1 Bedroom For 86 Dollars!

Over the last couple of months its been on my mind to complete our construction project we began two summers ago. You see when we planned our addition, it revolved around adding on a third bedroom. Our architect designed plans that would more than double Anna's room. Our contractor completed the addition two years ago (along with enlarging the kitchen, adding on a bathroom, a family room and laundry room). We said when we were ready, we'd put up a wall in Anna's room and make it two bedrooms instead of one. For the time being she had a huge bedroom. Well, for the last few months, I've been thinking about how we still have to put the wall up, and breakthrough the hallway to make a new entry door for the third bedroom. I've been dreading it though because I remember all too well the mess involved. Our plan was to complete the construction when I became pregnant however I also remember being pregnant with Anna while Ron and his dad renovated our bathroom and the smell of paint fumes was enough to throw me over the edge! So keeping all that in mind, I've been stewing over how we should just get this over with now especially since it is the summer and Ron's schedule allows us to ocassionally see him in the light of day! So rather than fretting over it any longer, Ron and I decided rather spontaneously to put the wall up today. Here are our results. And it only cost us 86 dollars to make our little 2 bedroom house, a 3 bedroom home! Oh, and the mess wasn't as bad as I expected -maybe not being nine months pregnant makes a difference in how you view things!

Girls' Afternoon Out

I think the weatherman said this morning it has rained 21 out of the 25 days we've had in June. Today, the sun is almost out, its humid and 80 degrees. I promised Anna I'd take her to the lake if the sun was out when she got up from her nap. Ron has graduation this evening and the girls have the house to themselves for a while. I told her we'd get a slice of pizza too. Chloe wants to know why four legged girlfriends can't join in on the fun. She's still pouting that we gave her a bath in the kitchen sink yesterday.

Rain, Rain Go Away...

I'm not sure if yesterday would have gone down as the best first day of summer vacation for Anna because we cleaned the house all day. My goal is to really get the house back in order over summer and my goal was to tackle one job a day. But since yesterday was raining, I told Anna we should make use of our time at home. We accomplished a lot and I have now found someone who LOVES to dust the legs of all my furniture (I hate that job!). Anyway, Anna and I had fun (at least I think she did) and we accomplished a lot. While she took her nap, I walked around the house outside checking on our flowers and our vegetable garden. I came across three surprises for her on my walk...
A beautiful lilly in our garden that had just bloomed.
Our very first zucchini starting to grow.
A nest in the birdhouse Grandpa built us complete with baby birds!

First Day of Summer Vacation!

Anna and I begin our summer vacation today. I never would have believed it if someone told me I'd start the year out as teaching assistant and finish the year as lead teacher/director. It was a great experience but I'm ready for a break! I told Anna we'll be planning lots of fun activities this summer. I want Anna to see the fireworks display for the first time this year. We'll also hit Jones Beach once or twice in Long Island. There's also the Danbury Fair Carnival I want to take her too. We want to take her to the Bronx Zoo again and Ron would even like to set up our tent in the backyard and have a campout with her. I'll sit that one out! We also signed her up for the town's swimming lessons. I told her that we also have to cook from a brand new recipe at least once a week too since we have been getting in a big rut! She's at a great age now and its almost like we're two best friends hanging out together. Here are some pictures of some birthday parties she attended lately. She has been quite the social butterfly! I'm also including a picture of her on her new swing Ron made. We wanted an old fashioned swing in our backyard under the crabapple tree. It has been perfect -until the rains came. Now the rope has shrunk and Anna can't get on it by herself! Anyone know a rope we can use that won't shrink?