Three Kids and a Dog: March 2019

The Beach House

Finally. Finally, I've made it around to post some pictures of the beach house. Mostly because we've been working hard to get it ready for summer. Lots to put together, lots to buy and lots of putting stuff away.

We've been stealing away to the beach house for a few 24 hour periods here and there since New Year's to get things done. We're lucky it's only 2 hours away so we can be home in no time for a game or a birthday party or some other obligation. But, it still feels too short. When we're up there we definitely don't want to come home and we haven't even made it to summer yet so I'm sure that feeling will intensify 10 fold!

So the style is a modern farmhouse. You know the one. White. Popular. But not yet that popular up there. We decided to paint the front door to give it a beachy vibe too. The landscaping is coming when it gets a bit warmer. For now, we have mud! Firepit in the backyard but I don't have a good shot of that. Gravel drive. No garage. Porch furniture to be ordered soon. I'm hoping for a porch swing!

Bunk Room Bath

Bedrooms are mostly downstairs along with the laundry and a few bathrooms. Our bedroom is upstairs along with a very open floor plan which includes the kitchen, family room, sitting area and porch. Decorating is not quite complete but we're almost there...so here's what we have so far. Hoping to get up there for a few more 24 hour stints before spending many a weekends and weeks up there in July and August.

Guest Room Bath

Guest Room

Bunk Room with 6 Bunk Beds

Guest Room

Kitchen Banquette

Sitting Area (should have turned on a light)

Kitchen


Family Room

Sitting Area to Family Room

Master Bedroom

Happy St. Patrick's Day/Happy Birthday Mom!

Spring break in our neck of the woods always hits right around my mom's birthday, and this year was no different. However, this year we were celebrating 70 years of life. Now, my mom probably looks younger at 70 than she did when she was in her 40s. Mostly because she didn't color her hair back then and she went gray early but hey, she looks good for a 70 year old! (Might be one reason why people say I look young for my age still.) At any rate, we decided to celebrate my mom's birthday a wee bit early and on St. Patrick's Day nonetheless since she's where we all get our Irish from!

We know how she loves brunch (me too) so we got up early on Sunday, dressed in our finest green outfits and popped on over to the venue where we had booked a private room for a birthday brunch. The guest of honor arrived fashionably late (per usual), we enjoyed bloody marys and mimosas while catching up with the family. We took photos with the newest member of the family (little Leo), stuffed ourselves with eggs, bacon and french toast and then chatted about our upcoming spring break travel plans.

Here's a snapshot of our fun, St. Patrick's Day morning/birthday celebration.

The 7 grandkids

The entire crew!

Happy 70th Grandma!

I'm A Small Part of the World

Peyton front and center (blue bow)

Peyton's 3rd grade program was different from Austen's where he had to dress up as Orville Wright and present facts about the life of Mr. Wright.

After all that work on Austen's, we were thankful this was just a musical production that the kids learned on their own at school.

So this past Friday was the day where she dressed up, sang and played the Morroccas. Now this kid definitely likes to perform when she's in a group, however, she gets a little shy when she has to do something on her own so she didn't volunteer for any solo parts. Still it was fun to see her in her element among her friends.

She definitely gave it her all and was super happy to perform. She didn't even grumble about having to wear a dress and dress shoes let alone me doing her hair. She wanted to look good.

Check out her singing performances and playing the morroccas in the videos below.

Happy 3rd Birthday to Sadie!

Three years has gone by in the blink of an eye and my crazy little puppy has grown into the sweetest, most lovable big dog. Adler sure had a hand in sending our sweet Sadie to us and it's like she knew exactly what we needed (well maybe not all the vet bills and seat belt repair fees!) but Sadie was the perfect balm at the perfect time for our broken hearts. I didn't think it was possible to love another dog as much as I loved Adler but it has happened. And, I think Adler would be okay with that too:)

So we did what we could last Thursday and we gave our pup lots of attention, kisses and treats because only we know how short of a time we have with these Bernese Mountain Dogs. Their lives (like many dogs) are way too short! Peyton made all sorts of signs and cards for her. We bought her new toys and a little doggie cupcake complete with candles.

I think she had a great day and she knew it was a day that was all about her (like most days!).