Easter Egg Hunt

Mandy and Emma came to visit over Spring Break! We waited to do an egg hunt until they were here, and the four cousins had fun searching together.

They each had an assigned color to hunt for.

The girls did a pretty good job this year.

Ardenwood

Over Spring Break we visited Ardenwood Farm with Brooke and Alex. It’s practically down the street from our house, but I haven’t been to the historic working farm in years (only Perry Farms next door to get pumpkins annually).

How gorgeous are peacocks? The farm also had a bunch of baby goats, and they were so cute!

The kids had fun checking everything out, and it was nice to catch up with Brooke. We’ll have to go again some time!

Projects Complete!

Our home refacing and living room update are done!

Here’s the front of the house when we bought it four years ago…

and here it is now:

Here’s the living room when we bought it, and then repainted…

and now, with a new fireplace, built-ins, flooring, and central light…

We’re so happy to have it done.

Happy Easter!

Young Author

This year Aiden decided to write his own book for the Young Authors contest at school. Our librarian runs the contest every year, and last year it snuck up on us, and there just wasn’t time to help our kindergartener write a book, but this year he was ready.
We started brainstorming and drafting back in January, during Winter Break. He told me his ideas, and we sketched them out. He dictated his story to me, and I typed it up, and then we went through the long process of him writing everything by hand first in pencil, then in pen. He erased the pencil and then illustrated and colored. Finally, it was done at the beginning of this month.

The school had a short recognition assembly this week for the whole school, and the principal handed out certificates to everyone who participated. Isaac was able to Landon and Charlotte to the morning assembly before work.

Then the winners were given a copy of their book pasted into a hard cover. A second copy of each book is available in the school library to share with other students.

Aiden was very excited to win second place in the first grade, and he’s all ready to enter again next year.

A Day in the Life of a Toddler

I'm taking a photography class for fun this semester, and my project last week was to photograph a day in the life of a friend or family member. In case you've ever wondered what life looks like for Charlotte, here it is. :)

Remodel

In the going-on-four years we’ve owned the house, we’ve refinished or replaced all the flooring, remodeled the kitchen and all three bathrooms, replaced most of the doors and windows, painted everything, created a playroom out of an attic space, and more. It’s so different inside than it used to be, but we haven’t done a ton on the outside. Until now!

This winter we’re having a few more projects done!

We decided to have the brick façade and wood siding removed; the wood was in pretty sad shape. The whole house is being re-stucco-ed, and they are installing a stone veneer half wall in front. The rain has made this a LONG PROCESS.

We had lots of rotting on the balcony, including one of our major beams, so lots of that was torn out and replaced. It’s still not done, but you get the idea.

More later!