Hello, neglected blog!

So, it's been a bit since my last post and I thought I'd give in update on our little family. Our floors, baseboards, and bathrooms are now fixed! David finished up our master bathroom, so it would be ready just in time for Christmas.

Our master bathroom.

Here is a photo of our kitchen/dining area with Sunny Girl, of course. The water damage was all the way up to the french doors and the floors were all replaced in here and in our living room, hallway, and master bedroom.

 

On Christmas Eve, the contractor had his painters finish up painting the baseboards and bathroom. Everything was back to normal within just a few hours that day. Luckily, our little family was able to spend our Christmas together in our first home. 

 We found our Christmas tree the weekend before Christmas at a local, little Christmas tree farm, which we really loved. The owner shared a bit of Silvana history with us. I'm sure we'll go back again next year.

An elf came to visit us on December 1st and went back to the North Pole on Christmas Day. Sienna named him Eddie Spice and she made him a little blanket, too. The first day he brought the little ones each a book and a movie about elves. They had fun trying to find where Eddie was hiding and doing silly things each morning!

The day after Christmas we went to "The Lights of Christmas" in Warm Beach. It was our first time going. Our neighbors gave us free tickets to go. The little ones had a good time, although Forest was freezing when we got home!

We also went on a ferry ride to Clinton from Mukilteo a few days later. We would love to live over on Whidbey Island someday! David would just hop on the ferry to go to work each morning. 

 

Sienna lost another tooth over Winter break! Bringing the total up to 4 so far.

David finished putting up our new doors. Now, they just need to be painted with new trim around most of them. 

Which brings us up to our most recent road trip. We decided to go for a little Sunday drive and ended up at Snoqualmie Falls. The falls were quite beautiful and very wet!

David liked this sign and rule #1.   

This was a mural in town.

A few years ago, we watched all of the Twin Peaks episodes on Netflix. This was the cafe where Shelly worked. The detective liked to get cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee there.  

And, that about sums up what our little family has been up to lately.

Slow Summer Days

This summer the little ones have been enjoying lots of popsicles and ice cream, which = a big sticky mess, so lots of baths, too. Some days, Forest has to have two!

After a bath!

All dressed and ready to go!

Sienna has also been taking lots of silly pictures of things ...

and selfies.

 

Can you guess where she took the next picture? P.S. Forest's hair is getting so long!

And, then there was our annual trip to go blueberry picking at Cascadian Farm. We picked 20 lbs. of organic goodness this year and may go back for more, since our freezer doesn't feel quite full enough to last us through the year.

Sienna chose a blueberry ice cream and Forest's favorite ice cream is chocolate.

This is what 40 lbs. of blueberries looks like. Half of it is Nana's. 

Yesterday, when we went to Target, Sienna insisted on getting a new journal. She's been watching me fill out my exercise/food journal and she wanted to do the same. We are going to be doing our first run together in August! Can't wait.

This weekend, we have big plans to paint the outside of our house. Grandma and Grandpa have been helping David do the prepping for the last few weeks. So, hopefully we will have a blue house with white trim next week! 

At Home

 

Lately, we've been spending lots of time at home. These are photos from our last few weeks. David's been working on finishing up indoor projects, so we can move onto the outdoor ones. We found a lovely light fixture at a little shop downtown for over the farm table. It matched the other kitchen light fixtures perfectly. The little ones/guest bathroom is also almost finished. He's put in a new tub, shower, vanity, light fixture, slate tile and just finished the wainscoting. 

Last week, we saw President Obama fly over our house on his way to Oso to see the aftermath of the terrible mudslide that happened the week we moved into our home. The photo of the airplane is from our backyard.

The next two photos are from Easter Sunday. Sienna has been practicing her Cat's Cradle and she is getting very good at it. She also finished her first sewing project, which was a pillow for her doll, Lucy. I was working on a tooth fairy pillow for her, so she wanted her own little sewing project to work on alongside me. Both of her two bottom teeth are quite loose and she has her two adult teeth coming in behind them. She goes to the dentist next week, so we are hoping they will fall out on their own before then!  

Lastly, Sunshine is growing quickly! We are working on teaching her to walk on a leash in our backyard. It's quite comical to watch her, but she is getting better each day. 

Renovation Journal: The Living Room

We are down to 5 days before we move in and A LOT has been happening at the little white house. I thought I'd start with the biggest room in our home, the living room. The walls were sloppily painted an aqua color and the floors were a vinyl peel & stick that made a funny sound when you walked on them. All of the baseboards, heating vents and some outlet covers were also missing.

Looking toward the front windows and front door. 

The other living room windows and vaulted ceilings.  

This is the view from the front door when you walk in. 

The entry/coat closet.

The day we got our keys, David already had all of the vinyl flooring pulled up and by the next day, I had the ceilings and entry closet painted. We also primed the walls twice before painting. I plan to post photos of the finished living room with the color we chose after the floors are installed next week. Here is a sneak peek of the living room before wall color and after the ceilings were painted. Plus, there's a random bathroom vanity in our living room, along with the old (very crusty) stove and old dishwasher. 

After walls primed and ceiling painted. 

After walls primed and ceiling painted.

We chose a no VOC/low odor primer and no VOC/low odor paints for the entire house by Yolo Colorhouse, which is available online from Home Depot. 

Primer: Yolo Colorhouse Inspired 

Ceiling: Yolo Colorhouse Flat Air .01

We are having laminate flooring installed by Home Depot. Also in the plans are priming and painting all of the woodwork white, adding white baseboards, painting the front door white, and new light fixtures.

Next up, I'll share the kitchen tomorrow.