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