I know! We were on such a good streak, too! I just couldn’t justify asking Missy to run across the street, snap a few pics, and e-mail them to me while I was away on top of everything else she had going on. Even though I’ve posted from afar in weeks past, well…I figured that missing one week wouldn’t hurt. Plus it turns out that I picked a pretty good week to skip, ’cause not much at all changed while I was away, actually.

The floor is a little messier, and the drywall tape and spackle has been…drying? From the walls…

…to the ceilings…

…the garage…

…and everything else in between.

Ok, so I guess that’s still just a shot of more walls drying, but…you get the idea. I will say though that it was great to walk inside a warm building. We actually had to take our gloves and hats off when walking through the house!

Outside, there is a new giant hole in the front lawn:

…which the plumbers had recently dug so that they could connect the water line from the street to the house. Their backhoe fits in nicely, doesn’t it?

Up Next: Our baseboard, trim, and interior doors just arrived at the house on Tuesday, as well as our fully assembled kitchen cabinets (whoomp!). Those will all be be installed soon, which leads us to our next big item: paint!

Missy and I spent Monday night pouring over chips and samples (and fried chicken at the Highlife Lounge), trying to figure out which colors we’d like best for our new digs.

Decisions, decisions! We’re already second-guessing our choices…so I’m willing to bet that a few more trips to Sherwin Williams will be made this weekend…

Non-Construction Update: Things are slowly returning to normal here on the Florer farm. That is…as normal as things can be while raising three 20-month old girls. We’ve managed to get back into our routine pretty quickly, and Missy sure appreciates having the extra help in the mornings…and evenings…and every minute in between that I’m home again.

Yeeeep, so other than that…not much new to report. Oh, but here’s a picture of Rowan finger-painting with her ketchup!

Goodnight!

Previously >

Which, by the way, was nothing short of sensational.

However Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday ended up being one long extended travel delay in which over 36″ of snow fell throughout the Teton Range…

…canceling all flights into and out of town, thus trapping myself and the group I was with over one thousand miles from home.

I had intended to spend this extra time away relaxing and blogging, but once we realized that we were in it for the long haul, every minute on the {extremely slow} internet was spent trying to keep up with e-mails from the office, updating the ever-worsening weather forecast…

…tracking flights and listening in on live Air Traffic Control…

…and trying my best to maintain sanity after packing, unpacking, and going through airport security in Jackson no less than three times in 48 hours.

None-the-less, I made it home safe an sound early Friday evening. Missy and the girls greeted me at the airport…and a running hug from Rowan immediately turned me into a puddle of mush on the terminal floor.

For the most part, things have returned to normal operations here on the farm and I’ve been trying my best to relieve Missy from her overextended Mommy duties since returning. I still fully intend to publish posts on my ski trip (the non-travel delay parts), continue filling you in on our epic road trip east, and finally post a long-overdue construction update.

So anyway. It’s good to be home, and if I see another airport again…it will be too soon.

But first, some background:

On December 19th, Missy and I went in for our 20(ish) week ultrasound. This was the full mid-way point diagnostic check, and our baby looked perfect. There was a good strong heartbeat and all the measurements were right where they needed to be. However, when we were asked if we wanted to know the sex, we calmly explained that we did, but we would like it to be written in an envelop and sealed tight. So when the time came, our tech asked us to please turn away…we hid our eyes while the tech made her notes.

The results were written down and a picture printed for proof was placed inside an envelop and sealed, to be put in the mail that very same morning to our baker friend in Maryland…who happened to be a close friend with my cousin and had happily agreed to make cupcakes for the big day. {FYI…last time we did this, we didn’t make it out of the parking lot before tearing into the same sealed envelops. Thankfully, we showed a little more self restraint this time }

Anyway, our thought was that she (our baker, Kristina of Kristina’s Cakes) would then receive and open the envelop, see the gender of our child before anyone else, bake plain-Jane vanilla cupcakes and fill them with vanilla frosting color either pink or blue, revealing to all whether Hardinge Baby #4 was a girl or a boy upon first bite.

Now, fast forward!

We had spent all week leading up to our party brainstorming ideas to make the day even more fun and special. Our e-vites were sent out to our family and close friends…

…we made blue mustaches and pink hair bows, which were then glued to close pins so that our guests could make their prediction as soon as they walked in the door {and have a fun little party favor to take home}…

…and color-coordinating adult beverages were made for everyones enjoyment.

