one of the suburbs.) There is a design job offer with his brother's company that would pay very well, around $65,000. Also the Christian music academy there is wanting to hire another piano teacher. It sounds like it's a great opportunity, but we want to do what God has for us. We would appreciate your prayers.

Love all of you and very thankful for our family!
Emily

Monday, February 20, 2006

Family Weekend

We had a great time with family yesterday! Laurance and Kimberly were here for the weekend. Chuck came over Saturday night for pizza, then Laura & Will came for lunch Sunday. Pictures coming soon. :)

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Happy Valentine's Day!


I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day!

Love y'all,
Emily

Friday, February 10, 2006

Jeff & Em's Attic Window

Yes!! We finally got our window in, and our hands hurt. It took about an hour and half. I had to stand inside and level the window with shims and keep it from falling out, and Jeff stood on ladder outside and the hammered in the flanges...which was hard because he had to do it UNDER the siding. I kept dropping tools into the insulation and Jeff's fingers were freezing, but we finally finished, and it was worth it!! The hardest part of our attic room project is done (or would that be the stairs? We'll let you know!)

just starting the project
Jeff framed in the window...had to remove the center stud (which is blocked from view in this picture) & make the frame, then cut the hole...which was scary.

hole cut in the side of the house



new framed window from the outside

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Laura, Will, & Ella-Christmas '05

Laura and Will's Update

Siblog
1. Update: With Will's graduation from Clemson in December,he's now officially a staff engineer at Qore Property Sciences in Greenville. I'm grading SAT essays online part-time and enjoying watching Ella grow. She's quite the roller now-in fact, I made up a song to the tune of the Beverly Hillbillies just for her. The 2nd verse goes, "She can push up and roll around, Why she could roll all the way to town, she grabs everything in sight, and puts it in her mouth to bite (Chomp that is, with razor-sharp teeth). That's just one verse of it. She's got her 2 bottom middle teeth and is currently working on the 2 top middle ones. She's also growing well-quite the butterball.
2 Free time: We enjoy entertaining and being entertained by Ella. We also enjoy renting movies though watching them uninterrupted is much harder now. Ella hasn't quite figured out what "Shh, this is a very important scene" means yet.
3. Romantic: Will would probably say when I make him his favorite dessert, pumpkin pie. I'd have to say one of the most romantic things he did was record a Julia Roberts' interview on Oprah a couple of years ago. (even though he can't stand Oprah). I had mentioned briefly that she was going to be on there but I wouldn't be able to see it due to teaching. He remembered (that's the important thing here) and had it for me when I got home. It's the little things that count.

Siblog

Siblog

Would love to see some current pictures of you guys!

Em & Jeff with the neighbor's puppies



Hoping this works...

Dayton and Erin's Update

1. Brief job description/update?
Dayton is so busy at school this year. He teaches/takes TaeKwanDo on Mondays and Wednesdays. He teaches Judo on Thursdays. Does HS Bible Club on Tuesday. Also busy with church as youth leader and worship leader. I'm pianist at church, continuing language study (finally advanced enough to take Intro to Bible). I'm also busy at home with 2 kids! Also trying to finalize future plans for me. For updates on that go to my blog.

2. What do you (or you and your spouse) do in your free time? We play a lot of games. Have our own Scrabble tournament going right now. Also watch Survivor on TV when it's on. Rare to get decent US television here.

3. (For Valentine's Day): What is the most romantic thing you've ever done as a couple, or that your spouse has ever done for you? Our first Valentines, we had no money, so our date was Walmart. We each got $5 and had to shop by ourselves without seeing each other. We had 1 hour to get the best, most interesting, whatever gift. It was a lot of fun, and some years we repeat because really Valentines is celebrated all year.

I'll try posting pics later.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Get-to-Know-You (Better)

Okay, here's a few questions to get you started:

1. Brief job description/update?
2. What do you (or you and your spouse) do in your free time?
3. (For Valentine's Day): What is the most romantic thing you've ever done as a couple, or that your spouse has ever done for you?

I'll start:

1. Child wrangling :) I teach private lessons at home, teach for an ex-classmate, Nathan Arnold, at his studio (dmusicstudios.com), and teach one very long day at Tabernacle Christian School (8-7). I like that the best, because I have one student after the other. I have Tuesdays off except for two lessons in the evening. It's a nice schedule that allows me some down time as well as very busy days.

2. We both like to read "Christian" books about theology or Christian walk. We like to go hiking occasionally, and a lot of the time we just like hanging out around the house and making each other laugh. :) We are both complete goons. It took us a while to appreciate the other's sense of humor, but we have a lot of fun with it now! I like to sew in my free time and I enjoy working out. Right now Jeff is working on making our attic into a loft room. He's already cut the hole for the window and will put that in later this week.

3. Most romantic...this is going to sound strange but the thing that helped our "romantic life" the most was completely practical. We started having weekly meetings on Sunday afternoons and just planning and updating each other on life. We report on our week, how it went, how much we got done or didn't get done, check up on our budget, devotions, personal responsibilities, and do some dreaming for the future. Okay, let's hear some mushy stuff from the rest of you! :)

Welcome to the Siblog

Hey brothers and sis-in-laws,
Here's your chance to blog and keep up to date on each others' lives. None of us are much good at emailing, so I thought this might be a better way to keep up. I'll be adding things & working on it in the next few days.
This would be a great way to share pictures (and not have to send them to everyone), and then you can check in at any time to see how your sibs are doing. :)
I hope this will be a fun way to stay in touch!
Love to all,
Emily