New Friends

We have lived in our house for over 5 years now, but just recently we've started to really get to know our neighbors. There are three families (with young kids) who live close by and are becoming good friends of ours. It's been a blessing for me, especially, to have other stay-at-home moms nearby to get together with during the week...

On Saturday night we were invited to a potluck at Shaun and Karl's house. They have a son, Konner, who is the same age as Ronan. There were two other families there that we hadn't met yet...one had a 3 year old boy and the other had a one year old girl. Our boys had a lot of fun playing with the other kids and ALL of Konner's toys. Josh and I took turns eating and keeping an eye on the kiddos. It was a little busy, but we had a really nice time (: The other families were vegetarians, so I found a new recipe to try out...Tarragon-Almond Green Beans. Shaun made a pineapple curry rice dish that was really delicious. She's going to send me the recipe, so I'll post it when she does. I could almost become a vegetarian....almost (:

This morning Griffin and I were invited to Sydney and Marcus' house (our neighbors down the street) for a play group. Marcus is 20 months old and he is such a sweet boy (: We met them during the summer...I would see them going on walks around the neighborhood with the same kind of jogging stroller we had. (I think that's what sparked our first conversation) We started meeting up to go on walks every so often, and this Fall Sydney started coming to the moms group at our church, so we get to see each other on a regular basis now. Anyway, we really enjoyed going to their little play group today. Altogether there were four moms, four toddlers, one infant, and one dog- which Griffin loved! (Ronan was at preschool) It's always fun meeting new people and getting together with other moms who can relate to what you're going through (: I found out that one of the ladies just started coaching for the volleyball club that I used to play for when I was in high school...that doesn't have anything to do with being a mom, but I just thought it was kind of a crazy coincidence.

It felt good to spend some time with our neighbors this week! It seems like we see each other more during the summer when we are spending time outside of our houses...so during these cold winter months we actually have to make more of an effort to plan time together (:

Wrapping

Rather that putting regular house wrap under the siding of the house, Josh decided to go with Polyiso Insulation to create a more energy-efficient home. He put a few sheets up on Wednesday after work, then my dad came over last night and today to help out. It seems like a big job, but they are making good progress. He hopes to get all of the insulation up (& tape the seams) before it rains again. Everything has finally dried out inside the house, so his timing might be perfect!

My dad worked on taping the seams.

Josh nailed up the sheets of insulation.

My mom came along last night to hang out with me (: and help out with Ronan and Griffin. They loved having Memaw and Papa over! Today my mom took the kids to her house for a few hours to give me a little break. It was nice (:

A few other little details:
Our framers worked on the covered entryway last week (the posts are temporary supports).
We now have concrete in the garage.

Cousin Time

Our Moms of Grace group was canceled on Tuesday, so Becca invited us over to play. We had a good time visiting with each other and the kids played really well together! Sadie is a year older that Ronan and Cohen is a year older than Griffin...it's been fun seeing Griffin and Cohen become buddies just like Ronan and Sadie did when they were 1 &2 year olds (:

The kids decided to dress up in costumes. Griffin thought they were funny and he was very curious about Caterpillar Sadie.

However, he did not like being dressed as a Ballerina Bear!

After playing with toys in almost every room of the house, they all cuddled up together in Sadie's bed. They were really being sooo sweet to one another (that doesn't always happen as you can imagine)!

Roofing and Plumbing

The workers pushed through the COLD weather this week and made some great progress. Here are some pictures that might be a little boring... I never imagined I would get this excited about plumbing (:

The south side of the roof has shingles on it. (He's just getting started in this picture)

We have skylights in the attic space and upstairs bathrooms.

Plumbing is going in. Josh, Griffin, and I went to a showroom on Wednesday to look at fixtures (sinks, faucets, toilets...). Griffin sat in some bathtubs and checked out all the knobs and buttons in the store. It was fun (:

Ronan is imitating one of the plumbers who had been joking around with him.

Serious little plumber (:

Fun Saturday

We babysat Ronan's friend Miles on Saturday to help his parents out for a few hours. It had been awhile since Miles had been to our house, and he kept asking, "Where is your baby?". He must have thought that Griffin looked too big to be the baby since he is now walking and playing with toys. Miles has a brother who is 6 months old, so he is still a baby (:

The kids played really well together. At first, Griffin and Miles were interested in the same toys and stuck together, but after awhile Ronan got Miles to play builder with him.

I just thought these two pictures were cute.

Above: Ronan is sharing his snack with Griffin. I'm sure I didn't let Ronan eat Cheetos when he was 13 months old, but most of us relax a little with our second child, right? I can try to blame it on their Daddy, but every once in awhile I just can't resist eating them too (:

Below: I noticed in this picture just how much our boys resemble one another. Their expressions are so similar here!

Here is Ronan putting the finishing touches on his house made of Lincoln Logs. We have had the Lincoln Logs for over a year, but he just recently started showing interest in them. Josh has been showing him how to build things using the doors and windows, and Ronan has really picked it up. He only needed my help a few times with this one! We learned quickly that Griffin thought we were building towers for him to knock down, so we moved to higher ground.

In the evening, Josh's parents watched our boys so we could go on a date. It's always refreshing to spend time together when we can have uninterrupted conversation and reconnect. We had a really nice time.

Baking with Ronan

Ronan helped me make cupcakes yesterday for our builder (and friend), Nick, for his 30th birthday. We started baking first thing in the morning before Griffin woke up. It was nice to have some special time with Ronan. He was such a patient helper!

He put all of the papers in the muffin tin by himself and helped with mixing the batter.

We got the cupcakes into the oven just as Griffin was waking up, so we all ate breakfast while we waited for the cupcakes to finish baking.

A little while later Josh called to let us know that Nick was taking the day off (for his B-Day), so we wouldn't be able to give him his cupcakes ): So, we set aside a few for him and took the rest to share with my family at dinner last night.

Maybe we'll make some brownies for Nick on Monday morning, because I don't know if Ronan and I can handle having chocolate in our house that we are not supposed to eat (:

Update

Here's the latest on the construction project:
The framing is finished and the roof is sheathed. Even though it rained today, the inside of the house is finally getting/staying dry because of the felt paper (yeah!). A truck came today to deliver the shingles for the roof, and Josh is preparing to work on the siding once the house dries out a little more. We also expect to have concrete poured in the garage tomorrow.