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.

Just Because

I miss having a Christmas tree in our house. Everything looks so bare without all the decorations up, so I was so thankful to see that the bulbs I planted several weeks ago bloomed! It feels good having fresh flowers to brighten up these grey days.

Paperwhites that I planted

Tulips from Josh

Daddy's Little Helper

Our vacuum cleaner stopped working last week (big bummer!), so Josh decided to take it apart to see what was wrong with it. He got some tools out and right away Griffin wanted to see what he was doing. It was cute to see how curious he was. He wanted to hold the screwdriver by himself and didn't want to give it up. They found the problem, a burned-out motor, and Josh ordered a new part. So, in the meantime I've been vacuuming the house using a little sweeper vacuum thing...it's just not the same.

New Year's Eve

We started off the evening with an early dinner with Josh's family. His grandparents have a tradition of making lefse and lutefisk, traditional Norwegian dishes, on New Year's Eve. Most of us at least tried the lutefisk and some really liked it. Lydia even asked for more when she was finished! We hung out a little bit while the cousins played together...

Ronan was making Ethan laugh by playing peek-a-boo behing the couch.

Dylan and Ronan were wearing their matching football shirts.

The "big" kids entertained themselves in this box for a long time (:

After dinner we went home to get our boys to bed. Our good friends, Ashley and Camilla, came over to ring in the New Year with us. It was special having them over because they will be moving to Norway this summer, so it was their last New Year's Eve in the states for awhile (not their last one ever) (: We ate apple pie and watched a movie, and overall had a lot of fun just hanging out. It was a mellow, relaxing evening...just what we all needed after a busy Christmas.

Happy 2008!

Taking Shape

By the end of last week the framers had finished installing the trusses and started working on the attic decking.