a rock band christmas and update

Man this just goes to show how neglectful I've been on this blog here. These pictures are way back from Christmas time... but I realized that I had uploaded these pics to a draft so I could go back and comment on them later but never did. So since I was gonna post something quick tonight I thought I'd comment on these real quick. However, I was too tired to try and rotate them so you'll just have to rotate your head! Don't be lazy like me!!

Dustin rockin' the drums with his mouth open.

Brittany looks very into her guitar... actually a little too into it... her face is beginning to freak me out. Oh, by the way we all got matching Ohio State pajama bottoms. Too bad they sucked it up, again, in the championship game :(

Um, this is awful. Especially since I have total control of what pictures go on this blog, I'm surprised I loaded this one. But since I took the time to wait for it to load I hate to erase it now. And yes, I'm doing this new thing where you sing with your mouth barely open. Only really good singers with great control can do this.

Good old momma Donna trying the drums (which are ridiculously hard, yes?!?). During her solo she lost her neck :(


Okay guys, my dad was so into this drum set and this picture doesn't do his concentration justice. Look, his hands are going so fast they became a blur!!

Alright, on to more recent news. We are closing on our new and first ever house this Friday. Joe is in Indiana again this week so he's driving home early Friday to be there for the signing. It is a very exciting and scary time with the new house and new mortgage! Tonight I went to Home Depot to buy the majority of the paint and they couldn't match our 'main' color that we are painting everywhere for the time being -- major bummer. So I got the master bed/bath colors and called it a night. The kitchen, living room/family room, dinning room, hallways, and loft are the rooms that were are painting the 'main' color I mentioned. We figured that once were have taken care of the majority of the other changes we are making -- such as putting in new hardwood flooring and carpet, changing the front and back doors, putting in 2 toilets, etc. -- we would go back and change the colors of the smaller rooms, like the kitchen and loft, to a different color. In the meantime, at least it will be painted and look better than it does now. Oh, we also need to buy a fridge seeing as though the previous owners took theirs, although they left the stove and dishwasher (which needs to be fixed too). Our plan is to ultimately upgrade all the appliances to stainless or the stainless look, although doing that all upfront might not work financially.

So now that I've started to list some of the things that need to get done I'm starting to have a small heart attack!! I'm going on a cruise with my family at the end of March (Joe unfortunately has to work and can't go) and my sweet mother-in-law has been kind enough to agree to come to Ohio and watch Boston for the week since Joe will be at work. Anyway, we don't want her to have to stay at my parents house so our goal is to get it to a livable state by the time she comes. There is a lot that needs to be done, a lot of sweat for sure, before we reach that goal. So that's really where we are sitting right now; kinda waiting to close so we can get into the house and start to roll up our sleeves. It's gonna be a handful and I hope that I can handle it seeing as though I found out I'm PREGNANT AGAIN!! Yikes, a very fortunate thing but unfortunately solely because I am so dang tired all the time... again. Once this first trimester is over I will have endured 6 months of the 'first trimester', if you get what I am saying. I don't know how far along yet I am because I'm scared to call the doctor because he told me to wait until I had a period before we started trying again, but in our defense it wasn't our plan to get pregnant so quickly afterwards, and I'm worried that he'll reprimand me for not listening to him. I know it is quite retarded to think that, but still... I have yet to call and set up an appointment. All in all, things are good for us and we're happy, and yet stressed and anxious -- about the house and the pregnancy. SOOOO I just wanted to inform everyone of our good news-es (haha) and say that if you don't hear from me in a while it is because I am busy doing something to make our house the most awesomestly awesome house, I'm tired, or I'm sick. Take your pick... "Why has Ashley not posted today?" If you guess I'm suffering from all three at the same time, you'll probably be right :)