Throughout our married life, Michelle and I have pointed out things that show we are "established." The day we got a bed frame, instead of just having a mattress on the floor, was a big one. And the day we bought our first shovel. The last major one was probably at Christmas, when we finally strung lights from the top of the house instead of just in the windows. Well, it's time to put a big, fat check in another "established" box - the one labeled Chickens. Yes, we are now the proud and clueless owners of a chicken coop, chicken run, and six chicks. From the way we latch onto nostalgic back-to-the-farm ways, you can tell that Michelle and I are both several generations removed from actually having to survive off the family farm. But we are excited to teach our kids more about where their food comes from and to give them a chance to take some responsibility for other living things. (Yes, I realize they are 4 and 2, and we're undoubtedly setting ourselv...

Nate here. Despite the fact that none of the doors close right and one of the bathrooms has a brown sink, toilet, and tub, we sure love our old house. And since we moved in, Michelle has had her eye on the loft. For many months, it served as storage, and was an absolute wreck. Luckily we don't have any pictures of those dark times. But here's what it looked like, partially cleaned up. Before Mom and Abbey came up in February and helped paint, and since then, Michelle has worked like a woman possessed to make it the coolest playroom on the planet. And I'm sure you'll agree she's succeeded. After Thanks for the modeling help, son. Addison likes to stand on the chair and look for buses out the skylight. Chalkboard paint. $8 at your local Wal-Mart. Yeah, the chairs are girly. But the Finding Nemo table is the bomb. Now if only we could figure out how to cool it off up there, without having to install another A/C system...

I’m about to commit what I’m sure is a blogging faux pas - I’m putting up three posts in a row. Sorry. If you’ve ever spent any time at the Mingledorff house, you start to realize that a prime pastime is telling (and retelling and retelling) family stories. More often than not, the climax of the story is that the storyteller wet his or her pants, but there is enough variety that even when you hear the same story, it’s good for side-splitting laughter. So last year, Michelle had the idea to immortalize these stories and have them printed up as a Christmas present for Mom and Dad Mingledorff. She spent February to October pestering us all to write down our memories, and everybody really came through. Somebody transcribed stories told by Ryan and Kaylyn, and even Russell contributed from the mission field. We ended up with over 60 stories. Then Michelle and I found a short-run printer online, and we edited and typeset all the stories, and we published Around the Kitchen Table: Mingledorff...

Back in September, Michelle posted about never-ending projects , and since then I had the distinct pleasure of blogging about finishing the dang-blasted reupholstered couch. Now I get to unveil Michelle's pride and joy, her work and her glory since last February: T H E C H R I S T M A S T R E E S K I R T ! ! (If you think I've overdone that last bit of text, trust me, I have not; in fact, if I knew how to make text blink and flash different colors, that there text would be doing so right now.) Before I show pictures, I need to apologize for their low quality. Our camera went the way of all the earth (and all electronics four years old or older) this week, so I'm taking these with our web cam. Someday when we get a new camera - Santa take note - I'll put up better ones, including shots of the Christmas tree skirt actually skirting the Christmas tree. Hundreds of hours later, the final product. I'm very sad it's blurry--come visit to get the full effect. Keep a...

Against all odds, we actually finished a project we started. It only took a month and a half and WAY more hours than expected, but the results are better than I expected. Check out the buttons. Before (Get your very own at the DI for $17.50. You're probably wondering why we even wanted to reupholster this baby) During After N.B. I will never reupholster a piece of furniture again. Ever. If I ever even entertain the notion again, please shoot me with a staple gun.

I've been puzzling over why September has been a slow blogging month for us, and I think I've got it figured out. Projects. I think I am one of the most ambitious people on earth (normal people - not like Napoleon or anything) when it comes to projects. I love getting an idea and tackling it. But I am very extremely bad at following through with what I've begun. It's not that I don't want to see it through to the end, it's just that there are more exciting things out there to get started on. Laundry is the same way. Every Monday and Thursday I push it through the washer and dryer like nobody's business. Once it's time to fold I've undoubtedly lost some steam, but almost always finish at least half of it. And then I have to put it away? You must be joking. I think it might be some sort of disorder. I hate to think I'm just lacking self-discipline, although that's probably the case. The extent of my starting-without-finishing issues are far-rea...