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!