a nice weekend visit from Meredith and Addison....

Down the street from us is a playground for children ages 2 - 5.  Although Addison just turned one, we were still able to spend some time there with her. What fun we had!  She loved everything, but the swing is her favorite.  The following pictures show her having a great time on a slide-playhouse combination.  (The camera lens just couldn't quite get the swing photos---she goes too fast.)

Nanny and Poppy are fun, but my mom is the best!  We love you, Addie Bear!

wildlife in our lives....

some wild flowers and grass around the pond

This is our "family" of Canada geese---6 goslings and the parents.  It has been so much fun to watch them from the time that the babies were little balls of down until now.  They are nearly as big as their parents.

a heron that visits us periodically

we are at home....finally!

We must admit that we have been very lax about keeping the blog current since we moved into the house.  We have no excuses except to say that we have been spending our time getting settled.  As we indicated in a previous blog, we had a lot of moving help from many friends and family who gave up part of their Mother's Day weekend to carry boxes and use their vehicles.  The following Tuesday, (on a very rainy day) Two Men and a Truck moved the rest of our furniture for us.  This moving process was much more work than we remembered; but it has been 35 years since our last move, and time does dim the memory.  Plus we are a lot older and worn down than we were years ago. But, we finally feel as if this is "home" now, and we LOVE it!

This building process has essentially been seamless because of our great builder

--Griffin Builders.  We can't say enough about their workmanship, their employees, their attention to detail, and their follow-through.  And, we feel that we have gained some new "friends" in the process.

Our girls have visited several times to help us.  David's sister, Anne and her husband, Mike, were here for 5 days, and they were the first to use the guest bedroom.  Our friends, Sue and Paul Reardon were here for dinner last week, so we are beginning to feel as if we can have people visit.  As we said before, "Y'all come!"

So, for those of you are might be interested in what has happened so far on the interior of the home, we are including a few pictures.  We still have much to do, but this is a start.

Obviously, this is the dining table. It has two leaves, so having a number of people be able to sit for a meal is something we have not had in the past.  The light fixture is one of our favorites.

You can get an idea of the kitchen backsplash and the cabinets from this photo.  We love the stove and working space in the kitchen.  There is so much more room than we had on our old home, and it is really fun to be able to have more  area in which to prepare and cook our food.

This view is taken from the dining area into the living room.  We were very fortunate that most of our furniture from the other house fit into this home perfectly.  David hung 29 pictures in one day, and that really adds to the warmth of the rooms.  The ceiling fan in the living room is wonderful---large and very effective.  The door leads to our bedroom, but we have more work to do in there.  More photos to follow on that project.

When we come into the living room from our bedroom, this is what we see---a warm and inviting area.

When we were trying to decide how we wanted to finish the stair rail, we found a picture in a magazine that looked something like this.  We asked Brett, our builder, if this was possible for us.  Without hesitating, he said of course it was.  So, he ordered the cables and Doug, our finish carpenter, installed them.  We think that it opens the area more than using wood.

Here is a more inclusive view of the stairs.  This includes another of our new additions; a mobile made by a local artist.

The guest bedroom is ready for all of you at a moment's notice. 

One of the places that we spend a great deal of our time, is the 4 season room behind the table.  We knew that we would use that room a lot, but we like it even more than we thought we would.  The window treatments are ordered, and that will make a great difference in the room and add some more warmth to the area.  They should be here soon.

When we first moved to Wisconsin 35 years ago, we bought 8 Breuer chairs  for our old dining table.  As you can imagine, over the years the cane seats began to break, the chrome began to look bad, etc.... so, we stored them in the basement for many years.  But, we decided to resurrect them for this house.  David cleaned the chrome, cut out plywood seats and we bought new cane backs.  Finding the fabric that we liked to cover the seats took some looking, but we are very happy with our choice and the chairs look great with the new dining table.

A closer view of the dining room light fixture.

A perfect place for an old bookcase from the other house.

The computer room gets a lot of use as well.  I am sitting there right now updating this blog.

We have to say that we feel very fortunate, lucky, blessed and grateful that this project is something that we have been able to do.  With everyone's help and ideas and patience, we have come to this point in our lives.  Thank you all!

a wonderful surprise....

As many of you already know, Sophia, one of our cats (David's favorite, but don't tell Reilley), has been missing since last Friday morning.  David has walked the neighborhood many times, looked in ditches, walked around the pond, gone to the former house, called our old neighbors asking them to keep an eye out for her, filed a police report, notified the humane society, and called and called and called her name at all hours of the day and night. No luck.  


