New Doors!

We live in an old house. I think it was built in 1923 and there are a lot of upgrades that we could do, if we chose to. This past year Dan has replaced the stairway with nice new Douglas Fir treds and new white risers. We still have a bit of work to do to finish that project, it's probably 90% completed. But, we decided to install 2 new exterior doors with money from our tax return. When we moved in we knew both doors needed to be replaced at some point, it was just a matter of saving the money and then choosing the doors. With the arrival of Elliott we fell a bit behind in repairs, just too busy with a new baby. Yesterday the new doors were installed for us and they are AMAZING! It is weird to be so excited about doors? I don't think so, not if you understood just how bad the old doors were.

The door out to our garden had a hole cut in it for a dog door. We just put some plywood on the outside and left it that way. The door was really old, the glass was single pane. Around the lock mechanism you could actually see outside. Basically there was a lot of air leakage. Here is the old door from the inside and then a picture from the outside:




Now here is the new door:




Here is the door from our basement hallway out to our back patio. Before it was a terrible slab door with a dinky hole cut into it:




Now it is so pretty!




The installers said that this basement door was one of the most challenging they had every done. Made me very thankful that we decided to have them install for us, rather than Dan learning how to do it on his own.

Can't wait to see what a difference not having those two leaky doors will make in our heating bill next winter.

Tulip Festival '10

On Friday Elliott and I went to the Tulip Festival with both of my sisters and their kids. We were celebrating Sarah's 34th Birthday - Sarah, you are old! Ha ha, just kidding. It's just nice to know that even though I just turned 30 she is now 34 :) (evil smile, he he).

The kids had a great time. There were a lot of activities to do without even going to look at the amazing tulip fields. Everyone, except E and I, went on a cow ride around the farm. I'm not sure what I was thinking...I think I thought someone needed to guard the strollers. I'm sure they would have been just fine. Maybe next year we can go on the ride.

Sarah and Grace getting ready to start the cow ride:


Amy with Cameron, Josh and Caleb:


Elliott on the horse swing:


Elliott sniffing the tulips:


Getting ready to investigate more tulips:


Tulip fields:


Brooke and Josh on the walk back:


Elliott is chatting up a storm recently. His new favorite word is "Amy". This morning he pointed at a picture of Amy and said her name. We are now working on the names of all the other aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc... Owl is still a good standby, as well as turtle. We also think he says, " I want that". What manners he has!

Easter Picture Extravaganza!

Sorry for the lack of updating! I have no excuses, I'm just too lazy to hop on the computer at night to update the blog. We've been spending some time outside - when it's not raining. Dan and I had a great adventure which ended with us having a car towed out of our backyard... It is finally spring here and while it is still raining a lot, there have been quite a few great sunny days. A few weeks ago Elliott and I went on a big bike ride with both of my sisters and their kids. Amy and I towed 2 kids each while Sarah, Josh and Brooke all rode by themselves. It was really fun, though I did have a hard time riding up hill pulling at least 60lbs. of kid behind me. I had intended to take pictures of this fun trip, but was working too hard to remember the camera.

This past week was very busy for us. I think we had something happening every day, which is unusual for life around here. On Saturday we went to Wilsonville (we spend a lot of time there) and had Easter with my family at Amy's house. The kids played and did a little egg hunt inside.

Most of the cousins:

Brooke has a bruised eye because she ran into a door knob earlier in the week

Caleb:


Cameron hunting for eggs:


Elliott showing off his loot:


Elliott totally understood hunting for eggs, though most of them needed to be fairly obvious. I have a video I'll post below of him doing a small hunt at the Porter's house on Sunday. The most thrilling part of the day was also very scary! Elliott fell all the way down Amy's stairway. We are so thankful that Ryan was so quick on his feet and was able to, somehow, get to Elliott in time to catch his head before it hit the hardwood floor. E seemed to be fine, amazingly. He was very scared but didn't have even a bruise. In all, I think we are very happy and thankful as it could have been so much worse. We also learned that Elliott is into "group comfort". He had to be comforted by me first, then Dan, then Grandma, then Amy... then Amy gave him chocolate milk and he was fine.

On Sunday we had Easter with Dan's family. (I guess it's helpful that my sisters are nurses and always seem to have to work so that we move holidays around.) It was a pretty low key celebration compared to the day before. Elliott played with his Easter loot - including a new broom! Then went down for a nap while the rest of us ate dinner without him. I sometimes forget how nice it is to eat without him there. After his nap he discovered the broom again and went to work cleaning house.


Egg hunt:


We had a great weekend and had fun celebrating with all of our family.