Happy New Year!

The year ended the way it began - with a playdate!  As usual we headed over to Dan and Jen's for some NYE festivities with the neighborhood gang, so I had the kids over in the afternoon while they prepped. The result was roughly a 12 hour play date, starting at our house, and ending at theirs.  

The kids play so well together it's really no problem having the 4 of them together.  Roddie sometimes gets the short end of the stick, being the youngest and only boy, but he seems to be enjoying playing with Erin and Allie as much as Norah does these days!

Roddie (3), Erin (6), Norah (5), Allie (4)

Foto Finish Friday 2013 Week 50

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013!

It's been a quiet Christmas here in the new house, as quiet as can be expected with two kids under 6 that is!  Turns out, "not quite 6" is a fantastic age at Christmas time!   Norah both fully believes in Santa and fully understands that he brings good stuff, and I really feel like we got to experience the magic of Christmas in her eyes.  Roddie enjoyed the festivities as well, of course, but I don't think he was nearly as excited as Norah was.  We went to "midnight" mass at 8:00 last night and it was all he could do to keep his eyes open until the end.  Norah was very literally flitting about, she was so excited.  It was her who stayed up "late" to hang the stockings and set up the snacks for Santa and the gang.

We had a nice mix of secular and religious Christmas excitement - they were pretty excited to see that the Baby Jesus had arrived in the manger at church when we got there, and - at Norah's suggestion - we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus before we began opening our gifts.  Mind you, once that was done, it was hard to slow her down as she tore her way through her gifts!  Roddie, as always, was a little more methodical, stopping to play with each gift before moving on to open the next - much to his sister's frustration.  

They slept in until their usual wake-up time of about 7 this morning and were content with a family Christmas snuggle in our room for about a half hour before Norah exclaimed, "We almost forgot to open presents!"  

Santa hit the nail on the head with Rainbow Looms and a faux "American Girl" doll for Norah.  Roddie was pretty pleased with his Imaginext town and keyboard. 

Ready to head to Mass

BFF's forever!

My handsome boy

My beautiful girl

My loves, my family

Family shot, Merry Christmas!

Laying out the goods for Santa

... hung by the chimney with care!

Our musician, playing a tune

Yeah, that's right, they are sharing!

Norah News: Finally, a Santa picture!!

 
All I want for Christmas is some new red tights...

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you may have wondered, over the years, why you've never seen a picture of my kids with Santa Claus.  Well, the reason is, they don't exist.  I have one of Norah just before her first Christmas, but attempts in subsequent years, despite the excitement in the lead in, resulted in tears.

As a result, I didn't even try the last couple of years.  However, this year, Norah was so in the the Elf on the Shelf that I thought she might be into it.  So on Friday, her last day of school for the year, and my last day of work for the year, the kids and I headed to the mall, to see Santa, among other things.  Both kids were very excited, but when push came to shove, Norah marched right up to the big guy with her requests (American Girl doll and Rainbow Loom) and Roddie hung on to my leg for dear life.

So, I passed on the professional photos, but managed to get this nice one of Norah chatting up Santa.

Foto Finish Friday 2013 Week 48

Foto Finish Friday 2013 Week 48

Foto Finsish Friday 2013 Week 48

Foto Finish Friday 2013 Week 47

DW2DT 2013: Day 148, the END!

I know, I know, I've been pretty lazy with updating the blog lately, but we've had a lot to do!  Moving in is one big one, cleaning as we go is another.  Then, on top of that, we're trying really hard to get back to normal living.  Also, Nanny and Papa came to visit us for a few days and we just got back from Thanksgiving in PA!

In fairness to Tim, I think the last day he did real work here was about a week ago, call it Day 141.  However, TODAY was the first day since July that he wasn't going to be here while we were at work.  It was a little strange, as I've kinda gotten used to having someone here during the day - picking up my Zulilly and Amazon packages and taking them inside before Matt notices them, signing for furniture deliveries, letting in the furnace guy and so on. 

We've got curtains or blinds on all but three windows now and at least some furniture in all but 2 rooms - some is on order and some is in the basement.  We still have more cleaning to do, but most of my clothes and the kids clothes, linens and coats are all in their proper (and oh-so-spacious!) closets.  I still can't believe this is our house most days, but bottom line is -

We're done!!!

PS Dad, I finally found that HDMI Cable :)

Foto Finish Friday: 2013 Week 46

DW2DT: Family Fun Goodness

It's only been a couple of weeks but already I don't know how we got by without a family room / toy room - or as the kids call it , he family fun room!

I suppose we should get some furniture and whatnot for in there but I love it already!

MacNeil Family Jam Band - The Next Generation!

