Oh Christmas Tree

Traditionally we cut down our Christmas tree at Phil's dad's house from his back property. This year, we decided that a rather large blue spruce was a little too close to our garage. So in the spirit of recycling, Phil and his dad cut down that big blue spruce from our side yard & we used the top as our Christmas tree.

Here is the tree before.

Phil's dad cutting while Phil made sure it didn't fall on the house... very important.

After some small snafus, it finally came down. Of course Tula had to supervise.

Here is the finished product. A little Charlie Brownish, but we love it all the same, because it's ours!

Nothing says Christmas like a whale sweater ... ?

Each Christmas, my dad buys all the guys a "guy gift" to enjoy. Well, this Christmas he decided to enlist the help of my mother & sister to make his "guy gifts." They went to the salvation army and bought every red sweater they had. Then they decorated each one differently for each person. I'll post pictures of all of them later (they are on my mom's camera), but here is Phil in his:

There is a little background story that goes with his sweater (and yes the spout actually lights up!). My mom made an advent calendar that was handed down to me this year. The advent calendar is a felt Christmas tree that has a felt ornament for each day held on by velcro. Well, apparently we had some extra grey felt & mom ran out of ornament ideas to make for the calendar, so we ended up with some random ornaments including a whale, a mouse & a sheep. Now I never thought anything weird of this (don't ask me why) until the day I put the whale on the tree & Phil said "is that a whale?!" I couldn't exactly explain the meaning of the Christmas Whale... but we got a laugh & now a sweater out of it.

Do you know the meaning of the Christmas Whale?

Suprise!!! Happy Bill Knapp's Birthday

My favorite cousin had this birthday wish this year that we just had to grant for him. He wanted a real "Bill Knapp's" birthday (for those of you who don't know what Bill Knapp's is, well... you really missed out).

So, with the careful planning of my aunt & the help of my grandma, sisters, cousins & mom and dad, we pulled it off.... and it was all a suprise! We had the famous biscuits, coleslaw, fried chicken and the most important Bill Knapp's chocolate cake.

Here is the birthday boy:

Aunt Sharon with the birthday cake.

My cousins' daughters got to open gifts too... what would a party be without presents!

Phil and my favorite cousin enjoying their coke in glass bottles.

the Stryker Prom

I know it has been a while since I posted anything worth while. I finally dug out my camera cord (as some of you may know I lost my normal USB connector & have been going crazy without it). Anyways, I now have pictures again!!

A few weekends ago, Phil & I attended the Stryker Holiday Party at Western Michigan University (fondly referred to among my co-workers as the "Stryker Prom."). We ate a lot of food, watched a painful performance of "Stryker Idol," and then let the valet scrape about 6 inches of snow off our car so we could drive about 10 mph home.

They even had a photographer taking pictures of each couple (just like prom). Here are our own pictures of the night.

My team (Erin, me, Deb & A.T.)

We have a lot to be thankful for

This Thanksgiving was full of family, food, fun and more food, followed by a little shopping. Taking all things into consideration, it was a pretty typical Thanksgiving weekend.

We spent Thanksgiving and a few extra days at my parents house. The whole fam came over for dinner on Thursday, which was promptly followed by a family game of Disney Scene It and then the traditional viewing of Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (to get us ready for the upcoming winter holiday). I actually did take pictures of our festivities, but I seem to have misplaced my connector that lets me put my pictures on the computer... so until I find that (or until my favorite cousin posts his pictures) you'll have to use your imagination.

Although I was not impressed with the ads, we still got up early on Friday (not as early as past years) and did some shopping. We also did some shopping on Saturday & then some more on Sunday. My biggest purchase of the weekend was an area rug for the new bedroom. It looks very similiar to this one:

Our New Room

It's official, we finally finished our new bedroom. I mean really finished!

Last week the plumber stopped over & hooked up our toilet & sinks. Then Friday, our wonderful & very helpful friend Jon, came up from South Bend to help Phil put up the last of the trim & the closet doors. Then Sunday Phil's mom came over and helped us paint all the trim. And that was the last of it! We now can officially move in if we want. However that might be delayed a little until we get a rug for the room... that wood floor is COLD!

Of course I have "misplaced" my gizmo that lets me transfer pictures from my camera to the computer, so until I find that, you will have to wait to see the finished product. Sorry!

Our deepest thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way, we really couldn't have done it without you!

Update on Baby Maltburg

For those of you that are interested, here is a quick update on the last few months of my pregnancy (for those of you who aren’t, stop reading now!).

