Back Yard Home Improvement Project Continues....

My last post mentioned that we had moved to a new home in the last six months.  Paul and I made the hard decision to leave our beloved Queen Anne neighborhood behind. One of the major things we have been missing for Madeleine and Cora were city parks, that actually looked welcoming and had real live children playing in them.  Right before Christmas I are ran into one of our old neighbors who had been forced to move at the same time - Ari and Mara - also moved South to the city of Des Moines.  In passing Ari mentioned their new house had a playset in the back yard that they didn't want it and thought it would be perfect for our daughter Madeleine.  I was thrilled - Paul saw lots of work involved....

The first weekend in March was dismantle and move day.  I was able to take the whole weekend off from work.  My parents were willing to watch the girls for the whole weekend.  Even the weather cooperated for us.  We celebrated Paul's birthday with a family dinner at our house on Friday - the girls went home with my parents.  Saturday morning Paul and I enjoyed sleeping in and a home cooked breakfast together.  Then it was time to gather our tools and head over to Mara and Ari's house.

The beginning of challenging project.

He's still smiling:)

The lattice top had to go.  In the end we salvaged the 2x4's which we will use for a gate to keep our doggies out of the play area and the 4x4 beam that the swings hang from.

Dismantling is done.  Mara and Ari are planning to get married in their back yard this fall. 

Loaded up and ready to head over to its new home. 

Day Two - play tower is starting to take shape.

 

play tower complete with slide and the beam for the swings is in place.

All Done! Ready for Madda and Cora to start playing on it.

Madda approves!

 

We still have a few more projects to complete until the back yard is complete.  Progress reports will be posted as we complete each project.

Squeeze pouches for Madeleine and Cora....

After Madeleine's second Christmas I splurged at Babies R Us and bought an Infantino Squeeze station.  Madeleine was in love with squeeze pouches from the grocery store - the ones that cost anywhere from $.50 to $2 or $3.00 each!  So I thought I can make my own, save a little money.  Well I made a few and then lost interest because Madeleine started to refuse to eat the ones I made...if she knew it was green she wasn't eating it.  Didn't matter how good it was she was not eating anything green.  So I put away the pouches and squeeze station until the next baby came along.... Cora is a very independent eater.  She really likes to feed herself, and will only tolerate being fed if the food on the spoon looks like the food you are eating. 

So Cora is a little more adventure some in her eating I'm expanding my squeeze packet repertoire from just applesauce to things with vegetables and avocado in them.  With the squeeze station, frozen veggies and my trusty sidekick Blenda Cora can so many different options for snacks in the squeeze packets.

The flavor of the day for squeeze packets was banana, applesauce, oatmeal with a hint of orange, and carrot, applesauce and oatmeal.  I'm sure you can imagine that we had a big pot of oatmeal for breakfast and during naptime blenda and I mixed of up these yummy concoctions.  Madeleine was a little leary of the carrot ones.  She prefers her applesauce plain.

Getting ready for the garden...

We recently moved from the Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle to our new house in Des Moines, WA.  At times I really miss living in the city and its many benefits.  Easy public transportation, nice neighborhood parks where you can almost always find kids playing during daylight hours, grocery stores within walking distance that don't require you to cross a major highway to get to, and lastly it was easy to be a one car family.  The downside of living in an nice Seattle neighborhood - its impossible to buy a house big enough to accommodate the average size family - leaving you at the mercy of landlords and property managers who want to make more money; settling for old, small living spaces that desperately need to be remodeled into the current century; wondering when you will no longer be able to live your small hip neighborhood (either because you desperately need more space and will go insane without it or you get that dreaded notice from your property manager saying please move).  Last July 28, 2014 our property manager notified us that our landlord would be jumping on the renovation bandwagon by raising our rent to an unaffordable amount --- if we were willing sign a 12 month lease and an astronomical amount if we wanted to just stay on a month to month basis -- because they wanted to renovate the unit we were living in.  By the grace of God my husband and I were able to qualify for a home mortgage, find a decent real estate agent, buy a house and move within sixty days.  A huge thank you to our friends who helped us with moving in many different forms -- not just carrying boxes and furniture, but pushing strollers, taking care of our pets, packing, listening, playing with madeleine, cleaning, carrying boxes and furniture....you get the picture.

 

 

So this is supposed to be post about getting ready to garden and its turned into a rant about the housing market in Seattle.  Onto the joys of home ownership...we were lucky to end up on neighborhood street where our new neighbors actually came out to meet us as the our moving truck pulled up in front of our house.  I can't wait for summer time when weather improves and more people are willing to be outside for visits as we go about our daily activities...  In preparation for summer, Paul and I have been slowly making some improvements around the outside of the house, digging up bushes, trimming tree limbs, moving compost bins etc.  I'm looking forward to being able to have a garden that I don't have to drive to -- just walk out the door.  Last week Madeleine and I planted seeds for our flower garden and hanging baskets.  I need to make a return trip to Lowes so I can buy a another mini green house for my vegetable starts.  Next weekend Paul and I will be moving a backyard item to our home for Madeleine and Cora to play on...Don't tell Madeleine its a surprise, you can tell Cora because her only words are mama and dada right now so she won't let the secret out of the bag.

 

My other outdoor projects are digging up the bushes in the front yard.  My brother, graciously cut down the tree we had in the front yard at Thanksgiving.  Its my mission to transform our front yard into a year round flower and vegetable garden.  As Madeleine and Cora grow older it gets easier to work on projects inside and outside of the house... I remind myself that taking time to play is way more important than a clean, spotless house.  I will find the balance some day.

 

Last night I carefully pulled the mini greenhouses off the shelves in our laundry room to show Madeleine some of the baby plants that had sprouted from the seeds we planted earlier this week.  So far we have one tomato sprout, some zinnia, bachelor button, cosmos and geranium sprouts.  I can't wait to get home to check for more sprouts today.