DW2DT: Final Details

We're back in the house, but we'll be working on final details for some time to come.  All of the base needs to be filled and final painted, as well as all of the white portions of the stairs.  Since they stairs kind of jump out at you when you walk in, my guess is we might get them done, but that's it for a while.  Anyway, Matt was working on the fill on the stairs and Norah was VERY interested in what he was doing, and wanted to help.  Rod was curious, mainly because she was there, but she was really into it.  I find it really interesting that Norah, my fancy girl, is the one who's interested in bugs and worms and the whole construction process, while Rod, my very boy-like boy by most accounts loves to fold laundry and empty the dishwasher.

Norah News: Fun with Words

Norah is really flourishing on the reading front - she read an entire level 1 reader to me the other night.  She's sounding out words everywhere we go, on signs, on ketchup bottles, you name it!  She read "Parmesan Cheese" for my mom the other day!

Last night when I went to pick her up at the afterschool program, she was sitting on the front of the stage, on her own, with her nose in her latest Fancy Nancy find from the library.  The cool part of this vignette was her feet, which were swinging and her face when I caught up with her and asked what she was doing. 

I don't remember when, exactly, I learned to read.  But I do know that I've loved to read for a really long time and I could not be happier for Norah.  Seeing the joy and pride in her face when she figures out what she thought was a hard word is really amazing!

DW2DT: Porch View

Day 135: Front Porch

Foto Friday 2013 Week 45

Roddie Report : serious business

REAL happiness is....

Snuggling up with your big sister after playing in your new playroom all day and falling fast asleep on her lap while you wait for dinner... And her letting you sleep there... Love

DW2DT Day 129... Happiness is

1. Not living in a camper when the first snow flies
2. Catching up on laundry for the first time in a month (upstairs, and with the use of a dryer!!)
3. Having the kids Sleep in separate rooms...
4. ... But sharing a room for toys and playing
5. Very clearly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel
6. Having a closet so awesome it's hard to get a good picture! That's 9 feet of goodness that's mine, all mine! Matt has his own 9 feet on the right, currently being shared by the vacuum cleaner... It's a family tradition :)

Foto Friday 2013 Week 44

DW2DT: News from Day 115

You may have heard there was some pretty big news here in Massachusetts on October 30.  The Red Sox won the World Series, IN Fenway Park, for the first time in nearly a century.  Oh yeah, and WE GOT OUR OCCUPANCY PERMIT!!!  Not a moment too soon either, as the temps were dipping into the 20's at night and the camper was sold, to be picked up on Friday.   We had been migrating into the house, first for showers, then for meals, over the previous week, and we had set up the beds the previous weekend, and we were more than ready for the big move.

Tim sent us an email just before lunch letting us know the permit was in hand, and I took off from work a bit early to come home and make the beds before I took the kids Home to the House for the first time.  Yipeee!  They were suitably excited about their new rooms and the prospect of living in the house again.  Norah, forever the drama queen, shed a few tears for the trailer before the night was out.

Since move in, we've been very busy cleaning and settling in, not to mention building a sidewalk out front and the minimal amount of fall clean up outside.  There is still much more to be done, by us and Tim, but living inside again feels great.  Not too much time for blogging, but all is well!

 

Happy Wife, Happy Life - Matt with the cleaning supplies

Yes, they have their own bathroom, but both thought it would be better to do their hair in ours

 

Norah cuddled up in her new bed

Roddie and Mitchell the Monkey checking out the ball bed

How true..,

Foto Friday 2013 Week 43

Happy Halloween

Roddie Report: School Pictures

DW2DT: Day 108, the countdown is on!

Well, Matt is still in pain, but he went to work today.  It's Friday, so by that alone, things are looking up!  For good or for bad, there isn't too much we can do at the house this weekend.  The remaining painting is in the "tool room"/office, we can't do a final cleaning until the baseboards go in, and the minimal stuff we can move upstairs short term won't take long (if Matt can even do it).  We do need to clean out the camper, and Matt's friend Ron is coming out tomorrow with a load of something or other to temp out the walkway for the winter, but that's really about all we can do - a forced day off perhaps?

Current plan is to get our occupancy permit by this upcoming weekend.  Hopefully the nice man who bought the trailer won't show up before then!  Of course, if he does we'll figure it out, but here's hoping!  Tim and Russ will be working tomorrow afternoon, making more dust (see above re: final cleaning) and finishing the stairs and baseboards. 

It's getting harder and harder to stay in the camper as the house nears completion - there is space, ample heat, lights and hot water mere feet away from where we're living!!  I've been showering in the house for a while, and cooking there all summer, but last night we even ate in there - Matt and I standing and the kids in their lawn chairs from the other morning!

