Happy, Happy 2012!

We celebrated New Year's Eve in total

Tietjen style beginning with chocolate.

Tim gave me Martha's latest cookie

cookbook for CHRISTmas and I am

bound and determined to bake each

and every one, sampling many as I go along.

We also celebrated by having yummy

Mexican food and hugging our worn-out

Dad. We are so grateful that we are able

to be there to support him and

thankful for our little family and the

contributions that each brings to our

crew!!!

After our little celebration, each

of the boys had plans of their own

and were delivered or made their

way to their festivities. Truly,

I am thankful that they have made

friends and are happy campers.

Ringing in 2012 just couldn't have been

celebrated better.

MRSA.

Holy.Smoke! Mike's immune system has been

compromised with the chemotherapy and

radiation treatments . . . Hence, we had a bout

with MRSA. Goodness! Praise the Lord that

we were able to go to the oncologist's office

who quickly communicated with an infectious

disease specialist who immediately sent us to the

hospital. The oncologist's office took STAT

blood work and gave us the results to take

to the hospital.

The oncologists office called the hospital and told

them that we were on our way. When we arrived

the docs were prepared and gladly gave Mike two

HUGE antibiotic shots and sent us home to rest

with a ton of oral antibiotics. Let me tell you,

if there is one thing that docs do not want in the

hospital, it is patients with MRSA. They are only

too glad to treat you FASTER than IMMEDIATELY

and send you packin'. We have to watch this

beast closely to avoid being admitted. We are

so glad that our dad is home, home, home

and we can rest and play together.

PRAISES:

*We are DONE with radiation treatments.

*We are all cuddling and cozy at home

*Mike has long-term disability.

*Mike has lost a grand total of 58 pounds.

(Not that this is a fun way to lose weight,

but he looks great!!!)

Action.

Yes indeedy, there is action at the Mountain Spirit

Court project. Although the guys have been

tromping on the newly finished hickory floors,

they do look amazing. The knotty alder baseboards

are being laid up, down, and all around.

Love.these.floors.

Each of these stairs were handmade

out of hickory lumber . . .

. . . gotta love 'em.

Stone on the columns, you ask?!? Walah!!!

Beautimous!!!

This home is most definitely taking on the

much anticipated mountain cabin style that

we envisioned.

In order to accomplish such a feat, TONS and TONS

of trash is generated.

I filled up this baby by myself . . . Holy Smoke!!!

The final grade has been established and tractors

are ripping back and forth in order to ensure

that everything drains away from the house.

Stone to match the back columns . . . This will

be on the front columns in the shake of a lambs

tail. These guys are blazing fast, especially when

they turn on their Spanish vibes with their truck

doors open.

The final push is in the full swing . . .

Stuck on CHRISTmas.

I am still stuck on thinking about how wonderful

our CHRISTmas celebration was. The boys had

so much fun giving each other a bazillion ties.

Tim and Sam are the go-to experts for fashion

in our house! It was a blast to watch them

exchange gifts this year.

CHRISTmas seems like a million years ago as

we have been consumed with Mike's treatment

and getting the house done. We are praying that

we will be reaching the finish line on the house

super soon and are excited to move on to

other ventures.

We have taken down are tree and have

officially closed the books on CHRISTmas

2011, I am excited to have many memories

of a wonderful time together! I am grateful

for friends and family and for the support

that they provide to our family, THAT is

THE greatest gift of all.

This is the Stuff . . .

We are on the countdown of

our final FOUR days of radiation

treatments and we can hardly

wait for it to be over, over, over!!!

We are so praying that once these

treatments are over, the chemotherapy

will not be so difficult to endure

by itself. Thinking about this and

many other goings on, I so love

the song that Francesca Battistelli

sings, "This is the Stuff".

This is the stuff that drives me crazy

This is the stuff that's getting to lately

In the middle of my little mess

I forget how big I'm blessed

This is the stuff that gets under my skin

But I gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing

It might not be what I would choose

But this is the stuff You use

45 in a 35

Sirens and fines while I running behind

This is the stuff that drives me crazy

This is the stuff that's getting to me lately

In the middle of my little mess

I forget how big I'm blessed

This is the stuff that gets under my skin

But I gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing

It might not be what I would choose

But this is the stuff You use

So break me of my impatience

Conquer my frustrations

I've got a new appreciation

It's not the end of the world

This is the stuff that drives me crazy

This is the stuff

Someone save me

In the middle of my little mess

I forget How big I'm blessed

This is the stuff that gets under my skin

And I've gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing

It might not be what I would choose

But this is the stuff You use

THIS IS THE STUFF YOU USE!!

