2014 Memory Jar #2

-written by Nathan

Tonight, we came home after a week of sleeping at Harvella's house.  On New Year's Eve, Dan came and put the coat of stain onto the new floor boards he installed.  ATM and LGM came over for drinks and appetizers.  When MNG was preheating the oven, she noticed that the smell of the stain was strong inside the oven.  She looked it up online and read about people in similar situations.  Apparently, appliances can trap some of the fumes.  Not a real danger, but a stronger smell to deal with.  We decided to let it go and just use the oven to make appetizers.  We celebrated the new year, and then we went to bed.  Later, MNG woke up not feeling quite right.  Juliana also woke up, but it was hard to know if she was feeling well or not.  Another internet search turned up stories of people spending anywhere between three days and two weeks away from their homes while work was done on their floors.  We decided we would have to stay somewhere else while the few coats of polyurethane were applied.

GG was willing to let us stay in her basement suite.  So, on Monday, after MNG went to work, I got things cleaned up, got clothes packed up, and got the little ones loaded into the van.  We put Chloey in the master bathroom upstairs, with her food and water.  We kept her in there during the nights with the window cracked.  We left all the other windows open for as much circulation as we could get.  We started by going to 4385, where I worked for a while and they napped.  We went to GG's in the evening and had dinner when MNG arrived.  She had stopped at the house after work to take care of Chloey and get the last things she needed.

We stayed there all week, most days including MNG going to work, the babies and me spending the morning with GG and then making our way over to 4385.  Dan put the polyurethane on the floor, one coat per day on each of the first three days of the week.  During our stay, MNG and I ended up watching The Way We Were when GG had it on, and JLG watched Aladdin twice (GG's Disney library on VHS!)  It was good to give the grandparents and grandbabies lots of time together, and I got in some good hours of work.  But it was great to come home!

Busy Boy

2013 Memory Jar #2

-written by Nathan


Jack: "We need to talk about something."

Nathan: "What do we need to talk about?"

Jack:  "Houses."

Nathan:  "What about houses?"  (pause, no answer)
               "Do we live in a house?  Who built this house?  Pa and all the people who worked with
                him."

Jack: "Ba and Pa live in a house."

Laying the Sod

Back at the beginning of September, with a BOATLOAD of help from the Kanagy family, we finally laid sod in our yard! We absolutely love our new (and very thirsty) grass!

laying the first strips of sod

juliana was such a big help!

the beautiful green grass makes our ghetto mailbox stand out a little more than it did before

enjoying the show!

jack is "helping"

jack loves his new yard!

Growing a Garden

One of our biggest projects this spring has been growing our first garden! We are lucky to have some experts in the family who have guided us through the process and even done much of the manual labor involved. The project started back in late winter when Judy sent in our order for seeds. Then, on Saturday, March 31 we started at Lauren and Adam's house and began tilling the ground there. As you can see, even Jack pitched in and helped out.

Then we headed four blocks down the road to our house and tilled the dirt there (which also involved removing an extremely large stump from the corner of the lot)...

We followed phase one of the garden project with another work day a week later.  On Saturday, April 7 (a chillier day than the week before) we gathered together again and put in the timbers.  (With this visit, Jack began to realize that when Chuck and Judy are coming over, it means we spend the whole day outside!  And, really, what could be better than that?!)

After a couple of trips to pick out tomato plants, pepper plants, strawberries, and flowers, it was finally time to plant!!  On Saturday, May 3 we planted the garden....(and, once again, Jack was in his element)!

The work has paid off!  Our garden is doing well and things are growing quickly.  Here are some current shots of the garden (taken today, Tuesday, June 12)...

 snap peas and spinach

 tomato plants, peppers (bell, anaheim, poblano, jalapeno), green onions,

and summer squash

beans and carrots

Lesson 34: Pulling Weeds Isn't Child's Play

Everybody pitched in the pull weeds in the yard recently...