The two last big items, the dining room/family room and the stairs are really highlights of the heart of our home and it's really great to see them coming together.  It will be even greater to move in, mind you...

 

View from the front door - peek out into the yard/camper

I can imagine yelling over this railing to downstairs a few times...

Roddie testing it out already!

Foto Finish Friday: 2013 Week 42

DW2DT Day 108: It takes a Hood...

You've heard the expression that it takes a village to raise a child?  Well, I'm here to tell you that it takes a neighborhood to build a house. 

The past couple of days I feel like we just couldn't catch a break - I have been kinda sick, but with no chance to rest.  The washer I thought was fixed really wasn't, the neighbor we thought might buy our camper ultimately didn't.  Yesterday morning, though a series of unfortunate events we had no heat nor lights in the camper in the morning.  (Ever try to get kids up and dressed in the cold and dark?  I don't recommend it) Today, Roddie peed in his bed, Norah peed on the bathroom floor, they wouldn't give me a flu shot because of my cold, my truck won't drive and my dog ran away... you get the pricture.  Then, to add insult to injury, Matt threw his back out again over the weekend and was in such pain today that he missed work and went to the doctor.  This morning I was saying to a co-worker that I just wanted something, anything, to break our way!  This point of the project is hard enough without crap luck!

Decamped to the construction site for breakfast

That said, our luck did turn around this afternoon.  A couple from Moncton who found our listing on Craig's List came by and bought the camper!  Let me tell you, that was a HUGE relief!  They'll be back to pick it up next week, which gives us plenty of time to MOVE OUT OF THE CAMPER over the weekend.  Thankfully this jives with Tim's plans to finish off the stairs by Friday! 

 

Then, a neighbor called and asked if we wanted to come over for dinner.  Usually on a weeknight I pass (and as it turns out totally blew it on Norah's first ever night of homework...oops!)  but tonight it was just what the doctor ordered!  I left Matt and his back on the sofa and took the kids and a couple loads of laundry around the corner.  On my walk over I realized that the neighbors really have been a big part of this - Jen took the kids a bunch of Saturday afternoons, I've seen pretty much everyone's laundry rooms by now, Marsha has taken the kids and had us over several times and everyone has listened to the ongoing progress and helped us stay sane!  

 

Maybe our luck wasn't so bad after all!

Yeah, that's Roddie, pulling a wagon full of dirty laundry, detergent and a bottle of wine, with his fancy scarf on... what of it?

Yahoo!  The final phase to re-inhabiting our house is coming along!

DW2DT: Day 105?

Honestly, I've lost track of the exact day, although I can tell you for certain we're rounding the corner of week 15.  It was a busy day here on the compound, with Tim on site working on the stairs, Russ came by to prep for refinishing the floors downstairs and the neighbor Jim and his wife (whose name I NEVER remember) stopping by and seemingly interested in the camper, and Matt, Norah, Roddie and I working on the front walk. 
The front walk was a bit of a bone of contention between Matt and I... I've always felt the back walk, that we put in when Norah was a baby, was too narrow.  The architect in Matt is leery of a walk out of scale with the house.  We managed to come to a compromise and laid it out first thing this morning.  We ended up deciding to keep the flagstone that had been at both the front and back walks when we bought the house.  Honestly, I don't love it, but the pavers I prefer aren't readily available this time of year, and honestly, the price works for us right now.  Laying the stone involves diggin gup the grass, laying sand (that needed to be harvested from the backyard), then stone dust (that was delivered this morning) and then I suppose we'll lay stones tomorrow. 
The kids and I took off to run some errands around 11, including picking up the mattress for Roddie's BIG BOY bed, only to return to join the hard labor.  This had the added benefit (again) of ensuring an easy bedtime for the kids.  Both kids were great, again today.  They both really got into the spirit of helping, using their mini-shovels and wheel barrows to contribute. 
The day reminded me of a project we did shortly after my grandparents moved to Antigonish in their retirement.  I think we hauled and spread most or all of the gravel in their back driveway.  All I remember clearly is going with my dad to a semi abandoned gravel put, filling up the little trailer Papa had, and spreading the stuff back at the house.  I doubt we were all that helpful when it comes right down to it, but like our kids today, I do recall feeling proud and happy that I was a part of this important work.

 

Spreading out the stone dust - why use a rake?

Roddie seems happy to be part of the fun

Norah is also happy to be helping.

I was giving the kids tubbies by then, but this was the fruit of today's labour

Come on in!

Matt and the kids picking up and getting ready for the floor team tomorrow (yes Sunday!) morning.