Our blue (we swear that it was blue…or close to blue…we tried) concoction was a big hit…and not just because more guests chose boy

We mingled for an hour or two, eating, drinking, telling stories, and making small talk. Everyone was in charge of an appetizer to share, so our tables were overflowing with the bountiful edibles.

Oh, and our party favors made for good picture poses, too!

Thanks Robert…

We put the girls down at their usual bedtime just after 7:30…and then the real fun began. First, we divided up the room: the abundance of “Team Boy” supporters on our right…

…and the small but mighty “Team Girl” supporters on our left.

Pictures were taken as the cupcakes were passed out, with explicit instructions not to bite into any of your desserts early!

The tension and suspense in the room was almost palpable. {My heart is racing even as I type this three weeks later!}. We unwrapped all together…

…began the countdown from five, and chomped down to reveal…

…awww heck. My words aren’t doing this justice…just watch for yourselves!

The gasp of shock was audible throughout the room. I don’t even think Team Girl actually saw that coming…and Team Missy definitely didn’t!

That’s “F” as in “four“…as in “four girls?!” in the picture above …

Oh yeah. It doesn’t get any pinker than that!

Everyone was in a joyous and celebratory mood after their dessert. Poppy even broke out the banjo for a few festive tunes…

…and soon attracted a crowd!

…while the rest of us sat around chatting about the prospect of Missy and I actually having four girls under the age of two next May.

Slowly the guests began to trickle out, and by the end of the night only an intimate group of friends and family remained to laugh, talk, and play games (and blogged) well past our bedtimes.

We couldn’t ask for a more perfect ending to such a fun an amazing evening.

Gone are the stud-framed walls, as well as all previously exposed wiring, piping, and ductwork…fist bump!

Plus as a bonus: it’s clean. Notice the rolls of brown paper now completely cover the floor in preparation for taping and spackling (mudding) of the drywall once the house has permanent heat and power.

On the outside, our massive piles of dirt are mostly gone, and our garage doors have finally been installed (those will eventually be painted to compliment the house colors)…

…and an RV electrical service outlet has been connected in preparation for my ol’ man rolling into town later this summer with the family airstream!

And of course, for anyone else that wants to come park an RV in our driveway for weeks at a time {insert Cousin Eddie reference here}…

Up Next:  The big-ticket item this week is that the house will soon have permanent power and temporary heat, which is necessary for drying the “mud” that will be used to conceal drywall seams and nails. We’ve also selected our interior doors and hardware, as well as the trim and baseboard package (more on that in a minute)…so I’m assuming those will be installed in the near future.

As far as I know, outside our geo-wells will be drilled in the upcoming weeks. I bet those guys will love not having to deal with drilling through snow and frost, which typically covers the ground of Iowa in January.

(Whoops…spoke too soon. Despite a high of 67 degrees last week, it’s currently snowing with a sustained 25 mph wind…)

Non-Construction Update (sort of):  If you didn’t think that Missy and I we were crazy enough, this past weekend only further confirmed it, as we willingly threw ourselves back into the car for another day-long road trip. This time it was up to the twin cities and back (4+ hours each way) to pay another visit to Ikea. And to be fair, it wasn’t just a car, it was Grandpa Steve’s pickup truck & a 10-foot trailer.

The main goal of the trip was to pay for and pick up our kitchen cabinetry, which we had designed in-store during our previous jaunt to Bloomington (to be assembled off-site and installed once the drywall is completed).

However, since we were making the long trip up and back again, we figured that we might as well grab a few other things too…like a media center, a few dressers, a vanity for the powder room, and light fixtures, as well as a few dozen other home organizers and knickknacks that we could help but buying. Yeah. It was bad. Or amazing, depending on which way you look at it.

With so many post-Christmas sales on top of already low prices…it’s hard not to go crazy in Ikea. Case and point: us.

Oh! And before heading north, Missy and I met with our builder Steve at a local homebuilding center (Gilcrest Jewett, for those of you in IA) to select our interior door, hardware, trim, and baseboard packages.

Needless to say, we didn’t arrive home until well after midnight; talk about a marathon day. Of course none of this would have been possible without all-day help with the girls from Cindy, Shannon, and Steve…grazie mille!!

