Family Update

There are enough pictures out here for the time being. Let me tell you what Lyra is doing now. She is very officially a toddler and off to the races! I cannot keep her off the stairs. Having her climb up isn't a problem if I want to go up anyway, it's when she decides to go on her own. She has a new word, at least I think she does. She loves her bath and so she is trying to say it. She sounds like a little lamb....Baaaaa!

I cannot figure out what to feed her. Unfortunately, as the youngest of three, Lyra has been exposed to yummy things like custard, whipped cream and Fig Newtons much earlier than the others. She seems to have the carb obsession that Eva does. Last night, I made a delicious yogurt curry chicken dish with rice and asparagus. Lyra did eat it (which is more than I can say for the other kids). But what she really liked was when I put a bit of cream of coconut milk over some leftover rice for dessert! KC ate up every bit that she dropped. Apparently I have a Thai cat! He is so funny, just like a dog cleaning up after Lyra's meals.

Will missed two days of school this week with strep throat. His throat looked like a raw steak! He is doing much better now and excited to go back to school. Beauvoir is wrapping up its Global Studies unit and in the process of turning the school into a museum. Museum night is next Friday and we are all excited! This is one of my favorite things that Beauvoir does. The children have prepared exhibits about all aspects of the country their class is studying. They take the other students on tours so they can learn about the rest of the continent. Then, they become docents for their parents on Museum Night! And then spring break begins. What a nice way to finish up!

Eva's Art

When Eva sees other classes do art projects that her class doesn't do, she remembers and does them herself at home. Earlier this month, she made a little groundhog that popped out of a hole. Last night, she used a paper lunch bag, cup, white paper and markers to make a reindeer puppet.

In Eva's global studies work at school, she told me that Caribou and Reindeer are the same except that Reindeer are farmed and Caribou are wild.

Before!

Eva and I were just in the hair salon getting our hair cut and Eva wanted Annette to make her hair curly. Eva has beautiful shiny hair the color of honey. Curly, it is not. But Annette tried her best with a curling iron so Eva had curls for a couple of hours.

Eva liked it so much she asked me to roll her hair before bed. And so I did! Will caught a glimpse into the mystery of feminine beauty tricks.

Isn't this funny? Will and his otter share a smile, don't they?

After!

Here is the end result! It didn't last long though. The air is so dry right now and Eva's hair is just not inclined to be curly.

New Arch

These arches weren't framed according to our plans; they were flat on top and the cap piece at the top of the vertical trim did not line up with those on the doors in the dining room. So, the arches are being reframed and retrimmed. The new version is the second and rounder arch. Our dining room has to be repainted (WAH!!!) so that pale base coat isn't going to stay.

Look at little Lyra running around down there! What is she going to do when we get all our furniture out of storage???

Here is the view of the new arch from the kitchen.

Here is our teeny weeny powder room. Old Dominion Trim Specialists did a very nice job on these built in cabinets. This color is a maritime blue. I missed the pretty blue that used to be in our kitchen so it will be in here now instead.

The renovation is finishing up but it does feel like the 20% of the fininsh work is taking a long time. We got rid of the chamois color in the hallway. The west wall is now a tiger lily color so this big sideboard pops out instead of fading into the wall. the rest of the hall (downstairs and up) is a pal mushroom color. It is even called "Shiitake."

Don't worry, I am going to "decorate" the sideboard. Right now it is a staging area for stuff, as is much of the rest of our living area. Hopefully we will putting the house back together soon!

Happy Birthday to Coach!

I can do it myself!

Poor Lyra didn't get much sledding except for indoors. But next winter she will be a pro.

Stop the Paparazzi!

Can you see that Will is wearig a shower cap? The photo op was too good to pass up!

You pull the sled! No it's your turn!

This ended up in more walking and less sledding for everyone but I suppose it is one of those things only learned by doing.

Snow!

Last week, we had enough snow to cancel school for a day and freeze my car in place for nearly a week! Will and Eva got some good sledding in but one of our sleds was AWOL. This is what happens when they share a sled.

Important News!

Eva lost her first front tooth! She really looks like a first-grader now. She has been working so hard to get this tooth out and it was stubborn. She tried hard to pull it last night but it was just not coming out. This morning, her tooth was gone. I don't know where it is, if it's in her bed or if she swallowed it. Looks like the toothfairy is going to be paying a visit to the Phelps' house tonight.

I am so glad this didn't happen while we were in the hotel. The toothfairy leaves Will and Eva a gold Sacagawea dollar for each tooth and the toothfairy forgot to bring those with her to the hotel. That would have been an opportunity to see just how good Marriott customer service is! But I am glad we didn't have to go through that.

Bathing Beauty

Lyra sure does love her tubby! I realized I didn't have very many pictures of her playing in the bath so I tried to get some. Took over 30. Most did not come out as she was in constant motion. But this one pretty much captures it!

Look Who's Walking!

Lyra has taken off walking and she is very proud of herself! She is starting to walk on her own without being prompted by one of us but she still crawls if she is in a big hurry.

New Construction

I can't remember if we posted pictures of the pergola or not. The pergola goes along the house and other sideof the garden too. The big trenches are for electrical conduits because we will finally have some proper landscape lighting. Josh was supposed to lay the pavers in the patio this week but it is too cold (19 F today!). So, that part will be on hold until it is warm enough to be sure everything can be packed down and level.

Here's the view back into the dining room. That space under there is where my microwave is going go. We just picked out some beautiful tile. It's called Tantrum by Sonoma Tilemakers. I can't wait to get that part taken care of. That is the last big thing for us to order.

Here's a view of the southeast corner. Our stove and dishwasher are back and we've GOTTEN TO USE THEM! Everyone was very excited about that new development. There will be a butcher block counter there to the right of the stove. That counter is in my hallway at the moment.

As I am publishing these entries, I notice the text is all mashed up against the picture. I do not know what is going on in blogger. All I can say is this new version of blogger operates a little bit differently every time I use it and this time, it makes me log in for every single entry. This is very annoying. Maybe I'll come back tomorrow and try to reformat these and see if the process is any different. I hope this isn't their last and final version.

The new appliances are in. I am very excited to have a second oven. That is our new refrigerator in the foreground there. The transom over the door is being redone to make the windows wider. You can see our new floor too, these floors are going to be refinished this week. Wish us luck that the color is close to that of the floors in the front of the house.

A Miniature Desk!

This will be my new workspace. Now stop laughing! Somehow, some way, I am going to clean out all my files and stuff and it will fit! Really, it will! And I'll always clean my desk at the end of each day. It's still close enough to the New Year to make that resolution, isn't it? I am not going to be able to use that little shelf under the window for anything because I anticipate it being KC and Noelle's chaise longue.

New Floor, New Trim

I haven't posted any pictures for a long time. I think we have hit the phase in the project where the last 20% takes a very long time. You can see the new trim in the dining room and over the arches. The archway going into the kitchen is not the right shape. I'd like it if it were to be left untrimmed but since it is going to be trimmed out like everything else, it is going to be reframed to be rounder on top like all the other arches in this room.