Favorite Peeps.

CHRISTmas means celebrating with

your people and how I love, love, love

my peeps! It was so great to see Grandy

and Bobby!! We are grateful that they

were able to come to be with us for

Jesus' and Tim's birthday celebrations.

We are one blessed crew to have

such awesome people in our lives.

I sure do not like the fact that miles

separate us, but am thankful that

we talk a bazillion times a day and

get together as often as we do.

It is always a great time when we

are together and we pick up right

where we left off!!

Missing you already!!!

Happy 25th Birthday Tim!!

Happy, Happy Birthday to one of my

very favorite people on this planet!!

Our Tim turned the big 2-5 on the 25th

and we simply cannot believe it!?! Could

someone please tell me where in the

world these 25 years have gone?!?

We are so grateful for Tim and thankful

that he was able to celebrate his

birthday with US this year, as he has

been out of the country for the

past two years working on cruise

ships!! It was so much fun to celebrate

CHRISTmas and his birthday with him!!

Tim adds so much to our family! He

certainly keeps us on our toes and

truly wants the best for each of us. There

is NEVER a dull moment when he is

here and we are thankful that we are

lucky enough to be his family.

It was grrrrreat having such a fun

crowd to celebrate the big occasion with!

We are one blessed bunch and thankful

that we were able to celebrate yet

another milestone in our special

Tim's life.

Congrats, Tim and happy, happy

birthday! Here's to another

wonderful year for a very, very

special person!!!

Merry, Merry CHRISTmas!

Merry, Merry CHRISTmas!!

Luke decided that he was going to open

presents from the BIGGEST to the smallest

this year!! He has only been planning this

since July!!!

. . . cool Ray Bans . . . I can hardly wait for

it to get light out tomorrow morning!!!

Ties, ties, and more ties!! The boys have

been excited about ties, blazers, and

dress shirts this year!!!

Grampa had so much fun opening

his CHRISTmas gifts . . . a 2 pound

box of See's candy is one of his standard

and treasured gifts!!!

. . . I think that the boys "hit the nail on

the head" with this find!!! Grampa is always

coooold and the boys were excited to give him

this hat for him to wear up to the house and

when he rides in the golf cart!!!

Bobby opens one of his treasures . . .

Shoes, shoes, shoes!! Sam's little piggies

will not be wanting for them as he

received golf shoes, dress shoes, and

sneakers!!!

Yep!! Zach was the lucky recipient of

a hat like Grampa's!!

The boys were so excited to give Mike

their handpicked gifts this year . . . They

were bursting at the seams the past

couple of days just waiting to give him

the gifts that they had chosen for him.

Oh, yeah!! Tim knew JUST the right

gift for our resident photog!!

My sweet Tim always adds so much fun

and joy to the festivities!!!

New Toms for Mom!!

Mr. CHRISTmas himself.

Kindle Fires were "the" gift this year.

Grandy is excited for the boys to hook

her up with her new Kindle Fire.

Since popcorn is my main staple . . . Everyone

knew that this would be a hit!!!

Much more than presents and wrapping

paper, I am so thankful for the gift of

salvation and for the many, many blessings

that I have in my little family. I am so grateful

that we are close to Grampa, Grandy, and Bobby

and thankful that they are such a wonderful

support for our family. I truly thankful for

my husband and boys and so blessed that

they love me unconditionally, when NOONE

else would. I love, love, love this time of

year and the reminders of just how blessed

I truly am to have such a wonderful family

and crew!!!

Merry.Merry.CHRISTmas!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas . . .

CHRISTmas Sugar Cooking Baking Night

is one of our most favoritist nights of

the year, regardless if I had spent the

entire day loading the dumpster with

metal roofing and rubbish and

staining 200 baseboards . . .

We were excited to engage in yet another

fun night of CHRISTmas activities!!!

Luke thought that the "yellow" food

coloring looked like "red" . . .

Baking CHRISTmas cookies with my

favorite peeps just has to be one of

my favorite activities!!! It does not

matter how old these guys get, they

are amazingly fun to be around . . .

and obligue me in all of my CHRISTmas

endeavors, even if they have been

CHRISTmased to death!!!

I love, love, love my family and feel

so blessed to have them . . .

You guessed, it! We are off to

watch "It's A Wonderful Life" . . .

and YES, it is truly a wonderful

life!!!

CHRISTmas blessings!!!