Non-Construction Update (for real): In other news, Aunt Melissa and Uncle Jake welcomed their son Wyclif Henry into the world on Monday! Missy and I officially have a nephew, while Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Steve finally have their grandson We’re all so very excited to meet the “little prince” in person someday in the not-so-distant future!

Didn’t your heart just melt a little?

Also, lots more from our holiday adventure east forthcoming!

Previously:

In an effort of limit the ever-growing list of hyperlinks each week, I’ve created a permanent landing for all things house & building related. Make sure you stop over and check it out!

…and thankfully it was a cloudy day so no sun was shining in their eyes. Yet we quickly discovered something: our girls are all tummy sleepers.  This alone makes us laugh because they were bat-swaddled until they were about 4 months old, forcing them to sleep on their backs.  But now…all tummy.  You can’t sleep on your tummy in a car seat.  Rowan, who is our best sleeper and needs a nap the most to stay happy, figured this out about 20 minutes into her “nap” and that was it.  For the day.  Shoot me.  Sienna and Jovie lasted about 45 minutes to an hour, which can actually be normal for them on some days.

So then we thought, ‘Hey maybe Rowan will take 4 or 5 short naps throughout the day from just being restrained and tired and bumping along the road.’ Wrong again.  However, we soon learned that as long as the snacks, sippy cups, and movies kept rolling (they didn’t even know the van had a DVD player!), they remined failry content…for awhile.

The next 36 hours {as well as the 36 hours of our return journey} tried our patience and fortitude more than we ever thought possible. And now that we’ve finally recovered, here is a list of thoughts about our driving experience with three toddlers and one more on the way.

• Fly next time.
• You know your parenting philosophy has taken a huge about-face when you are so desperate to get your kids out of the car and running around that you actually search for a McDonalds Playplace.
• Did you know Cabela’s was a taxidermy zoo? We stopped at one to stretch our legs. The girls were freaked out by the non-moving animals, so we stuck to the aquarium area instead.

• Thank-you Dora and Diego, for teaching me more Spanish in one car ride than two years of high-school classes did.  6 Episodes per disc, 5 discs.  It’s like children’s Rosetta Stone.
• Chuckie Cheese with one kid (like when just Jovie and I visited Jake and Tennyson for the day) = awesome.  Chuckie Cheese with three = not so much.  Sure, climb up the skee-ball lanes and throw the balls in the hoops.  Everyone else can stare while we let you break the rules.  Everyone else doesn’t have to still drive seven hours with three infants just get to a hotel.  Keep starring.

• When all else fails, pull out a new snack or treat.  This may mean giving them 7 snacks in an 8-hour time frame.  They will find a way to smear each snack on their clothes, face, and hair.  You cannot climb around to wash them after every snack, so have fun when taking them into public places while they look like you dragged them through a river of syrup. {Note the sucker stuck in her hair…}

• That picture always makes me so sad to look at.  Don’t worry, we pulled over about 5 minutes after this was taken and all was well again and looked more like this:

Sucked in to Dora

• The creators of the children’s show ‘Yo Gabba Gabba’ are definetly on LSD.  Both during writing sessions and taping sessions.  Try to explain the show to someone else without sounding like you yourself are high on drugs.
• Toddlers like ketchup.  At least ours do.  We found out that they REALLY like the little fast food cups of ketchup because they can take them like shots.  Awesome.

• Quality Inn in Indianapolis, we will forever be thankful to you for your two-room suites separated by an actual door so that everyone can get the sleep they need.  Also, thank you for the discount, even if it was a “Hey, you look like death warmed over and you have how many infants in that van?” discount.
• Dunkin’ Donuts:  Daddy’s rocket fuel (and Mommy’s “pretend” rocket fuel) for ten days straight…can’t wait ’til they arrive in Iowa.

• Ohio.  We hate you.  You take forever to get through.  And judging by your real estate, it seems as though every episode of Horders that deals with junk outdoors was filmed along your interstates.  Let’s clean it up.
• Each time a child cried, the van inexplicably would go from traveling 70 mph to traveling 90 mph.  It just knew.
• Which leads me to, why didn’t we get pulled over?   We were never going the speed limit.  I suppose if we did get pulled over I would ask the officer to sit in our van for ten minutes before he wrote the ticket to see if our speed was valid.
• Drivers in Iowa wave at you just for being the only other ones on the road.  Your state line sign never looked so good. Drivers on the East coast only care about where THEY are going,  Even if there is an ambulance, with its lights on, with sirens blaring, trying to get through.  I am sure wherever They are going is much more important than the person that may be dying inside that ambulance.  Really?  Pull over.

