Merry Christmas 2008

Coming to the end of 2008

The Kalbach consensus is that our whole year was GREAT!

Jon spent the first few months of the year working hard to become an Aircraft Commander. 

If you came over on the weekend while Jon was at work, sorry if I gave you an earful of Navy slander!

Jon went on detachment in April with the USS George Washington for 6 weeks or so. 

When he came home we all met him in San Diego!

A wonderful family tri

p it was, Jon

 , Ella, Rudy, Mary Ann (Jon's mom) and me.

We missed him so much while he was out to sea!

Our Littlest people are growing up fast.

So sweet and innocent, I wish this time would always last. 

Ella learned to use the potty this year, we are so grateful for this.

She is smart as can be, and not a detail does she miss.

Rudy turned one in October and learned to walk!

He is trying to run now and starting to talk! 

The two play together now, entertainment is free. 

I can baby gate them in a room for 20 minutes and take care of me!  (aka 

shower) 

Speaking of babies, our family grew by two! 

We've got a new cousin, Alessandro, and my sister gave birth to Luke, ANOTHER nephew!  

We can't forget Rudder Bear, who is such a good ol' boy.

Not a stuffed animal exists in our house that hasn't become his dog toy.

I've gone back to college!  A nurse I am going to be. 

I'm hoping to complete the program sometime this century. 

Jon is preparing to deploy, we are sad that he has to go. 

We are trying to make the time between now and late February pass slow. 

Yes, in late February 09 back to Bahrain Jon will fly. 

It sounds like he will return sometime in July?

That was gist of our life in 08, but there is much ore than this.

You can read more of our blog for the details you may have missed!

Merry Christmas, and my the spirit of Christ fill your hearts all year! 

Love, 

Emily, Jon, Ella, Rudy, and Rudder Kalbach

Ahhhhh.....

If only Christmas celebration lasted all year......

The children are in constant awe and  wonder of the magic found in Santa and Jesus.  The house has a particularly warm feeling and glow.  (Not to mention, I really like the table in the entry vs. the corner of the living room where the tree currently stands.  )  Distracting Ella to obey me with the threat of  "Santa knows" will have to be put away along with the Christmas Carols that she is beginning to memorize. Through and through.  "No mommy sing the Baby Jesus one!"    My heart just keeps swelling!  

We are enjoying immensely  creating the magic of Santa and teaching the story of the night Jesus was born.  I have completed almost all of the pre Christmas duties with the next 5 days to relax and focus on the excitement to be had in Ella's world.  Rudy doesn't quite get  any of it yet but he does stop what he's doing to pay attention to Santa and certainly he is having a great time playing with the ornaments on the tree.  

The excitement and anticipation is great.  I have to say our world revolves around Christmas right now from the moment we wake up until we go to bed.  I am looking forward to starting a new tradition this year for us, not certain what yet..... something though that will be simple and strong in reminding us all the purpose of Christmas. 

Money, food, Betty Crocker.....

We, like most people, have credit card debt.  Honestly we don't know how it got so big, but it did.  Over the past 3 years with me not working, and buying a money pit of a house we have still managed to chip away at our debt and doing an awesome job most of the time.  I just read an article on MSN written by a lady who sounded just like me.  Her article, tips, ideas, etc. were pretty much all of the steps we as a family have taken in order to pay off our debt.   I could have written that article..... why haven't I written an article?  I totally could, however this lady just did a good one so why bother.  The main point, SACRIFICE and DISCIPLINE.  In the end, when the debt is gone, it isn't that there is more money in your bank account that matters, it's the quality of life you gain.   In our journey we have done both, and learned these lessons, and are thankful that we have had to learn to be so "tight" with our money.  A lesson that will help carry us into a sound financial future.  

