Saturday, March 27, 2010

Roof finished, most windows in

There's been some pretty substantial progress since we last posted a few weeks back. All the interior walls are framed, the roof is on and shingled, and just about all of the windows are in. Here's the front of the house:


And here's a shot of the back of the house. The big picture window looks from the family room out to the backyard. There is a covered porch area just off the kitchen, a perfect spot for barbecuing and relaxing.


Things are moving along pretty much on schedule and on budget so far (knock on wood). The only major hiccup we've had so far was some extra lanscaping we decided to do. To ensure proper drainage of rainfall away from the house, the builder said he would like to grade the land on the left hand side of the house (looking at it from the front) to an extent that it required ripping out the retaining wall that was there and replacing it. And to ensure a nice flat play space in the back we had to bring in a lot more fill than we had planned. But Julie and I actually think it will be for the best because the new wall will be much more pleasing to the eye than the old one and the yard will be beautiful. We'll post more updates in a bit!

Ian's 1st birthday party

We had a celebration at the house for Ian's first birthday last weekend! Momma took care of booking the musical entertainment, which the kids all seemed to love.


She had the crowd moving to "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" and gave a raucous rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Spider," which Jocelyn requested about 18 times.


Ian was having a blast in his front row seat and wowed everyone with an amazing drum solo.


All his friends got in on the act too!


After the music died down, all the kids seemed to love the crafts Momma set out on the tables to play with...


There were a few birthday masterpieces created, I'm sure!


Then it was time to bring out the cake and ice cream and sing "Happy Birthday," which Ian seemed to tolerate much better than Jocelyn had at her first birthday party (although he does seem a little confused by what's going on).


After blowing out the candle, it was time to dig in...


...and dig in he did!


Later, after we cleaned him up a little, he gave Momma a birthday snuggle to thank her for all the hard work she put in to make sure everyone had fun!

Ian's first birthday gift

For Ian's first birthday, I knew exactly what I wanted us to get him...

...a dump truck truly worthy of a young man's attention. Enough cargo capacity to haul around some serious blocks, and a nice loud horn to make sure everyone knows he's coming...

...and the ability to convert into a ride-on when the young lad wants to take his wheels out for a spin.

I think he likes it!

What's better than that?

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Ian Legging It Out

Jocelyn gives a nice intro to this footage of Ian taking some of his first steps.

Jocelyn Talking

The vocab has been exploding lately.

Ian Arms Up and Saying Hi

Little man is showing off about a month before his first b-day.

Hanging out on a Sunday morning

Jocelyn and Ian were playing this morning waiting for Grammy and Pepere to come and pick them up for church so we took the opportunity to capture them playing together.

True to form, Jocelyn hoarded a bunch of the blocks...

But ultimately decided to share some with baby Ian (which, by the way, were two new words for her this week).

It's tough to blame her for hoarding when he wants what she has even if he already has plenty for himself.

Then it was time for different blocks set on wheels.

He used the walker to stand up against the stairs all by himself...

And might have made more a little more progress if not for the stairs.

Jocelyn hung out nearby trying to put her shoes on by herself.

And then went on to play some music at her piano...

And Ian quickly joined her for a duet!

Then they humored us for a pose together:) And a special thank-you to Aunty Jenn for the early birthday present for Ian - the beautiful baby blue sweater!

They humored us for individual shots as well!!