• We, Tommy and I, didn’t pack a single thing to do in the car.  I knew I would never get to utilize it. We did, however, pack earplugs. And we did use those for the last two hours of the trip.

• Turn the heat on high to the windshield defroster and place bottles of cold milk on the dashboard for an instant warmed bottle…a trick we learned on our trip to Virginia last fall.
• Our GPS has a count down timer for the trip.  We swore it was broken like 25 times.  Nope, just taking us that long. We celebrated when the first number was a zero.

• Thank goodness the visit was so much fun and thank goodness Tommy’s family is so awesome.
• We love our family and would truly do anything to see them within our ability, but next time…we should really just fly.

Second Cousins Laughing It Up.

December 25, 2011 | “A Hardinge Family Christmas” | Hagerstown, Maryland

• Festive looking flannel shirt? Check.
• Super-cute homemade Christmas outfits {fleece!} from Granny Mona? Check.
• Antsy toddlers with vacant stares looking upon the off-camera lineup of family members acting like total fools to try and get smiles? Check.
• Just happy to be surrounded by kith and kin in a warm home and loving home, all surviving together the craziness that the holidays can become?

Check.

(Never you mind the toy milk carton and children’s bench in the background…)

Between planning, preparing and packing for our massive cross-country holiday road trip, we never managed to send out our annual Christmas cards (plus, we figured that it would be extremely difficult to top last year’s edition, no matter how hard we tried). Yet now that we have some time to finally sit down and decompress (as well as some amazing pictures from our trip that we can’t wait to share), we figured that we should at least do SOME-thing. So please accept this {belated} 2011/2012 Hardinge Christmas Card: E-Edition!

In all seriousness, we hope that all of you had very merry and joyous Christmas, as well as a safe and extra happy New Year. Thank you so much for following along with us on our little journey…we love you all!

{Hey, better late than never, right? Photo by Hannah G.}

…no, like, actual walls!

Note the arches, too! A much better shot this time. This one (above) leads into our little office/study area off of the master bedroom. This one (below) is is a hallway arch, coming in from the garage and looking in to the master bedroom:

There was so much drywall dust flying that it almost looked as if they were building in the midst of a massive snow storm! Anyway, this is our kitchen area:

…and this is half-wall separates the great room from the basement stairs.

Getting the idea yet? Free tours available upon request!

Up Next: We just received another e-mail from our builder Steve: we will need to have kitchen cabinetry and bathroom vanities on site within two weeks. It looks like we’ll be heading up north to grab those before too long!

We will also be picking out our interior doors and trim packages this week or next. Now that the holidays are over, our main focus will be getting this house finished!

Non-Construction Update:

Just kidding. You’re all winners in my book . But seriously…how many of you just voted ‘girl’ to go against the grain, and how many people actually saw that coming? I think Missy and I are both still in shock. The name debate has already begun, but you won’t get to know until May…sorry!

In other news: the Hardinge clan has returned home to Iowa…so good to be back in CST! Yes, we’ve successfully survived the holidays, and perhaps more importantly: survived two 36-hour road trips across the country and back with three 19-month-old toddlers. The kids are currently in detox while Missy and I sit curled up in fetal positions slowly rocking back and forth in the corner.

Missy has much, much more to say on our little road trip; you do not want to miss that.

More to come on all our holiday festivities as well, that is…as soon as we’ve fully recovered!

Previously:

1. So, we Bought a House…
2. Construction Update #1 | Inspiration
3. Burning Down the House | A Photoset
4. Construction Update #2 | Weeks 1-4
5. Construction Update #3 | Week 5
6. Construction Update #4 | Week 6
7. Construction Update #5 | Week 7
8. Construction Update #6 | Week 8
9. Construction Update #7 | Week 9
10. Construction Update #8 | Week 10

•  •  •  •  •

{For our Gender Reveal party, we had cupcakes made for all our guests with either blue or pink filling, which was unveiled to all upon first bite. Yes, this was as much of a surprise to Missy and I as it was to our guests }

Here is your chance to reread some of your favorites, or perhaps even catch up on some of the entries that you may have missed. So without further ado, I give you the top eleven posts of 2011 here on Living in Pursuit.