Up until exactly 6 weeks to the day, I felt fine. That dreaded 6 week mark was the beginning of my own silent little torture world (sometimes not so silent) and the end of the wife that Phil is used to. From 6 weeks until pretty much last week (which was 13 weeks), this is what my life consisted of:

Sleep, Throw up, Feel sick, Eat, Sleep, Feel sick, Eat, Sleep, Go to bed (sometimes throw up before bed)

Now I’ve progressed so that my sleeping is less (although still more than usual for me), my throwing up & feeling sick is mainly limited to the morning, (By the way whoever coined the phrase “morning sickness” clearly has never been pregnant. It is more like all day and wake you up at night sickness.) and eating… I think the eating has taken the place of the feeling sick & throwing up part. Basically I feel like I have clock in my belly that goes off when it hasn’t had food in at least 1 hour (sometimes 1 ½ hrs). If we hadn’t heard the heartbeat already, I’d swear that I had a tape worm.

I drank the water . . .

Well, here it is everyone, after 3 long months of keeping a secret (or not keeping a secret if you are my husband), it's time to make an announcement. I drank the water. That's right, I am pregnant, about 13 weeks along.

It seems to be contagious lately. There are quite a few new pregnancies between my friends, family friends, people I currently work with, people I used to work with and my hair dresser, I think I know about 156 women that are pregnant.

Either way, it's very exciting news that in just 6 short months, there will be a new addition to the Maltburg family. I will try to keep you up to date on the happenings without being too annoying or detailed about the fun I get to experience.

A new look

Well, with all the new and exciting things going on in our life right now (more to come), I thought it was probably time for a change on the blog too. That and I feel a little guilty because everyone else has new exciting blogs and ours is old and outdated.

So, here you go. Enjoy!

Halloween Fun at Stryker

This year we were very unprepared for Halloween as a group, so at the last minute we threw together costumes.

My team (Erin, Deb & I)

Gene the Pumpkin Man Loves Orange

Sunday Phil, his mom and I went to see Gene the Pumpkin Man to pick out our pumpkins. It was super windy & cold, but we still had a great time. Gene sure does love orange, he has several giant metal pumpkins & even an orange car!

We found exactly what we were looking for. Once we had made our selections we went back to Phil's mom's house for our annual Halloween pumpkin carving event. This year might be even better than last. We had delicious food & good company.

Here is Gene's barn.


Pat is attempting to pick up this ginormous pumpkin... and yes Phil is pulling a little wagon!

I got angry and kicked this pumpkin in... (just kidding, it was already smashed)

Here we are with our Halloween hats and scary faces, getting ready to carve our pumpkins.


The final product, we are masters. Phil got creative this year and ventured out from the traditional jack-o-lantern face. His pumpkin has glasses & eyebrows! He also did an MSU pumpkin.


Even Tula got dressed up for the occasion, but she was whooped by the end of the night. (or maybe she just hates me for putting a costume on her... can't tell).

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner... FINALLY!

Saturday we went to my sister’s house in Ann Arbor to “tailgate” for the big rivalry game Michigan vs. Michigan State. Finally after many long years of waiting and some questionable calls by the officiating staff, MSU pulled it off. It was tense up until the very last minute. Grandma nearly disowned the Spartans & Phil had to keep Aunt Laurie from having a heart attack, but we all survived and emerged victors!!! YIPPEEE!!!!

The tailgating part was very fun, although sort of cheating since we were indoors and got to use real bathrooms. We had A LOT of good food and got to watch the game on TV. There was bean bag toss (which I refuse to call by its real name… corn hole) and ping pong during the breaks to keep everyone entertained too.

Thank you to my wonderful sister & brother (-in-law) for hosting us.

Here are Nate & Phil showing off their "skills."


Uncle Jeff pretending like he doesn't know them... good choice.


Phil & Aunt Laurie (before her almost heart attack).

My Nephew, Chicken Little

Friday night Phil, Jon & I road tripped it over to Detroit to visit with Phil's brother, sister-in-law and OUR nephew. It was a short stay, but we had a great time.

The little guy has to wear glasses & sometimes a patch to correct his vision and I think he looks like Chicken Little with his glasses on. They don't seem to bother him, he was still running, jumping, playing and spinning all over the place. He has a lot of energy!

Here he is building a tower of blocks with his dad. Which he proceeded to knock over once it was taller than him.


This is Chicken Little in his favorite toy... a cardboard box with stickers on it. It is a multi-use toy and hours of fun!

House Projects

This weekend Phil and I recruited some of our family to come help us with our addition. We conned them into coming over by telling them it was going to be an easy day of painting with a free lunch. And then we threw in some ceramic tiling too! Aren't we nice?

