Springtime fun!

I'm so glad the weather has "sprung"! Although today is chilly they promise more spring-like weather for tomorrow. We had a fun weekend in the yard. Toomas set up Erik's electric t-ball toy that he got from Santa. You step on the footpad and it feeds the ball onto the hanging tee...pretty fun! It is height adjustable so even Krista can play. We also planted flowers. I think I planted over 40 geranium plants around the house. Most are in planting boxes on the window sills...but I planted a few in the rock wall in the back yard. We went to a special botanical store, and since we had accumulated a lot of fidelity points from our purchases over the last few years we got a free gift. Krista selected a little strawberry planting garden. We'll see how they grow! :)

Tomorrow is Kaitlyn's birthday! THREE already! Wow. She is still a baby in so many ways, but 3 sounds so big. I'm proud to say that daytime potty training is accomplished (with the occasional accident), but we are nowhere near nighttime trained. She is wearing pull ups now which are thin and help "just in case" when we are out. Night time training isn't on the horizon. Kaitlyn is a grand sleeper and I want to keep it that way. She is still in her crib and loves it!! I'm happy to have her there since I know she will stay in bed for 12 hours. She is known to wake up asking for a drink, so with a full bladder it would be impossible to stay dry that long! She also drinks a lot of milk before bed (a habit we're trying to wean her from). When I was 7 months pregnant with Evan, I got a box of free newborn "trial" items from a French store and inside was an Avent bottle. Kaitlyn was 2 1/2 and had NEVER had a bottle in her life...well until that day! She snapped up the box..complete with a pacificer and bottle and has begged to use the "baby bottle" ever since. Yes, I caved in and gave her her FIRST bottle at age TWO and a HALF years! I thought she was joking in wanting to use it but she loved it. It is sort of a joke now but she honestly wants it. Erik was nursed for 3 years and never had a bottle in his entire life (not a single one). Kaitlyn nursed until 18 months and went directly to a real cup (not even a sippy)...then at 2.5 years old, the bottle arrived in the mail! Since I never bottle fed either her or Erik, I found it amusing at first..now I'm ready to pitch them. Trust me Evan will NOT see a bottle.... EVER! :)

More Finished Landscaping Photos

CLICK on picture to enlarge for detail.

Here are a few more photos of the complete project. Can you tell we love it! I'm including a few close ups---the mailbox, the planters etc. I will try to get to a day by day recap..but with Kaitlyn's 3rd birthday coming up this week it will have to wait. We're really looking forward to Thursday! I can't belive Kaitlyn will be THREE. We got a surprise package from a dear friend, Alexandra and her son Gabriel who is Kaitlyn's age. Kaitlyn keeps carrying it around saying it is for "my happy birthday". We're looking forward to opening it on Thursday, Alex!!! She already picked out the menu for her "happy birthday" too. She said "I want to have eatballs on my happy birthday!". We all love when she says "eatballs"...she means meatballs. It is too funny! We also got a package today from Vanaema and Vanaisa! THANKS so much everyone :) Enjoy the finished product photos!

The Landscaping Project!!!

IT IS DONE!! We've been waiting for this for over two years and it is finally COMPLETE! It looks SO wonderful and feels so great to have an actual finished entry at last!

The landscapers worked NINE FULL DAYS on this. It was a HUGE undertaking. They were here each day at 7 in the morning and finished at 5 pm. They only took 30 minute lunch breaks...nearly 10 hour work days!! There was a lot to do..They stipped down the makeshift stairs and compacted the land leading up to the door. Our front door is about 1.35 metres higher than the street level so there was quite a distance to go up. The entry starts at the bottom of the driveway and consists of 4 levels and 10 steps. The levels make the entry feel gradual and on both sides the of the project there are plants held in by granite block planters. There are 4 large retention areas, one of which is a hiding place for the trashcan! Small granite decorative stones fill the planting areas. There are at least 20 different plants on each side...The finishing touch is an integrated door mat at the front door which has been carved into the granite tiles. Of course the entire driveway had to be paved as well. First the land was compacted and bricks were layed ONE BY ONE. The entire 125 square meters is composed of handlayed bricks. We selected an antique paver by Kronimus that just looks fabulous with the house.

The reason why we waited to do this project is two-fold. Firstly it costs a LOT of money...and the tax in France is nearly 20% if you make renovations during the first two years. After the two year period, the tax for house renovation drops to only 5%. This in itself saves a lot of money so we decided it would be worth waiting the 24 months. In the fall when we reached two years we were ready, but the landscaper had a full schedule.. I'm so glad he waited until now to do it though. With spring here it just feels so wonderful to have a fresh and new exterior, plus he was able to plant all of the decorative plants at the same time as doing the driveway and entry.