•  •  •  •  •

#11. Sometimes | October 31, 2011 {One of my personal favorite posts; so easy to write when you’ve got great pictures from Aunt Hannah! Plus this issue had been on my mind for a long time before I wrote about it; glad to see that it was so well received.}

#10. HAPPY BIRTD! | May 24, 2011 {Recap of the girls first birthday party…from poor weather to misprinted signage…we covered it all!}

#9. My Tub Runneth Over | March 1, 2011 {Account of the first bath all three girls took together. It was quite the experience!}

Talk amongst yourselves.

#8. Harvey | December 18, 2011 {So very touching to see that my brief tribute to Grandpa Harvey was one of our most read posts this year, despite only being written two weeks ago. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.}

#7. Snapshots | Mom Life | August 18, 2011 {Probably my favorite picture of the year.}

#6. Snapshots – My 4 Favorite Butts | April 26, 2011 {Um…no comment }

#5. Teaching. | April 6, 2011 {Missy spills her heart about her job and her decision of going back to the classroom.}

#4. Construction Update #6 | Week 8 | December 12, 2011 {This construction update featured the most visible progress from one week to the next, as well as multiple exterior shots. These posts have become some of our most popular; glad to see you like reading them as much as I like writing them!}

#3. So, we Bought a House… | June 9, 2011 {Our adventures in home ownership, even though we didn’t actually own that particular house for very long.}

Our New Home

#2. Expecting the Unexpected | November 3, 2011 {Further explanation for…}

#1. Four | November 2, 2011 {…the big news!}

•  •  •  •  •

There you have it…our most read posts of 2011! I don’t know about you, but I can not believe how much the girls have grown over these past twelve months. Honestly, where does the time go?

I’m sure everyone has their own favorite post…make sure to let us know yours!

Finally, on an unrelated note: our gender reveal party is tomorrow! Make sure you cast your vote…this is your last chance!

…and a progress shot from across Army Post Road.

Feels like things are moving so fast!

I was told by the fam back in Iowa that insulation installation has begun, and in an e-mail update from our builder, we were informed that drywall will be going up this week.

Non-Construction Update:

Did you hear? We’ve taken our show on the road! On Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 1:00PM (CST) in the afternoon…Missy, Sienna, Rowan, Jovie, and I loaded up the swagger wagon and headed east.

On Friday, December 23, 2011 at 9:45PM (EST), after seven states, three McDonald’s Playplaces {shudder…never. again.}, 27 Dora the Explorer episodes, one overnight stay in Indianapolis, and precisely 1,004 miles (according to Google Maps) later…we arrived in Hagerstown, Maryland.

I don’t think we’ve relaxed ever since.

From Christmas Eve church services…

…to Christmas Day festivities…

…and all the parties and get-togethers in between…

…it’s literally been a non-stop smorgasbord of busyness.

We really couldn’t ask for much more from the girls. Unless, of course, it was the ability to sleep for long time-spans in the car. Rowan had the worst time resting in her toddler seat…hence our unexpected overnight stop, which only came after two hours of restless whining from the back row. Needless to say, we’ve since thrown enough of a wrench into their all too regularly scheduled routines that I wouldn’t be surprised if they never trusted us again.

To make matters worse, Rowan has come down with another ear infection (her third, for those keeping track). Luckily {seriously…so thankful}, we were able to get a prescription for her phoned in and filled at a local pharmacy. Keeping Rowan medicated (and well rested) has been the key to her happiness…which we are beginning to successfully accomplish.

Although things are now slowing down here in H-Town, we still have a few events on our list we’re looking forward to, including our big gender reveal party for baby #4 coming up on Friday! More on that to come soon, as well as more pictures from the 2011 Hardinge Family Christmas in Maryland!

Previously:

1. So, we Bought a House…
2. Construction Update #1 | Inspiration
3. Burning Down the House | A Photoset
4. Construction Update #2 | Weeks 1-4
5. Construction Update #3 | Week 5
6. Construction Update #4 | Week 6
7. Construction Update #5 | Week 7
8. Construction Update #6 | Week 8
9. Construction Update #7 | Week 9