Life around here.

After a week plus of a miserable cold that just won't kick it, I am now declaring that it must be allergies. Although I don't exactly think this is the case, I would like very much to get on with my life. I feel terrible, but when you know it's allergies you no longer have the excuse to lay around and mope. I want done with this cold. Still wiping the snot from my kid's noses, though, I want us done. Moving on.

Sundays around here are a holt in the normal flurry of activity, at least for us girls.

Not for my sweetie, however. He is in constant motion. This morning (Monday) the insulators are coming to blow in our walls...which should be insanely exciting! Next, dry wall, and then...painting...and floors...! It's getting closer and closer... And as many of you have asked, we are aiming for the fall to move in. Hopefully by then most of the trim and finish painting will be done and we won't have to move in and out on weekends to finish things up.  In the beginning we were hoping for late August, so my girl would be able to go to 2nd grade at Edgecomb Eddy school (where she started last year...). We are still hoping for a slim possibility of this, although we might not be all the way there...

The biggest bump in the road is that he has an art show in July that really needs some weekend attention. They asked for twenty pieces, and he is up to...at last count...maybe ten. So... a month plus to go. That is slowing work on the house a bit. And a little munchkin who refuses to let her mama step in and do anything. The only solace in that is when she has a grandmother or dear friend who takes her for a few hours to play.
And after a few hours, both her and her mama feel the disconnect so hard they wonder where their arms have gone to. Funny thing about babies... you feel them in your arms even after they are gone. Whether they are suddenly too big to be held or when they are off with a babysitter... anything. Sometimes it's rather wonderful to find yourself again in that situation, but sometimes it aches in a blinding way, your children can be such a part of you.... Hence the whole media buzz of "attachment parenting."

Sunday around here is quiet. And mostly because it is just me and a little one. She accepts the quiet, mostly, but by dinner time grows bored of our routine. She watches the windows for signs of her sister or her papa. And over tiredness overtakes her and she launches into the sillies. Just in time to watch her mama and papa collapse into a tired heap on the bed that fills a room. She climbs over our heads and declares war on our bodies with kicks and then tries to peal open our eyelids. Sweet girl.

Monday morning...

A kitchen

Because this is what the inside of my head looks like right now....

Some are kind of fancy, yes, but this is where ideas come from... And yes, I have a Pinterest board with over 40 kitchens... (check it out if you feel so inclined )   http://pinterest.com/loisdora/sweet-kitchen/

blessed.

blessed is a walk, with TWO sweet little ones.

And the work of my sweet heart.

Home

We've been building our home and our lives together for what feels like forever. (Three years?)(And counting...)
Some mornings my sweetheart and I wake up and fondly remember back in the days when we had nothing more on a Saturday morning to do than drink coffee together and watch the day turn light (Before rushing off to work...). But now. Listening for little ones to stir, organizing a day filled with dirty and teeth clenching kind of upside-down work...  Life has taken a different turn. It's wonderful...in the way we can say, "Ok, in a year from now, we will be in our home. Moved in, and with only the stress of what happens next and daily bills." But yeah, every "next stage," is the next stage. It seems like there are no "easy" days in life. There are always stresses and bumps and hurtles.
We try and remind ourselves it's ok though, we chose this. And we are doing it together. For our family. Right?
Right.

Doing the "mindful-ness" thing, breathing.

last week

at the land

yogurt monster

cuteness.

As my mother in law (across the country) pointed out the severe lack of me here lately, there haven't been  photos in a while. So here is last week. Obviously, we've sort of been in hiding...

moving on

So, many of you have recently asked (in person, mostly) how the house is coming along. It's been a long fall, and try as we might we can't move in yet. However, we have had some amazing progress due to some wonderful little helpers we had in October and November.

Brett...(where's my cute hammer?!)

coffee break.

Mean Mama Chapman.

And then, after they left, Travis got some work done.
(HA!) (LOVE you guys sooooo much and are truly grateful for you and all your help!!!...)

Starting to look like something, huh? The shingles (AKA: boards, right Brett?) make all the difference.

Sunday at our house

tasting the dirt

and an apple

fall sunshine

and a nap/snack...

Image Lust

This past Friday the wires finally began streaming around our house, which is very exciting. We began this whole project unsure if we really wanted electricity IN the house, simply because we were wanting to be as low cost as possible. Not only that, but we had this sweet idealistic (hippy) view that wouldn't it be nice and peaceful to have a home without the constant hum of the appliances.
After that wore off, we realized that it would be hard. Both my sweetie and I have lived with out electricity for a time, and we decided together that perhaps life with children and as adults (not idealistic kids in their twenties...) we wanted it. And this is the very same way that we decided we wanted plumbing. Even if it is not hooked up the day we move in, we want a toilet a possibility and the concept of someday having our washing machine useable a possibility. The mere thought of driving to the laundry mat and shelling out a lifetime's worth of quarters was simply more then either of us could stand. We've both been there. And now...building our home...  We both definitely have the desire to tread as softly on this earth as possible, but in the ever-changing world we live in, we decided that hippies though we may be seen as, we still want our running water and electricity. Eventually.

With the electrical wires coming in, with outlets and all, we also put a good number of walls up. Our house is really starting to look like something somebody might live in! It is easier now to go in and imagine the life we will soon be living over there...
And with that, I start daydreaming...

I have the sweet job of searching for images that really make me drool. Not only that, but I get to go to the flea markets and search for knobs for cupboards and other things that would be in my "dream house." I have never really had a space like this before, and it's fun to think that no matter what crazy things I think up, they are a possibility. An amazing thing. I suppose it is what every home builder/home owner gets to dream up, but all my life I have never lived in something that is truely my own. All through my late teens and twenties I have lived in apartments, barns, cabins; all that belonged to other people and I couldn't dream to my Libra heart's content. And so here we are...finally... It's like breathing a big huge sigh of relief. It's like graduating college. Or maybe not. I think it might be a more  real step to being an adult. (Wait, really? huh?) I graduated from college and  strangely didn't feel any older then when I was 18.

drawer pulls.

LOVE these....

sigh...

Doesn't that look just like me???

the grand plan

This week Travis has been working over at the house, framing in things (bathroom walls and a place for the refridgerater to go) AND building our staircase. Very exciting that things are beginning to take shape in there, and now everytime we go over Nathalie says, "Are you guys gonna talk about the house AGAIN?" And we sweetly ignore her and discuss the kitchen counters, the stair lighting, couch lust (sigh...), the entry way and my newest inspiration of a chalkboard wall under the staircase for little one's endless artwork. Great fun this house building thing is turning out to be...I only wish I were able to be more then one armed labour.
My current grand plan is that when a sweet and wonderful grandmother comes to visit we will be able to get TONS done because I will simply hand over my squeaky little monkey and help out with both arms and all the crazy desire I've had all summer long to be a better wife and fellow house builder. (Standing there pointing out what needs to be done, is, as Travis put it yesterday, NOT helpful. HA!)

And one day, folks, we will be in our house!

awh, my girls.

exploring Papa's face...

Nathalie's lunch (and an apple from Ingrid's tree!)

ahhh...Love.