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!!! 



Summer Lovin'

A couple weekends ago we headed up to Campbell River to visit family.  Drew hadn't been to the island since Ellie was less than a year old!  And since the kids are almost always super sick when we are up there I was VERY happy to have him with us.  Happy to report they were healthy . . . that is, until we arrived home!

 Hiking to Elk Falls.  This is such a perfect hike for kids (and me!) - short and few hills.

 Drew is carrying the kid, the lunch, the blanket . . . but hey, I have my camera!

 The Nobles Canadian Vacation

Last time we were at Elk Falls I was pregnant with Ellie.  Now back again with this big girl.

 We had beautiful, WARM weather while we were there (an unusual phenomenon on Vancouver Island) so it was a rather odd decision to stop at Butterfly World, which is essentially a hot and humid greenhouse.  But the kids loved the butterflys.  Jude squealed everytime he saw one (and there are hundreds)

 People often tell me these two look alike but I just don't see it - until I saw this photo!  Whoa - they are twins!

Back row:  Ellie, Gwyneth, Ella & Willa

Front row:  Mila, Nora Lynn, Jude & Nicholas

And the best thing about Canada - Family!

We had a huge party to celebrate the plethora of July birthdays in Auntie Dena's beautiful yard.  I love that my family loves games - everyone played in the crib and horseshoe tournaments.  Drew even won horseshoes - thanks to his 3 ringers - in the dark!

Certainly no shortage of cousins at the party too!

The little ones are ALL exactly 6 weeks apart, we were just missing Lucie.  Hopefully one day we will get a photo where they are 1) all in the same place at the same time and 2) will sit still long enough for a photo op!

Moving on

Ellie finished another year of preschool in June!

It was a big year - a new teacher, 2 days of drop off, more learning.

It amazing to think how much she learned in one year - all her letters and their sounds, counting to 20 (most of the time :), and counting to 12 in Spanish.

She had no problem with drop off and loved her friends.  Sadly, this was the year she started to only  play with "the girls"!!  The boys are off playing fire and rescue and the girls are playing house.

I can't believe the gender separation has happened already. 

Ellie still has boy friends that she plays great with at home but at school -  those days are over.

What a difference!!  In September she was a little 3 year old - in June a big 4 and a half year old!

 Ellie soaked up the attention during 'graduation'.  Her teacher, Teacher Paula, was wonderful.  She engaged the kids and used so much creativity.  We have been so lucky to start Ellie's school years off with such awesome teachers!

Even MacGruder got to enjoy the last day of school. 

In the fall, Ellie will move on to 'Pre-K' with Teacher Cam and Jude will start the toddler program with Teacher Betsy.  Since it's a co-op that will mean 2 days a week where I stay in the classroom, one with Ellie and one with Jude.  It will be a busy year!

July 4th Day

Where to start??!!  I have been severely behind on the blog posts lately. 

But I'm back to update on the start of summer!

If you're from Seattle, you know summer does NOT start until July 5th BUT this year we were lucky and summer made an appearance a day early!

 It's true - the Nobles have commandeered a few holidays.  It's now tradition to have Easter and Halloween at our house.  And I have to say, the 4th on our cul-de-sac was SO fun we may have to make it a tradition as well!!

The kids - Chloe, Olin, Livi and Elle

 Sunny weather = Happy wife!

 So entranced by sparklers!

 We took over the street with lawn chairs, a fire pit and fireworks!

 And we even broke out the guitars!

Happy FOURTH!

No photos first!

yes - this post is, I think, the FIRST on this blog WITHOUT photos!!

But since 50% of our household has Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease, I think it can be excused!

Jude came done with it while we were in Canada and the trip home was the WORST 8 hours I have ever experienced!  Seeing my little boy in so much pain is sheer torture!

Then I woke up to the itchiest, scratchiest rash I can remember. 

After a day of fussy, cranky kids we decided to have a low key movie night.  But about half way through Jude fell off the couch and ended up with a bloody nose.

SO . . . .

The lesson to be learned is:  When you decide to have kids you should be made to sign a full disclosure agreement so you understand you will spend some Saturday nights scratching your legs off and covered in blood. 

**Sigh**