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  • 2010
    • February
      • First Day - Things I Saw at the New House
        02/07/10


        Frog in our room when we woke up


        Sacramento downtown


        The view south(ish)


        Another view south(ish)


        The view north(ish), including the coolest fence I have ever seen.


        Another view north(ish)


    • January
      • Realities of Country Living
        01/28/10
        Over the last couple of weeks I have seen mice in the garage several times, and I have seen them running into a small hole in the wall. I am sure that pests in general will be a fact of life, given that we will be living in the middle of mostly wild land. I have already seen different bugs in and

      • Cindy, if you need me to crawl on my hands and knees all day and night for you, I will do it (Floors Part 5).
        01/24/10
        This weekend I crawled on my hands and knees all weekend. I spent Friday night, Saturday and Sunday laying a ton of flooring. I did the coat closet, the master closet and the master bedroom, in that order. A friend from work helped Friday night, and Cindy helped Sunday, along with some help from

      • Finished Painting and More Floors (Part 4)
        01/20/10
        I'm about 10 days late with this update, but I am officially done with the painting. Woo Hoo! Over 30 person days of painting, between myself and volunteers, got us to this point. I had been focussed on flooring, but I knew I needed to finish the painting. So my father-in-law did the master

      • Floors Part 3
        01/08/10
        I have put in a few hours now on the guest bedroom floors. Tonight I went up after work with a helper.





        Tomorrow the carpet is being installed, and I'm hoping I can finish painting. This week my father-in-law painted the master closet, so I'm down to jus

      • Floors Part Deux
        01/04/10
        I've been busy. I have finished the floors in the 3rd closet, the hallway and the hallway stairs. All in all not a lot of square footage, but a tone of detail and tricky problems. Here is the blow-by-blow for putting down engineered, pre-finished hardwood onto a hall and stairs.

        Y

  • 2009
    • December
      • Starting Floors
        12/30/09
        Painting has been progressing nicely and I am down to just the master bathroom, master closet and one other bathroom. I don't have pictures of my latest painting, because my iPhone crashed and I lost some pictures, and then after that I forgot to take more. But it looks more or less like the

      • Bathroom #1
        12/21/09
        First bathroom done...

        Also, forgot to thank my Dad for driving my brother to the airport so he could come help paint.

        It's hard to get good pictures of a bathroom using an iPhone, because the zoom isn't right. It took me all day working by myself to do this bathroom

      • Cookie Day
        12/20/09
        Today I embarked on a personal challenge; get 18 dozen cookies baked for gifts...The challenge wasn't baking 18 dozen cookies. The challenge was baking 18 dozen cookies with a 4 year old, 3 year old and a 1 year old. Oh, and Matt was gone all day painting at the house.
        I gathered all my m

      • Painting Update
        12/19/09
        The whole family got involved working on the house today, but maybe not the house you are thinking of.


        Sam's end


        Abigail's end

        A huge thank-you to my brother Jonathan who came out to help paint for 3 days. He brought a lot of energy, which I ha

      • Shout out to all my workday peeps!
        12/12/09
        First a big thank you to all of those who helped today. You helped get a ton done. Mike stayed late and helped me finish up, and at the end of the day we had
        - all closets painted (except the master closet which is really more of a room)
        - all doors painted on 1 side
        - the ceiling o

      • For those who asked if it snows at our new house
        12/07/09


      • It is Ours!!
        12/01/09
        The property funded and recorded yesterday so it is now "officially" ours. (We have had the keys since last week because we were just waiting on a signature from the bank)
        So, good, bad, ugly, or beautiful view, it is now ours!
        I absolutely can't wait to see what God has in

    • November
      • How to take a door off the hinges the easy way
        11/29/09
        Worked on the house 3 and 1/2 of the last 5 days. Cindy and the kids came up also for much of the time, and Cindy put in a good bit of work also. I only worked past dinner 1 day and that was today. I am almost ready to paint uninterrupted. So far we
        - tested all our paint colors on the wall

      • Before Pictures
        11/26/09
        I'm going to try to post pictures of all my projects at the new house. These are the before pictures.


