All Shea Wants for Christmas

We hope that your Thanksgiving was a good one and you ate lots of turkey! We (Shawn, Shea, Will, Chief and I) were all very thankful for our family and friends near and far this year. At pre-school Shea had to say what she was thankful for at their feast and she said her family...ah, just what a Mom wants to hear. On Thanksgiving day we went to my family's annual reunion for lunch. We had 79 people and 1 beagle in attendance. What a turn out this year! Grandpa Joe was not able to come. He became very weak after his last round of chemo and was in the hospital two weeks ago and last week was moved to a nursing home in Greenville to do rehab. He wasn't strong enough to come to Thanksgiving. Then, Grandma Pat didn't come because she wasn't feeling well and didn't want to risk giving anyone else an upset stomach. This was the first Thanksgiving that I was not eating with my grandparents. That was hard but managed to get through it alright. We then headed to Shawn's sister (Erin) for Thanksgiving dinner. Erin tried out a few new recipes and they turned out well. Shawn is still commenting on the buffalo chicken dip. After two good meals, we were ready for bed!

Now, the reason for the title of this post. Friday after having brunch with my cousin, Deb, who was up from Tennessee Shea went to Grandma Huntington's. They took her with them to the Piqua mall. To her pleasure, Santa was there. She wanted to go see him so Aunt Erin took her & Nevan. Erin said she had to bend her ear to hear what Shea told Santa she wanted. Shea told him she wants a horse that poops out chocolate chip cookies. Now after you are done laughing, imagine the look on Santa's face! I bet he couldn't wait to tell Mrs. Clause this one. Fortunately, Santa told her he wasn't sure if he could find this type of pony. I guess the Easters where she received the pooping chicken have stuck in her head.

Ahh, the joys of a four year old. I do intend to remind her of this when she is older. I'll post updated pictures of the kitchen when I get back home. Everyone who has to travel this weekend, be safe!

Another Wall is Gone

We had another productive weekend in the Huntington household. After having some much needed fun Friday night-I had my "Bunco group night", Shawn & the kids hung out with Barry & their kids! Saturday was all about the kitchen. We had one more wall to tear down. Shea was more than ready to help destroy something, she loves this part. She put on a pair of goggles and away she went tearing off drywall. What a good helper! See...

Meanwhile, Shawn was on the opposite side of the wall tearing that part down. Yes, that really is drywall dust flying in the air. Will was behind a closed door in his room for this part. We couldn't keep the plastic up, it was in the way of Shawn taking out the wall. It came down easily. Then, I helped him put up a temporary wall to support the ceiling while he made the new header. While he did this, the kids and I packed up and went to Jen & Barry's to watch the OSU vs Michigan game. Can you say, GO BUCKS!!!

When we returned home after the game Shawn and Chief had run into town to get some lumber at Carter's. Chief loves to go with Dad to get this stuff. Later that night we were ready to install this beefy header. Now for those of you who don't know, my dear husband is an excellent builder and loves to over-build items. This was no different, you could drive a car over this thing. Our house should not sag in this part. There was no way I was going to be able to lift this up over my head. I pleaded with him to call Barry. After trying to rig a way to get this in place using ladders he finally said, "go call Barry". Fifteen minutes later Barry arrived and the header was in place. Ah, much easier with three of us. They took down the temporary wall and then we sat in the kitchen (on whatever you could grab) and tried to figure out how we were going to lay this out with all this new found space! I'm loving the open floor area now. Here's a couple of views.

This is a view from the living room window looking into the kitchen.

This is a view from the back door looking into the living room and stair way.

Don't you think this looks so different but SO good??! We commented last night how we are already used to it. Sunday we finished a few things up, Shawn had to go into the attic and do some wiring. I started cleaning the disaster area & Shawn helped and then had things outside to clean up. We were able to get the dining table back into the kitchen area. We don't have power for lights in the kitchen or hall way. But, Shawn did get the ones in the living room area back on. He left his construction lights upstairs so I can use them to cook when it gets dark outside. We're making progress and I can't wait to get it done. I know, such a woman thing to say.

Kitchen part II

Here is part two of the weekend demo. This is a view from what used to be the dining room area looking into the kitchen. It's now all open, YEA!!!!! After the enormous amount of drywall work we have to decide on so much. Cabinets, counter top, flooring, lighting, paint, back-splash, fixtures. Of course me being a woman, I wanted it all decided now. Shawn's not on board with all that! He says one thing at a time. Whatever..Craigslist, here I come!


As usual when there is a project around here, Chief is beside him self. He's not sure where to lay and just plain doesn't like change. Shea on the other hand has been very helpful to her Dad. Especially since I also have to attend to Will. He is just going with the flow, as a baby would. Here's pictures of them from the weekend.

Will almost 9 weeks

Shea & Will

Look for more updates as they happen!!

Kichen Demo Begins!

This last weekend was a fun one in the Huntington household! We've lived here for 7 years. Since the day we moved in, I've wanted to remodel the kitchen. Well...other things came first. Saturday the day finally arrived and the wall came down! Start at the bottom of these pictures to get the progression, I up loaded them in the wrong order...that's what I get for multi-tasking. Shea and I had to pack into totes everything in the cabinets & pantry from the wall that would be no more. We moved the frig and Shawn had torn out the carpet. He sealed off the kitchen from the living room (that really helped with the dust). Ready, set, hammer!

