A Buncha Dirt

well, after one highly productive weekend, there's very little to show for it.
besides unleashing the insulation on the attic, our weekend also included:
-a garage sale
-finishing planting out the garden
-putting in a patio/sitting area
-filling all my flower pots
-digging out a couple of new flower beds to edge our sidewalk
-a couple of dinners out with new friends and old friends/co-workers (followed by a bout of food poisoning)

so besides a 3 pound weight loss (thank you restaurant 415) there's very little evidence of a nonstop weekend.

creeping thyme between pavers

here's my dirt garden...the evidence of life beneath the surface will be here before we know it.
and i'll be in shock.
it'll be huge in no time.
this year i planted strawberries, peas, carrots, lettuce and herbs.

succulents growing in the rock gardens

hopefully my allysum seeds haven't all washed away from extreme watering by children.
and why is our grass like 4 inches above our walkway?
and why have i never noticed that before?

QUIP O'THE DAY
my favorite teacher of all time was my high school sophomore english teacher who taught me how to write poetry well and use colored pastels. 

Dichotomy

today i felt like a dichotomy of sorts.
not only did i buy a lacy coral bra today and paint my toes barbie pink, but i also helped jon unload 13 packages of insulation in our attic.
i often wonder if things like that are normal.
do "normal" girls dig out entire gardens and flower beds and pound in edging and plant seeds?
do "normal" girls buy used fly fishing gear on craigslist instead of new clothes?
do "normal" girls paint every square inch of the walls, cabinets, doors and trim work in their house?
do "normal" girls help blow insulation into the attic for hours?

i'm not saying any of this in any kind of a bragging way.
i honestly just was thinking tonight that maybe i'm actually kind of NOT normal :)
i'm ok with it...but just coming to a realization after all these years.
dad, i blame you.

what started out as, meaghan, "all you have to do is" feed it into the machine, turned into hours of me manually breaking up and feeding in fiberglass insulation.
the kids ate cereal for dinner and heard the phrase, "just go watch another show" more than once.

 

for all parties concerned, i was wearing proper saftey equipment including, but not limited to, the perfect pair of "joey" true religion jeans, hunter wellies, sunglasses and a ski mask (for lung protection).
oh, and pink gardening gloves.

the boys hung around outside long enough to do, what else, but make a sling shot out of bungee cords.

again i ask you, normal?

filthy but finished.
check that one off the list for the next 30 years.

QUIP O'THE DAY
my very first job out of college as a RN was in a pediatric cardiology ICU at children's medical center in dallas.

It's Here

ahhhhh....spring is here.
finally.
i've decided that's it's not going to snow any more, so today i started the garden.

all that i had were some leftover pea seeds and lettuce seeds, but i am indeed moving in the right direction.
i'm stoked to have something to grow.
dirt to get dirty with.
kids in their pajamas at 3 in the afternoon covered in mud.
this is life.

i'm also glad to see something out the living room window besides...snow.

my "summer chair" is in the ready position.
just needs me, and a book, and an ice coffee, and a tank top.
okay, it's not that warm yet.

hubble got spring cleaned today.  and rocks.  like, actual rocks.  he does rock, but he got rocks.  wait.  what?

ok.
this painting.
my friend ran it by this afternoon.
i had seen one online and asked if she thought she could recreate it.
well, i think she succeeded.
i am so in love!

it's going to live life in the dining room.
it's the first thing i see every time i walk in the house.

QUIP O'THE DAY
jon and i don't have sides of the bed.

Food Baskets and the Farm

finn has started his "pee wee" farmer classes at out local children's farm.

he fed chickens, baked cookies, brought home a fresh egg and who knows what all else cause you can't drag details out of a five year old boy.

rowan was still sporting his jammies after two days of stomach flu.

i thought he was feeling better.

i took him out to breakfast.

i thought wrong.

he threw up in the restaurant (fortunately we made it to the bathroom) and also in the car on the way home.

when i say "in the car" i mean all through the car.

you know, the car i had just washed, vacuumed and cleaned.

c'est la vie.  i just felt so bad for him.

on a different note...now that you've lost your appetite, i wanted to show you these little baskets i picked up at sam's club the other day.

these sheets come in two packs of 500.

yes, we will die of abraham's age before we run out.

 

the baskets come in a six pack.

i'm hoping to cut down on dishes while they toss out their papers and put their baskets back in the drawer.

i've also been consumed by front doors.

a stray spatula took a trip though the glass in our front door, and, considering they're over 30 years old and drafty like crazy, we're just replacing the whole she-bang.

QUIP O'THE DAY

when i was in elementary school i was desperate to go to the fair after reading "Charlotte's Web" because Fern and the boy walked around together and held hands.  heehee

Here We Go

ya'll ready for this?!  christmas has begun at the ehaus house!

we kicked off with our usual sparkling cider and powdered donuts then unleashed the music and decorations!  let's go christmas!

the boys set about untangling lights, and jack made it his mission to test and replace bulbs.  ah dedication.

jon got going on the exterior.

there was ninja interpretive christmas dancing.

with ornaments.

the boys decorated their bunk with blinking strands.

and i added their little blue and brown tree.

snowflakes in berries.

oh you know there's more :)

Laundry Room

hey ya'll!  hope everyone had a fun thanksgiving!  we started ours by watching jon run a 4 mile turkey trot through old town and past city park.  we had so much fun we're planning on making it a family tradition.  the weather has been unseasonably warm though so next year when we're standing out in the snow for hours, i'll be wondering why we ever thought it was fun...

here's our picture of thanksgiving:



awesome, huh?  i think it really captures the day ;)  jeanette (on the left) and i did spend hours in this kitchen (with my new appliances!!!!!)(well, that's not the new stove), and kier and karen (basement dwellers) took off to thanksgivings of their own.



on to the laundry room.  let's start the tour in the garage.  so our basement dwellers come and go through the land of bicycles into the laundry room, and down the stairs to their luscious accoutrements.  the ping pong table and fooseball table were both given to us, and we've sold the ping pong table.  normally the girls park over there.

some of you may notice the car.  it's one in a long line of loaners we've been driving this fall while we've replaced nearly every working part in our rendezvous including the engine.  we could've remodeled both our bathrooms by now...

i suggested we just be a biking family the other day, but i suppose with winter upon us that's not totally practical.



we have a mild organizational system by the back door.  every boy has a sock drawer, shoe bucket, coat/backpack hook and bike helmet hook.  there are a few additional hooks mostly for snow pants. 

come on in the laundry room!:



i think it's fairly self explanatory.  new paint on EVERY surface.  (doors, cabinets, railing, window trim, walls and baseboards) and new hardware on cabinets.  the washer and dryer are old, but still kickin'.









pulls are from hobby lobby, and if someone wanted the paint color on the walls i could find it.  it's sherwin williams, and i also painted the garage that color.







hooks are from anthropologie and bench was from ballard designs about 10 years ago.





we pulled all of our christmas stuff out thanksgiving afternoon.  the boys have loved finding all of their christmas books.  many christmas posts in the pipeline!