        The house


        Living room


        Kitchen


        Family room


        Breakfast area in between kitchen and family room


      • Boy
        11/16/09
        What is the deal with 3 year old boys? He's going potty. After many minutes pass I go in to see what is taking so long. He is standing with his pants down, already done, just staring at the wall. I ask him to pull his pants up and wash his hands, then I leave. 2 minutes later I check back

    • September
      • It's Weird NOT to be pregnant.
        09/16/09
        So...
        I got pregnant with Sam when Abigail was 9 months old.
        I got pregnant with John when Sam was 12 months old.
        John is now almost 16 months old and I am not pregnant.
        I am not trying to get pregnant.
        I am not even wanting to be pregnant.
        It is just weird NOT to be pr

      • Sam's Birthday Party
        09/02/09
        Well....Sam's birthday party went off without a hitch. There were 16 adults and 18 kids here. Probably about 15-20 people in the pool at the same time. We bbq'd, swam, ate cake and opened presents. A good time!!


        Sam blowing out the candles to his Spider Man birthday cake

    • August
      • Happy Birthday Sammy Boy
        08/28/09


        Sam, you were born 3 years ago tomorrow. You were so ready to be here that you came 3 weeks early and you have been living life with that same zest ever since. I love you so much and can't imagine my life without you. Here are the top ten things I love about you:

        1. You

    • July
      • Backyard personalities
        07/27/09
        The adventurer


        The digger (with his mud pies)


        The explorer

      • Cleveland Inspiration
        07/23/09
        Abigail said this tonight. It's not a direct quote, but is an accurate paraphrase.

        "I think the story of Adam and Eve teaches us an important lesson."

        I asked what the lesson is. She says:

        "If your mom or dad tell you to clean your room and your

    • June
      • Cleveland First and a Cleveland Un-Funny
        06/15/09
        Abigail started her first day of "summer camp" today. Summer camp is a week long program for preschoolers at the local church. Since Abigail has never been in daycare or preschool, this was her first time in a school setting away from Mommy, Sam and John for more than 30 minutes. (She did

    • May
      • Happy Birthday Baby John-I love you!
        05/28/09
        May 29th 2008. The day our baby boy was born.
        John will celebrate his first birthday tomorrow. I can't believe it. The year has flown by. I feel so fortunate and blessed for all my children but I am especially endeared to John tonight on the eve of his first birthday.
        Here are the top

    • April
      • Cleveland Funny
        04/28/09
        This morning, Sam gave me two pennies and told me I could buy anything I wanted. I gave him my two pennies and told him I would like to buy some "peace and quiet". Sam got a puzzled look on his face, gave me the two pennies back and said "We don't have any of that.". Isn

      • It's Springtime.....
        04/18/09
        It is springtime here in California. A time for celebrating Easter. A time for enjoying good food. A time for protesting....What can I say, we live in California!!!!

        Our Easter celebration this year started a few weeks early. The kids annual Easter tradition is to have an Easter egg hunt

    • February
      • Happy 4th Birthday Abigail!!!
        02/21/09
        Abigail celebrated her 4th birthday today-princess style.
        We had a princess party for her to celebrate her special day.
        We had all her friends come dressed up as their favorite princess. We added some "flair" to each princess, they paraded around and then had a rocking dance part

      • Rub a Dub Dub
        02/05/09
        Rub A Dub Dub-Three kids in a tub....


        The Tub Train.


        The tub train minus the caboose.


        John thinking, "Boy, that sure is a handsome kid in there!"


        John is now sitting up well enough to not need his bath chair anymore.

    • January
      • Sign of the times?
        01/09/09
        We all hear about things we can possibly expect as a result of the dwindling economy. Some include deflation followed by steep inflation, a rise in crime, decreased food supply, etc. But has anyone heard of bird attacks as a sign of the times?
        Today I walked with the kids to feed the ducks. Thi

  • 2008
    • November
      • She was robbed!
        11/28/08
        This Thanksgiving, Abigail entered a turkey coloring contest in the local paper. Since she is most excellent at coloring, I completely assumed she would win. (Okay, I may be a teeny weeny bit biased).
        Much to my dismay, she didn't win! When I saw the winning entry, my first thought was &qu

      • Our Fall Antics
        11/14/08
        Okay, okay, I know fall isn't officially over yet, but if I wait until winter to post our fall antics, it would be waaaayyyy to long. So here goes.....

        We did our 4th annual Halloween at grandma and grandpa Raasch's house. Abigail dressed up as Sleeping Beauty, Sam as Thomas the

    • October
      • Our Summer Antics....
        10/04/08
        Hi Everyone. Here is a very long recap of our summer. (What can I say-we were busy!)

