Our porch is NOT "The Money Pit"

The contractors are making GREAT progress on our screened porch. I was told it would take 2 weeks to completer once they started. Instead, it is going to take about 4 days! I was told today that they expect to finish on Monday - except for some electrical wiring for a ceiling fan that won't happen until later in the week.


After ripping up the floor on Wednesday, they put in the entire new floor under the porch on Thursday and frame in the railings.

Today they put on the roof. They framed the roof, put on the plywood and framed it around the existing kitchen roof, removing the skylight.


We are looking forward to the porch being completed. It's so much larger than our deck was and we expect to enjoy it for many years. At least its cool now and we can enjoy it without the heat and humidity!! I'll share some final photos when its complete!

A quick update

Sorry that the updates haven't been coming recently. Its not that I haven't had anything to say - we've just been busy and in a good groove and I just haven't had a good chance to sit down.

School has been going great with the kids. We are in a good rhythm now and making great progress. We have been reading about Jamestown for about a week. We are studying American History and I've been lingering on Jamestown just a bit longer since in addition to that being American History, it is also Virginia's history. We are getting ready to move on to the Pilgrims and Plymouth colony, but we'll be back to Jamestown and Williamsburg when we are discussing colonial traditions.

The kids are both playing soccer this season. As a result, I spend 4 afternoons a week at the soccer field. Emma enjoys throwing her balls around, but she gets bored before the hour is over, so sometimes its a challenge. Both of them are doing great though and really learning a lot. Samantha is with the same coach from last season and its really great to see the benefits of having consistency across seasons.

I spent the weekend scrapbooking with some online friends at a scrapbooking retreat locally this weekend. It was a nice relaxing weekend and I even tried some new things with my scrapbooks.


Today, the contractors starting building on our Screened porch. We have wanted a Screened porch for a while but we have put it off. We decided that when the wind broke our "inexpensive" gazebo that we had on the deck this summer that it was about time.




So, this morning, we had a deck. Right now, we have a big hole in the air where the deck used to be. The contractor will replace the deck boards tomorrow - which was necesssary because we are expanding the area where the porch will be out past the edge of the kitchen and towards the family room.

They say that it will be done in two weeks - every time I hear that I think of "The Money Pit". Lets hope its not the same!

The words are coming quickly now!

Emma has many, many words now. Its just a matter of listening closely to what she is saying and the context within which she is saying the words, and you can tell exactly what she is saying.

She calls Michael and Samantha a lot.

Michael sounds like "Mu-kail"

But I think the cutest is Samantha - she calls her "Sissy". When she calls Samantha, she yells "Sissy" and Samantha will come running.

Nap struggles - and a sign of things to come

Unlike Samantha and Michael, Emma is NOT a good napper. I can put her in the bed when she is CLEARLY tired, but she will lay there for a long time, singing, laughing, playing, and NOT sleeping. That's fine if she doesn't want to sleep all the time, because sometimes resting in her bed is all that I need to get some schoolwork done.

But she is clearly going to be a handful.

I have been into her room TWICE this afternoon since putting her down. Each time I open the door, she DIVES onto the bed from her standing up position. She is trying to make me think she has been laying there sweetly the entire time when I KNOW that just seconds ago, she was standing up playing in her bed.

18 months and she is already trying to be elusive. How will she be at 18 years?