We have been on a money diet since we got married, I'd have to say though as the children get older, me in school, and things needing replaced in the house that we are currently in our tightest time.  That said, Jon's deployment could not come at a better time for us financially.   Not only do we save on car insurance, his cell phone, etc, but he makes a pretty penny more while deployed in Bahrain.  Enough to wipe our slate clean and give us the freedom we have been working so hard toward.  We are the lucky ones in that we are getting a magic bullet to free us of debt.  Certainly with a huge sacrifice of Jon leaving his family for 6 months, but at the same time he doesn't really have a whole lot of say.   Our life when he returns will be of a better quality, less financial stresses!  I feel guilty saying that as we certainly are not poor, needy etc.  We will gain back some of the things that we have sacrificed along out journey.   We want to continue living meagerly, so that our money can grow, and so that we can use it to live a full life of great experiences for our family, not full of "things" for each other.  (although, I am excited to buy a nice new outfit for myself every so often and not feel guilty about it)  

The lessons we are learning about ourselves on our money diet are interesting.  We have learned to really examine the amount of money we spend in small places.  One of our "small" places being eating out, and unnecessary grocieries......  Bringing me to my new project...... Our second largest bill each month, second to our house payment, is FOOD!   Two things that have brought me to this project is a reality show I saw about a family of 15 living on a $500 a month food budget!  Yeah, um that is at least what we spend per month on food for 4!  The second is the $1 a day diet project blog a hippie couple in CA did just as an experiment for 30 days.   We obviously can not and will not feed our children on $1 per person per day, however, it is making me examine much closer how I shop for food and what we eat.  

I remember as a teenager eating Salmon for the first time, I think I was 15!  Maybe never having fresh fish, nice cheeses, etc was because I grew up in a corn field, in a small rural world. Or, perhaps it was because my mom was a teacher, dad a farmer, and they made sure we had everything we wanted and needed, along with the ability to take advantages of the experiences that would expand our little rural world, thus  cutting expenses where they could.  Ah.... likely the later.  Mom made everything from scratch.  Something I try to do for the health of our family but still grab the canned beans, frozen lean quisines and bags of salad.  She also canned our vegetables that we grew in our garden, dried our clothes on the line out side, used rags instead of paper towels, and returned the glass soda bottles to the grocery store (the old IGA on Ellsworth ..... ahh the memories) As we all got older and somehow money became more plentiful and the luxury items became available at the IGA, our lifestyle slowly changed.  Becoming accustomed to these things, it has been a lesson to remember the old ways.  My resolution for the new year is to cut our food bill and still eat healthy.   My ideas (so far) to do this are:

1. Meal plan weekly and stick to the plan!

2. include in our meal plan regular staple meals that the kids like including items such as beans, lean ground beef, and pounded chicken (pounding it makes it look bigger and seems like you are eating more and thus goes further)

3.  Prepare extra and freeze the leftovers for nights when I don't feel like cooking and can avoid the temptation to eat out.  

4. stop buying bags of lettuce and chop up my own!

5. Cautiously buy and use the vegetables before they rot in the fridge.

6. Clip coupons!!!

7. Plan special nights to eat out as a family (we ate out every Sunday at Ponderosa before visiting Uncle Paul at the nursing home, and ate lunch at McDonald's on Saturday before the grocery store this was also when a cheese burger was $0.35, but what great memories!) 

That said.... I am going to do my Thursday task of menu planning as not only am I resolving to cut back our food bill and waste, but also organize our life before Jon leaves.  Check out this home organization plan.  It has literally changed our life in our home!  

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Last week we jumped in the car and drove up to Ohio to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at my sister's house with my Aunt Karen and Uncle Rick who came in from Seattle.  The drive was uneventful.  We stayed in a DIVE hotel.  We had Rudder with us and much to our surprise traveling with him this time it seemed every hotel allowed pets, for a fee.....  Our thought on this was that we were staying at a cheap hotel to begin with and our dog is a whole heck of a lot cleaner than most people who probably sleep there so we were not paying any $10 fee.  When the guy flat out asked me if I had a pet I nearly choked, but I lied...... I hate lying.  I felt SO guilty.  Especially when we went to take our bags in and there was a sign on the door saying "if you have a pet and don't claim it you'll be fined $25."   Long story short Jon snuck him in and out while I created a distraction.  I felt as if I broke the law or something.  Not to mention the hotel we stayed at sat 50 yards from a State Hwy patrol department.  Anyway...... 

