3...2...1...

Can I take your order?

We buy them a cat condo and various cat toys... And they love this empty box. It totally looks like Darby is working at a concession stand and Jasper is ordering.

Halfway Party!

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20 weeks down...

20 weeks to go!

Yup, I'm halfway through my pregnancy. Pretty amazing. At times it feels like it is creeping by, but other times, it seems to be flying!

Baby K will be here before we know it!

Ho Ho Ho!!!

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with Lee's family. We took all of our "family" pictures. This is our last year for just having the two of us in our "family" pic! Pretty crazy to think about.

The kids went... to... town... on the gifts. We couldn't even keep track of whether they were opening their own gifts or who the presents were from. It was mayham to say the least!

We could keep track of what gifts little Cora opened. Here she is ready to open her gift from Lee & I. (You may not be able to tell from this picture, but yes, Sonia is back to her super skinny pre-pregnancy size already, just two and a half weeks after giving birth. Lucky duck.)

On Christmas Day we headed over to my grandma's house to celebrate with my mom's family. My mom got Baby Girl a stocking. Here is the stocking with Baby Girl in Belly.
This picture of Lee cracked me up. He looks like he is ready for a good holiday domestic dispute or something. I promise though, this was his first beer!

This year was the first time that we did a gift exchange with my mom's family. It was pretty comical since no one knew what they were doing! It ended up that we all knew who had who in the exchange and everyone basically got exactly what they wanted.

I was pretty jealous, though, since everyone got the gift of booze for Christmas except me. {tear} Besides alcohol, it was a Christmas of giving ottomans. Lee, my grandma & I bought my mom an ottoman and my mom bought me an ottoman. Star Furniture in Lafayette was very pleased with that theme, I'm sure.
For some reason, our cats are pretty darn sure that the ottoman was actually a gift for them. It doesn't make much sense since the ottoman is made of the same material as the couch and loveseat, but the cats have been fighting over sleeping on the ottoman since we brought it home.

On the 26th, we helped my mom & uncle clean out my grandma's rental house in West Lafayette. The tenants just moved out and it was AMAZING how dirty it was. I just don't know how some people live like that! NO DEPOSIT BACK FOR THEM! The good news is we already got the house rented for January. And we know these people through Lee's brother, so they should take better care of the place!

It was nice to come home and have the weekend to be back here in DeMotte. The weather warmed up and we were able to clean up our yard from the ice storm and clean up our house.

And now, I am looking forward to another long weekend starting after work tomorrow! Gotta love the holiday season!

Bathroom update

The floor is done... Good work Lee! Onto the shower walls!

My winter skin

my backyard

At the beginning of the winter, I was a total wuss. After just one year down in Norfolk, I was freezing in 40 degree weather. Ugh! How frustrating. I realized it was a big problem the day that Ploth made fun of me for wearing long johns under my pants to work. (In my defense, the pants were really thin and my walk from the train is pretty long.) After seeing how quickly you can lose your tolerance to the cold, I am totally amazed at people like Michelle & Kelin that spent their whole lives in the heat and then relocated to Chicago!!!

Well, just 6 weeks later, I feel like my winter skin is coming back. Thank goodness! I realized it today when it was 27 degrees on the way to work. I had my gloves on, but took them off because my hands were sweating. Ahhhh, that's more like it.

I wish I could hibernate!

It is 4pm in Chicago and it is only 5 degrees. Um, brrrr. And it is only the 2nd day of winter. That really scares me!

Think PINK!

On 12/17, we had our BIG ultrasound... And it turns out, baby K is a GIRL! This is an important ultrasound because not only can you find out the sex (usually), but they also take measurements of the baby's legs, arms, body, head, etc to make sure that the baby is growing with the correct proportions.

The ultrasound started and Baby K was moving all over the place, so the ultrasound tech was having a lot of trouble getting the measurements that she needed. The baby did not want to cooperate at all. Then, as if she wasn't being difficult enough, Baby K then curled up in a ball. I was getting quite discouraged thinking that she was never going to show us her stuff. We got a ton of pictures of her butt, but finally, the tech got a good angle and said "Congratulations, you're having a baby girl!"

