More house pics...

We're Home!

It's been a busy and tiring couple of days at the new house -- we made it, though, and are thrilled to be here. Our news neighbors (and good friends) Sara and Jim made us dinner last night and Gavin had a great time playing with their two sons ... meanwhile, thanks to Jenny's mom and dad we are enjoying some beautiful paint on our new walls. The painting is a work in progress, but here's our new, sunny hallway -- remember the institutional "before" picture? It's awesome now! Promise to post more pics later -- too tired to do anything more now ...

)

Happy Halloween (Late)

Gavin looks for his pumpkin

As reported in the previous post, pickings were slim at the pumpkin patch today -- but it was still a lovely day nonetheless... let's ask Gavin how it went from his perspective...

"I've got my own ideas about the safest way to ride in a wagon -- I like the body-surfing approach... "

"Hey Mommy, this is how it's done..."

"Come on! This way to the pumpkins..."

"But first, a quick check to see how fast I'm growing..."

"Hmmm, where are all the pumpkins? I'm about ready to give up... "

"Here's one! Wait, this is too big. I think it's time to look elsewhere..."

Where the over picked pumpkin patch fails, our local Brennan's Market comes through (plus it was a great place to pick up some supplies for our last meal at home -- some yummy salmon -- before we packed up the kitchen tonight). We'll post a picture of Gavin's pumpkin on our new front porch later this week : )

In Search of the Great Pumpkin

Who knew that if you hit your neighborhood pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween that it would be -- ahem -- a little picked over? Lesson learned. However, we had a great time out in the "country" today with Gavin as we took a break from packing. Some more photos of this beautiful fall day to come...

Last Days at the Old Place...

We figure someday Gavin will want to know where he used to live, so we attempted to snap this family portrait this afternoon in between packing and patching and painting up the walls. We're getting close ...

Who is this man?

Why it's William Shakesfoot -- Don's role in today's elaborate Halloween festivities at his place of work. Nice beard, huh? The Bard would be proud, I think.

Gavin the Matador

Sildeshow thumbnail...

This one is my favorite of the bunch...

Our House-Take 13

"The Terrace" is complete ... and it rocks! (at least in our opinion)

Gavin is almost 20 months!

Haven't posted for awhile on the G-Man, so here is your fix!

Our House-Take 12

Moving day is fast approaching and despite the rain this week, the patio is on its way to completion! Oh, and we have our red door, too, which I understand is good luck in some cultures! We'll take what we can get : )

We've jokingly been calling our new house "The Terrace," (because the street has that word in it), but here's the real "Terrace." Can't wait to enjoy it with all of you!

Our House-Take 11

We had our "trim walkthrough" today and we were happy to see the choices we made are all coming together... here's a few highlights:
The light fixture over the dining area -- I wasn't sure when we picked it, but I like it...

The guest bath ... looks like 3-1 odds that Shannon may be the first to enjoy this extra space!


The kitchen ... not all the appliances are in yet and it's likely this will be a different wall color once we decide what to paint it, but we really like the black and white contrast here.

The entry hall (that is the front door -- a temporary one while they paint the real one) -- looks a bit institutional, we definitely need some color here and I think these walls are a good candidate for a gallery of photos.

The stoop! Work begins Monday on the patio....

Sonoma slideshow

Vacation ... just a teaser

We visited Sonoma, California over the long October weekend and had a great time ... packing tonight prevents me from posting more right now. The first pic is at the Golden Gate Bridge en route to wine country. The second two photos are shots I grabbed of the "Blue Angels" flying through the bridge (that's right ... through the bridge ... look closely!) and overhead in preparation for an upcoming air show. Very cool. More to come when I get a chance ... moving day is three weeks away so the pressure is ON to pack up our stuff and get ready...

Picture Party Pooper

Last week, our friends Shannon, Ryan and Claire were kind enough to invite us to a portrait party at the home of one of Ryan's relatives. The photographer, Karmen Lindner, was great but sadly Gavin was not in the best of moods (OK, it was a pretty bad one, actually) and she was not able to take many pics. Karmen was kind enough, however, to e-mail me a photo she managed to snap of Gavin and said I was welcome to use it.

If she can manage a photo this great in the middle of the crying and snotty-nosing (hard to tell from the picture, but it was happening), think of what she can do in better circumstances. She's got some stuff on her Web site about doing portrait parties. I think it's a great idea and kind of fun because everyone gets something they really want, great pictures!

