Home Improvement

We've taken on a kitchen project this month.  Last weekend while the boys went to see Nanny and PopPop, we cleaned, primed and painted cabinet frames. We're still working on painting cabinet doors.



I am learning that I am a bit sloppy with a paint brush, and my husband is quite forgiving of my errors.   My expertise is in cleaning, priming, painting hidden areas, dusting off sanded surfaces, and taking care of the kids while Greg paints!

Here's what it looked like after I scrubbed and deglossed (also known as degrossed!) the cabinet frames.  They were very dirty.

 

Here's what it looked like while putting on the first coat.

These were taken after the first coat.  We like the results so far!

Still to do: finish painting and hang cabinet doors, paint and install beadboard backsplash, have new counters put in, and paint walls. We're getting there!

 

Next steps are to paint and install a beadboard backsplash in the same paint color as the cabinets, have new counters put in, and paint the walls a creamy white.

Fall Birthday Party

 Crisp air, colorful leaves, fresh air, sunny skies and sparkly starry nights, a time of change...Fall.  And now we will always celebrate the birthdays of both of my boys in this beautiful season.  Although having their birthdays so close together on the calendar makes it kind of busy come birthday time, it's also a lot of fun to concentrate our attention on the gift of their lives and how they have changed ours.

A large portion of our family was able to come up for lunch.  We missed our Aunts and  Uncles who live far away - always wish we could all be together at times like these.

 

 

 

 

We ate hot dogs (at the boys' request) and bratwursts, and some delicious sides.  Wish I could remember exactly what we ate, but my memory has failed me.  I know it was good, though!

Mark's chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (repeat request)

And Nathan's strawberry cake with chocolate frosting (also a repeat request)

What a joy to watch our boys grow up, and to be surrounded by people who love them.

At Home in the Woods

I have been on a blogging break since last fall.  That's when things got rather busy at our house with school routines and birthday parties and camping trips.  Before I knew it, we were into Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We also started using a new system for photo storage, and I am just now figuring out how to use it for posting to the blog.  At any rate, I am going to try and re-cap some of the highlights of the past few months.

Back in October, we had a mild weekend and decided to go on a canoe camping trip.  We loaded kids, canoe, tent, packs and flotation devices into the Honda Accord and headed to L*ke J*mes State Park for one night.

We did some paddling in the afternoon before supper.  We set up camp, and the boys helped by cleaning off leaves from the tent pad.  

While Greg made shrimp and grits for us, I started reading The Chronicles of Narnia to the kids.  They are hooked, and we're still reading in the evenings.

We slept all snug in our sleeping bags that night, and woke up early for more grits, hot chocolate and coffee in the morning. 

The boys practiced casting and reeling their fishing lines from the dock later that morning.

These are their "monster faces."

 

I thought this moment on the dock was so picturesque - truly captured the spirit of their brotherhood and this time of their lives as little boys.