Catching up

So many pics to post...

Happy Birthday Joslin!

We had a friend make a little cake for Joslin. She sampled a little frosting before digging in for more. She did a good job of eating it without too much mess.

Joslin wants daddy to have some too!

Joslin enjoyed reading her cards!

Grampa Frazer made Joslin a train. It is wonderful! Patrick is playing with it a lot too.
Mem painted a table and 4 chairs. I will have to take another picture of the top. Each corner has a different season. Joslin has such talented grandparents! She got a quilt from Aunt Laura and her family. It is made from antique squares. I need a picture of that too.
I love this picture of Joslin with her cousins.
I can not beleive Joslin is one. Wow- time goes by so quickly. To me she is still my tiny baby girl but she is starting to walk and climb everything in sight. She eats like crazy and loves her big brother. She crawls all over the cat and grabs on the dogs. So much change in one year. We love her more every day!

Pictures from Patrick singing in choir. He looks so little in his robe and so cute! I love watching him walk up the aisle, scanning the pews for people he knows.

He has spotted me! Sometimes he sneaks in a little wave. Too cute!

Look what we found in the garden!
They are both so sweet! Jason took them for a ride back to the garage.

More pictures to come...

Happy Easter!

Zoo

This week is spring break for us so Jason took a day off work and we all headed to the zoo.

Patrick was surprised at how big the claws were on the bear. "Big bone claws" he called them. There were two swans chattering as they searched for food. They made a lot of noise when the Canada Geese were visiting their area.

There were not many people at the zoo and we got right in to see the baby elephant. We got to watch it walk around with its mother. It was born last year a week before Joslin was born!













The tiger was showing off too and was walking back and forth in front of the glass. Patrick and Joslin both enjoyed watching it.































We stopped for lunch outside the Asian Quest area. We were joined by a Canada goose and two mallards looking for handout.






Joslin enjoyed watching the fish and the manatees. They were actually feeding the manatees when we got there. They were dropping large pipes in the water with heads of lettuce sticking out one side.

This picture of the flamingos is courtesy of Patrick!
The merry-go-round. Patrick opted for the bench seat.
This kangaroo was soaking up the sun right next to the trail. We got a nice close up look!
The gorillas... Patrick had a fabulous time watching the gorillas. There was one young gorilla that was really showing off and all the kids were laughing at him. The little gorilla would climb up on a branch and then jump off and slap the glass on his way down. Then he would climb on his rope swing and sway back and forth, back and forth. Then he would climb on his branch and start the whole thing over again.

Patrick and Joslin at the end of our day.

Carpet!

A before picture.

Today we finally got carpet in the loft area. It has been a long time coming and it looks fabulous. The trim needs to be put in but I am so happy to have carpet. Patrick won't be able to draw on the floor anymore but he is already enjoying the carpet. Who knew it could be so fun!

First- the stairs. What a chore. If Jason did not have gray hair he does now. What he was hoping would be a day project turned into several weekends and a few Mondays. This house- the gift that keeps on giving...

Where did the stairs go? Yep- they all had to come out. Jason essentially had to rebuild the stairs. Fun!

New treads and risers all the way up. Oak on the bottom few stairs where it will show. The landing is now oak too. It looks so much nicer!

Trim is still needed along the top and sides but the weekend is coming! Oh- and a railing.

Patrick camped out on the sofa so he could watch the installer finish the stairs.

Did I mention that Patrick loves the carpet? He has been running and rolling and jumping. He is working up a sweat!

Joslin peaks around the end of the railing. She is so cute!

We have moved the sofa back up there and put the roll-top desk in but nothing else is set up yet. Again- the weekend is coming!

When we think back to what that space looked like when we first moved in and how it looks now... Unbelievable. When we bought the house there were 2 pieces of drywall laying across the opening to the second floor. We tore out all the framing and drywall that had been incorrectly installed. (This was also hiding the raccoon hideout. Lovely.) Then we had a giant open space akin to a bowling alley. All new framing, a second layer of subfloor, insulation, new windows, new sliding door, electric, plumbing, drywall, HVAC... With lots of help from family and friends we are almost done. Only one more room to go up there and it will be done. Wow. It leaves me speechless sometimes.

Pajama Party

Patrick's class had a pajama party today. All the kids wore their pj's, brought a bedtime book and stuffed animal. All the kids thought it was hilarious that they wore their pj's to school. They even had pancakes and sausage for a snack.

Money Maker

As we drove up our road today we saw the propane truck sitting at the bottom of the driveway. I could see the driver up our drive a little with a snow shovel. As we drove up the driveway I slowed down to chat with him for a minute. The driveway was too narrow from all the snow and he was having trouble getting up the drive. Then we see Jason working his way down with the tractor to try and widen the melting snow. I pull my car up to the garage and Patrick is really itching to get out and help. He wants me to open his door first! He jumps out of the car and runs to get his snow shovel. He takes off down the driveway to help the dig out the snow. It was very cute seeing him run down there with his shovel. With teamwork the guys got the driveway widened and the propane truck was able to make it up to the tank. After the tank was full the driver stopped at the house to deliver the bill. He also wanted to pay his little helper!

Patrick earned his first "single one" dollar today! We are so proud of our little helper!

Here are some other pics from lately:

Pictures from snowshoeing last week. Joslin enjoyed the hike- chatting along in the backpack the entire time. Patrick enjoyed eating lots of snow and falling down a lot. We hiked out back to the top of the hill and then through the woods. It was a wonderful day to be out. The dogs enjoyed themselves too but were pretty tired once we got home.



You can barely see our path back home but we had walked from those far lines and are headed back down. Once we were back on our own property we turned into the woods.

Patrick found a walking stick!

We got lots of snow yesterday and today. Patrick and Jason have been out enjoying it while Joslin takes a nap. She and I are staying cozy inside until the snow stops. Then we will try and head out for a little snow walk too.

Jason and Patrick made snow angels.

The driveway after our neighbor came through. Nice!

Sledding!

The climb back up the hill. I love it that we can sled right out the basement door!

The tree swing in the snow...

The swing on warmer days.