Bathroom Update

We were able to get two sides of the surround installed tonight.  We got the holes cut for the other side where the plumbing comes through, but then Lennard had to work on all the rest of the plumbing before we could finish installing it.  We're going to have to enlarge the holes a bit to get it installed properly, but it's coming.  I love how it looks in the space.

Buddy the Cat

I made a super quick trip down to Kalispell today to get our tub surround so that we could keep working on our bathroom (novel idea!).  When I got home (tired from driving all day), Lennard grabbed my hand and said that he had a surprise for me!  He pulled me over to his work truck and knocked on the window.  Immediately, I knew there would be some kind of animal.  lol.  Nothing happened though, so he opened the door, moved a box, and there was a kitten!t

We've always said that we wouldn't have a pet because of Lennard's allergies and the possibility of Ben having them too, but lately we've talked about the possibility of a cat.  I had no idea it would happen this quickly though!  ha! ha!  He was such a cute little thing and snuggled right up in my arms that I caved. 

The kids were thrilled and kept jumping up and down and asking if they could keep him.  They even pulled in their friends to look at him!  Long story short... we have a cat!  We've named him Buddy.

Good thing the Dollar Store had a litter box and bowls for food/water.  We even got a few toys!  The kids are still quite jumpy around him (especially Emma), but we're hoping that they'll settle down and enjoy having a buddy to play with.

New Glasses

Ben has needed new glasses for quite a while.  We finally took the time to order some new ones!  As soon as the kids were off from school, we went in to Costco.  While we were looking at glasses, we were told that if we bought two pair, they only charged $10 for the second pair of lenses.  I really didn't think we needed two pair for him, but then I looked at the state his current glasses are in and thought it might not be a bad idea to have a back up pair.

Ben loved these glasses the most...

Only because the green part on the legs has some texture to it!  ha! ha!  Oh - and it's because they have orange on them and that's his favorite color.

 I liked these ones... and they'll make a good back-up pair.

For both pairs of glasses it was $199.  Not too bad... especially when insurance will pay for both pairs!

Honey-Do List

With a day off work and no other plans, we were finally able to get working on our bathroom again!  Life has been so busy lately that it's been hard to squeeze in time to get things done.

We got the exhaust fan hooked up again and added some extra wood around it so that it was secured better than before.  I took this picture of Lennard and posted it on Instagram and shortly afterwards, James showed up at our door to help!  ha! ha!  The power of social media.  Too funny.  Thanks, James!

 They started getting the gyproc put up where they could. We have to leave the walls until we get the bathtub surround installed as it is supposed to be screwed directly to the studs.

 While they were working on drywalling the bathroom, I worked on making turkey broth...well, the Instant Pot did anyways!  Three batches of broth from the turkey (bones) we had yesterday.  Yum.

 Lennard and James even went out to the hangar and got the bathtub and got it set in place!  Thank goodness it fits!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 We were blessed to have our good friend, Cody, and his boys over for Thanksgiving dinner after church today.  Shannon is gone to visit family in Utah with their girls, so it was nice to share our day with them. 

We don't usually do this huge of a meal for just us, but Lennard really wanted a full Thanksgiving dinner.  We did a 'Nichols' feast!  Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing (family recipe), devilled eggs, cranberries, carrots (without dill - sorry mom), green beans, buns, pickles, olives, jello, and apple pie and ice cream for dessert!

Lennard did a great job of carving the turkey and we made a good dent on all the food! (Although we did have lots of leftovers!)

Special Day

After a busy morning of Ben at Champs (basketball) and then eye appointments for both kids (that the doctor was half an hour late starting), we raced in to Lethbridge so that we could attend the baptisms of Mason and Gideon.  It was a special day to have cousins get to be baptized and Emma is getting pretty excited for her upcoming baptism in December!

Atwood Family on Mason's baptism day.

Hatch Family on Gideon's baptism day.

After the baptisms, we all gathered in and got a family picture since ALL of us were there! Pretty amazing to get every single grandchild, kid and spouse there.

We had a dinner afterwards that we counted as our Thanksgiving dinner.  It was great to sit and visit and eat yummy food together as a family.  I feel so blessed for our loud, crazy, silly family that I belong to.

Snow Day!

The weather turned gross yesterday - enough that we didn't want to be on the roads to Lethbridge for Lennard's physio appointment.  The snow just kept coming, and coming, and coming!  

When we got up this morning, we got the notice that school was cancelled.  The kids were pretty excited to find all their winter gear and go play in the snow!  Unfortunately, although I'd found their gloves, toques and snow pants - they didn't have winter boots!  They've grown so much this year and I hadn't thought to get boots for them quite yet.  Oops!

 They weren't being put off, so they ended up going out and playing in their rubber boots.  It didn't keep them terribly warm, but they had lots of fun!