We woke to some beautiful hoar frost on the swale this morning. Then we noticed the deer. A cup of tea and my camera was in order. If only I could have watched all morning.

The NE Swale

It has been a busy summer and one filled with challenges but this morning I managed a slow and enjoyable walk through the NE Swale. This beautiful natural landscape is now our back yard as of July 28th and finally today I found some time to go wonder through it with my camera and my macro 100ml prime lens. From our deck it is a beautiful piece of land to gaze out at but a walk through the swale and a macro lens shows it is teaming with life and beauty.

Some photos from this morning in no particular order.

I Have Two Teeth!

Our Little Sweetheart

I got to spend the afternoon with her.

A Beautiful Day at the Park

Breakfast with G&G

Saturday morning fun!

Pretty Amazing Sisters!

Birthdays!

Norah and I have birthdays only a day apart so last night we celebrated together.  Her 5th, my 60th!!
How did that happen!
I handed the camera to Eva who has taken a great interest in photography!!

Lego and Love

Sisters!! 

Drywall

JOY!!

Thankful for our little miracle. 

It has been almost 6 months. 

They are Growing Up too Fast

Took my camera with me to Isla's weigh in on Thursday and captured these in the waiting room.
I am just so blessed to be able to see their individual personalities developing. Well, not so much Isla but the big girls are so gentle, kind and loving. And they are so smart! They are so much fun to be around.

We took them for breakfast this morning.

Home

It is starting to feel like home. The shingles are on, the soffits and gutters done. Upstairs electrical and plumbing rough ins are done and insulation completed. The basement will be poured on Monday.

Miss Isla

She is starting to talk and we are listening to every word she has to say.

Lock Up

We are at lock up stage - which means there are windows in and locks on doors so we can't get in unless our builder is with us. :(

But the roofers, the electrician and the plumbers are all working hard. During the week the house is full of people and it is moving along quickly. Final decisions on fixtures, floors, cabinetry, counters, plugs, switches...... are 90% completed!!

Now I focus on window treatments, some furniture, a few last lighting fixture and a few other items.

No heat yet - don't know how these workers work all day in the cold. The basement is temporarily heated so some poor plumber can dig a trench thru frozen ground for all the pipes. We are thankful for this very mild winter though. It could be a lot more difficult.

The view from the front hall - there will be a stairwell to the basement where the orange tarp is.

My view from my kitchen Island....I can't wait to share it with you over a cup of tea.... or glass of wine..... or martini. :) If you visit in summer we will be on the deck!

The Build

For those of you who want to follow along in the excitement of our new build, I will post photos here. Just of the house mind you. I will spare you photos of all the other aspects of the build - like sorting, giving away and kijijiing a million items in an effort to not move anything but what absolutely has to be moved in six months. (wait!! make that just over 4 months!!)

Kijiji - an interesting phenomena. I have posted two items for free in the past week and both were picked up within 5 hours. I am always happy to see something of no value to me, go to a home where it is valued. I have also posted two items at very good prices and not even a nibble. I have appreciated people actually showing up when they said they would and being very thankful.

Yes, every waking and non working hour seems to be devoted to finding, filling and sorting boxes. They are EVERYWHERE!! I am putting them either in the back of the car to go to the World Serve store (two large trips already) or to church for the winter clothing drive to the Light House or to recycle or to the ultimate keeper pile quickly taking over the garage.

I will spare you photos of meetings with the bank, lawyer, builder, technology people, appliance people... and the list goes on. And me rearranging the furniture a million times in an effort to "stage" the current house for the market.

It is an adventure to say the least. And despite the many, many things on our to do list, busyness with both our jobs and life in general, we are enjoying the ride. Saturday morning is date morning and that means a visit to the house to survey the progress, a few photos and then off to breakfast together to go over the "to do" list one more time. This is about when our builder gets an email from us. He is beyond patient!!!

The basement is almost ready - 75 % packed up, cleaned, cleared and staged. Eva and Norah were over for an afternoon of Valentines crafts with Grandma yesterday. Norah headed down the basement to play as we waited for craft #1 to dry and I heard her explain in a loud voice. "WHAT happened down here??!!"

Grandma: "I cleaned up"

This weeks photos!
We have the beginnings of our new home.