        So summer officially starts on June 21st but I would say ours started May 29th-when John was born. We took about 2-3 weeks to catch our breath and then it seems we have been perptually "off to the ra

    • August
      • Our Little Evangelizer
        08/27/08
        The other day we were driving church, and we heard Abigail whispering in the back seat, "Sam, you need to ask Jesus into your heart." Sam wasn't responding so she kept repeating it, "Sam, Sam you need to ask Jesus into your heart, please." Finally, "Sam, I'm goin

      • They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight.....
        08/19/08
        Yes, we officially have a Thomas the Train maniac living in our house. Sam received a Thomas the Train set from Grammy and Abuelo and he has been obsessed ever since. The first words out of his mouth every morning are, "Mommy/Daddy/Abigail play trains." Needless to say, Matt and I have bec

    • July
      • Cleveland Family Update
        07/17/08
        We are officially a family of 5!!! And I am happy to say we are all adjusting well! (Well, except for the serious lack of sleep on Matt and my part!)
        The last 7 weeks have been so much fun getting to know John. (Yes, he is 7 weeks old already!) He is definitely his own person. He looks nothing

    • June
      • Introducing John Matthewson Cleveland
        06/06/08
        John Matthewson Cleveland was born Thursday May 29th at 12:27pm.

        But let's start at the beginning. Five days before John was scheduled to arrive, Abigail and Sam both came down with the stomach flu. Abigail seemed to get over hers quickly only to wake up sick again on the day of the

    • May
      • Last Posting Before D-Day
        05/12/08
        D-Day meaning delivery day. We are about 3 weeks from my scheduled c-section date. I know with how busy Matt and I are that this will most likely be the last posting before we are the parents of 3 children! In true Matt and Cindy fashion we are waiting until the last minute to get everything done. W

    • March
      • Happy Easter
        03/23/08
        Happy Easter from Sunny California.
        We had a wonderful Easter weekend.
        It started with an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Papa's house. The kids had a wonderful time hunting easter eggs in their particular "zone" of the backyard. They all found their allotted eggs and a good

    • February
      • February Update
        02/05/08
        Life is good in the Cleveland household!

        Abigail and Sam are growing like weeds. Abigail is almost 3 years old and mostly in 4T clothing. She is so tall and thin. Just like her mom used to be... ;) . Sam is also growing and growing and seems to have sprouted up overnight.
        Abigail lov

  • 2007
    • December
      • Sam Snugglies
        12/20/07
        It's so much fun when they start to learn to communicate. Tonight Sam was attempting to repeat a lot of the words we were saying. At bed, I sang and prayed with him and wasn't sure if he was ready to get in bed yet or not. I said, "Sam do you want to get in bed now," and to my

      • Abigail Funnies
        12/18/07
        "Daddy, are you pretending or realing?"

        "Mommy, I have a good remembery."

        Dad says, "Abigail, how did your gingerbread house turn out." Abigail says, "It turned out perfectly fine."

        She is full of cute things to say these days

    • November
      • Elven Fun
        11/30/07
        Thanks to my friend Heather C, she showed me this site.
        Silly but cute!
        A cute start to the Christmas Season.

        http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1123492355

      • Happy Turkey Day
        11/24/07
        First of all, we hope everyone had a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving.
        Our Thanksgiving was great. We spent Thanksgiving at Grandpa Mike's and Grandma Carole's house. We looked through black Friday ads, spent time playing with the kids, and stuffed ourselves on Thanksgiving dinner.
      • Cleveland Funny
        11/14/07
        Abigail knows that Matt works. She frequently asks why Matt has to go to work. I always answer the same, "Daddy goes to work to make money so that we can buy things like food, and clothes, and toys for you and Sam."
        Yesterday Matt called and said he would be late at work because they

    • July
      • The Clevelands
        07/11/07
        Queue the Simpsons theme...

        simpsonsmovie.com has a feature for creating your own Simpsons-style character. I tried my hand at creating our whole family. Here's the results.

    • June
      • Cleveland Funnies
        06/24/07
        Today after church I asked Abigail what she made in Sunday School. She replied rather proudly, "I made a poopoo." (she had pooped her diaper)

        On another note-Sam is now crawling on his hands and knees part of the time and I found him this morning crawling up the hardwood stairs

      • Cleveland Funnies
        06/19/07
        Abigail knows I don't like Sam crawling into the bathroom. She will frequently go ahead of him and close the door so he can't get in. Today he was on his way to the bathroom when she ran in front of him and shut the door. She then said, "Mommy, Sam makes me nervous when he does that.&

      • San Francisco
        06/07/07
        We decided that we were going to try and take our kids on as many weekend getaways as we (and they!) could handle this summer. Our first excursion was to San Francisco for the weekend. Matt took Friday off and we headed out in the morning. We arrived shortly before lunchtime at Pier 39. We spent the

    • May
      • Cleveland Funnies
        05/30/07
        We were reading a book about sizes: big, tall, thin, fat, etc. I said, "Abigail, you're short and I'm tall." She said, "You have a big head."

