Curtains for the girls' bathroom

I thought I would try my hand at sewing curtains. We couldn't find anything we liked that matched the shower curtain we got for Emberlea and Alannah's bathroom, so I found some fabric and made curtains. I think they turned out ok. If you could look closely at them, you would find the imperfections, but the pictures don't show that!

Excavation begins

The kids watching "Baby Einstein"

Ember and Alannah watched the "Baby Einstein - Mozart" video while Nick got some digging in on the excavation for our new patio addition.

The plan for the patio

Once we decided what we wanted for our yard, the next step was deciding what to do first! We knew we would probably be able to do one of our projects this summer and so we chose to do the patio. Really, the materials aren't that much and we can do the labor ourselves. The final design for what we want to do eventually is next to this. We figure we can do the basic pavers this summer. The half-walls, stone benches, and patio furniture, including the gas barbecue grill will have to wait until more funding becomes available! (i.e. Nick and Jessica must work their buns off even more! Basically, by the time we finish the yard projects, we will have no buns left and that means nothing to sit on!!)

Emberlea at the park

Alannah at the park

A stroll to the park...

One sunny day, we went to the park near our house. It's only about 1/4 to 1/2 mile stroll. Daddy pulled Ember in the red wagon and Mama pushed Alannah in the stroller.

Emberlea is four!!!!

We are now parents of a four year old. It's hard to believe that our little one is getting older and bigger. Emberlea turned 4 on May 22nd. Although Jessica had to work that day, we celebrated the following Saturday at Chuckie Cheeses. Emberlea also had a special gift of Snow White to add to her collection of princesses!

Planting the Sycamore

Landscape designs

Since our new house had nothing but some scrubby grass and enormous amounts of weeds in the backyard, we have a blank slate to work with for the landscaping. As soon as we moved in, we sprayed weed killer over the entirety of the yard and waited not-so-patiently for those suckers to die! Our main concerns for the backyard are privacy, some adult outdoor living space, and play area for the girls. After some brainstorming and careful "research" (Google!!), we came up with some designs that will encompass elements of all of this. Our plan for the space will include a new patio addition, a deck, a hot tub spa, a swingset, and purposeful landscaping. Of course not all of this will be accomplished this year (or next). To start, we planted a few arbor vitae trees spaced out around the perimeter, that will hopefully grow up enough to provide a bit of privacy, and two deciduous trees, a Sycamore and a European Birch. We put these trees each in a corner of the yard. Nick's mom gave us some Lavendar and a Lilac bush which we also put around the perimeter. We have never landscaped a yard before, and we are doing it mostly by feel; according to what looks good to us and what sort of atmosphere we want to create. It is a lot of fun and something that we both are finding very enjoyable to plan and do. Since there was nothing to begin with, every addition is a major step towards the final outcome and a huge improvement to the eye, as we look out our windows.

Just a couple scenes of our stuff where it landed in our new house.

Moving into our new house

So on April 9th our house that we had been hoping for, finally closed! Of course with our busy work and school schedules, we couldn't move in that day or even the next one. We had to wait until the 12th of April to move in. It seemed like a long time!! The big day came and we managed to round up enough help to get all our stuff moved in on that day. Whew!!! All we had left at our rental was the cleaning, which we finished up that next week. Once we were in our house, we had to find a place to put everything; not that we are short on room, but it's hard to designate places for everything and make decisions about items. The moving in process continues even now - 2 months later. We had some prep work to do at the house as well: a little cleaning, a little painting, and a whole lot of curtain hanging. Although at this point, we are basically moved in for livability, there are still projects we have in mind to do around the house. We are loving all the room we have and are really enjoying making permanent decorating decisions. For the first time we can have things exactly the way we want them without having to ask permission or consult anyone. Even though we are now saddled with more debt than we have ever had, we feel so much more free in our life; and that is a good feeling!

Bubbles...big bubbles...EVEN BIGGER BUBBLES!!

Grandma Kathy brought Emberlea a special treat of extra-large bubble blowing wands and liquid. They are in shapes like hearts and flowers and you trace the wand through the air, hoping that the wind will blow through it and make the shape with the bubbles. It didn't work as well as we would have liked, but Emberlea had a blast trying. She was very impressed with how big the bubbles were.

Bunny ears

Aunt Meghan and Uncle Rian and cousin Wallace sent bunny ears and purses for the girls. So we had to get a picture of them with the ears!!

Easter!!

We got to attend church this year for Easter (most other years we have had to work on Easter sunday). We got Alannah all dressed up for her first Easter. Emberlea also had a dress that she chose to wear.