They were all awesome and worked really hard. We got basically all of the painting done (bedroom, bathroom & hallway, including ceilings!). And we got the tile laid by the front door & the whole tiles laid in the bathroom. This week Phil & I (ok probably more likely Phil) will finish up the bathroom cutting the tiles necessary & grouting.

We were so happy to get as much done as we did! And so quickly. Thank you to everyone for your help, you are AWESOME!

Here is Phil's mom showing off her lovely painting skills.


Annie (this room was a light celery/minty green even though you can't tell in this picture).


Here is my dad supervising the tile workers.



Here is the tile all laid by the garage door!


Next project weekend will consist of laying wood floor and hanging trim! I'll send the sign up sheet around later.

Visit with an old Flan

Last weekend I spent Saturday night hanging out with my college friend Amy and her daughter Juliana at their new house. It was very exciting to see their new house which is sooo perfect for them. It even has a laundry schute that drops laundry from upstairs through the ceiling of the basement. So cool!

Anyways, we did a lot of catching up and I got to see how big Juliana has grown. She is too cute and looks just like her mom.


Here are some pics from the night.


She's showing me her swimming goggles.


Mom & daughter.

Drywall is fun

My wonderful husband Phil has been working very hard on our new bedroom. You know how I know this?...

Here's my proof.... isn't he cute!

27 Dresses Party

This weekend I attended a party at my friend Deb's house. The theme was "27 dresses." (for those of you who have seen the movie, I'm sure you get it, but for those of you who haven't it was wear a bridesmaid dress that you have or get a really ugly dress from Good Will to wear).

Anyways, it was a lot of fun. I got a very princessy dress from Good Will that I wore. It was a whole lot of tulle and pink. I got many strange looks on my way there... my dress about took up the whole front seat... it was a little difficult to see out the window at times, but I made it.

Check me out.

Here are some of the other girls:

Detroit Visit

Last weekend I went over to Detroit to visit my friend Jess & her new house. I also got to spend some time with her sister Chandra & baby Jayda. It was a pretty event filled weekend.

We watched a lot of movies, taught Jayda to dance to her guitar, ate a lot of food, taught Jayda to put a bucket on her head, caught up on life and then put Jayda in a cardboard box to play. Whew, I was pretty tired when I got home, let me tell you.

Jess' new house is awesome, it is enormous! It is actually a duplex and she has some great plans for the attic that will be amazing when they are done, but sound like a lot of work.

Anyways, we had a great time. I just love hanging out and having girl time.

Here is J dancing to the music.


Here is her favorite Aunt Titi teaching her to play with cardboard boxes.


I promise we didn't let her keep the bucket on her head for long... it was so cute, we couldn't resist.


See, I told you she was ok. By the way, love the shirt!

Happy Birthday to me!

Ok, I know I'm like weeks late (as my birthday was actually on the 8th). But things have been crazy at work so I haven't had a chance to update this. For my birthday I went out to lunch with Traci, got cookies from my co-workers, cookies from Traci and then a cake from other co-workers. I was all sugared out!

After work, I picked up Grandma (as it is also her birthday on the 8th) and we went to Hot Nails to get pedicures. I am so not even joking that Hot Nails was Grandma's pick. Apparently that is her favorite place! Who knew.

After my toes were all prettied, I went home to vacuum with my new birthday present:

I know I'm old and boring when I get excited about a vacuum, but this one is super cool.

So happy birthday to me!

We've been busy...

Ok, it's been a long time since I've posted something... sorry about that, but we've been really busy!

Here is a quick recap of what we've done over the last 3 weeks that you missed.

We drove to Ludington, went fishing, visited grandma, drove home. The boys played in a basketball tournament that Randy's brother organized. They all realized how old and out of shape they are... but they did win the best sportsmanship award & even made it in the paper! Celebrated a birthday with Phil's mom. Worked on the house and celebrated Grandma & my birthday with a tailgate. Whew... I'm tired.

Here are some pics from our fun:

Uncle Jan, Phil & Rob fishing in Ludington.


Some action shots of the boys playing in the 3 on 3 tournament.

The team: Jon, Phil, (other player guy... maybe Jeff?) and Randy.


Phil & Jon in between games.... they're getting so old!


Pat opening her birthday gifts. Does she look suprised?


Here she is celebrating with the girls (Tula & her dog Mazey).


Phil & Jon working (well, maybe working?) on our bedroom.


Birthday tailgate: My sisters & mom and I.


A picture of the tailgate set up. This is after most people went to the game. We stayed & ate more!


Phil & I at the tailgate. Like my new sunglasses? These are to replace the other glasses that the river in California ate.



Jon & Erin helped us celebrate too!


Happy Birthday everyone!