Visiting the Airport

My friend Erika had a great idea to go to the airport observation area today and let our boys watch the airplanes take off and land. It was a little chillier than we expected and the sun certainly didn't shine as bright as we had hoped, but we had a lot of fun ... and I'm sure the boys did too! We packed a lunch and enjoyed our morning/early afternoon with airplanes overhead and captivated little boys.

As soon as we arrived, Caed headed for the stairs of the observation deck, so that was our first stop. The wind was a bit brisk up there, but the boys got to see several planes take off and land right away. Caed has never been too interested in airplanes, but when face to face with them, he was quite intrigued. As each plane would begin to take off down the runway or come to a quick halt to land, he was pretty quick to stop what he was doing, look at the airplane and point. He does a good job at his beginning attempt to say airplane, and I'd like to give you an idea of what that sounds like, but putting it into letters right now would not due his attempt justice, so I'll just have to leave it at that .... Very cute, all the same! (Mason's word for airplane is pretty recognizable so hopefully Caed will catch on soon.)

The boys eventually made there way down the ramp and into the play area, where Mason immediately invited himself to play with another family's shovel and bucket set, and Caed attempted to climb the ladder to playground equipment that is much too advanced for him. Once he realized that he wasn't going to get too far with that attempt, he joined Mason in the sand and the boys carefully scooped sand into the bucket and actually played pretty nicely with the other little boys. They're growing up so quickly!

Our picnic lunch was pretty fun .... Mason ate in his stroller and Caed sat next to me on the picnic bench. For being one who enjoys walking around and eating, he did very well sitting next to me without a booster seat. (I just love it!) And we shared our lunch together ... thanks to Erika for making an extra sandwich for Caed! I made a complete lunch for both of us, in addition to the one that we were going to drop off for Brad, but Brad accidentally picked up our joint lunch instead of the one I made for him. We were left with 1 sandwich, a banana and a piece of pound cake. Brad on the other hand had his choice of a ham sandwich or PBJ cut up into 12 little pieces, a large bag of goldfish and thin slices of apple. But I guess that's better than the day that I had to give him Caed's lunch (intentionally) b/c we were out running errands and I realized that I forgot to make him lunch, so instead of heading back home to make him a lunch, I just dropped Caed's lunch off with him and put something different together for Caed later. (He was able to enjoy a PBJ, apple and alphabet cookies with his fellow staffers that day :).

I LOVE my new kitchen!

Ok, it seems weird to me that I'm writing a post specifically about my kitchen. It's obviously a room that I frequent a lot, but on most occasions I'm not sure it deserves to stand on a pedestal. I have done a decent amount of cooking in it since we moved in Christmas week, but I haven't had the chance to prep and cook a big meal in it or have a nice baking session in it ... until today.

Caed's been taking a good, solid 3-hour nap each afternoon, so it gives me a nice window to get quite a bit done around the house. Today, that means prepping for my first Beef Burgandy and baking my Grandma Courtney's Cut-Out cookies, heart-shaped for Valentine's Day. The really great thing about the kitchen, for baking especially, is the granite countertop! I have always struggled to keep the dough from sticking to my baking sheet or cutting board (maybe I should have always rolled the dough straight on the countertop, I don't know), but I tried it today and it worked like a charm. No sticking! Hooray! Hopefully, this milestone will encourage me to do more baking from here on out, but I suppose it's all about time and I can't say that I can sacrifice my daily 3-hour window for baking every day.

Now that I'm raving about my kitchen, I should probably mention that the size is also an important factor. When we originally had the plans drawn up for it, it didn't seem like it would be that big, but with the layout and experiencing the size in 'action' per say, it's definitely a great-sized kitchen and one that opens up many opportunities for our family to enjoy it together (Brad and I can cook together again and Caed can enjoy playing as I cook or clean), as well as invite others to enjoy it with us.

And can I also say that having a dishwasher is absolutely fantastic ... and an oven that heats to the appropriate temperature is also a huge plus!

I'm thrilled that the kitchen turned out the way that it did and I hope to use it to its fullest potential! I'm very grateful!

Long-Awaited Photos

Sorry that it's taken so long to post new photos. But, here they are ... enjoy!

