Life Lately

While I was working on my April books post, I started looking at some of my past posts.  Lately, we have been so busy that all I have time for is my book posts (which I do mostly for me, to help track what I've read and what I think about the books).  I was reading past posts, 5 on Friday, what I'm loving, and what our boys our up to.  And I realized I miss those!  I decided to play a little catch up, so I don't forget this past year!

January

January was a BIG month for us!  We bought our first house.  We closed on the 10th, but didn't move until the 28th.  So we spent every spare second at the new house.  I painted all of the bedrooms.  Bech painted the dark paneling AND pulled up the carpet and refinished the floors.  

White paint on paneling and wood floors (before Bech refinished them) compared to the ugly carpet and dark paneling

The floors mid refinishing

Ahhh, beautiful refinished floors!

This man was seriously the MVP of January!

Our rental house looking all sorts of cray cray while we packed

We did fit in a little fun.  Here's Gil on ice skates for the first time.

February

In February, we crashed.  Seriously.

Every single one of us got the flu.  Ughhhh....

We also drove down to DC and spent several days with Ansley.  The boys loved getting a special capitol tour from their Aunt.

The view from the Speaker's balcony

Jack posing with Vermont's Ethan Allen

We also went on a White House tour.  Jack loved it...

...Gil was not impressed.

This kid is such a little poser.

We swung by Philly on our way home to visit our favorites, the Lugos.

And since Rita's had just opened for the season, we HAD to get some.

These kids are the best car travelers!

March

March was a snowy, snowy month for Vermont. 

We enjoyed a snow day together building a massive snowman.  

I will also be regretting that snow day come June, when I have to make up that snow day with in service.  Because Vermont doesn't build in snow days.  Mississippi, you need to take this moment to bask in the brilliance of built in hurricane days.  And Vermont, seriously???  It ALWAYS snows.  Why don't you build in some snow days?

And we slid down the back stairs.

We had friends over a bunch!  One night I pulled the last of the past summer's frozen blueberries out so make Bread and Wine's blueberry crumble.

We celebrated sweet Eleanor's first birthday with a beautiful unicorn party.

Jack finally read the original Jack.

And we kept hammering away at house work.

April

 

The boys opened their Easter happies.  Most notable present is Jack's watch: now when I tell him it's bedtime, he quickly corrects me.  Maybe I should have set the time wrong...

Jack, as usual, was a willing Easter photo taker.

Gil was, well Gil.

But he cheesed it up with his main squeeze, Viv.

Jack built legos and read, his two favorite things.

Also, I think the whole sibling things is going well, wouldn't you say?

Also, they share a room, so there's that...

We celebrated our favorite, Bech, with a mint chocolate chip cake.

And we had our first creemees of the year.

Jack on top of the UVM mascot, the catamount

I got to spend some time with my friends (Stowe Cider may have been involved...).

The boys and I have been really into cake baking videos lately, so we've been trying our hand at baking.  We made an ombre cake for a potluck we hosted.

And I decided to try my hand at gardening!  We are still doing our summer CSA, but I would love to eventually stop that and grow all of our summer veggies.  Here are my baby seedlings.

Whew, there's a speed recap of the past four months.  It's been busy and crazy and good.  I can't believe my first year back teaching is almost done (19 school days, but who's counting?), Jack is almost a rising 2nd grader, and Gil is almost a legit preschooler.  

We have lots of fun summer plans in the works, including a camping trip or two, a visit to Asheville, and a trip down south.  I can't wait!

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Christmas 2016

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon with one of those caveats:  LOTS OF PICTURES AHEAD!  

Seriously, though, I tried to slim down the amount of pictures.  I really did.  But this blog is basically my digital scrapbook, so this is the best I could do!

As Jack likes to point out, the boys got THREE Christmases this year.  They opened some presents from Bech and me the Thursday before we flew to Mississippi.

Early in December, Pottery Barn Kids put all of their stockings on sale for half price.  I still didn't have stockings for the boys (I have just been using some red velvet Pottery Barn ones that I bought years ago for Bech and me), so I jumped on that sale.  Here is Jack modeling his new stocking.

And, of course, they're Fair Isle!

I stuck with the four gift theme: something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.  This is Jack opening up his "want"--Lego Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion.

And Gil is opening up his something to wear.  He loves to wrap a towel around himself like a robe, so I bought the boys matching Cat & Jack robes from Target.

We flew out two days later.  We spent our time between New Orleans, Brookhaven, and Jackson, and got to see all of our family!

The first night we spent in Brookhaven, and Jack and Gil got to see a big surprise at Bella and Doc's house...NARNIA!

In my parents house, there is a small children's den that leads onto a sun room.  My parents had an old wardrobe converted and then made the sunroom into a playroom.  Now you walk through the wardrobe to get into a really cool playroom.  Jack and Gil (and their baby cousin, Anne Douglas) LOVE it!

A sign waiting to welcome the grandchildren.

The art corner

The reading nook

Looking in through the wardrobe doors

We spent a coupe of days with Bech's family, some time with my family, and then back to Bech's family for the last bit.  Here's Jack, chowing down on some pancakes in NOLA.  Doesn't he look SO old here? 

And here he is wearing Bech's mom's reindeer outfit that she wore when she was five!

In Brookaven, we checked out some amazing Christmas light displays.

And opened some presents early.

We ate our Christmas Day dinner on Christmas Eve Eve (stick with me here, things get a little tricky).  Then we opened presents on Christmas Eve day, before going to church that night.

All the cousins on the stairs on Christmas morning (well, you know, Christmas Eve morning).

And then opening their stockings (my mom might have taken advantage of that same Pottery Barn Kids stocking sale, too...).

This is the first year that Jack has really really wanted a specific present...Lego Jokerland.  Here he is opening it (and then being told that he could not put that together until we were back in Vermont!).

Gil didn't want anything specifically, but he did have a lot of fun opening presents!

And he cried some...that's just Gil...

We might be a tad Star Wars obsessed...

My brother-in-law took this cool shot from the foyer.  Actually, Dave is pretty much the reason that we have any Christmas Day shots.  I think it's because it's his daughter's first Christmas.  Thanks, Dave.  I am the worst at remembering to take pictures.

After a full day of opening presents, eating a yummy brunch, and playing with toys, we headed to our church's Christmas Eve service, one of my favorite parts of Christmas every year.

After church and a quick stop to a family friend's house for a party, we headed up to Jackson for another Christmas.

Dave is married to my sister, thus Dave was not there to take pictures at my in-laws.  You will notice pretty quickly.  I'm just proud I remembered to snap two pictures!

Jack and Gil both had a blast opening presents, checking out their stockings, eating brunch, and playing with new toys.

We stayed for one day after Christmas and then headed home last Tuesday morning, bright and early. We had a great trip, full of Target, Sonic, CFA, and lots of family (and maybe a sushi dinner thrown in...).  We did get a walking pneumonia diagnosis for Jack the day after we came back.  Not the best welcome home present!  But he's better, we're unpacked, and this semester officially started today!

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