On an Unusually Warm Day in May

 

Oh Idaho, you are so tricky.  

Just when we think Summer will never come,

You send us an unusually warm day in May.

The Basement Story

 In January we started really planning to finish the basement. In February Matt called some friends and got some names of professionals and got to work. He learned how to wire lights, put in heat ducts, and frame.

In March Matt's brother John came to live with us. He helped frame and sheet rock.

  Here are some more

March pictures.

 

 

The boys worked late into the night hanging new doors, fixing strange pre-owner stuff, and putting fans in bathrooms. Then conference weekend, we had a pro come and texture the whole thing (and re-texture some of the more obnoxiously poor texture jobs we inherited.

Then we did a LOT of painting. The girls now officially own "painting cloths." We just finished the doors and window molding. And the carpet goes in this coming week. The girls favorite part is:

the under stairs playhouse that Matt added in as he was framing. There's is even a little light they can flip on for themselves when they go in. Life is very good and it's about to get even better! Look forward to post-carpet pictures in a week or two.

Being Two!

Okay, so it's been a month, but MaryEllen had a birthday, and I'm pretty sure it was the best day of her life. We started out with her favorite breakfast, Yogurt. Then we made cupcakes, and we watched movies (it snowed, so no park). We had Bacon Alfrado for dinner, also her favorite, and she loved blowing out her candles and opening presents. Jill helped of course.

Hannah is 7 months old!!! She's almost crawling, and she eats everything, except food. So far she is a big fan of vanilla yogurt, but that is IT!

Jill is 31/2 and is doing a little 3 day a week pre-preschool put on by the local child development high school class. She loves going to school, helping Mom, and pretending like she is in charge.

Jill's new ring

 

Yesterday, Jill's primary teachers passed out CTR rings to help the children remember to "Choose the Right" and make choices that will help them be happy through out their lives. Jill was so very excited, not only because she loves jewelery, but also because she saw one of her older friends wearing his and she really wanted it.

When I picked her up after class she said, "Look at my tiara ring, Mom." "Oh yah, your CTR ring? It's beautiful. What does it mean?" "My tiara ring says, "Choose the Right."

Yep. No matter how many times I say "CTR ring" she always says "tiara ring." Can you tell that our imagination runs along very deep vein around here.

The "Pee-on-guh"

I learned this past November that something about blind folding three-year-olds and handing them a bat makes you forget all about taking pictures. Jill's favorite part of her party, the part she won't let any of us forget, was the purple flower shaped pinata. She has a very hard time saying the /~/ sound, so the first few times she reminded us about her "Pee-on-guh" Matt and I were worried that we might have something to clean up somewhere. But now it's just cute. She also says, "Lasan-guh," too. The kids at her party were very cute though, and I wish I had pictures to show you.

The Tree and the Truck

We went on an adventure!

We came home with a pickup truck to help us with the yard and house this next year.

Then we went on another adventure and came home with a Christmas Tree.

Doesn't Matt look like he belongs behind the wheel of a truck?

Being Three

 

There have been some small changes in our life since Jill's 3rd birthday. She seems to ask more questions, really thoughtful ones that don't start and end with, "Why?" She acts things out more, and she is determined to be grown up, whether that mean she is more helpful or not. 

 

She has become surprisingly aware of her relationship to other people. She might know your names by the time we see all of you again. She studies the family pictures like there's going to be a test.

Oh what a difference a year makes!