snow angels.

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving! (Canada)

snowy walk.

more snow.

bye bye fall.

Everett's snow gear from last year still fits!
Our fall was brief and brilliant this year. We had a week of amazing crisp sunny weather and then, this... SNOW. Not a lot of snow but enough to build a snowperson (A little one, which I failed to photograph. The next one WILL be documented).
Right now it is raining. Bye bye snow., for now.

chickadeedee.

Sweet Everett. Mr. JibberJabber these days. Can't sit still. Must be moving, balancing on one leg or tippy toe.
He is looking out the window at the chickadees and nuthatches eating at one of our new birdfeeders courtesy of the Grandparents French. Yesterday, we had a Stellar Jay scolding us while we were refilling it.
p.s. There are more pictures on playing with spoons.

more grandparent time.

Grampa Carl and Grandma Jane were in town last week. We had gorgeous weather from the moment the arrived till the day after they left. We went on walks around the new neighborhood and to the zoo, worked on the house and kept after Everett.
photos by Carl

grampa too.

(Great) Grampa and (Great) Uncle Howard came to visit us on Manitoulin Island at my parents home where we spent a few days as well.

at the cottage.

Everett and I spent nearly four weeks in Canada, mainly with my family at the cottage. Matt was able to join us for a week at the beginning. We had a wonderful time. Everett grew and grew in so many ways.

Progress.

Man o man. Where does the time go?
Last week was hectic. We moved into our new house and we are living quite comfortably downstairs only. We joke that we'll have to buy furniture to fill the upstairs once its finished and that we actually have nearly all the space we need downstairs... if only it had a kitchen. Sigh.
Speaking of which, the kitchen is coming along nicely. In fact, everything is coming together. The painting phase is complete... (Sherwin Williams Antique White on the walls and Snowbound on the ceilings in their zero-VOC Harmony Paint). Matt skillfully installed the range hood over the weekend, so we hope to be cooking on our new range by the end of the week.
Our timeline and budget are pretty much on track, though we are finding ways to be flexible and save money - which sometimes eats away at the time.
For example... we're very excited about the salvaged (free) oak cabinets. We currently have 2.5 kitchens worth of 42" wall cabinets that we've picked through for the space under the bar and along the walls. As I sit here, comfortable with my mug of red wine, Matt is upstairs skillfully stripping the varnish off two of the doors and a couple of the cabinet boxes. This choice is definitely adding a whole week of work, but since the floor (CORK!) won't be here for at least another week, and we haven't even made a decision for the base cabinets, it is filling the time and keeping the momentum going.

Happy Father's Day.

Grandfathers and Great Grandfathers included.
Hilarious video courtesy of Auntie Apple and Auntie Gae Gae.

April and Grace were here last week during all the commotion. We had a wonderful time in Homer, Alaska and I know that Everett adores and misses his Aunties. Me too.

Demolition phase is over.

Wow. I've lost track of how many days have passed. I'll just do a daily log now.

May 27-29. Matt worked hard and pulled all the remaining rock, fake and real, from around the fireplace. We saved some of the nice pieces for path stone.
May 30-31. Final demolition of the fireplace. The freestanding box and flue was removed, leaving the chimney (self-supporting) above the roofline. Since there is no rush to take it down and add extra work by patching the roof, we'll leave it in place and use it for the ductwork of a floating range hood.
June 1-2. Clean up and completion of exterior closet demo.
June 3.Really amazing Feng Shui consultation with great local lady. Deserves an entire post.
June 4-7. Oona in Homer with Everett and Aunty Grace and April. Matt kept at the busy work and scratching his head, started scratching at the ceiling and made the much appreciated (but daunting) decision to scrape off popcorn ceiling.
June 7. Ocean's festival. Golf Tournament.
June 8. Meet and hire electricians. Finalized kitchen layout - which is pretty much exactly the same as it was, but with visibility into the living room.
June 9. Learn about lighting design. Shop around town. Look at gorgeous lighting catalogs. Drew up lighting plan.
June 10. The closet wall at the top of the stairs was picked up and moved 12 inches, opening up the hall while still providing privacy to the bathroom and maintaining a functional closet. They did this with very little drywall damage and no new framing. Well done Jason and Matt. This was a critical step because this wall contained the power for the ceiling and the electricians are coming tomorrow to add overhead lighting in the kitchen and living room.
June 11. Fun and fast electrician team of two guys (brothers?) worked from noon till 8pm installing 12 recessed lights, pre-wiring for range hood and under cabinet (LED) and quick jack pendant sink lighting and several new switches. 500' of 12/2 later...
June 12. Built pony peninsula wall for range and bar top. Brought boiler chase up to code, making it possible to sleep at night. Changed moving day to next weekend. Sigh.
June 13.Selected new appliances - went with stainless Frigidaire range and fridge. Installed drywall inside of chase, installed range hood motor in ceiling. Began the serious undertaking of scraping popcorn ceiling.

the damage done.

Day 1: Removed all window coverings. Removed closet doors. Removed purple and brown carpets from upstairs living room and bedrooms as well as thirty years of dirt and several hundred (thousand?) carpet pad staples.


Day 2: Began tedious process of securing subfloor with screws and applying spackle to each and every hole in the walls, starting with upstairs bedroom. Removed upstairs bathroom sliding shower door. Evaluated possibility of removing fireplace....



Day 3: Took down all upper cabinets and base cabinets along interior wall. Removed drywall from kitchen side of interior wall. Pried off decorative stone (slate and sandstone) and wood trims from above the fireplace.




Stay tuned.
Matt along with long time friends Chris and Joel have completed so much in so little time. Thanks guys.

"new" house.

So... some of you may know that we bought a house. Some of you may even know that we are planning some renovations... Many are awaiting photos.
So.
BEFORE PICTURES.
Here it is. pooheadymustardybrown. But, it's not so bad and at the moment it's the least of our concerns.

The best things about this property are the neighbourhood, the huge sunny yard, and the creek that runs next door. We like the house. We're throwing the word potential around a lot. Potential with a capital P.

The upstairs interior...




Let's just say it needs some updating.
I'll save the bathroom for another day.

The downstairs interior.
It has great natural light. Um. I am aware of the panelling.
But, this memory of Everett having a snack with some friends looks v. sweet.

Happy Birthday Grampa!

or should I say GREAT GRAMPA!

kiss on the cheek.

Tuesday is (almost always) Zoo day.

helper.

Somebody is now 19 months and wants to help. Ahem. Well, you can just imagine the fun.


This is going to be a catch up post...

Visiting the greenhouse to be reminded of growing things.


Watching the Iditarod teams run through town.


And making some new friends.

who's a big boy?

Everett is 18 months. gasp.
He says Car a lot. It sounds more like Caw Caw Caw Caw Caw.