      • Bamboo Floor Pictures
        05/08/07
        People keep asking for pictures of the floor, and I keep not giving them because I'm not done. But my brother Nate finally convinced me to take the time.

        Here is where it all started, removing the carpet.


        Here is the view coming in from the garage. Note on all pict

      • Twins Separated by 18 months?????
        05/01/07
        Everyone tells us how much Sam and Abigail look alike. We see it but it is never more apparant then when I see Sam doing something Abigail did at the same age. Here is a picture of them at the same age and also some video. Pick out who is who!





        Video of one sayi

    • March
      • One Giant (long overdue) Posting!
        03/11/07
        Okay, where do I begin. We have been busy busy busy. The sickness bug has hit our house hard this year and we are now finally all healthy. Therefore I actually have a little time to update our website!
        On February 18th we took a mini-vacation down to Laguna Beach. Matt's brother Nate and h

    • February
      • Cleveland Funnies
        02/13/07
        Here is the first of what is to be many Cleveland Funnies:

        I was sitting playing with Abigail and Sam. I noticed Abigail was sprouting a new tooth. I put my hand in her mouth and noticed not only was a tooth coming through on top but also her 2 year old molars were starting to come in. Th

      • Yummy Yum Sweet Potatoes
        02/05/07
        Sam had his first taste of "real" food today.
        From the looks of this picture, I would say he liked it!

      • Freaky Froggy
        02/02/07
        Sam is now big enough to sit and play in his exersaucer. We caught this video of him freaking out over the frog attached to the exersaucer.

        Video of Sam and Froggy

        Abigail continues to amaze us on a daily basis. She is getting pretty proficient at singing. She has a few entire

    • January
      • What's that???????
        01/26/07
        This is Abigail's new favorite phrase. "What's that mommy?", "What's that noise mommy?", "What's this mommy?" It doesn't matter whether she already knows what it is, she just enjoys asking and having the never ending conversation with Matt or me

      • Abigail's "Friends"
        01/17/07
        Abigail has several "friends" that must go where she goes. Most mornings breakfast doesn't start until all her friends have been seated and are at attention watching her eat. Here is an example of this morning.

        From left to right: Mr. Moo, Elmo, blankie, Pooh, dolphin, an

      • Christmas Take 2
        01/10/07


        Well, we finally made it to Colorado to celebrate Christmas on New Year's weekend, and it snowed even more while we were there. We had a wonderful time, which was mostly focused on getting the Cleveland grandkids together to play. Here is the lot of them at Grant's birthday p

  • 2006
    • December
      • It's a Cow
        12/23/06
        Since we have free time on our hands this weekend I figured I would make another Christmas post. First a couple of shots of the snow in Denver that kept us here in Sacramento.

        This is at Nathan and Lindsay's house.


        And this is Dad and Mom's house.

      • Merry Christmas! - We're Snowed Out in California
        12/21/06


        Merry Christmas everyone! Christmas is a multi-week event for us this year. Last Saturday we visited Cindy's Aunt Donna and Uncle Ralph for a Christmas party with Cindy's extended family. Then on Sunday, since we were planning to be in Colorado Springs on Christmas day, we l

      • A Reading of 'Clifford the Small Red Puppy' by Abigail Cleveland
        12/12/06
        You have to see this. Cindy and I laugh every time we watch it. I've provided subtitles so you can understand all of the words. Forgive the shaking video. It is shaking because Cindy was laughing while she filmed.

        Abigail Video (20 MB)
        (The video is kind of big so you might

    • November
      • Our Holiday
        11/27/06
        First of all, we hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
        Our holiday started on Wednesday afternoon when Matt had a short work day. He was off for the next 4 days, and we had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving and spending time with family and friends.
        On Thanksgiving morning Ma

      • Big Boy
        11/17/06
        Sam is getting to be such a big boy. The following picture was taken yesterday (November 16th). He is getting really good at holding his head up steady and he loves to look around, especially to find Abigail and see what she is doing. He is doing all kinds of "talking" these days and he is

      • Our New Site
        11/12/06
        First of all thanks to Matt for creating a wonderful new website. He created it so that non techy people like me can post. So hopefully now we can keep you better updated as to what is going on in our lives! We continue to be busy, busy, busy. Life with a toddler and newborn is definitely never bori

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