A year in advance

Well everyone, it's been awhile since the last post, I'm pretty sure we've had 2 or maybe 3 new places to lay our heads since the last time I wrote. All told I think we'll be in 10 different houses by the time we move back into our Regular house. God bless all of our friends and family and Airbnb for taking us in! On that note, the new move in date is December 8th. Look for a party to follow. 

In the meantime I'll catch you up on all the work that's been happening. We have a new stairway banister so that there isn't a giant wall you have to walk around going up the stairs. It really lets the light in from the window too. 

They've been staining all of the wood and our windows so that they match the existing mahogany. It really stinks in there.

In the middle of all this we had some visitors. Mema and Poppop came out to celebrate Clara's 4th birthday. I would bet that most AirBnB's go to more exotic places to celebrate their birthday that NE Portland.

Mema still made it feel like a party and she hooked Clara up. Poppop, we still have some tickle bugs. Their worse than the flea infestation of the last place!

 The kitchen is coming together, we have painted cabinets and fancy countertops. Dad says they won't look so grey in the daylight.

 Mommy and Daddy's bathroom is getting polished off.

 And Clara and I will each have a place to brush our teeth and our hair so dad doesn't have to do it anymore. He says he's reached his capacity on hair styles. Mom says I need to send him back to Carlos to get some new ideas.

The next post will either be from Independence, SE Belmont, or NE Flanders depending on which place I have a free moment to post. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Home Stretch

In our attempts to spend as little time in our rental house as possible, we decided to do some apple tasting at Portland Nursery. Of course there was pumpkin painting as well. 

Clara went with a full coating approach.

 Hamming it up with Mom while we wait for the apples to be sliced. There were 30 or so apples to try, who knew there were so many?

We also went down to the pumpkin patch and found a few gourds to spruce up the porch. Clara kept the small one, but the bigger ones made for a nice resting spot. Between the mazes and hay bale slides, it was a busy day!

We also spent some time in the wheat box, much cleaner than sand.

Did I mention that we're supposed to move back into our house by the 20th of November? We're going to be very organized once we finally get back in. Here is a nice closet organizer.

The hutch near the laundry area.

We finally got the door replaced, so now we don't have a boarded up house. They never caught those pesky bad guys that broke the last one, but we sure hope they never come back.

Clara and I have a fancy new sink or two. Here's the vanity they will sit on.

Just to add a bit more, here's what the outside will look like, less paint. All new siding to complete the package.

I can just imagine how many hours of homework will be done in our new office nook. Have I mentioned I'm in Kindergarten? I was just telling Dad tonight how much I like doing homework because I get to practice my letters and coloring and even reading...

I hope to have some finish product photos after Mema and Poppop leave. Sorry they're going to miss seeing the finished product. But you know what? Who cares? It'll be so awesome to see them!