McComb Family

We've been in our house now for 8 years and our living room has never been furnished. Sure it's held the papasan left over from our college days, the piano that until recently never got used, and the yearly Christmas tree, but the room was never used. Now that we have the fish tank in there, it would be nice to be able to spend time in that room. Bret has taken to sitting in a chair from a patio set I got and refinished, but as you can see comfort can be a real issue!

I started looking recently for furniture, but since we will hopefully be putting an addition off that room soon, Bret was not too eager to decorate yet. It never hurts to look though!! : ) So, I found these leather (?) chairs at Target that I thought would do nicely. They were $320, and I figured if we didn't want them in there later they could always go up into our bedroom, because I've always wanted a sitting area in front of our window anyways. Well, I don't buy them at the store, but I checked online a few days later and they were on sale for $210. Yay -- my lucky day! I see what Bret says, and by the time he says yes the next day, they are no longer on sale! Figures.

As I continue looking around online, I start thinking that maybe cloth chairs with a leather love seat at a later date would look good. Hmm....sounds good to me. I find some online for $230 and when I stop at Target later that day to see them in person -- they happen to be on clearance for $160. Yippee!! I tell the lady I'll take two, but the only two they have are the one in the box and the floor model. The floor model is screwed down to the floor and has had a million people sitting in it. Um yeah, no thanks!!! Folsom has none left, but Auburn has 4 so I can still get one somewhere else though.

So, we pay for all of our purchases and the kid follows us out to the parking lot pushing the big flat bed dolly with the chair on it.

Me on the way to the car: So, we'll have to take the chair out of the box, because I kind of have a small car. It's not a problem though, I do this all the time!

Briana: Yeah, she does have a problem with doing this a lot.

[We proceed to rip the box apart and put the back and legs into the trunk. There is still quite a bit of room in there and we haven't even touched the back or front seats.]

Kid: Umm....the base is pretty big. I'm not sure where it's going to go.

Me: Oh, no problem -- I'll just put it in the back seat.

[Now I'm inside the car trying to pull the chair in, and he's outside trying to push it in.]

Me: Can you just turn it a bit so we can get it in?

[Pull, pull, wiggle, wiggle.]

Kid: Umm...you know BMW and Mercedes make SUVs, don't you?

Me: Oh yeah, but they suck. I want a Saturn. Plus, what would be the fun of that?

Needless to say, we finally got it in and Briana had about 6 inches of seat to sit on. Good thing her butt is so tiny. One of these days, I 'm actually going to be stuck in a parking lot with my purchases and no way to get them home. There have definitely been some close calls, and yesterday was no exception!!!! It's really lucky they only had one, because there is no way two would've fit!!!

I almost headed into Auburn last night to get another chair, but we didn't get home until after 8:00 and by the time I got the chair together, I wasn't that motivated to head back out. First thing this morning though, I call Auburn and guess what they tell me -- they have NONE of the chairs left. Uh oh!! I hadn't figured I'd need a back up plan -- last night they had 4 for goodness sake!!

Pretty soon I've called all the stores in the radius they give you online and none of them have any of the chairs left. *Gulp* If all else fails, I guess I can pay full price online, but by the time they add tax and shipping it was about double of what I had paid. So, I persevered on. Finally, Lincoln says they have 8! Within minutes, the kids and I are loaded up and heading to Lincoln. We get there, find the chair, and...are you ready for this....they have them on clearance for $115!!! I'm giddy. Well then.....I think I need a table, and while I'm at it a lamp, and oh yeah, an ottoman. I had two sales associates helping me. After numerous trips to the stock room, three different attemps at the table (too wobbly, don't like the color...), and several different ottomans.....here's what we ended up with.

Posted in: on Monday, January 19, 2009 at at 5:31 PM 7 comments  

We've added another activity to our already busy schedule -- piano lessons for Briana!! When she was 3 my grandma bought a piano for her, but she was still a little young to start lessons. She knows several people now though who play and has started showing an interest in learning how to do it herself. Our neighbor at the bottom of our road teaches piano, so it worked out well!!

She had her first lesson today and was so nervous going into it. Of course, once she got going, she was just fine. I left her there and took Adam home because he interrupted constantly for the whole two minutes we were actually there. When we picked her up, she talked non-stop the entire way home and then had to play for us everything she had learned. : ) Too cute!

We'll see how long it takes us to get sick of hearing "Sea Whale" over and over again.

Posted in: on Thursday, January 15, 2009 at at 8:37 PM 1 comments  

Briana and I had eye appointments today, and I can no longer read the E. THE E!!! That giant letter at the top of the chart that they reserve for blind folks. Ugh! And then to top things off, he dilated our pupils to check our retinas. If there was such a thing as double blind -- that would've been me. When I finally got to put my contacts in again, the world came back into focus......until I had to see up close. Bret had called and I tried to text him back, but I couldn't even read my phone. I have a pretty good feeling what it will be like in a few years when I start needing reading glasses.

Getting old sucks!!!

