Flower bed

About two months ago we decided that we needed to fix up our flower bed in front of the house. We bought some stones to make a little retaining wall. Added a lot more dirt. Planted a couple of smalll bushes (that will hopefully eventually give it some height). We also planted a small tree in the front yard. Hopefully everything will grow well and next year look great. As you can see the weeds are what grow best in the flower bed--especially that morning glory stuff. We are constantly pulling it up. If only the things we plant grew as well as weeds do.

Will's Quilt

Thank you so much everyone who contributed to Will's quilt and scrapbook. This is a picture of the end result. It turned out great. It is about 5 x 6 1/2 feet big.

Shiny new floors

 For the past few weeks our house has been in upheaval as we have gotten our wood floors refinished. The main floor already had wood floors and upstairs we ripped out the old blue carpet to expose the original wood floors (in ok shape). Then we had to consolidate all the furniture--living room and kitchen in to garage. Bedroom and office in to one small room. The piano got pushed into the kitchen blocking everything else. Needless to say this made life a little complicated. We spent several days sleeping on the futon and even spent one Saturday at a hotel while they were working. Now it is all finished and we are getting done putting things back in order. The floors look great, so I guess it was worth all the inconvenience.

New Furniture

This is the new chest of drawers that we got. It consolidates our two dressers and takes up less space. We also got two matching night stands. (Also note at the bottom the beautiful old blue carpet in our bedroom.)

Playing in the Snow

In the beginning of December, the snow finally arrived in Rochester. Camberly was on nights and so after she walked home in the mornings, she would shovel six inches of snow off the driveway. Then Caleb would have to shovel again in the afternoon because there was more snow. For several days there was at least six or more inches every morning. In the winter Sadie and Sylvester don't get to play outside very often, so they love it when they get the chance. There was so much snow that it was deeper than their legs so the would jump/hop to get through the snow. Sylvester in particular loved running new paths through the backyard. They would bury their noses deep in the snow trying to smell things. When they came in they had little snow balls stuck to their fur all over their legs and bellies. When they melted they left wet spots all over the couch and floor.

A Busy Vacation Week!

This week I was off of work and Caleb had Monday and Tuesday off. So our parents come out for visits. Caleb's parents came out last Thursday and went home on Monday. While they were here they helped us do some projects around the house. At first Caleb and Dale were just going to put in a new dishwasher. But as they got to work, the project kept getting bigger and bigger. We needed a garbage disposal and to do that we needed a new sink. When the sink was removed, they realized the counter top was rotten and so it had to be replaced. Then because of the way the new counter top is formed, They had to tear out the faux bricks that were there and put up new drywall. So pretty much everything was new except the cabinets. It was a huge task.

 While the boys were doing this, Judy and I removed the wallpaper in the dining room and painted. When they had to leave, all the hard work was done and some painting and clean up were left.

 The next day was lots of cleaning for me and then Wednesday afternoon my parents arrived. They helped finish the cleanup process and organize the cabinets. Then over the next few days it was a little more relaxed as Mom and I made curtains for the dining room.

 Caleb and Dad put up a new light fixture and did some plumbing for the washer in the basement. We also went to an apple farm where we picked some apples and got a half bushel (that is a lot of apples). We also got delicious apple cider that they made right there on the spot. We had a lot of fun with everyone coming to visit and the house looks great.

Camping Fun

A few weekends ago Camberly and I went camping for the first time since we have been married. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I found a campground online and reserved a spot and we drove the 30 minutes to this little campsite when Camberly got done with work. I read online that is campground was dog friendly so we took the dogs with us. They had to stay on a leash but they didn't seem to mind. The dogs were very well behaved and only barked a few times. As we walked around the campground with we noticed that some of the campsites looked a little different. Some of the campsites had permanent RV with decks and flower gardens. To us it looked as though people would reserve a spot for the summer and then go to a warmer place in the winter.