Why you shouldn't let your 2 year old pour his own syrup...

Piggies

We Almost Have a Living Room

The weather has not been too cooperative this week. Steve was hoping to get lots of outside work finished up but it has just been nonstop rain. He had taken a vacation day today and after making breakfast and a little wresting match with the crew, he twiddled his thumbs for a few minutes trying to decide what to do and thought it was best to tackle the drywall in our living room. My dad jumped ship and the 2 of them made great progress. The living room actually looks like a room!




Morgan cracks me up. She was tracing Aaron and they were drawling all over the drywall.


No, we are not Yankee fans. It was in a hand-me-down bag and Aaron was excited to wear it.

Bribery

Our family has a love hate relationship with pacifiers. We love them when they are babies, but oh, the agony of getting rid of them. Aaron is going to be 3 in a few weeks and we knew we had to just bite the bullet and be done with the crazy thing. Steve told Aaron that he was going to take him to the local hardware store and buy him a tractor but he had to take his binkys along and throw them in the garbage before he got the tractor. Aaron thought it was a great idea. Things went well... until he woke up from his first nap, he had a fit that he wanted them back. Last night I thought for sure he would wake up in the middle of the night screaming for one. This morning I was shocked to hear him and Greta in there playing like they normally do. I finally go into their room and he's laying there sucking on his crazy paci. I said, "Where did you get that??" He said he found it under his bed, daddy forgot one! Crazy kid. I don't know if he found it last night before bed or this morning. I think it's funny that he went looking for one. Today's nap and bed time have so far gone with out a hitch so hopefully this will be a fairly painless process.

Not exactly a snuggly thing, but he sure loves his new tractor

Glorious Day

Today was a wonderful day for us as homeowners. Ever since we have lived in this house we have longed for this day. You may think I am exaggerating, but if you have ever had a stone driveway, you know. What a treat, our driveway now has a lovely layer of blacktop!

We spent most of the morning watching, it was an exciting process


Claudia wearing a hat intended for her little bro




Apparently, our paver guy has a sense of humor. He saw me taking a shot and did this:






Please don't ask me why my baby is barefooted on this chilly day.

Dear QJ

Thank you so much for giving me your tow truck. I really like it and am having lots of fun hooking all my trucks and cars to it. You are nice to share your toys with me.
Your buddy, Aaron

Front Door

We finally got our front door in, (the delivery was supposed to be weeks ago...), stained and hung. We are all in love with it. Not sure what is up with my camera making things look weird colors... it is a nice dark brown, not orange. Maybe it's the sun setting against it or maybe it's the beautiful glow of the plywood beside it. Either way, we are thrilled with our new front door!

Quiet Progress

I finally realized why I haven't been taking as many pictures of our house project. Yes, the dramatic improvements have certainly slowed down, but mostly it's b/c it's getting dark so early! When the day is done... it is pitch black and I haven't even made supper yet. My days have been very busy busy with keeping up with the demands of 4 kids, homeschooling, and the still constant mess of the remodel.
This weekend was a huge milestone for Steve. All his electrical work was finished and passed inspection. What a huge relief. He began to insulate the new part so it's starting to look more like a room. My dad has been working like a champ this week (thankfully his job is still slow :). He's been doing the slow outside work of siding in awkward places and the soffit and fascia cover. Thanks dad for all your hard work.
Also, our new geo-thermal system is fully functioning. It apparently will save us mucho bucks with it's efficient heating/cooling of the air and also heating our water. Can't wait to see the new electric bill.

We have had some beautiful days. Aaron has enjoyed "working" with his paw-paw.


Look, Mom!






This child will find anywhere she possibly can to climb. She was supposed to be in Aaron's room watching Greta and I come around to see her hanging out the window. Notice the stressed out Greta face in the bottom of the photo. She saw me and wanted out!!


Homemade playground

Bug Catchers

Concentration

Thief

Some little stinker's fingers found some cinnamon rolls today.

Another Monday

Things have been a little slow around here this weekend. Steve was gone in DC for 2 days for a seminary class and then had to preach Sunday... so his weekend was eaten up. It was nice to make some progress today on his day off. (I am looking forward to this being done so we can actually have a day "off"!) Our geo-thermal will be completely installed tomorrow. Steve got almost all of the electrical done today. It's coming.

Aaron was playing in the dirt today and I called him in for lunch. He very firmly told me that he could not come in b/c he had to "finish the job in the dirt." He kept saying, "I have to finish my job!!" (Not sure what the job was??) He definitely gets that from his father!


Today was such a beautiful day. I love hanging my wash out on days like this.




My best attempt of a shot of my girls today. I can't believe I have 3 daughters!

Random

Progress:


Our neighbor friend recently got a new horse and Morgan was soo thrilled when she brought it over for a visit!




Greta enjoying a view from the patio door


Crossway folks: Look who we got working for us now!! (For those who don't know, this is our good friend and senior pastor, Pete Privitera)


Today we said good-bye to our favorite tree in our yard. It had some sort of disease or something. Poor Morgan was very upset when the tree went down. There were some tears. She loved that tree, it was the only on it our yard that she could climb!

Flooring

I can hardly contain my excitement over our newest home improvement. For 2 months now this has been my kitchen floor:


We had a decent floor that my parents installed almost 7 years ago. It was pergo and it served us well. We had to rip it out to get some continuity with the new and the old parts. So under the pergo was this plywood sub-floor that was so nasty.


The past few evenings, Steve has begun installing our new hardwood floor. I am in love with it!


The pics make this wood look a little redish but it is not. It's more of a dark brown.

My Claudie Girl