Our beautiful boy... 18 months old!

Our House-Take 8

We had our "electrical" walk-through on the new house today, which turned out to be more important than I would have expected ... we're glad we got to have some input on switch and outlet placement as well as decide where exactly to hang the light fixture in the dining area. The electrician was (I think) rolling his eyes at us while we hemmed and hawed about where the table would go -- eventually he stepped in with his tape measure and helped us sort it out. We managed to snap some pics in the meantime... it's really starting to come together!

Art in the Barn

We made it out to Art in the Barn on Saturday night. That meant Gavin stayed up a full 2 hours past his normal early bedtime, but he took it in stride. He had a great time chasing after E.J., who is 11 months older than he is and soon to be his next door neighbor. It makes me smile to think of the fun they'll have and trouble they might get into. As always, Quinn -- E.J.'s older brother -- took the opportunity to use Don as a jungle gym.

Our House-Take 7

Not much has changed about the exterior of our new home so thought we'd share one detail we're excited about -- the back patio doors! Someday they'll be an actual patio out there perfect for warm weather gatherings or just hanging out on a nice day, once we figure out a way to create some shade out there...

Playground fun

We had a busy, but relaxing weekend ... we'll post more tomorrow about the house and some more pics from our Saturday night visit to Art in the Barn... for now, here's Gav enjoying the park near our new house. He's getting pretty agile -- with a few fits and starts!

More fun with the new camera!

Gavin seems to know when to say "cheese"!

Animals!

Our House-Take 6

Not a lot of big exterior changes to report -- the roof is on. We expect more is happening on the inside and we'll get a peek next week during our electrical walkthough. Next up on the outside -- the siding!

Yum!

As we've previously reported, we are really enjoying our summer food share from Primrose Community Farm. If you've never done a CSA, we strongly encourage you to try it out. Need more evidence? Look at this beautiful display (photo taken with Jenny's new camera -- an early birthday present from Mom and Dad -- which has a special setting just for taking pictures of food. There's also one for pets, babies and "parties." Looking forward to trying all of these out. For now, just produce)!

Don whipped up some angel hair pasta with tomatoes, garlic and eggplant ...

Delicious!

Our House-Take 5

Is it possible to build a house so quickly? It seems like they just dug the hole!

The latest...

It's never a dull moment with Gavin. If he's not climbing on stuff, then he's pounding, banging, running, jumping, dancing or tackling one of us (usually with a smile on his face!). The latest words he has learned are "go," "door," and "car" and he is really getting into making various art projects at school -- half of which end up on his clothes each day. We should buy Spray N' Wash in bulk.

Critics' Corner

Two thumbs up for "The Bourne Ultimatum"! Don and I saw the previous two installments together in the theater and rounded out the trilogy together during a matinee showing this afternoon thanks to an assist with the G-man from my mom and dad (The only other movie trilogy we've seen together being "Lord of the Rings," let's just say I like this experience better). Anyway, it's a thrilling movie, lots of action, good car chases (I'm a sucker for a good car chase ... "Ronin" anyone?) and it has one of those great moments that makes the audience gasp/chuckle collectively. The director, Paul Greengrass, made "United 93" (Netflix it if you haven't seen it, you won't regret it) and this movie confirms his gifts for me. I noted on his IMDB profile that he's slated to helm the movie version of "They Marched Into Sunlight," a book based in part on the Dow Chemical riots on the UW-Madison campus during the Vietnam War. Here's hoping he sees fit to film in Madtown!

Our House-Take 4

Obviously we're missing a few steps in here -- but it's really starting to look like something, isn't it?

Our House-Take 3

Our apologies for not doing a better job of keeping you updated on the progress at Hawthorne Hills (that's the name of our new neighborhood -- must be big fans of "The Scarlet Letter"?).

Anyway, the foundation is poured -- as you can see here -- and the workers started framing today. Ahead of schedule. Is that possible? Photos are forthcoming courtesy of our guest photographers Sara and Jim (our future neighbors and good friends).

In the meantime, our home has been on the market for 3 weeks and we're getting some traffic -- we've had several showings this week which means some long walks in the hot mid-day temps for poor Keely. She's hanging in there but I think she wants us to sell the house even more than we do!

Family Picture

Gavin had a homework assignment for school this week: to bring in a family picture. We thought "no problem" until we realized we didn't have one of the three of us together. So we employed the technique we have used on many a vacation when we were alone or didn't feel like asking randoms to take our picture. It didn't work so well this time!