Where do I begin

To catch up...  Grandpa Kamstra died two & a half weeks ago.  He was the last grandparent I had - though I was blessed to have all 4 of my grandparents until my late 20's.  I'm surprised at how strange and lonely it feels to not have any of them around anymore.  I miss all of them terribly, and think of them nearly every day.

My folks came up from Phoenix for Thanksgiving and we had a ball.  Gordon & Scott came over from Denver too.  Chris made great turkey & stuffing, and the rest of us made awesome side dishes including scratch-made rolls from Wiz.  My Dad took some great photos with his camera.  Because the files are so large, I'm only uploading a couple (I want to go to bed soon).

While Mom & Dad were here, I had to capitalize on good weather and clean up leaves a few times.  Fortunately, my new (used) gas vac made short work of the job.  Tommy was also a huge help, stuffing his little bucket full of leaves too.

We went to the hotels on Saturday to see the decorations and have a great meal in the Coffee Shop.  Tommy had a ball.

Tommy found a new stuffed puppy to love.  I think we'll be getting a dog for Christmas (but after we enjoy our family from out of town; a house full of company is a bad time to break-in a new dog)...

And at the end of a big-party weekend, Tommy crashed.

Now that the Holiday is over, I'm back to work on the basement laying block & brick for the first time.  I've been studying, reading, and watching all the videos I can.  I think I've got a good handle on the process, but there's no doubt this is truly an art that must be practiced.  I hope any real masons reading my blog will be kind (Harry Stone...).

I can't find a solid hearth-stone that I'm willing to pay for, and so have decided to cast my first concrete slab to cap the hearth you see here.  If the planets align, I'll be ready to cast that this weekend.  Stay tuned.

My new ceramic gas-logs arrived tonight too.  After weeks of promising Tommy we'd put a fire in the fireplace, we installed the upstairs log quick before bed.  My camera phone didn't do it justice - it's a super-nice fire, and Tommy approved.

Lastly, we found out yesterday that we're expecting another son in April!  We're kind of reeling, but are so excited thinking about having 2 sons running around the house.  Please pray that everything goes smoothly, and thanks everybody for reading our blog!