Wall is out, one open room now!

Shawn tearing out drywall

I get the first hit on the wall I wanted gone!!!


Before view looking into dinning room from living room.

Before view of the wall from the kitchen.

Now we're living out of totes in the kitchen. The floor is all up- we found a second laminate floor under the first in the kitchen. Shawn hung drywall up on the ceiling where the wall once stood.

To be continued...

Fun Things To Share

We have great news to share with you all. Our friend, Kristen Thompson, has had a dream for a while now to venture out on her own & open her own Optometry place. Dr. Thompson's dream is coming true!!!! She & Troy bought a building in South Vienna, about 10 minutes from the lake. They've had remodeling to do & encountered problems with permits along the way. Finally, they are ready to open their doors. This is so exciting. The name is Cross Roads Eye Care. Shea, Will & I went on Thursday last week for a preview. It is nice! Shea tried on every single pair of pink glasses. She was a good model. If you would like more information about services she will offer please go to: www.visionsource-crossroads.com

Kristen & Shea

The next thing to share is this beautiful sunset. Friday was cool, gray & raining. At sunset, the sun came out for a brief time. I happened to be letting Chief out and ran to get my camera. I had to capture this gorgeous fall picture. Good thing I did, most of the leaves fell off this weekend.

The only tree in our yard to turn a pretty color this year!

Sunday we began to get serious about figuring out how we will go about remodeling our kitchen, our potential winter project. We've look a few places at cabinets but there was one more place we wanted to go- Bargain Outlet! We were successful in getting things put up outside for the winter on Saturday. Yesterday afternoon Shawn suggested we go into Columbus and take a look at what Bargain Outlet had. Sure, why not!! We found some we really like! Then reality set in om the price. So many decisions we have to make!!! After ward, Shea was tired & hungry. Daddy told her since she had been good we'd go to Cici's pizza for dinner. She was excited! When she & Shawn were pretty much done eating, they took Will so I could finish. They had him really smiling. Of course he didn't want to when I whipped the camera out. But...this is still cute.

Shea, Shawn & Will

Ah, it's the end of another good, productive weekend. Back to the daily grind. Plus, it's cold out here!!! Where did that nice Indian Summer go? We'll have to wait a few months. Have a great week!

A Rabbit Is Coming

A few weeks ago Shea began asking me if she could get a rabbit. Will was just born and I really didn't have time to discuss it with her and I said I don't know. We'll see. She's a persistent one and kept asking. I told her to discuss this with her father. I also explained to her that I had enough to keep up with around here. Two kids, a husband, dog, household and the 5 fish. I didn't need another animal to keep up with. Shawn was hesitant too as he thought he'd be the one taking care of this rabbit and he had enough of that as a child, raising rabbits for 4-H. Shea worked us hard. We think she's going to be a lawyer, that's how good her negotiation skills are. Finally one night she caught Shawn in a week moment and he told her if she started behaving better that she could get a rabbit. I just looked at him. I made it very clear I'm not responsible for his/her care.

We have informed Shea that this will be her responsibility to care for it and if she doesn't, it will be sold. Shawn also had her help him build a hutch, for it's "house". It's a NICE house. Complete with an enclosed inside are that we can shut up if it's cold and a door that opens up into an outside area. Some rabbit is getting a castle! This week they began staining it. Shawn was thrilled to use up old stain we had.

Shea put on an old t-shirt of Shawn's and was thrilled to start staining. Will and I just sat in the chair and I was already laughing, I knew exactly how this was going to go. Not 15 minutes later Shawn figured it out too. Stain was EVERYWHERE! Shawn told me I could stop enjoying this so much. Ah, to see someone else deal with what I do every single day. Needless to say, I had to scrub stain off of the child in the bath tub.

The following night (Wed) Shawn told Shea that she could just watch- again I cracked up. Shea did watch and even took this photo of Shawn. Maybe photography is in her future too??! The hutch is almost complete so now we must find the rabbit to occupy it. Shea wants a white bunny with a pink nose and she wants to name is Rosy. We'll let you know when we find her!

Election Day

My fellow Americans, the day has finally arrive. It's election day!! WAHOO! I woke up this morning at 5 am to feed Will and I immediately smiled. I thought today is the last day for all the political ads. I won't have to hear them every where I go. No more robo calls!! I won't have to fear answering the phone. Yes, this is a "historical" election as we've heard for months now. I'm just ready to go cast my ballot. I was just explaining to Shea today how important it is to do your research and then go and vote. This great country of our was founded with so many great principles. The one I treasure the most is freedom. There has been blood-shed for decades, centuries to preserve our right to freedom. I think we owe it to all of those folks to do our duty and get out and vote. Early voting has been a huge success this year. For me it's more convenient to wait until today. I only have to go .5 tenths of a mile to vote. How convenient is that?! As you contemplate voting and how to vote, just remember this photo of Old Glory!


I know there are many people with very strong feelings and convictions for which candidates they are going to be voting for. That is fine, I just hope our nation will be peaceful today and after the election. We need to show the world that we are ready to move on to the next phase in our democracy. Be it with a mixed-race President or a woman Vice-President. Happy Election Day!

Here's what the kids did this morning while we all had breakfast... Too cute in the AM, aren't they?