The materials used for this project were massive. HUGE and heavy slab blocks of granite were used for the steps, and granite tiles of 40 cm by 40 cm square, were used for each landing area. We chose light grey granite for the steps and a very dark grey (anthracite) color for the landings. I'll do a step by step of the project, but for now here is a before and after picture! You won't believe the difference!!

BEFORE


















AFTER!

BEFORE (Ariel view from our window)

AFTER ( same ariel view from our bedroom window)

The house!

Gosh, I have really gotten behind on my blog these last few days! Things have been busy here so that's my excuse! :) We still have the landscapers here. I think today is their 8th or even 9th day of work. They have been SLAVING but the results are huge! Luckily we've had bright sun for all but one work day. I can't wait to post a little progress blog on the house. I've taken a zillion progess photos and will be putting together a little video for Vanaisa (Toomas' Dad), who is always interested in the technical steps. TODAY is the big day we "receive" the project. The boss will be here this afternoon for inspection and we should see them clear out today. You can't imagine how much the house has changed. It has gone from feeling like a building site to a COMPLETE package. Our house really sells itself with the lot, the location and the external beauty. It isn't an ordinary design (many houses are simple boxes) so it stands out...now with the gorgeous driveway and entry it is SO highlighted and complimented. I always nurse Evan in my bedroom by the big bay window. I sit there muliple times a day for about 25 minutes each feeding. I've already seen two cars drive by to take pictures. I've also seen countless people walk or drive by to look at the project. Sundays are infamous for people walking by and now it is non-stop! Our neighbor yesterday approached me and said "Everyone comes to see your house on Sunday!". She is German and really liked the landscaping project which is very German in style. It is wide and elegant. I can't stress how much this has changed the house. Amazing! Stay tuned for a step by step! :)

The Kids in the Yard and Recent Happenings...

Wow, the days are swirling by FAST! The weather has warmed up and spring is in the air. I suppose that is my excuse for not getting a post (or two) up here until today! Things have been hectic since Erik's birthday. I still have to post a recap of his group birthday party, but I'll save that for when I have a bit more time. In a nutshell it was a hit. In all he invited 7 boys (and only boys) so we decided to have it at an indoor play area (to save my sanity.... and my house). It was really great and he (and all the kids) had a blast. I have lots of pictures so stay tuned...

Things have just been so busy lately since the weather has finally taken a turn for the better. I've really been on the go non-stop. Lets see...I've mowed the lawn, high pressure cleaned each and every brick on the terrace, cleaned & brought up the patio furniture, Easter shopping, scrubbed the outdoor electric boxes (which were filthy), caught up on laundry, plus washed all of the winter coats to put in storage, hmmmm and of course all of this while nursing a growing little baby boy and chasing after Kaitlyn who has been running around in the yard in complete heaven!! Speaking of the yard...Kaitlyn got a tick yesterday. Let me tell you it isn't easy removing a tick from a 2 year old. I did manage to get most of the tick out, but there was a small trace remaining. This a.m. Toomas ran over to the local Generalist to have him take a look to see if the head was out. He said the head was removed (yay!), but there was a bit of the leg remaining and gave us a sterile needle if we wanted to try and get it out. Toomas said the doctor started to try to get the rest out, but then quickly gave up when he realized his competition. Kaitlyn is no push-over and if she doesn't want to do something, it isn't happening! He gave us a RX for a Lyme test which I may wait to do because we get SO many ticks around here. I think we probabally topped out at about 20 last season with all of us combined. It is a nightly ordeal around here doing tick checks at tubby time. Ahhh...the joys of nature! One of the downsides of haivng a forest lot, but we do love our view. I hate all of the ticks but it really goes with the terretory (literally).

And speaking of the house...BIG NEWS, our landscaper is in action!! Our entry and driveway will soon be done! I'll have a big entry on that soon...with photos of the process! We've been waiting nearly 2 years for this project so it is very exciting that it is now in motion! HOORAY!

More yard shots!

The grass is always greener (on our side!)!!! It is amazing to look out there and see such a green spread! I'm so happy that we have a yard now. Here are a few more shots (and of the table and the plantation area with the mulching).

Backyard Progress

Our backyard is shaping up. It feels so wonderful to have spring right at our doorstep, and an actual backyard at our doorstep too!! It is almost like discovering a second house! We have been loving our new house for these last 8 months-- and now we are actually "starting" to have a yard to love too!!!

Today the landscaper brought over a few bushes for the patio--they will give us privacy from both neighbors and also protect children from walking off the boulder retaining wall. It makes the patio feel more homelike now, and less like a construction site!! ;)

They also put a path around the whole house against the walls. There are granite rocks and patio tiles down now which make a path around the house, and also protects the house from getting dirty, and keeps it easier to mow along the house edge.

The weather has been so spring-like today--hopefully it will last so the earth can dry out a bit and then they can plant our grass!