by Heather
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25

I turned 25 this week! People asked if I felt 25…quarter of a century, excited about cheaper car insurance, do I feel like an adult? I do feel like an adult but it has nothing to do with my age. I didn’t really feel like an adult at 18, or when I got married or when we bought the house. I’d have to say I didn’t feel “adult” until we had Mr. Ben and were completely responsible for another little human all the time.

For my birthday this year my mom, Paul and my brother’s girlfriend Kate came to the house to visit. Andy met us for lunch along the canal and then we walked the towpath and visited a few little shops. It was such a fun afternoon, Ben even got to try Gelato! Andy got me a pickle card (pickles are kind of a running joke) and a pedicure. Well, Andy didn’t give me a pedicure…he’s just going to pay for one when I schedule it :)

by Heather
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Work Weekend Part 2

This weekend we also worked on the office. Previously it was ugly, unheated and home to a hot tub.

We painted it a sage green called Scottish Road.

Andy’s dad and brother cut wood trim.

There was a bit of break time with Mr. Ben.

Ben tried watermelon this weekend (his poor shirt took the brunt of it). He didn’t like it at first but after a second try definitely became a fan. He also tried pizza crust ;-) He seemed so interested in our pizza Sunday night that we gave him a piece of crust to see what he’d do. He grabbed it and started gnawing on it like he’d been eating pizza his whole life.

by Heather
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Work Weekend Part 1

For the past 3 years during Memorial weekend, Andy’s parents and brother have come to help us with house work. This year we tackled the office (formerly known as the hot tub room) and the downstairs bathroom. Part 1 is adventures in the bathroom.

No Tresspassing, ewies inside.

We gutted it two years ago, but hadn’t gotten back to it until this weekend. Lovely, isn’t it?

Andy had to redo the plumbing. Pipes were bent instead of using elbows to round corners. And other shortcuts were taken, like sawing through the bottom of beams instead of drilling the correct size hole.

It’s a small room so I stepped into the hallway so you could see a different angle. Andy and his dad replaced that window a few weeks ago (along with a similar one in the laundry room). Since the room is small we used 2×3 studs for the framing instead of 2x4s (every inch counts!). We also used foamboard insulation instead of the normal pink stuff because it took up less room.

We’re going to put tile down and since it gets so cold downstairs in winter, we wanted to put a heating element underneath the floor.

Finally the drywall went up! Next Andy has to spackle, his *favorite* job in the whole world! Right before they left, Andy’s dad also put in the base for the standing shower.

My dad and Leslie even stopped in for a little visit on Saturday :)

by Heather
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Argyle

You only wish you could pull this outfit off! Andy’s mom made Ben these overalls and while I initially thought they were too cutesy…I figured ah, why not :) After all, I won’t be able to put him in outfits like this forever!

by Heather
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Boy Toys

First off, Benny has a tooth! The bottom, front one came in today :) You can’t really see it yet, but I’ll snap a picture when it comes in more.

My first garbage pick was this activity cube for Ben.

He likes moving the little knobs and grabbing the metal track up top.

I picked up this bin of Duplo blocks (ok, ok they’re Mega Blocks…Duplo’s ugly cousin…) at Goodwill for $9.

They’re $50 at Walmart! A quick wash with soapy water and they’re as good as new.

One of Andy’s coworkers gave us this riding hippo. The seat flips up and is a walking/push toy too for when Ben gets older. (Don’t worry I was close enough to catch him if he got wobbly on it). See the brown spot on his forehead though? That’s from crawling into a dresser, poor dude wasn’t watching where he was going :(

He’s also got a few other toys waiting for him when he gets older. A Playdoh activity center I bought at a garage sale for $5. And a Little Tikes tool bench that is “on loan” from my brother, it was his when he was a little kid.

And I just thought these ones were hilarious, even though he’s way too close to the camera and blurry :)

He bites his lower lip in when he’s concentrating on crawling.

by Heather
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Adventures

When we were kids we’d go on adventures with my mom all the time (before we started school and then during summer vacation when we were older). We’d go to the library, park, pet store to look at animals, go out for ice cream lunch, swimming at my grandparent’s pool, just all around fun.

Today my mom and I met at a mall that’s halfway between their “new” house at the cottage and our home. 45 minutes for her, 30 minute drive for me. It was so much fun! We went to Panera for lunch and I had broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl (mmm) and iced green tea. Then we walked around the mall for an hour or so…just browsed, chatted and had a great time. Ben was awesome and content to just watch the world go by from his stroller. He LOVES watching cars by the way, such a boy.

Most of the time we’re home during the day. In case you didn’t know, I do graphic design/web design type work from home. So I usually don’t get the chance to do “whatever” or have adventures during the day. Today was so much fun though, I’m looking forward to having many more adventures :)