It only took a month!

So we are still alive, just busy (and before that, boring!) So in the last month, it has still been really cold, snowy, icy, etc, but today is FINALLY warm. It is like 40, and is supposed to stay that way all weekend! I can't wait. Luckily we missed out on the last round of yucky weather because we were in CA for a week. We surprised my stepmom for her 50th b-day. She loved it! We spent some time north of LA and a few days in San Diego. We had a few rainy days, but a super sunny, perfect day to go to Sea World and another one to spend at the beach. Hannah loved being able to go outside and play. She rediscovered playgrounds and LOVES slides. I'll post a few pics sometime this weekend. We had a great trip!

When we moved into our house we talked about refinishing the wood floors that were covered with the old yucky carpet. At that time we decided that we really just wanted to move in, and so we put new carpet in instead. Nate's brainwave was that while we were gone we could have the floors done. Sounds like it should be an easy project, but it involves moving all of the furniture, clothing, etc, moving all of the carpet and padding, and then pulling the five million staples that the carpet leaves behind. So we moved to the basement a few days before we left and came home to a nice a smelly home. The floors look good, and hopefully will be good for resale, but it has been a hassle! Everything was covered in dust, walls, ceilings, baseboards, and everything smells like varnish. We are now in the process of putting our house back together, then I will be more excited to be back home! After this project is complete, we start the next project...the upstairs. This is where we are transfering our carpet from the main level to, but first everything needs to be painted, cleaned, etc. Hopefully we can make a little money on this house, it seems like we are always in the process of fixing up something!

It has started!

I knew the day would come eventually, and now it is here...
Hannah LOVES to be helpful (most of the time) and is great at taking her diaper to the trash, her clothes to the hamper, even mom and dad's clothes! So I have enjoyed her help. She even gets really excited when she eats string cheese because she gets to throw the wrapper away! Anyhow, I've been warned, and always anticipated the day when the trash can becomes more fun than it needs to be. She's been so good up to this point at not using the trash can for more than trash...but in the last couple of days I have caught her deciding on her own that a few new things belong in the trash. First was her plate and spoon after dinner. She was busy taking it to the kitchen, and ended up making a stop off at the trash can instead. Then, she thought that her pajamas belonged in the trash along with her diaper. The other day she went and got the mail and proceeded to throw some of it away...luckily just the "You're pre approved!" junk mail! All of these things seems pretty reasonable once I think about it...we scrape the plates off in the trash before the sink, the diaper goes in the trash, so maybe pjs there makes one less stop, and the mail, well, that usually goes in there, too!
We'll see what comes next. As long as we don't leave anything too important and/or valuable where she will find it we should be safe. It is amazing how smart they really are. It makes me realize how much she learns from watching Nate and I!!!

Winter Fun!

So for about the past week it has been COLD here!!! Not only has it been cold, but also windy. When they tell me that with the wind chill it will be -20 to -35, I am staying inside! Since Sunday afternoon it has been snowing slowly and this morning when we woke up it was so pretty outside! It finally wasn't so windy (happy day!) and so we decided it was time to play outsite.

Hannah had to try out one of her Christmas presents, a blow up sled! She was pretty excited. She was all ready and sitting in her sled long before I was ready myself.

We didn't stay outside for long (it is still in the single digits out there), but I think that Hannah had a smile on her face the WHOLE time!

Christmas!

We really enjoyed our time in CO for Christmas. It always seems like those trips go by so fast! It was nice to have a white Christmas...as you can see from the pictures, and luckily we drove back the day after Christmas because they got even more snow on Thursday.

Hannah was at a great age for Christmas this year. She was into opening her presents (and everybody else's) and she also got excited about her gifts. I was a little concerned because our first few days in CO were not the most enjoyable due to Hannah's lack of a normal routine combined with her new found ability to throw a tantrum whenever and wherever. Luckily, by Christmas day we had things a little more under control and Hannah had a great day!

Here she is outside helping dad, uncle Greg, and grandpa shovel the snow on Christmas.

And the close up. She is not cold, and definitely not ready to come inside. Can you tell? Here is what Christmas looks like at the Pettitt's. This isn't even everybody who was there, just the people who fit in the picture.

And here is our family picture for Christmas 2007!

Pre-Christmas update

First a post with a few pics from before Christmas.

This is about our only pic of Hannah with Santa...not a great one, but oh well. Hannah was afraid of Santa, so there was no sitting on his lap, and then she wouldn't look at the camera, so I'm trying to get her attention...whatever!

During our trip to CO we got to see some of our friends! We miss our friends!!! Anyways, we were able to see the Goodells and the Fairbanks. Some days I still think how nice it would be to live like just down the street from these families!.

Here's Jeff with Kambria and Hannah...Caden was being a sleepy head.

And later on Hannah was giving Caden a hug. He's not quite sure what's going on.

And here is Hannah at Grandma and Grandpa's surfing on her present...she was supposed to be opening it. The one time she doesn't try to open the present is when she is supposed to. Imagine that!

Announcement, announcement, announcement!

Ok, so we've been a little slow at getting this big news up here. I needed to get a good picture to be able to post!

Hopefully you can read some, it not all of Hannah's shirt. It says "big sister in training" because that's what she is! According to our calculations, she will be a big sister sometime around June 28th (although if this little one is like Hannah we will have a July 4th baby!)

We went to the doctor earlier this month and already heard the baby's heartbeat, which makes it seem more real! I've been feeling pretty good for the most part, but it does seem that I'm feeling chubby a whole lot sooner than last time!

We hope that you all have a great Christmas. We have sure enjoyed our early Christmas present news...hopefully Hannah enjoys her new sibling, too!

Pettitt for President!!!

Nate coined the phrase that "the Carroll Country Club is the place to be in 2007." This became true on Friday when Mitt Romney stopped by and hung out in his office for a couple of hours before he spoke to over a hundred people at the Club. Nate received a call a week earlier from the Romney Campaign to host this event and now Nate may be his running mate!!! You can hardly tell who is running for office if you look at the picture. Mitt says, " your girl is beautiful." Nate says thanks and Mitt says, "Your wife that is!" Just another day in good old Iowa!