I was in shock. I was so sure that it was a boy. I have no idea why. I think the first thing I said to Lee was "We have to move somewhere that has gymnastics classes!" The ultrasound tech probably thought I was a weirdo. Anyway, all of the measurements looked good, and we have a little baby girl coming in May.

Looks like Lee better get on Reuter's workout regimen to buff up before the boys start coming 'round.

Encapsulated

Thursday night we were hit with a big ice storm in DeMotte. Lee and I had already gone down to Lafayette, so we weren't around. We came home on Saturday night to check out how things looked. Everything is in about an inch of ice!

We lost some really big limbs from our trees. This one just missed our house by about 2 feet. Thank goodness!

Our pine trees are all weighed down. This one is about to have its tip broken!

Look at this poor little guy. I'm amazed that we have kept our electricity on with ice weighing down the power lines!

It is really pretty though!

Windmills

This weekend, Lee & I had his Gma Puetz' Christmas party. Gma Puetz lives out in Fowler, IN. This is near where Lee grew up and went to school until he was a freshman and moved to my school. It has always been just a lot of farm land out there, but now they are starting to farm something else too... WIND.

Look at all those windmills. Really changes the look of things out there.

The windmills are HUGE. I never realized it until being up close to one.

This is Lee's old school, now surrounded by windmills!

I think it is really cool that we have these windmills going up so close to home. It is crazy for rural Indiana to be on the cutting edge of solving the energy crisis!

Biggest Loser Finale

CONGRATULATIONS
MICHELLE!

Michelle lost 110lbs to be the Biggest Loser!

Some highlights of the show:
* America ignored Ed in a landslide votin him into the finals over Heba. Awesome!
* At one point Lee said "I think Heba thinks she's a lot hotter than she is."
* There was a fan in the audience with a sign that had a blue t-shirt on it with a big X through it. NO BLUE SHIRTS! It was hilarious.
* Vicky said that she got advice from Phil that really helped her. What? I thought Phil was such a bad guy...
* People that looked really good: Stacey, Amy, Shellay & Jerry
* Phil & his wife Amy both looked AWESOME! I was really hoping that Amy would win the at-home prize to shove it in Heba's face. But..

Some low-lights of the show:
* Heba won the at-home $100k. You could tell she was trying really hard to be a good sport about not being in the finals, but I saw a glint of brattiness. Her inner toddler was dying to throw a tantrum.
* I was not as impressed with Coleen as I thought I would be...
* I was really hoping they would address Vicky being the antagonist of the show. You know, like they do on Survivor.

They showed some previews for next season, and I have to say... WOW. The oldest couple in the history of the show, the fattest guy in the history of the show... And I swear, in one scene it looked like the old guy died. Season starts January 6th, so set your DVR!

Vote for Ed!

The voting is now open between Ed & Heba for the final spot in the top 3. You can vote 10 times from a single email address, so get going!

Here is a quote from Clint. He has voted 10 times from his work email and will vote 10 more times from his home account:

I love abusing the system. I can't believe I care so much about this show.

So, here are the TOP FIVE reasons to vote for Ed:

5. Ed is such a nice guy that he actually asked everyone to vote for Heba.

4. Ed got voted out and went home for a few weeks and still managed to make it to the final 4.

3. Bob thinks that Ed threw the weigh-in to ensure Heba made it in to the finals. (+2 lbs on the last week? After falling below the yellow line in the previous week? Something smells fishy.) If we vote Heba, we are condoning cheating on the Biggest Loser.

2. Heba is a BIG girl with a LOT of weight to lose. Having her in the finals hurts Michelle's chances at winning. And we're all cheering for Michelle!

1. We can't vote off Vicky (DARN) so we may as well do the next best thing!

VOTE NOW!!!!!

