Home Improvements

The last few weeks I have been working on the exterior of the house, and the front yard. It is amazing what a difference a few changes can make. It started when I painted the front door.  (I just had to get rid of that country blue color!) I also painted the original 1962 hardware, which I love for it's vintage feel. 

This week I took down the shutters and window boxes so I could paint them black. But when I got the shutters down I realized that I liked the house a lot better without them. And since I'm going for a clean, mid-century modern look (like the era of the house), it makes sense.  So the shutters went out to live in the shed, and the window boxes got painted and put pack up. They even got some new flowers planted in them. The house was looking so much better!  I still plan to replace that carriage style porch light (yuk!) with something more modern that will go with the new house numbers I put up. It's going to look fantastic!

Next, the yard.

First I had to get rid of all those weeds in that bed along the sidewalk.

I have wanted to edge the sidewalk with some nice plants, but it was going to cost me several hundred dollars for that many plants. I wasn't ready to invest that much in it. So when I read on a blog that someone was tearing out a whole patch of lirope from their yard, I promptly emailed them to see if I could pick them up.  It was an hour and a half drive to Richmond, but I got over 100 plants out of it. (Which would have cost me about $500)  Sweet!  And they were the exact plant I had wanted in the first place. Awesome.

Look how full my car was!  (Thanks John and Sherry for hooking me up!)

It took me a couple of days to dig up the weeds, plant the lirope, cut a trench along the edge, lay down the weed cloth, and then spread the mulch.  It was back-breaking work, and I am exhausted now... but it was all worth it. I am so pleased with the results.

Here is a 'before' picture of the house when we bought it a year ago. You can see it with the blue shutters. We're not quite done yet, but we have made a lot of progress...

Little Boy Blue

Leo loves blueberries.

I was making a smoothie one morning, and decided to pull out a couple of frozen blueberries for Leo. I put them on his high chair tray... and it was love at first bite. 

Soon his face was covered in purpley colored juice, and his hands were sticky and blue. Here he is, doing the sign for "more."  

More, more, more!  He just can't get enough of them.

Easter Fun

It's a few weeks before Easter, but we had a Easter Egg Hunt at my sister's house on Sunday. Leo didn't grasp the concept at first, and preferred to pick up sticks and pinecones instead of eggs, but he eventually got the hang of it. And when he discovered that the eggs were full of candy he got even more enthusiastic...

Double Trouble

We visited my sister in Utah and Leo had a great time with his cousin Bridger (who is 7 weeks older).

They had fun tickling each other, playing in their tunnel, and getting into trouble all over the house.  Leo taught Bridger how to empty the kitchen drawers, and Bridger taught Leo how to throw things down the stairs. They were full of energy, and had lots of mischievous fun together.

Our first day in Utah felt like "Spring", but that quickly changed to a week of snow and heavy rain. Leo and I had packed our Spring clothing, so we were not prepared for such cold weather! Brrr.
Luckily, the sun came out and we enjoyed a few sunny days before coming home.