Happy Birthday Amelia!

Dear Amelia,
Today you are 1 year old. We are so blessed to have you in our lives. Your little personality is shining through and we look forward to the future years with you. Thank you for being a part of our family.
Love, Mommy, Daddy, and Caley

Part 1 finished

The first half of the summer project is done. Yay! It took less time than we thought, and we're glad that it's over. Now we just need to get the house painted and it'll look ship-shape.

lookin good...

The siding guys are working their butts off and doing a great job! So far they've replaced the entire back and west side of the house, and the bottom half of the front. Not much dry rot has been found, thankfully, but on the west side they found some ants. Yay! We kind of expected that, since we regularly see ants on that side of the house and in our bedroom. They just treated the areas with some ant killer and if we continue to see ants we'll just get an exterminator. And thankfully they're not carpenter ants as far as we know.


The dirt outline around the door is where the decorative trim was, it will be replaced.

I love how the flowers shine in all their glory amidst debris.

They forgot to put the doorbell back on!

Wood

Rad title huh. That's the contemporary or modern 6th wedding anniversary present. While I didn't actually get Addie a gift made out of wood that I recall for our 6th, I did take her to a great lodge where we discovered really nice old world style hardwood floors, and a practically empty long stretch of beach with more than enough driftwood. Ok, I'm stretching it a bit, but I could make a pretty good case for keeping with that theme.

But what a great place to enjoy God's creation and each other's company for our anniversary. We had a nice time to forget about everything and just relax in Oregon at Cannon Beach. For a while I had that feeling like I forgot my pants or something, as the kids were at their grandparents for over a day, and it's always a bit weird and scary for a second when Addie and I are both together and the kids are not with us. JUST like when I forget my pants.

So we goofed off on the beach and saw some large clusters of starfish and other sea life, and once almost got trapped on the wrong side when the tide came in.




more to come.....

July 4th part duece

Just a few photos from Phil's boat on July 4th out on Lake Washington. Would have taken actual fireworks shots but on a moving boat, well...they'd be blurry. Thanks Phil and Ann for taking us out and for our friends who came along.

The siding project

When we bought this house 2 years ago, we knew the siding was "marginal" and that it would have to be replaced. This is the summer for that project. It's ironic, or we're gluttons for punishment, because this is the second siding project we've had to have done. In our Lynnwood townhouse we had an ASSessment (meaning, required to pay) to fix the defective siding installed by the builder of the condos/townhomes. We learned the hard way to never buy a townhome. Benefit from our mistake and just don't even think about buying from Sundquist or anything built by them, unless you want to get repeatedly *bleeped* up the *bleep*hole. Anyway. I guess this is pretty common of townhomes and condos, unfortunately.

Our current home has Weyerhauser siding, which is downright a defective product. It seriously flakes off in layers. Louisiana Pacific built a similar product and had a class-action lawsuit filed against them about 15 years ago. Weyerhauser company learned from those lawsuits and rallied a bunch of protection so they didn't get sued (I think, I don't quite understand it). So even though our house has defective siding, the previous owners couldn't (or just didn't) get any compensation to fix the siding. We knew this going into buying this house, and it's a good investment so it's easier to swallow than the snake pit situation we were in a few years ago.

So here's what's going on so far.

Day 1- Scrap container and Honey Bucket delivered. Also the siding and materials were delivered, apparently to someone named "Abbie Gerlock." She doesn't live here, sorry. They ripped out the deck walls which used to be solid.





Day 2- Finished deck! They added rails and slats. We will hopefully use the deck more often now!



Day 3 (day 1 of siding repairs)- Almost the whole back of the house is done! A bit of dry rot was found and repaired. The shed that had been added on looks skeletal but was done by the end of the day. We love that there's no more blue!



Dry rot See how the old siding is all layered? The project manager said it's like cardboard.




The new-looking wood square under the vent is where they repaired the dry-rot areas.

Same here, new wood under the window. In the dry rotted area the plywood easily flaked away. They said it was because of the bad caulking under the window. This is the kitchen window.




It's been an exciting and noisy week so far. The kids are fascinated with "the siding guys" and like to wave through the windows.

Bonus video (because you know you want it)! She makes car noises!

Latest Shoreline blog

Check it out here!

Bonus photos from some fun stuff we've been doing!

Library Carnival with friend Fiona

Everett Children's museum

My working husband

Bill never stops working. After a long day at work, he stops on the way home to get paint at Home Depot, then paints an entire room in one evening. He thoughtfully chooses what to do and how to do it. Here are the latest projects, the mud room and the new office.

The mud room during...
The mud room after!


The office after!


There are no "office during" pictures posted because Bill wouldn't want them broadcasted to the world. Sorry!

Holy Yummy Fish Tacos Batman!

I quickly wanted to share an amazing recipe with ya'll. I've made this a few times in the last month and it's so awesome! Check it out here. We usually skip the deep-frying to save on calories and time. Tomatoes are a yummy addition, as would be avocado or onion if you're into that sorta thing. Serve with Heidi's potato fries, a side salad and you're golden!

Fries- peel and slice sweet, red, or russet potatoes into sticks, then toss with olive oil (for lower fat just spray a tiny bit of oil on the cookie sheet, then spread out the sweet potatoes, and spray again on the tops - a small amount is enough), and sprinkle with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, rosemary and thyme. When they come out of the oven I usually sprinkle again with kosher salt for a little salty crunch.