P.S. They should have voted that devil woman off when they had the chance. Amy C, I curse your name!!!

Welcome to the World - Cora Rose

Today Lee's family grew a little bit bigger!

Sonia & Wyatt welcomed Cora Rose.

Born today, 12/9/2008, just one day before her due date! Good timing...

Cora is the 5th grandchild of the family and the 2nd girl, YAY!

She weighed 7lb1oz and I can't wait until I can meet her!

Last week's Loser (for Jess)

I actually had to look back and remind myself what happened last week on the Biggest Loser...

Oh yeah! Makeovers.

The 5 remaining contestants went to NYC and got hair, makeup & clothes done and then got to show off their new selves on the Tyra Banks show. I wasn't all that amazed with the makeovers this season. I think because Michelle & Renee were already really pretty and the other 3 didn't have much hope anyway. That was mean.

1st & last nice comment about Vicky: I really liked the hair color that they gave her during her makeover. It looked pretty good.

Anyway, on the Tyra show, each contestant got a visit from a loved one then they got to hang out with them the rest of the time in NYC.

Once back at the ranch, they had to do a competition. They were hanging in a cube over water and they had to hold themselves up. Vicky was the first one out, but she refused to drop the 10 feet into the water. Not so tough now, are you devil woman? Everyone dropped out one by one and Michelle ended up winning the spa package. Vicky STILL refused to drop into the water. Finally Ed swam back out to the cube and she finally dropped in. It was like watching a parent get their kid to jump off the diving board for the first time. Pathetic.

At the weigh-in, it was Ed and unfortunately Renee to fall under the yellow line. The Alliance of Annoyance stuck together and Renee went home.

The most important part of the night was at the very end... They announced that AMERICA would decide who the 3rd finalist would be to go to the final weigh-in. This is a blatent way for them to get fan favorite Michelle into the final round no matter what. This also gives me great hope that Villian Vicky will be below the yellow line and America can finally tell her to stick it where the sun don't shine.

I can't wait!!

So, after tonight's episode, don't forget to go online and vote for NOT VICKY!

The fireplace saga

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Our house was built in 1974. Over the years, parts have been updated. The people before us updated most everything. However, there are still random hideous gold stuff. Which looks extra bad since a lot of things have been updated to have brushed nickel. So, we have been slowly getting rid of the gold crap left around the house.

Last week, we turned our attention to the fireplace. Lee is going to be building a mantel for the fireplace when he is done with the bathroom, but the doors of the fireplace were that hideous bright gold. We started looking into how much it would cost to buy a new set of doors. Turns out, it would run about $300 for a cheap set! That hurts the ol' one income bank account.

So, Lee decided that he would paint our current doors. I agreed since worst case scenario we just have to dish out the $300, which is where we basically are now. So, he got some grill paint that withstands heat, and painted it black. I was nervous to see it when I got home from work, but I must say, I am quite happy with how it turned out!

However, Lee got greedy and decided to try to paint our fireplace tools as well. It was going fine, until he tried to tighten the stand and broke it. Whoops.

Now, we just have to figure out how to get our gas fireplace to WORK!

We bought our first onesie

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And it is quite appropriate for a child of Lee!

Now, if only we could find one that says "Daddy hearts Jameson" for Baby Reuter!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

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Yes, Lee and I have started our decorating around the house. So far, it is just a 3 foot tall tree, some stockings, a nativity scene and some outdoor lights with issues. But, hey, it's more festive than past years!

Lee put the outdoor lights up while I was at work. He checked the strings of lights to make sure that they worked. Then he strung them up to our roof and porch. Plugged them in and it was a total Clark Griswald! Yup, one string turned out to be bad and won't work! DOH!

Need some dating advice?

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Try How to Talk to Girls, by Alec Greven.

What sets this book apart from the others? Alec is only 9 years old and in 4th grade.

Though, he seems to have a lot figured out:

"Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil."
"comb your hair and don't wear sweats"
the best way to approach a girl is to keep it to a simple "hi."

Genius!