It's Spring!

Spring has finally sprung here in the Pacific NW. We were able to finish the gravel path a few weekends ago and the rain has been keeping us inside since then. However, earlier this week the sun came out and we are looking at sunshine throughout the weekend! I have only taken one picture of the path since it was done and here it is:

I will do my best to take another picture or two this weekend. I have been busy replanting my tomato seedlings (and broccoli and peppers and...). We also redid Pippa's room! We started with a new bed then decided to hang some art. But before we hung the art we wanted to touch up the walls and while we were touching up the walls, we should just go ahead and repaint them. So we ended up with a full room re-do. The paint turned out great. Same color as before but a little more green, a little richer. She loves her new platform bed and sheets. Here she is hamming it up.

Last night I noticed some nice flowers blooming on our front planting area. Here they are:

Tulips and bleeding hearts...so pretty.

Well, Liam is with Nana V and Papa Dave this week for Spring Break. He just got his physical and track starts next week...soccer games start up on the 19th...it's going to be a crazy month. 

Saturday we will drive and pick him up from the beach. Sunday we are having a family brunch at our house with my grandparents and dad. Next Friday is Pippa's THIRD birthday and Sunday we leave for a short vacation - just the two of us!!! I would like to get a bit more yard work done this weekend so I will try and post more yard pictures of our progress. I hope you are all enjoying whatever weather you are having. 

Weekend Warriors

 We had some nice weather on Saturday and a little bit of Sunday so we buckled down and got a few things done/progress made!
Last weekend though, I filled in the front area with gravel while Bella "helped"

 We moved all the sod from the area by the barn to the chicken coop. I really wanted to get these pieces done so I (or anyone else) wouldn't have to put on my boots every time I went to check on the chickens. We dug out a little more ground, laid the fabric and the gravel. This took about 5 hours with three of us working and Pippa "helping"

Here it is with the gravel down. 

Notice in the picture above that the chicken coop is still really grass and hasn't been touched.

The day was about 65 which is apparently warm enough to strip down to your panties and run around all day long. At one point she had taken them off and was sitting on the asphalt driveway naked - ew. That is Liam in the background looking all grown up. You can see where we stopped for the day.

Here you can see what I did on Sunday. In the morning everyone was pretty sore so I went out alone and dug this out. By the time I was done, Dan decided to help with the fabric and the gravel. We did this in about 3 hours. The doors swing freely now (instead of being caught up on the mud) and we can wear flip flops to take care of the chickens!

Taking a bit of a break this weekend to spend time with friends but we will be back to it soon.

Yard Work

Here are just a few pictures I took on Friday. We have made some progress this weekend so I will post more soon.

This rose bush right by the walkway will be going very soon

Lilac "trees" growing over the walkway. These will be relocated

Plastic is down and ready for gravel.

 

Here is the font area with the rock removed

We plan to take the grass out and make this all bed (hostas and other plants)

River rock was relocated to the front of the house underneath the windows for drainage

You can see where the grass has been cut and rolled for removal

Taking out all this grass to make room for more garden beds

Almost all of this will be a gravel pathway. To the chickens and to the house.

Just another view.

March Update

Our work party wasn't as busy as we had hoped but we did get the sod cut out like we wanted, another area dug out and a bunch of trees down and cut up. It rained pretty much the entire time and non-stop since then so I don't have any pictures right now. I plan to have some gravel delivered tomorrow and it's supposed to be nice weather so I will try and get some then.
In the meantime, here is a picture of the front walkway with ankle-breaking river rock. Then my friend Tanya dug it ALL out! There was no barrier put down so most of the rock sunk into the clay earth. I will put a barrier down before filling back up with gravel. You can also see where the sod was cut, that will be a bed with (most likely) fern, hosta and moss - this area gets very little sun.

River rock

Now it's a pool. Will be gravel and garden soon

 Liam and I ran a 6k on Sunday and it was awful weather. He actually WON his age group, I got 5th in mine. It was a pretty small race but we were very happy to be done. After that we went out to breakfast with the whole family then lazed around the rest of the day.

Didn't want to leave the car

Before we were soaked

We ended up relisting our house with a different realtor this week. The communication has been night and day. For example, I know that someone is coming to look at the house today and they are concerned it might be too close to the truck stop. With our old realtor we wouldn't know it was shown unless I specifically asked, and usually that would be days later. We were thinking of renting the house but renters were not available until June/July so we decided to relist until then. The new realtor had us paint the interior all one color and do some mini staging with some basic furniture. You can see the listing here
Wish us luck with selling soon!

Quick Update

Good Afternoon-

Just a super quick update as this week wraps up.

Last week Dan and I were spending a quiet weekend at home and my Dad showed up and surprised us. We ended up getting some work out of him and I snapped this picture of him doing what he does a lot of...standing and staring at the view. He's got his machete strapped to his belt. He is also standing next to our one and only lawnmower. I mowed the lawn...all of it...using this. Yowza! It took a little while.

