Bringing back the Ergo

My friends back home were so generous when Cole was born and two things they got me were a top of the line Bob stroller and top of the line Ergo baby carrier. I love them both! Immensely! But I had hung the Ergo up for the past few months and just pulled it out again yesterday and it worked great! As long as we're moving, Cole seems very content to just hang out and tag along. This seems especially good for late afternoon times when he's getting tired/fussy/clingy but bedtime is a little ways away yet. Don't know if it'll continue but we've gotten some Ergo time the past few days. Fun, sweet times together. 

And today was Shirley's birthday. We'll celebrate Friday with steaks and chocolate pie at our house with Michael and Chelsea. We'll be celebrating Marc's birthday too!

TIMBER!

From Georgie:  Before we left Olathe to accomplish PROJECT: GET GROOM TO TEXAS, we had to take down the Christmas tree - our last real tree.  Brad had never had the pleasure of helping with this task so we had fun teaching him.

Dave is ready to conquer this beast!

 Once the top third was off, it was time for Brad to tackle it.

Brad is so cute!  He'll make a great groom, stupendous husband and a wonderful father!!!!

This is it!  How many guys does it take to dismantle an Ellis Christmas tree?  Unscrewing the trunk from the stand. Gotta be careful because there's still water left in the basin!

Goodbye chopping-down-your-tree tradition.  May you live on in the home of Brad and Kathryn.
Hello new tradition - 9 foot artificial pre-lit tree for the Olathe Ellises.

Here's the frozen pipes story

On Sunday and Monday here in KC we had record breaking cold temps-it got down to -10 degrees with higher than that wind chills. I think I heard people say that it was the coldest it had been in 20 years around these parts (I just got back from Texas so I can talk a little Southern.) Monday afternoon I went downstairs to put our luggage away. As I walked toward the storage room on the far side of the basement I heard water running like a water fall. I was doing laundry at the time so I thought that might be it but I knew it sounded different than I remembered hearing before. When I went into the storage room I saw water on the floor. I knew then that the water was coming in from the wall.

Place where our luggage and a bunch of other stuff was stored

Cory came and helped me figure out how to turn off the water to the whole house with the help of a phone call to Ladell. We moved the stuff out of the wet part of the basement, borrowed a wet-dry vac from our neighbors and Ladell called a friend from church who does plumbing. Our friend, Bill Penn told Ladell that if he found out where the broken pipe was he would come and cap it off. Ladell just started hacking into our basement wall and ceiling.

So painful!

He found the leak and Bill came in a short time. He capped off the pipe so we could turn our water back on. It was closer to the corner and the pipe that was involved was the one going to our outside faucet. One we can live without until Bill comes back to fix it. We pulled the carpet back and vacuumed water out of it and the pad underneath. Another friend named, Kingsley came and helped us vacuum and pull the heavy carpet back.

We are waiting to hear if we have insurance coverage to help with the repairs. Hopefully, we'll hear from the adjustor tomorrow. We have lived in our house 17 years and haven't ever had a frozen pipe there or anywhere. Goes to show you how cold it really was. To look of the bright side...we have some great friends and neighbors that came our rescue.  I went downstairs soon after it happened because the carpet was wet just about 3 feet out from the wall and on in to the cement storage areas. It could have happened on a work day or we could have been out of town and had a basement full of water. The basement is a mess right now but as they say "out of sight, out of mind." We are headed for a heat wave of 40s and 50s!

Tot Swap

Today we started a new venture we're calling...Tot Swap. The girls in Sublette in the ladies Bible study decided we'd try our hand at giving each other some time off. Two moms gather at one house and the rest of the moms can bring their kids over and get some free time. We did it from 9-11 today. We structured it with two moms at the house so there'd be plenty of help but also so those moms could have some interaction with each other too. This morning it worked out great! Tiffany was so gracious to open her house and I helped her out. Next week we'll switch and two other moms will be on duty. Even if it doesn't last, it's worth a shot. 

Here we are having snack. There are 4 families represented (I'm holding Cole and some of the big kids are at school). 

If Only Cole Could Walk

We met our friends at the Sublette rec center gym today to run off some steam and get out of the house. Cole loved watching the big kids run around and bounce the basketballs. He even tried to crawl halfway across the gym to get the balls. I think I heard him say, "If only I could walk..."

Our New House

Ok, we are in the PROCESS of buying this house in Sublette. 

No, not for us to live in but as a rental. Marc has been keeping his eye out for farmland, houses, hotels, any real estate really as an investment opportunity for the past 4 years, probably. And nothing has ever panned out, but this kind of fell into our laps. 

So, if everything goes through, we will be new home owners shortly and begin working to fix it up to rent. It'll take a little work, as evidenced by the picture, but it doesn't seem super overwhelming. 

We are going in on it with Michael and Chelsea as a joint venture. Here's to Voth Rentals!

Brad Got Married

I didn't take as many pictures as I would've liked, but here are a few of my favorites. 

We snuck in to see the Groom before the wedding. Isn't this hat from Aunt Julie the cutest thing?

Mom and I snuck back to see Kathryn before she walked down the aisle. She hadn't seen Brad at all that day but had talked to him with a wall between them. She said he was really emotional. Cute!

Photo compliments of my Aunt Susie Ellis 

Photo by Laura 

On Friday, Tricia came over from Denton, TX (about an hour) to visit and meet Cole and Marc. I also got to meet her two kids and see her husband again. It was a fun reunion. Julie, Mom, and I are dressed up for the bridesmaid luncheon we were invited to that day. Fun to be included! It was very elegant. 

Photo by Abby

Julie made the comment after the ceremony that it was so weird to see Brad with a wedding ring! And I completely agree! I can't believe our little Braddy is married!?!