Scenes from Thanksgiving 2013

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

...this kid is going to be overdue...Christmas at our house! All of the presents are bought, wrapped and under the (live!) tree. Decorations, inside and out are up. Stockings stocked and hung on the mantel. Christmas came early this year. For obvious reasons I don't think we'll have much time to tend to a tree or presents in the next few weeks. I don't think I've ever had everything done this early before but I like it. No stress, no last minute shopping. Of course, we are still waiting for one very special present...pretty sure she's decided not to come early though!

Bird's Eye View

This is my colleague and friend, Joel. He's a fellow GIS mapping nerd like me. Maybe just a tad nerdier, actually. Sorry, Joel. This is his homemade quadcopter. It is outfitted with a GPS and digital camera and Joel can control the position of the quadcopter very precisely from his remote or laptop. He can see the location of the quadcopter in real time over high resolution aerial imagery (think Google Maps) and using the on-board digital camera, he can capture photographs and various angles and stitch them together to create ultra high resolution (think two inches!) aerial imagery that can be used in GIS mapping programs.

 Okay...enough nerdy stuff. Take a look at these cool pictures he took with the quadcopter in our back yard. It kind of makes our house look ginormous, especially compared to our neighbors, so...that's a little embarrassing. I think it's the hill though. Our house is big..but not THAT big!

Cool, right? Doesn't it make you wish you could be a bird, just for one day?

Project Previews

Ever since we got back from our summer vacation a few weeks ago, James and I have been keeping busy (too busy!) with various projects around the house. I'll be sharing each of these over the next few weeks but to keep me on track I figured I'd share a sneak peek at what we've been up to. In addition to these projects I hope to finish the rest of our room reveals. We still have several more to go including the game room, both guest bedrooms, a full bath, laundry room, our current office, our "new" office (has something to do with one of the photos below!) and eventually our nursery. Lots to get through!

A Happy Man

James enjoying his new ride. Can you tell he's having a good time? Let's hope his enthusiasm for mowing the lawn stays like this because we have a lot of lawn to mow. Here's to many, many years of happy mowing!

What a Difference a Year Makes

I took a look back and realized that almost exactly a year ago this week we broke ground. What a year 2011 turned out to be. There were so many days filled with excitement, anticipation, frustration, exhaustion and joy. Blood, sweat and tears. But look how far we've come in one year.

And yet, there is still plenty of work left to do.

Heart Melting House Warming

I know I've bragged about how crafty and thoughtful our friends are (here and here). Honestly, I'm not sure how I landed such awesome and talented friends but here's another one to blow you away. One of my besties handmade this quilt for James and I as a housewarming gift. Can you say wowzas? Wowzas! I can't imagine how many hours have gone into making this. It is truly awesome and honestly the pictures don't even begin to do it justice.

The quilt has our names, address and a special note from Suzanne and Jeremy stitched into it. The colors and material that Suzanne picked out match perfectly with the other colors in our living room. And...it's totally retro!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Bartons! We love you so much. xo