Here's a great little video of Pippa. She started making this "bridge" the night before and was jumping on it for HOURS. She took a book away and that's where I pushed record. You can see that she realizes the book is missing and must put it back before continuing. Type A?? Very likely...

Pippa Counting

Our work party is this weekend. I will take lots of pictures and post an update after it's done.

We also took the house off the market for a little while. We need a bit less stress in our lives and we will either re-list or rent it soon.

Love you all.

Outside Pictures

We finally had a decent beginning to the day so I was able to walk around while the guys were working and snap some pictures of the outside.
 Here I am walking around the house on the driveway so I can show you the different vantage points. The picture below is me standing at the end of our driveway looking east out at the road. This is a private road you must drive down to reach our house.

 Then when I turn 180 degrees and face west, you can see our oval driveway.

 Walking a few steps forward and turning left (south) you can see our side yard (and well cover). The metal fence to the left is our neighbor's driveway.

 A few more steps forward and still looking to the south you can see more of the house.

 Keep moving west and we get to our "shop" - it has a dirt floor and holds most of our gardening supplies. The blue line on the ground is where we want to remove grass and add gravel. It's pretty soupy when it gets wet and we would like to put in gravel to help us walk around without getting too muddy.

 Continuing around the corner is the barn. This one has a concrete floor.

 And finally full circle to the house. The window on the far right is Liam's room, then Pippa's room, then the living room on the far left.

  Walking a bit past the house and showing a different view.

Standing by the barn/chicken area and looking at the side of the house.

 Most of the back of the house. Our bedroom is to the far right (not pictured). Then the three decks from the dining room and mud room.

 Turning to the south shows a small garden plot. It was already there so I'm going to use it this year while we determine the best place to garden next year. Dad, Liam and Dan are trying out the new chainsaw and cutting a few trees before our big work day.

 Dad took this picture from his phone and I liked it. A few weeks ago walking down to the creek, this bridge crosses a little stream. We need to rebuild/reinforce it but it will be a fun summer project.

There you go! I hope it gives you a good idea of the upper part of our property - where we mostly live. I will take pictures inside very soon. 

February snow melt

The snow has FINALLY melted and we are all back to our normal lives (ha!). I have had requests from many of you to show more pictures of the house. I promise it's coming. I looked through what I had and they are all pictures from when we were buying the house...meaning it's not our furniture. I will take pictures as I can and post them.

A picture of the front yard on a nicer day

Pippa walking along the driveway in the rain (with a paper umbrella)

We were pretty much snowed in through the weekend. I had a friend give me a ride to go grocery shopping on Saturday and we stopped by Les Schwab and picked up chains for both Dan and I. Dan ended up working all day Sunday. Remember when I said he was working at midnight on Thursday night? That didn't happen, he couldn't get his car out of the driveway. The snow was too deep - I think we got a little more than 12 inches or so. Anyway, he worked Sunday and I stayed home with Pippa. We did puzzles, cooked and just hung out. She's definitely not a fan of the snow either.

Here's a picture of our creek on Friday

The view from our front door after round 2

This weekend is Valentine's Day weekend. My dad is coming over for a visit and he will come with me when I take Liam to Parkour class on Saturday. Then he agreed to watch the kiddos so Dan and I could have a short date day/night. I think we will probably head to a couple of our local wineries for some tastings. If not, we will probably go to a movie. I know...we are a wild and crazy bunch. We have spent so much time with both kids recently (especially being snowed in) that it will be nice to just not have a child around for a few hours.

What else....Liam and I are running a 6k together on March 2nd. We ran the Shamrock Run last year but didn't make the registration cutoff for this year so we decided to do the Fort Vancouver 6k. I am happy it's closer than Portland and it's a smaller race, he should have a good time and I won't be as worried about losing him in the crowd.

We are having a "work party" at our house on March 1. About 20 of our friends are coming over to help us do some work. I promise to take before and after pictures. We plan to cut down a bunch of diseased and/or dead, unhealthy trees as well as carve out a few pathways in the yard so we are not constantly walking through the grass/mud. We are very thankful to have so many friends who have volunteered to help us do some major and much needed work on the outside. This should give us a great jumpstart for the gardening season and help a little more light get through to some areas of the yard that need it.

Dan got bumped from his crane operator position so he's doing something else now but he's not quite sure yet because he's training the person who bumped him! Interesting enough, the person that bumped him does not want that position so we are crossing our fingers that he will eventually get back there. It was a really neat gig for him and he really enjoyed it.

Our house is still for sale. Our agent has held a few open houses and has always had great feedback but no offers yet. We are kind of in limbo there, not sure what we will do. Our contract with her is 90 days so if we decide to sell still we will have to re-list. Otherwise, we have some friends that have expressed interest in renting the property in June. That could be helpful financially now and waiting another year to put the house on the market again may allow us to get a better price for it. Again, still not sure what we are going to do but we know what is meant to be will be.

