The court

The perfect compliment to a new driveway is a new basketball hoop. Sure, you have to dribble around the chicken poop, but that's just a way to build precision dibbling skills (or something like that).

The boys made a "court" with chalk – each zone worth a different amount of points. Nate turned it into a math game, because Nate can turn anything into a math game, and Walter scored 107 points! Although that number changed, and got bigger, every time he told the story. :)



And, speaking of chicken poop, these girls got a little taste of the outdoors today. 4 weeks old now and on to the awkward teenage stage. They go from cute to not-so-cute in a hurry. But those pretty adult feathers aren't too far away.

The playroom

Well, we did it. We managed to clean up and photograph the playroom this morning. This long, narrow room has been a challenge and has gone undecorated since we moved in. We rearranged the furniture over and over, but it never seemed to work. Our mish-mash of shelving units were constantly overflowing with toys and games. The loveseat was used more for jumping on and hiding behind than sitting on. I looked for a before picture to share and this one was the best I could come up with:

A messy room is rarely photographed. (Not that it isn't still usually messy. I mean, it is a playroom after all.) Here's what it looks like today:


We took out all the random shelves and filled the back wall with matching bookshelves and a low bench/window seat. Walter has a step stool to reach the higher shelves. The coffee table is Walter's train table and is a great surface for puzzles, games, and LEGO-building. We added a chair so there are seats for everyone around the table. We put up a gallery wall to display all of Walter's artwork and he can easily replace the old stuff with new stuff. I'm loving all the new storage space in this room. There's a place for everything so cleaning up is easy. Finally, a playroom we love to play in!

Projects

Walter and I did a Pinterest project today. Are you on Pinterest yet? You should be. It's awesome. Anyway, as I was saying, we did a project from Pinterest today and I was going to share it with you but it's not quite done yet. So I dug through my photo archives and found a different Pinterest project. I did this back in September but never got around to sharing it. Behold, the purple chandelier.

A cheap-o chandelier off of craigslist and a can of purple Rust-Oleum is all it takes. Oh, and a handy husband who's willing to take down the nasty, old ceiling fan from the back porch and install the new, purple chandelier in it's place. The porch is feeling a bit more festive now.

That other project will here soon – as soon as I can find some daylight to take some photos. 

Excavation

I've got WAY more exciting stuff than peas tonight! Part of what's been keeping us busy the past few weeks is house stuff. And part of that house stuff was a broken water heater, which led to the discussion of replacing our furnace, which somehow snowballed into installing a geothermal system. We're going to be energy efficient! It's going to cost less! And they are going to dig up the whole front yard! The excavation began today.

Since it's not every day you have a giant trench in your front yard, we did a little exploring while the worker (I've been calling him Mike Mulligan) finished the job. 



Pretty cool stuff having a great big digger at our house. Walter gave me the details on how the job is going to be finished up:

He's right. The pipe and all the dirt goes back in the hole tomorrow. Then we work on getting the yard back to normal. The grass will have to grow back, of course. We had to sacrifice some blackberry bushes for this, but Mike Mulligan was careful not to hurt the fruit trees and stayed a safe distance from the bee hives. I can't wait to have this done. It was an unexpected, but much-needed improvement. And it came with a digger!

Some days are like that

Some days you come home to a leaky pipe and a bathroom ceiling that looks like this:

Some days your ankle is too sore to run on. 

Some days your son refuses to put on his swimming suit and throws a fit in the changing room at the pool.
Days like that remind me of this book:

According to the inscription on the inside cover, Nate got this book for his 5th birthday. I'm so glad his mom kept it all these years and passed it on to Walter. We love to read it and it's perfect for those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days. But that day was yesterday. 

Today was one of these days:

No leaks, a bike ride, and a good boy, who happily finished his dinner so he could eat the cookies he and Gramma made. He even shared.

Berry bliss

We've discovered that our property is full of black raspberries. We can easily spend an evening gathering a few beans and zucchini from the garden, then wander the paths and fill the rest of our bowl with berries. Walter gets the low ones, I get the high ones, and Nate gets the ones way back in there, far off the path. It's a good system. By the end of the night, our fingers (and mouths) are stained purple.

Befores and afters

Well, I can't think of any excuses to put it off any longer. The kitchen table is in place, we've hung a few things on the walls, and I had this long weekend to clean. So, finally, 6 months after moving in, I give you: New House Photos! To recap, we tore out most of the whole first floor and rearranged everything. Here are some before and after photos. 
What used to be the dining room, is now the kitchen:

Those big, pretty doors aren't gone! They found a new home in the back room, leading out to the porch.
What used to be the living room, is now the dining room (plus the pantry and a little more kitchen):

What used to be the kitchen, is now the living room:


The kitchen was our main focus and everything else kind of fit in around it. It's where we spend most of our time. There's plenty of space for visitors to gather. I can keep an eye on Walter, wherever he happens to be. He spends a lot of time drawing and coloring at that little red table while I cook dinners. 

We eat most of our meals at this table. Nate designed and built the bench seating. The benches lift up so we can store things inside. I still haven't filled them. 

And this is Walter asking, "Are you done taking pictures yet?" 