Posted in: on Monday, January 12, 2009 at at 5:32 PM 0 comments  

Today was our last day of Christmas vacation, so we went and did something fun before having to head back to reality tomorrow. Here we are getting ready to go sledding!!!
Of course you need food and drinks while you're playing, so here's our "pack mule" hauling our stuff. Sleds come in handy for more than one use we found out!!
Here are the kids hitting the hill. It was pretty icy, which meant snowball fights were out, but boy could you get going fast down the hill! The kids had a great time. Oh heck, who am I kidding.....all of us loved it!!
Ride 'em Cowboy!!!
Oh, whoops.....I don't think you're supposed to end up tangled in the tree!!!
You've also got to have a nice warm beverage while you're out there. Here are Bret, Brian, and Dawn enjoying theirs!!
And a cute shot of the kids.

We had a really fun time, and it was a great way to finish up the vacation. Great weather, great snow, and great company.....what more could you ask for!?

Posted in: on Sunday, January 04, 2009 at at 7:56 PM 1 comments  

Once again a year has flown by and now here we are in 2009. Seriously, how does this keep happening?? It seems like just yesterday we getting ready for the big Y2K, and now almost a decade has passed. Yikes!!

Here's hoping this next year is full of happiness and wonderful surprises! Wishing everyone a joyous new year!!

Also, if you haven't noticed yet.....Briana has her own blog now, so go check her out (link to the right). She'll be even more thrilled if you leave a comment while you're there! : )

Posted in: on Saturday, January 03, 2009 at at 12:45 PM 1 comments  

Happy New Year! How was everybody's New Year? We went to our friend's house. We had a blast! It was a Mexican party. There were a whole bunch of people there. My friend and I were texting back and forth wishing each other a Happy New Year. It was so fun. I hope you have a great 2009.

Posted in: on Thursday, January 01, 2009 at at 10:36 PM 1 comments  

How could I have forgotten Kiah and her adorable Christmas outfit??!! Her favorite spot was under the tree! I guess that was her first experience at our house last year (after 3 days of course in our bathroom!), she must think that's where she belongs!!!

Posted in: on Friday, December 26, 2008 at at 2:31 PM 1 comments  

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!! I had to keep Adam occupied for an hour or so until a decent time when the rest of us could get up to go down and check under the tree......

The kids were shocked by the aquarium Santa left for us. It was a little hard to see the fish as the tank was kind of fogged up -- must've still been cold from coming from the North Pole -- but it's beautiful.

Then the kids busted into the stockings.

Books arrived all the way from Australia -- thanks Ken and Helen!! They look great, and we can't wait to start reading them!

This was obviously the year for Adam to get remote-controlled vehicles. This is the first one he got, and he loves his "monster truck".

As you can tell from the picture, Briana was very excited to get a digital camera. Don't all bloggers need a camera to add pictures to their posts (just a heads up to expect some from her in the very near future)? She's definitely our little "techie".

Then the last presents were opened and you can see Briana's excitement mounting as she realizes they are helmets. The first thing she said to Adam was, "Now we have to look outside!" Obviously she's very aware that there is no need for helmets by themselves.

The plan was to have it by the front stairs, but it never made it out of the truck. Here they are "unwrapping" their new quad.

You could say she was a little excited!! Here's Brie all decked out and trying the quad for the first time.

Bret will be testing out his pilot skills with his new remote-controlled airplane.

And me? I got a new i-Phone which was a complete surprise. It's been fun to play around with some of the cool features it has, but I'm sure I have tons still to learn.

Once our festivities died down, we headed to Dennis' for Christmas with the McCombs. Here are the kiddos in front of the tree.

Then they made a gingerbread house. Briana had fun with the icing and Adam placed his little boy sliding down the side of the roof (would you expect anything else!?).

And finally......all of the family.

Posted in: on at at 8:48 AM 1 comments  

Sunday we got together with the Jones side of the family here at our house. It was very difficult to find a day when everyone could make it, but we finally did it!! All the family was able to be here, and it was fun to see everyone. Here are the kiddos opening presents!

The evening always seems to end with some type of game. For years it was Monopoly, but this year Bret brought out Risk. And, yes Mike, actually this picture will be on the blog! : )

One last one of the cousins putting Briana's new knitting machine to work. Gotta love Adam's pose!

Posted in: on Wednesday, December 24, 2008 at at 5:35 PM 0 comments  

Friday was our last day of school before Christmas vacation!!! It was almost a snow day, which would have been very disappointing for the kids, but the buses made it out of Georgetown and were able to deliver the little darlings to school. The morning started off with our traditional Singing in the Round, which is always a hit. Each grade level (K - 3rd) sings two different songs and then we all sing one song together. Here is Briana's class during one of the songs (yay - aren't they having such a good time!?).
Later that evening her teacher hosted a caroling trip through "The Trails" (our local gated community). All the kids (with Bret and another dad as the "tailgate") loaded up in a trailer with hay bales and went to various (pre-arranged) homes to carol. It was cold and a little wet, but great fun. We ended up at the teachers house for cookies and hot chocolate. What a neat experience for them. (I sure as heck wouldn't do it with my students - he he!!)
Here they are at one of the homes caroling.
You'd think this would be a fun, family-oriented event, but it almost got ruined by some real-life scrooges. Security came up behind us with lights flashing letting us know they had received several calls from residents saying a large caravan of cars was driving around.

So??? Are you kidding me? The front of the caravan was a truck pulling a trailer decked out with Christmas lights and kids singing Christmas carols. Get a clue and some holiday spirit people!!!!

Posted in: on Monday, December 22, 2008 at at 7:36 PM 0 comments