Staycation Vacation

The first week of August Drew took at staycation from work.  Our plan was to relax at home in the summer weather, celebrate our 6 year anniversary, do fun things with the kids . . .

And of course complete A LOT of house projects!

 

First on the list was a new sink.  Not only was the old one a dingy color of beige but the garbage disposal was on the shallow side making dish washing very awkward!

Love my new stainless steel sink.  So much sleeker!

 Next on the list was a new fridge.  True, our old fridge was less than 3 years old but I've always hated it!  The black sides made the entrance to the kitchen seem smaller and it seemed HUGE in that space.

 Enter lovely new counter depth fridge!

 

Made SUCH a difference!

 

And the crowning jewel -

A beautiful new front door!

I love that the new windows let light into the entry and the splash of color is just was this grey house needed.

Drew has now made me promise not to request any more house projects for awhile

 

But really - "awhile" is a very vague term . . .

Welcome to the Cottage

Last weekend, mum and I found a diamond in the rough at a yard sale.

An old beat-up PLAYHOUSE!

 As you can see - it needed a lot of work but had LOADS of potential.

The biggest challenge was how to move it to our backyard.

Luckily, Drew was totally up for it and worked super hard to make it happen!

 First came coats of cheery paint to every surface.  Ellie has decided to become a professional painter when she grows up.  She loved every minute of it.

 Even Jude was happy to help . . . for a few minutes.

 So serious

 Of course, we picked the back corner of our yard for our playhouse to live.  It was quite an adventure moving it into place.

 The moving crew

The cottage.

It is so cute and homey.  Ellie has decided she wants to have sleepovers in it when she's older.  Right now it's usually an "order-at-window" restaurant.



So the final total:

$50 for the playhouse, $30 for paint, plus hours of labor = the best play cottage I have ever seen!!

Cousin Love

 One of the highlights of the summer is always the reunion with my sister, Michelle, and nephew, Jules. 

We only get to see each other for about 10 days out of every year so we pack a lot in . . . catching up, eating good food and lots of champagne drinking.

But the best part was seeing Jules and Ellie interact.  They are at the age where they are remembering each other from year to year and building a relationship.  I love these photos where Jules is talking about Star Wars and has Ellie's undivided attention.

Three Cheers for Family!!!

Now only 51 weeks until we get to see each other again!!!