THE 909 HOUSE BEFORE














THE 909 HOUSE NOW
(during our big snow a few weeks ago)














OUR BEDROOM VIEW OF DOWNTOWN
(sunrise)














CAED @ CHRISTMAS














JUST THE 3 OF US
(at my birthday celebration)

Home Sweet Home

Hello Blog, it's been about a month since I've seen you. Durng my absence, I am excited to announce that we have officially moved into our 909 House and that despite several hiccups along the way (clogged sewage pipe, which led to frozen pipes and no water), we are gradually settling in and making the 909 House our home. It's so wonderful to spread out these days and have more than 900 sq. ft. for the 4 of us (including the cat) to move around in. Aslan thorough enjoys his freedom, and is hopefully on the road to his 2010 weight-loss program (stairs and the like). Caedmon couldn't be doing better either ... he now has the space to play a lot more independently and move around and this has thankfully resulted in a new 3-hour nap time (he only took 1.5- to 2-hour naps before) and also to very pleasant night sleeps. You know your child is getting good rest when he wakes up happy instead of crying and enjoys time in the crib before he calls out "Ma, Ma." What a huge blessing! Brad and I also enjoy the house ... we still have a slew of projects to finish and begin as time goes on, but it's just nice to be in the house and enjoy the fruits of our labors over the past 2 years.

We still don't have Interest yet, so my ability to share news frequently isn't there yet, but once we do, I'll be sure to post pictures and the like.

It's Really Happening ...

We've been MIA on Hodgson Tales for a few weeks now, but we're back with good news! We're packing up our duplex as I write and we're planning to move into the 909 House tomorrow! (This is obviously dependent on the work that gets done today: Grouting the tile, final polyurethane coat on the floors, drywall patching and a final cleaning.) But everything is on schedule now, so we hope to bring back good news in a few days to let you know that we've successfully moved in! Or, whenever we have Internet again.

Please keep us in your prayers ... that we're able to get everything that needs to be done in good time and that the work crews that are in and out of the house will do the same. Pray for good weather tomorrow as we move.

Hope to bring good news on!

New House Pictures

Here are the pictures that I promised yesterday:

Sanded Hardwoods














Upstairs Hall Bath Floor Tile & Wall Color


















Master Bath Floor Tile, Shower & Wall Color














New Exterior Columns
(these are now primed white and will be white to match the trim)

The Countdown Begins ...

I can't believe I'm saying this .... But I think it's about that time to begin counting down the days until we move into the 909 House!! While this means we have to pack our stuff up again, pick up boxes and a lot more stuff at Brad's old work warehouse (yes, if you didn't know, he has a new job ... he's now the director of stewardship at vintage21 church :), and actually move, this is an exciting time.

Our contractor was busy with a few other jobs the last 2 weeks and wasn't around too much, but now that those jobs have come to a close, he's back in full force and he's ready to knock out the punch list. This means that the trim guys were back yesterday and today finishing up interior and exterior trim, our front porch columns arrived (yippee ... they look fantastic), were installed and primed today, the flooring guys were back to continue sanding the hardwoods, the HVAC guys were back to work on piping that needs to be fixed for the inspection and the electrician came back to install lights and electrical boxes. Our painter will begin his first coat on the exterior trim this week (weather permitting) and will follow with the rest of the exterior. And the flooring guy will finish sanding this week and will return this weekend to stain the floors. Our new windows are set to arrive early next week and once they come in, we'll have them installed (will take about 2 days).

From there, we're still waiting on the kitchen and powder room countertops to be installed, along with the corresponding powder room vanity and toilet. We're having the upstairs vanities built, but those should come around pretty soon and then we can order the countertops for those pieces. The hall bathtub still needs to be installed ... it's been sitting at our contractor's house for over a month ... but once that's installed, the tile guys can come back and finish tiling the hall bathroom and the plumber can come back and install all of our plumbing fixtures that won't be installed with the kitchen or powder room countertops. And as everything begins to wrap up the cabinet guy will come back to do final touches on our kitchen and mud room cabinets and our painter will go through the house one last time to touch up.

It seems crazy that all of this can happen in 1.5 weeks, but it's amazing to see these guys work. There seems to be so much forward planning, but once it's time to get the work done, it gets done very quickly (and with good quality). So for now, please pray for good weather so that we can continue to work on the exterior of the house and for diligence and a concern for quality as the work crews come in and out of the house the next 1.5 weeks so that we not only make our inspection & CO deadline (Dec. 11), but so that we can rest assured that the work was done well and will last.

(I'll post new pictures tomorrow.)