A year ago today our niece Tessa was born! Tessa has shaken up the Helmick family’s lives just a bit! It’s been a thrill to have a niece, and I know she is a joy to her mom and dad and grandma and grandpa (and big sister, Lucy).

Tessa’s party was Sunday, and I heard it was a good time. Aunt Cortny and Uncle Mike are starting her a tiny Fiestaware Tea Set, which we hope she will enjoy over the years.

Happy birthday, Tessa! We can’t believe how quickly you are growing up. (And congratulations on those first steps!)

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The new couch is in! Ikea purchases are pretty high-maintenance, but I think it was worth it. Plus, it’s nice to have something so flexible.

You buy the pieces all separately, and then put them together. The chaise can come off and stand alone, you can add another seat on to the couch if you want, you can get different covers. It was quite difficult to “dress,” though! They make the covers pretty snug. At least they won’t look loose.

We went with red. I like the contrast with all the other browns we have in the room. (I do wish the red was a little darker, because it is not the same color as the red cabinets. HOWEVER, I think it was the best choice, and it’s also not the world’s biggest commitment since we can change the covers if we decide to.) I want to get an extra cover over time, but I might wait until they come out with new colors, if they do that. Not sure! But with our old couch I always wished I had bought a second cover before it was too late. (Mom told me to…)

Tonight we run back to Crate and Barrel to pick up these little cubes we ordered there. They’re brown leather and they have storage and a double sided top — they can serve as a seat or a table. SO versatile! Thanks, C&B, I love you so.

Well, enough furniture chat. It’s nice to feel like the rooms in the house are “done,” and that they all have appropriately sized pieces in them. It’s a little sad to replace stuff, but we didn’t even realize how big our old furniture would feel in a smaller house. I am glad we waited a while to get a sense of what would work well.

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I think Mike had a good birthday on Sunday! It was a little crazy.

We decided (okay, he decided) that we would just go ahead and “deal” with the couch that day. So his friend came over and helped us heave it over the railing. Then we had to go to Ikea to get the new couch. They delivered it yesterday.

That night we made our homemade ravioli, which were fun to make and SO SO tasty. We had some of our homemade sauce in the freezer, so that was a nice combo. We will enjoy making that in the future.

After dinner Mike opened his present, and we played a game. (I got him 30-year-old Scotch, which he loved.) We finished the night with our cupcakes (and candles!!) and a little bit of Wii sports. We figured we might as well, since our living room furniture was in the garage.

Salvation Army is supposed to come today to pick up. Did you know you can schedule the truck online? I know it seems like we should sell the furniture, but it’s just so difficult. At least we know it will go do some good, and we can probably get a better tax credit than we could make on resale anyway. We’ve sold stuff on Craig’s list, etc., before and sometimes it just isn’t worth it.

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Thirty years ago today, a very special boy was born!

Okay, I know that’s a little sappy. But I am very thankful for my Husband, so celebrating his existence is kind of a big deal. He has accomplished an awful lot in 30 years (thanks, hon, for being such an over achiever… ;) )

Today we celebrated by sleeping in, going to Cupcake Royale and the Sunday market. Mike has requested hot dogs for lunch, and we are trying out our new pasta roller and making ravioli for dinner. Mike chose the pasta roller with his Amazon gift card. (Thanks, Dan!)

I have an awesome present for Mike, but I can’t mention it here because it has not been opened! I did get him a couple games that I let him open Friday night because we were sitting around doing nothing.

Here’s a more grown-up, recent picture of the hubby and his eldest daughter. :)

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Okay, so we didn’t get Olympic tickets in the lottery. We requested four events and we did not get any. We were kind of disappointed, but I didn’t want to give up hope on it yet.

So Mikey did a little digging and found a reseller we felt like we could trust. It’s a local company (one that actually has an office we could visit if needed — you know, if there’s a problem or something.) Likely the tickets were either obtained in the lottery by the company, or they were sold by individuals who got them in the lottery.

Anyway, of course it’s more expensive! We decided to get Curling tickets. Mike likes curling, and I just wanted to go to the Olympics, so I thought it was best just to pick a low-interest event. It was one of the events we had requested in the first place. (Figure skating tickets go as high as 4,000!!!! Silly.)

So at least we can plan on going up — February 2010. (Yes, in all likely-hood we will still be living here at the very beginning of 2010, as it is barely past Mike’s 2 year contract.) I have always wanted to go to the Olympics!! I’m so psyched. Thanks honey, for paying those ticket premiums so we can go. (Dumb lottery.)

If I want to see Figure Skating, I could go to the Nationals, which happen to be in Spokane. However, that is quite a long drive.

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