80 -100 degrees

It was glorious 80 degrees today! Both kids took 2 hour naps--at the same time. That hasn't happened in I don't know how long when it hasn't involved a ride in a car--and even then it's been a while.

Besides the addition, we had 2 doctor's visits this week. Wed. for Josie was supposed to be her 1 year apt.--and it was--and will be another post, but she got diagnosed with an ear infectionand had been apparently running a 100 + degree fever. Thurs. was Eddie's turn. Mercifully they had us in and out in 30 min.--I think they felt sorry for me. Eddie had a sinus infection and a 100+ degree fever.

This morning Eddie woke at 4am, just as a flash back to when he was learning to sleep through the night. He had a really bad fever--I couldn't find our broken thermometer, so I can just say really hot. He was wide awake for the day and remained so until a bout 2:30 this afternoon. Now we're the proud owners of not one, but two new thermometers. Oh and a battery powered suctioner. Eddie is afraid of the noise even though it plays music and he's the whole reason I purchased the thing. Oh well. Haven't bought a useless baby gizmo in a while, guess it was time.

Have a nice weekend.

The Soft Playroom

You might have noticed I have a new link added--Support the Soft Playroom. I'm heading up an effort of a bunch of parents to raise $50,000 to install a padded soft playroom. We've raised about $10,000 at this point with a couple more thousand in the hopper. We have a couple fundraisers coming up--one is the performance of a local kid's entertainer and the other one that you should know about is the fun-a-thon on Sunday, May 18. If you are related to Josie and Eddie or have ever hit us up to support your kid's fundraiser (or some other fundraiser), expect a call from us on the 18th. We're having a party where we'll have everyone call people they know to beg for money.

Both Den and I detest this type of thing, but we are soooo close to being able to buy the walls and floors, which is the greatest single part of the expense, that we're willing to bug you. You can also preemptively visit Support the Soft Playroom and make a paypal donation with your credit card. Josie and Eddie will thank you as they run wild in the room later this year. Plus, as Dennis says, the sooner we get this thing built, the sooner he can step down as Treasurer, a role I volunteered him for. We have a team of about 15 parents are tirelessly give of their time (and money).

Wednesday, April 9

From the area nearest in the photo, is our master bath/closet redo/expansion, the family room, then the dining room bump out with screened in porch and grilling deck.
Here is obviously the back of the house, where the porch used to stand. It is as dramatic in person as it appears in the picture. We've saving all those windows.
This here is where our new family room will be. If I had the time, I'd splice the 2 photos together that in essence show the floorplan, dug out with a mini-digger. The hole is about 30 inches deep, or about to the rear-end of one of the workman.

Things are moving quickly at this point, but once they get the framing up--it about another 6 weeks, we fully expect it to slow waaay down. The whole project is supposed to run 4 months and our builder has a reputation for finishing on time, if not early.

Tuesday, April 8

We've told Eddie about the project and he calls it the construction on our house, or the constructing our house. Before it started while we were clearing out the dining room and other parts of the house, he said he didn't want a bigger house.

His friend Lizzie and her family (our neighbors) are getting ready to move back into their house after nearly 7 months of work, so at least he kind of understands that it will be okay.

We are planning only to move out when they jackhammer at the walls of the house. So far the noise has not been bad and the weather has mostly been good enough to be away from the house. Plus, it's been fascinating to watch (even Eddie has enjoyed).

At the end of the day on Tuesday, the porch was completely gone and there was a big flat spot in the backyard. It looked really huge--kind of like a blank slate--hmmm, what else can we do...

Monday, April 7

These guys work 6 days/week from roughly 7am to 3pm. Fortunately on Monday at 7am, the only thing happening was our builder standing in our backyard with a cup of coffee. By quitting time they had cleared about a ton worth of 18 inch square paving tiles, pulled off the roof and part of our porch.

Sunday, April 6

The storage facility where we had rented a unit not only gave you one month for a dollar, but they also gave you the use of a rental truck to move in (how you move out is up to you). Guess it's like Hotel California.

The catch is we had signed up for Saturday, April 5, but they had us down for Sunday. Yikes!

Managed to get in trouble with g'parents Ohio by making them stay too late on Sunday, but we did manage to cram what we needed to into our unit.

Thurs. April 3

Den and I came home from work last Thursday to find this beautiful blue landmark in front of our house. The tractor was not yet there. Guess the addition really was going to happen!

One Year Old!

If you ask Eddie how old he is, he will typically tell you 3. If you ask him about Josie, he will now say 1. Her first birthday came so much faster than his first birthday. I still regret not having a big blow-out party for Eddie and that of course precludes a big party for J's first, but we had a good time with the g'parents, godparent and nanny.



I just have to explain this photo. Eddie and Cookie made the cake. Eddie was DYING to have a piece of the cake, so when we served all the pieces, as he patiently waited, he picked up his fork and slid the remaining half of a cake over to dig in.

Little Bo Peep with her bear.

THREE Years Old!!!

Just realized I'd better post this before Eddie turns 4! G'parents Ohio came out for his birthday and was he ever excited. Despite my best efforts at getting him to have a party, he just wanted a quiet family celebration--with Josephine.

In the last several months he has mellowed significantly over his sister getting into what he perceives to be his 'stuff'. Thank goodness--I was close to the edge on that one. Right now, it's when she tries to take food from his plate, or as today, when she tried to pull his chair out from under him, so she could push the chair across the room.





Eddie has also learned that for now the dining room table is a safe place for him to escape her. Well, mostly. Josie definitely learned the wrapped gifts thing a lot faster than Eddie as she tries to 'help' him unwrap his birthday gifts.










I've got lots more to post, but have been holding onto these photos for a month now and just want to get them up!

One Year Ago on Today's Date...

We welcomed Josephine Lois Jones into the world. Den says because it is leap year, technically she turned one yesterday, but I'm not going to fall into that trap. Today is April 3. I snapped a couple photos this morning and will get some more this evening when she eats the cake that Cookie and Eddie are making for her. Someday I'll post photos again...

Right now, both Eddie and Josie have colds. G'parents Ohio are driving over today and Eddie couldn't be more excited. Josie doesn't yet know what is in store...