We were really feeling quite good about how well all of the animals had adapted to the new place, especially Sophia, since she is such an escape artist when it comes to getting outside.  But, from the first day here, she has always been at the door when she wanted to come in.  That all came to an end last Saturday morning.  We left for Chicago for the birthday party feeling certain that she would be on the front porch when we returned----but she was not. So, needless to say, we have been very concerned and worried, wondering what happened to her---did she get hit by a car, did someone take her, did she try to find her way back to the old house, etc???  She has slipped many collars in the past, and she had no collar or ID.  However, she is microchipped and licensed, but someone would need to take her to a vet or the humane society to get the chip scanned.  We were giving up hope.


Last evening, David had gone to bed, and I was watching the news in the 4 season room.  Some movement at the patio door caught my eye---and there she was!  (She had never used this door in the past.)  I opened the door, she sauntered in, went to the food dish, ate, and then promptly went to bed----as if she had never been gone.  She appears to be the same weight, she is clean and just as relaxed and loving as ever.  We are back in the old routine.


If she could only talk....


This story reminds me of a song Zachary sang years ago with the Huntley Elementary School choir.  I don't remember all of the lyrics, but I do remember these lines:


"The cat came back.  We thought she was a goner, but the cat came back."

We are joyful and thankful that she is back with us.  Thanks to everyone who asked about her and worried with us.  She is fine----and so are we.  Welcome home, Sophia, from wherever you have been.

a BIG 1ST BIRTHDAY party.....

Saturday, the 22nd of May, included a day trip to Chicago for the best birthday party ever.  Addison, our granddaughter had turned 1 year old on the 17th, but the celebration had to wait a few days.  The weather cooperated--a few showers, a nice breeze and then the sun appeared. What a great time we had!  Meredith and Kevin did a wonderful job of planning with great food, beer, games, music, balloons, decorations, and many photo ops (some of which are included here.)    Since Meredith and Kevin live in a rather small apartment, Joann and Kenny (Kevin's parents) were willing to provide the house, chairs, etc... for the occasion; and they were a great help to Meredith and Kevin as well. 

The birthday girl was all dolled up in a tutu provided by her grandmother,  Joann.  Addison was a little overwhelmed at first, but she soon got into the groove and joined the party with great enthusiasm.  Kevin has a large family, most of whom are from the Chicago area, so there was no shortage of people who wanted to hold Addison and she was a good sport.  There were a few out-of-town guests, Kevin's sister, Kristin, who lives in the DC area, Meghan and her friend, David, from Milwaukee, and those of us from Appleton. 

The first casualty happened before the party got under way.  There was a little "counter surfing" by Ike, one of Ken and Joann's dalmatians.  That cake just looked too good to pass up!  Ike was found in the dinning room just licking his lips and, Minnie, their other dalmatian, didn't even get a crumb.  While this was very upsetting initially, it was repaired with a little bit of extra icing by Joann.  This event will be something that will remind us all of Addison's 1st birthday party; and will be a "remember when" moment with lots of laughs.  The cake was delicious, by the way.

The "repaired" cake---good as new, almost.

Kenny with Addison in her tutu

Great Grandpa, Ed, with Meghan

Kristin, Kevin's sister, with her friend and son

Something is really interesting----Addison and her bestie,  Aunt Meghan

Kevin's father, Rich

"I'm having a great time, Dad!"  (Kevin and Addison)

Addison with her Great Aunt, Nettie

Reece, a friend, was a very good helper when it came to opening the gifts.

Addison could not be distracted when she was eating her first OREO ever!

What do you think of my tutu?

Kenny and Minnie---a true love affair

another view---am I cute or what?

This is the "smash" cake, made and decorated by Meredith.  Addison could do whatever she wanted with it.  Initially, she didn't think too much of it; but, as you will see----she "got into it."

Kevin's mother, Joann--- a great hostess

Getting her first taste of the "smash" cake----not too sure---it really feels funny

 "I'll see if Dad thinks that the icing tastes good."

"I think that I like it.  Might as well dig in with both hands and my foot!"

"I gotta tell you; I am not fond of the hat."

"Opening those gifts was a lot of work, but I loved all of them.  Thank you!"

Kevin's dad with Reece, Addison and Meredith.  We were glad that he could come to the party.

There were cameras going off all afternoon, and these are only a few shots.  We want to thank everyone for including us in the party.  We are sure there will be many more parties to come, but the first birthday is always special.  We thought for sure that Addison would surprise us all by taking her first steps sometime during the afternoon.  What is a better time to start walking than at your party in your tutu?   But----she is saving that moment for another day.

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, ADDISON!!