Ohio was cold, big surprise!  Dinner was great and so was the company!  Aunt Karen and Rick left early on Friday morning as my sister and I braved the Black Friday crowds at 5 am.  I said I wouldn't do that again after last year..... Still not sure if it was worth it, but I did get most of my Christmas shopping done for the kids.  We came home around 10am only to find the Flu had hit the Kalbachs.  Again we were traveling and someone in our family was puking?  Another surprise?   Rudy and Jon were down all day.  Saturday I got a cold, and so did Ella.  Rudy got it Monday and still has it, Ella puked Tuesday......   I think we are done being sick?   I still have yet to puke but Jon is leaving for the weekend tomorrow (skiing in Vail)  so if I'm going to get the flu it will be while Jon is gone having fun.  

Because of the cloud of illness hovering over my sister's house we opted not to travel up to Salem and spread our disease.  We hung out the whole time at my sisters and trashed her house over and over inside and out:-)  Ella had a blast with the boys.  She and Zach have developed a love hate relationship.  Constantly bickering but couldn't  be apart.  Alex.....  it is interesting to watch him.  He's changed so much.  He has gone from a crazy kid to a big boy.  He sits quietly and does his thing,  is is capable of having intense conversations with you.  He's such a big helper and so sweet with Baby Luke, Ella and Rudy.  He is turning out to be quite a little man.  Then there is baby Luke...... I think Rudy is going to pass of his "T-Bone" nick name to him.  What a big boy!  Another kid growing like a weed! 

We braved the mall crowds on the Saturday following Thanksgiving to go to build-a-bear workshop and let the kids spend their gift cards that Cousin Kelly gave them all for being part in her wedding this summer.  All the boys got their bears, well, Rudy and Luke got bears, Zach got a monkey, Alex a dog, and as Ella already has a bear from there so she got a cheerleader outfit for her bear.  After build-a-bear, we were crowded out and hungry.  On our way to have wings at Quaker Steak and Lube (YUMMM!!!)  and a MUCH needed beer, we drove to downtown Columbus in search of Jon's grandpa's old home on East 2nd street.  Unfortunately where we think his home was is now a park, however we did get to get out and walk around and take some pictures of where Jim lived 83 years ago.  There were many old homes that surely were there 80 years ago as well as a cobblestone street that Jim probably played on.  Jon's grandpa Jim had a rough childhood especially during his few years in Columbus, Ohio.  It was really special for all of us to be in a place that had such an impact in his life.   

Following the "walk down Jim Ledgerwood's Memory Lane" we headed to the Columbus Zoo to see the lights.  It was FREEZING cold so we didn't see much but lights, goats and of course most importantly, Santa's Reindeer!  Ella was in awe over them.   

Our trip home was uneventful as well.  Rudy did great for being stuck in his car seat for 10 hours with just one good break.  Ella did great to.  She talked much of the time repeating things she learned from the boys...... those things she learned are still surfacing daily.   The funniest thing she learned was that "Girls don't have wienies" ........... This was one random comment that came out of her mouth when everyone was quiet.  Priceless.  

Now moving forward to Christmas!  I am so excited to celebrate this year with the kids and Jon.  Ella is getting it and soaking it all in.  She is discovering all the magic in the season Santa Claus is no longer HO, and the joys and wonders of the night Jesus is born. She is very intrigued by baby Jesus!  It's great! 

Disarray

Well if you read my last post and got through the part about our kitchen and bath painting, we did not stop there.  Since we have moved into this house we have had a million and one ideas of how to make our funky kitchen and downstairs bath better.  Some ideas likely costing an arm and leg, some costing much less.  The "much less" is what we'd like to put into this house as it's looking like 2010 before we can even thi

nk about selling it and making a little bit of equity. The house was built in 1912 with an addition on the back put on who knows when.  Likely the back rooms (Sunporch, bathroom, laundry/ mud room) was originally a large open air porch then later enclosed.  Last spring after replacing the roof on that addition we had the ceilings redone inside and the sun porch downsized and rearranged the laundry facilities to be enclosed.  With that done, still one of the weird things about the back area is that the door to the half bath is literally right off the kitchen sink.  It's odd, and uncomfortable.   Our desire has been to move the entrance to the bathroom to the mud room area and not enter the bathr

oom via the kitchen.  This project includes ripping into a very old wall with the house's original exterior siding still on it.  