We hope you are all doing well. There's not a lot else going on with us right now but as the weather gets nicer and the days get longer, we get really busy and I promise we will keep everyone posted on our happenings...and more pictures of the house soon!!!

February Snow

Good Evening everyone!

Today we got some insane snow!! Here are a few pictures I was able to snap before it got too dark out there. Dan's car was only parked for about 2 hours before I took these pictures. It has stopped for now but we are supposed to get another couple of inches tonight and another 2-6 inches on Saturday. Liam's school has already cancelled for tomorrow. It will be an interesting drive into work for sure. Dan is going in at midnight tonight so they can clean off all the switch boxes. He will work from 12-7 and be home during the day. It's a little change for him but I think he likes the variety.

Backyard snow

Gives you a good idea of the depth

Our driveway is in there somewhere...

Ironically, last weekend was so beautiful I took the dogs for a walk. Here is a shot of one of the side streets, now it's covered in snow!

Beautiful Saturday afternoon

We have discovered that one of our cats has gone missing. We have lots of coyotes around here and we think...well, we will let your imagination run wild. Anyway, we borrowed a trail cam from a friend at work and have been keeping an eye on the barn. One of the cats (although we never see him) IS still alive and around and regularly visiting the barn for food. We are very happy about that. Hopefully he will be a bit more friendly as summer approaches so we can cuddle.

Pippa has finished her antibiotic so she is doing much better. She still struggles with very sensitive skin and with the dry cold we have had, she had very chapped lips and some dry skin issues. We keep a humidifier in her room for the nighttime and it seems to help.

Liam at Saturday Parkour

Liam has joined an after school art club and is churning out some fun projects. The picture here is an oil pastel he did on his very first day! He loves art and has done really well this first semester in school earning a 3.667 GPA! Way to go Liam! Spring soccer will start up in April.

Oil pastel from art club

January and Sickness

I hope everyone is staying healthier than us out there!

Dan is finally home from two weeks in Missouri. He still has a cough but is feeling much better. While he was gone my dad came over quite a bit and helped me get the garage cleaned out and organized and we were able to organize some of the inside of the house as well.

Now that Dan is home, Pippa got sick. She has had a bit of a cough and a sniffly nose for a while now. Sunday/Monday she was running a pretty high fever (103) but we were able to keep it down with meds. I stayed home with her on Tuesday and she was back to "normal" on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Wednesday night she took a turn for the worse and I made a doctor appt for her on Thursday morning. They said she had a double ear infection that would not go away on it's own so she is on antibiotics now. Even after just the one day, she is doing SO much better.

On Monday, we got two new cats! Now that we have two barns, we wanted to get some outdoor only kitties to help control any rodent population. There is a program here called "barncat rescue" where they hook you up with someone who has cats they do not want anymore (who cannot be kept inside). Nancy came over to our house and left us her two Maine Coon kitties, Oliver and Davy. I'm surprised that Oliver is an outdoor kitty, he's very cuddly and he LOVES Pippa. Davy is a little more skittish though. They are still locked up in the barn as of today but tomorrow we will start letting them out during the day to explore. We kept them inside for almost a week so that they would know where their food is and hopefully continue to come back.

Oliver is in the back, Davy in the front

Liam started Parkour lessons last Saturday and he loved it. We will go back every Saturday that we have him while we can. Soccer starts in April so I wanted to keep him busy and active until then. The first semester of school is over for him and he starts all new classes on Monday. He is thrilled to be taking Art again.

I think that's about it for us. My dad is coming over again tonight and will go with me in the morning to paint a couple of rooms in the old house. Seems some of the paint was a little too off-puting for a few lookers so we are going to paint it a more neutral color in hopes that we get an offer soon. We will continue to remain faithful in our budgeting and donations in hopes that one day it will all come back and we will sell our old house so that we can focus 100% on our new home.

Go Seahawks!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

This one came in a little slower than others. Dan has been very sick over the last couple of weeks. He finally went to the doctor yesterday and they diagnosed him with sinusitis and bronchitis. They gave him FOUR prescriptions to help with the coughing, wheezing and pain. Hopefully he will start to feel better quickly.

We have the old house all cleaned out and cleaned up and it's finally listed for sale today! Please help send "quick sale" thoughts our way.
In the meantime, here are a few pictures of what we've got now. Our chicken ladies are very happy and we get between one and four eggs per day. We would like to get a couple more chickens soon and will need to expand the coop to do it.

The chicken coop

Our four ladies: Buffy, Big Red Chicken, Blackie and Zebra

 There haven't been a lot of sunny days since we moved in but we did catch this rather gorgeous shot. We have a LOT of trees so the view isn't of the sunset but we do get to see the colors. One day I will take the camera and walk down to the creek to show you the view from there, we love it!

Sunset view from the back deck