a life beyond running shoes.

friday night was our latest book club. while i thought it was going to be a bust discussion-wise, i knew we would all find the read delightful. i would not constitute our discussion as riveting but more discovery. we all learned little things about this clever and witty book from each other. such as character names: braxton hicks victor analogy liz bennett jack schitt bowden cable (reference to a bike cable) mycroft (sherlock holmes' brother) and much more......there were laugh-out-loud moments. we all loved our heroine (thursday next). it really is a book that compiles all genres.... and wittingly. i highly recommend for a fun, quick read. and who doesn't love the idea of actually meeting mr. rochester from jane eyre ?!

i can't believe that the boys are getting this big.... this is our street.... that is a pedal-less bike, yes, the little one is riding a scooter.

here are some of the cute pics that we got from our visit with cousins.

with the departure of mom & dennis.... the arrival of four cousins.... we had a full couple of days. day 1: south street seaport times square, toys 'r us, museum of natural history. day 2: staten island ferry, battery park playground (they kept going and did top of the rock, american girl store, and rockeller plaza) day 3: new york historical society, central park (rocks, lakes, playgrounds, picnic), pizza and sparklers. day 4: everyone leaves and we build stairs.

...that ended with a date. we got to go out for our anniversary two weeks early taking full advantage of free babysitting. but more of from the homestead. windows... primed & painted. washed. living room windows washed with new screens.... a fabulous house warming gift from mr. denny. more light fixtures. a ceiling fan in the boys room. more paint. i love this color! they leave tomorrow but more visitors arrive tonight. we will have a FULL house tonight. in total: six kids and six adults.

here is dennis finishing the dining room ceiling and our new light fixture. mom got the kitchen ceiling painted.... walls are all prepped for some color! we had finished all the trim on wednesday during nap time. de nnis cleaned windows and scrapped the old paint off the trim.... that was a serious job... and he hates doing windows! and john got the kitchen painted. phew. we are not sure if we love the color.... i may need to call in some decorating help to figure it out. it blends with the cabinets..... we'll wait until we can get all the canisters organized and off the counters to decide.

mom and dennis are here in work mode. here is the recap from thursday and friday. we got the dining room wainscoting sanded & painted. hall & bathroom light fixtures changed out..... i should put a picture up of the old ones but i didnt' want to waste my time... they are gross. got the boys room painted. daddy did that. it is orange..... better pictures later. more work for saturday....more painting, more light fixtures, and some window cleaning.

here and there we keep getting things done. this past weekend g'pa & g'ma were back up.... he replaced the window in the bathroom. the night light with sensor now registers when it is day. john primed the kitchen with a little help from the three-year-old. and last night started painting the trim..... half of work crew #2 arrived sunday....my mom. she is prepped and ready to paint.... we'll try saturday. today she helped me unpack three more boxes, use animal urine enzyme cleaner (for the third time), and got me some running shoes. not bad for a days work. and we keep pressing on.

here is our very, verbal three-year old. and our less-than-verbal-but-still-communicative 18 month old in the background.

my husband is a busy little bee. he was out of town last week and before leaving got a few things done in the house. i tried posting last week but was having trouble. forgive the delay. the boys room..... wall finished. floor sanded & painted. carpet down. beds up. toys creeping out of boxes. air conditioner installed. inside front door painted. (we have two front doors) new bathroom door.... new as in found in the basement. painted, shaved, and installed. it used to be green....lovely. john's office... painted. carpeted with carpet tiles. books on shelves. desk up. (okay, so i was the busy bee and did all that while he was out of town two weeks ago with help from friends)

considering our life of recent, we have not seen many movies. but the two that we have seen have been worth a comment. lars and the real girl. premise is strange and somewhat intimidating to risk renting.... but really quite worth it. lars orders a life-size doll off the internet. shockingly, there is nothing sexual about it in the movie. i found the film to be touching and sweet as the community surrounds him as he works through his delusion of her being real. once . a modern day musical. really! the movie is about 60% music. i loved it. my romantic fantasy of being sung to on a street corner by a brooding heart broken song writer. beautiful songs, sparse script but engaging story that houses the music perfectly. i absolutely loved the music.... like one long music video that doesn't drive you mad because it sucks. we watched some of the extras on the dvd and learned that the actors had written the songs. it made me like it more because they were musicians that tried to act in...

having finished up my semester, turned in my grades, i look back and realize i read two whole books on the subway. for some of you that may not seem all that impressive but consider how rarely i am on mass transit by myself, it is remarkable. truth & beauty : tragic from the beginning. but compelling none the less. the story of a friendship between to authors. i am curious to read the biography of ann patchett's friend. i do enjoy her writing and loved bel canto . in a sunburned country . most enjoyable, laugh out loud on the subway, makes me want to visit australia again with new eyes. i loved it. the secret river . our most recent book club book. turn of the century australia. interesting. all agree we enjoyed her writing style. not much discussion but i find that to be true with books that we all like. so, i didn't read this on the subway, but i did read in a week in part because my husband was out of town last week. also, i got my nap times back (no papers to ...

we have two beautiful sets... one in the living room, one in our bedroom. this is our bedroom.... the windows sills got sanded earlier during the week and got painted on saturday. blinds got put up too. now it is not noon-day-bright at 5am when the sun wakes up AND i can change in my room and not the bathroom. our friend michael helped get all the trim in the windows painted. john worked on the baseboards, closet, and bedroom door. we are loved. we still don't have a flash so pictures are not great. we have to find the warranty first.... which who knows where that is.

paint sample #3... we have a winner. it looks browner against the other two samples. farrow & ball's "organgery" now let's see if home depot can match it. here are the boys watching cupcakes cook for daddy's birthday in our new oven. installed yesterday. first meal cooked: chicken nuggets (very glamorous, i know!) there are doorknobs on the doors to the bathroom off kitchen and the stairs to the basement. and the windowsill in our bedroom has been sanded and is ready to be painted. also, one more coat of plaster on the boys wall. .......baby steps.

we had our first dinner at the table tonight.... strange to think that we will be having dinner here when the boys are teenagers... hopefully. today was church. it was amazing to worship considering how tired i was last week that i barely heard the sermon... i think we were in ephesians. "great father of glory, pure father of light, thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight; all praise we would render: o help us to see 'tis only the splendor of light hideth thee." john and i opened the most expensive bottle of wine we have every purchased (back in september). i'm not sure the meal warranted it but the occasion did: our first dinner in our first home....modavi "oakville" cabernet sauvignon....yum!

in order to let g'pa and john finish work today, the boys & g'ma & i hit target twice... i titled this three trips since we were there yesterday too. so.... the trailer is loaded and g'pa and his tools leave tomorrow. today, he put in two new windows.... i didn't know you could see the backyard from the kitchen. :) this is the window in the living room he replaced. closed off where there were pocket doors....more paint samples. trimmed the dining room/kitchen opening. and john put in the final two cabinets with counter top... more shelves to come with g'pa's base boards being shown off. it has been quite the journey. i wasn't sure i was going to survive at times... or i might have survived but my children were not going to. g'ma helped me unpack the kitchen, clean the bathroom, and get a new shower curtain that looks pretty. the wall in the boys room is still at least a week away from being done, so we aren't settling in just ye...