Jon had Veteran's Day off this week and that's just what he did.  All the excitement of how great the new color in the bath and kitchen felt motivated him to start a new project.  I am always in awe at how handy Jon is.  He does have the Kalbach trait of not being able to make just one or two trips to Lowe's in order to complete a project but needing at least 10-15 trips.  Tuesday he only made ONE!  The deal was that he would rip off the siding and see what was behind it.  If what he found was more

than what we or a hired person could handle fairly inexpensively, or if what we found would expose something crazy then we would just slap some sheet rock back up and pretend we never knew.  Good news, nothing crazy was discovered.  I was really hoping for maybe some money to be buried in the wall.  There is still hope as the side of the wall opposite the sided side has a massive lump in the plaster.  I fear however more than something fun like money but a person being plastered in there as it's such a large bump.  If you knew our luck with this house, you'd expect the same.

Being built so long ago, our walls are made with lattice and mortar mixed with horse hair to hold it together better.  It's a SOLID old house.  Obviously a product of it's era and likely took a long time to build.  It's been through a lot in it's 97 years of life.  I often wonder who lived here, who died here, babies born here, hearts broken, hearts healed etc.  What traditions have these walls encountered?  Who has fallen down the slippery stairs as I have? We know there was  a fire in the basement once that left a small hill in the living room floor.  We also know that it was rented out for awhile.  A rental house in this neighborhood prior to 7-10 years ago likely was host to some interesting people.  The walls have been painted many colors.  Trim included.  As one of my current projects is trim painting I have found pink, country blue, lilac and deep purple to be beneath some of the layers of trim.  The blue is just beneath the current color of off white that I am painting over.  I'm guessing the blue was likely done in the 80's when decorating with ducks was stylish?   Why are 5 of the 6 wooden doors downstairs stripped? What was the plan?  Whoever stripped the doors I sure have words for them....

The chandelier in the entry..... how old are yo

u?   Are you really worth what I've found antique fixtures similar to you going for on the internet?  If so, I'm really sorry that you will be removed and brought with us when we move..... hope you're tired of "hanging out" where you are!

I do love our house.  It's become ours over the two years we've been her.  The longest I've lived anywhere since I graduated from high school.  

Ah home! .... or as the walls of this old house say HA, you belong to me now, FIX ME!  

Grandma Kalbach's VA Visit!

Jon's mom came to visit us the weekend before Halloween and was able to stay with us for 10 days!   Her time here is always fun, productive, and just too short.  I count my blessings that I have such an awesome mother and father-in-law!  It really stinks being so far away from all of our family so when they come visit we really appreciate the time we have with them.  The week Mary Ann was here I did not get enough pictures on my camera:-(  However we did get some.  While MAK was here she got to party at AJ's, (a couple times actually) trick-or-treat with the kids, bake with Ella, go to the zoo, help me paint my kitchen, hem my curtain:-) play play and play with the kids, and one of her highlights was flying in her first glider and actually landing it! 

When she and Dave come to our old house a project usually gets s

tarted.  I have to say I am over this "this old house" thing we have going on, but when they come and a small v

ictory

 is achieved, I get rejuvenated and  excited for the next task.  On Halloween day I was able to spend the early part of the day painting our hideous kitchen.  It still needs work (new appliances, flooring, finish cabinets, removal of the "loan cabinet" and shelves put in it's place.. etc) how

ever the paint no longer mint green is now the same color as the rest of our house.  I can't even tell you how nice it feels.  I truly feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders as I see and end to our ugly kitchen.   The paint alone made more of a difference than I could have imagined and I am no longer over come with the feeling of defeat when I enter it.  (notice in the family picture above the kitchen in the background.....the mint green....gag!) I also painted our "periwinkle" bathroom finally....... wow, that was more than a minor victory!  Ella misses the purple:-(  

Big news about Rudy!  He is finally decided that walking is cool!  He walks around with his hands over his head everywhere he goes.  It's pretty funny.  

One Year Old

Rudy James (AKA Ru Dude) is now one!   We had a party on his birthday celebrating his first year with our Navy family and friends. The weather was PERFECT!  We had about 30 people over, broke out the bounce house, busted up a bail of straw in which we threw candy for a candy hunt and played and played until dark.  What a great time!  Rudy had a blast and so did Ella!   He had no problem going to sleep on this night! 

Our little man whom we love so is one!