Yes! I'm done. Thank you for helping me, Walter! Now let's mess it up again.

Making music

The latest installment on Walter's playhouse: a banging wall!

I've loved the idea ever since I saw this post from SouleMama. It wasn't really very practical for our old neighborhood, but it's perfect out here! Now Walter can grab a stick or a wooden spoon and make all the noise he wants, and we don't have to worry too much about annoying the neighbors. 


Thanks, Grampa! We love it!

An extra hour of sleep

Last night we hung new, Mama-made, blackout fabric-lined curtains in Walter's room. This morning Walter slept until 7:20 instead of 6:20. Nate declared me the BEST WIFE EVER.

Progress

Know what this means? 
This means I just put the first coat of paint on our new (used) kitchen table!! It's not perfect, it needs some work, and it probably won't end up being the table we use forever. But it's a good, cheap solution for the time being. And I have the somewhat ambitious goal of getting it finished and into our kitchen in time for Mother's Day brunch on Sunday. Wish me luck!

What we came home to

It was nice to spend the week in the 80 degree weather down in Florida, and it was even nicer to come home to 80 degree weather in Wisconsin. It didn't last, of course, but we enjoyed the warm weekend and the loads of pretty spring flowers that had popped up in the yard. We also enjoyed seeing the huge amount of progress that Grampa had made on Walter's treehouse! It's so cool! Slides, sandbox, swings, ladders... Walter is having a fabulous time out there. And since he has such a nice play space outside, it gives us free time to do some yard cleanup. And some relaxing on our comfy new bench swing. I may have found a new favorite activity for Sunday mornings.

Hang-ups

We're finally starting to hang things on the walls! I don't know why this is such a hard thing for me. I guess it just seems so permanent. I mean, what if I change my mind? Then there would be a (gasp!) hole in the wall! Tragic, right? But we've done it. We've put holes in the walls and I'm happy about it. 

This hangs in the kitchen. The print is from Hatch Show Print – we picked it up on our road trip to Nashville two years ago. The little cork strip is something I picked up while shopping on the chocolate walk last weekend. I think it will be a nice home for weekly menus and recipes. (If we ever manage to be that organized!)

House update

We've been in the new house for a couple of months now and I have yet to post any "after" photos from the renovation. The fact is, it's just not done yet. Most rooms are close to being done, but I'd rather not show the finished product until it's really finished. What's holding us up? Well, we are STILL waiting to have a sink installed in the master bathroom. What a fiasco that has been! First the cabinet was the wrong size, then the wrong color. But we now have a new one on order and in 3-4 weeks, we'll be brushing our teeth right there in the master bathroom. Probably. We're also trying to find a kitchen table that fits in our new space. Nate built some beautiful bench seating that I'm dying to show off, but right now it's covered up by an ill-fitting table. I'm on the hunt for the right solution. Another little roadblock is my own indecisiveness. I can't decide where to hang pictures and where to put shelves. There is a pile of artwork stacked in a corner just waiting for me to pick a spot already!
But aside from all that, we've been making real progress here! Like I said, Nate built bench seating and it's exactly what I was hoping for. I've even made cushions for it already. He also built an organizer for the foyer so we each have our own cubby for coats, hats, gloves, shoes, etc. Oh! Did I mention the pantry shelves he built? Nate has been busy! He even got the garage cleaned out so that both our cars will fit in there. At the same time! Room by room the paint is being touched up, towel bars and pictures are being hung, the last odds and ends are being put away and organized. We've also been making a real effort to make this place as energy efficient as possible. Insulation has been added and a new fireplace will be installed tomorrow.
We're so happy with the house and we really feel comfortable here. We'll keep chipping away at the to-do list and with any luck, those "after" pictures won't be too far off.

Knitting therapy

This is our dining room. 

Clearly, we are still trying to get organized. Nate has been hard at work, building shelves and installing things. (I can't wait to show you what he's been doing!) While I wait for those things to be finished up so I can put some things away, I've been knitting. And knitting. And knitting some more. It's something to focus on and take my mind away from the chaos that is crowding our dining room and so many other areas of the house. And look how productive I've been! 

Many dishcloths, in many patterns, have been stashed in the kitchen. And I've finally started on this project, that I bought supplies for so many months ago. 

It feels good to get something done. I know our mess won't last forever. In the meantime, I'll just keep on knitting.

Making ourselves at home

There are still pockets of chaos throughout the house, but we are as unpacked and organized as we can be while we wait for the last bits of the construction to be finished up. It's taking some time to get used to this place, but we are starting to find our comfort zone. It's becoming easier to reach for the right drawer when looking for a spoon, and we've settled on our seating arrangement at the dinner table (for now). Even Molly is finding favorite cozy spots to curl up for naps. Each day we are living here more and more, and it really is starting to feel like home.

It's here!

We have been without kitchen countertops since we moved in, and today they arrived! What a treat to come home to. Along with the countertop came the sink, the cooktop, and we can finally use the dishwasher. A fully functioning kitchen – woohoo! Time to clean it up, put things away and start cooking! Good thing I have a three-day weekend ahead of me...