UW-Fugison

With apologies to one of my favorite blogs, please allow me to digress from house and family updates for a bit ... as you know I've been working on campus now for about 5 months. The start of September brought the return of the undergraduate students and after getting an eyeful of what the coeds are wearing -- it's no different from middle school, they all copy each other -- I had to sound off. Here are three trends I've spotted this week on campus:

Wellington Boots. I've seen them worn with dresses, leggings and short jean skirts (see below). I've seen them in bright colors, patterns and pastels. Please note, like many things, this look does not work unless you are Kate Moss.

Argyle socks. I spotted this for the first time today. Worn with the aforementioned jean skirt and moccasins. I think the wearer was going for a Gwen Stefani-Lamb vibe (or perhaps she saw the photo above from a recent Michael Kors show?). I loved knee socks ... when I was in 4th grade.

And that brings us to said jean skirt ... I have seen this all over campus, on a variety of bodies. Sometimes with leggings (Tim Gunn and I agree on this issue -- no!) and sometimes with me wondering if the wearer's butt was going to peek out from the bottom. It's a garment that raises all kinds of questions for me in terms of an academic setting... how are they sitting down, for one?

That's all for now -- as summer truly fades into fall, I may have more to say on this subject : )

A few more words we forgot, or just popped up today!

Ball
Door
That
Book
Blueberry

Vocabulary words

We sat down tonight and tried to think of all of Gavin's words ... some of these have only been heard once, but we agreed that was enough to count it on the list...

Here they are, in no particular order:

Mama
Night Night
Upstairs
Dada
Girl
Draw
Shoe
Hat
Dog
Goldfish
More
Duck
Yogurt
Quack
Grapes
Show
Cracker
Elmo
Milk
Bubble
Water
Bottle
Octa (as in Octopus)
Car
Keely
Go
Icy (teething ring)
No
Uh-Oh
All done
Yeah!

Gavin's 1st Haircut

Sisters!

Everyone has always said Heather and I look like twins. It's been awhile since we had our picture taken together so I thought I'd post this one from her Labor Day visit she just e-mailed me and see if you all think that's true or not (if it was, it would be a high compliment to me!)

Our House-Take 10

The drywall is up and the siding is finished!

We have some great outdoor chairs and a love seat we got on end of season sale to put out here so we can hang out on the front porch.

Groovin' Gavin

Don bought Gavin a new CD and he loves it!

NYC Weekend

My friend Stacy and I made a quick weekend jaunt to New York -- where we had a true local experience. We started our journey in Brooklyn, which Stacy's friend refers to as "the better burrough." I have been to NYC a half dozen times prior to this trip, but never made it out there. It was fun to grab a slice and then visit with some of Stacy's friends who live in a Brownstone building there. And yes, someone was having a stoop sale. I guess when you have no yard you gotta do what you gotta do.






The real reason for our visit was to take in "Grease" on Broadway, starring Max and Laura, who were cast during the NBC reality show last spring. The audience was full of enthusiastic dorks just like us and the show did not disappoint. Great singers and dancers in the cast gave it their all and as usual when I see a Broadway show, I felt teary-eyed and happy for them because they are living their dream.

It was a wonderful time -- lots of good food and fun meeting Stacy's friends who she worked with and hung out when she lived out East before moving to Madison. My favorite line of the weekend was when her friend Sophie said she dreamed of having a washer and dryer in her apartment and her friend Erin replied "why don't you shoot for something more attainable, like becoming a billionaire!"

Special thanks go out to Heather, Stacy's friend in Sunnyside, Queens, who put us up for the weekend. One other trip highlight: I got to sleep until 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, something I have not done in years. Absolutely glorious!

Our House-Take 9

It's been an eventful week at the home site. The lovely olive-sage green siding we selected based on a 12x12-inch square sample is looking great (Whew!). We walked through again today and it's starting to look more and more like home.

One great piece of news we have not shared here on the blog - we have officially accepted an offer on the South Ave house (selling is a blessing in this market so we are very happy).

The finish line is in sight!

Labor Day Family weekend

We made the most of the end of the summer and the gorgeous weather here at home to enjoy a visit from Jenny's sister Heather, along with Rick, Anna and Caroline. We hung out on the Edgewater Hotel Pier (try the Mendota Breezer!), some long overdue sister shopping time (OK, not outdoors, but still great) and checking out the Goodman Aquatic Center out in rural Verona (not to be confused with the Goodman Pool in Madison). Gavin was not so sure about the pool this time -- enjoyed his first 15 minutes, but after that declared he was "all done."

1-0! (good thing we're not playing Appalachian State)