Gearing Up

I have been hesitant to write anything on here (or facebook) about the house project that we are about to get into. The last time I wrote about one I ended up having to retract - - remember this post? (ha! no turning back!) Our contractor ended up bailing on us and as the economy started to get worse and worse, we thought that maybe there was a reason we weren't supposed to get into it at that time. Now 3 years later, I am really happy that we ended up not going through with the original project! We have had a lot more time to think about what we really want to do and save money so that we don't have to finance much of it.

Our plans have drastically changed from last time - I think what we are going to do will really maximize our living space without adding on much square footage and will retain the character of our charming 1930s home.

Starting in early April, we will be converting our basement into a family room, guest bedroom & bathroom. This is going to be a pretty complicated project since we will have to get our concrete floors broken up in order to dig down a couple of feet. There will also be a lot of work done around getting the basement water-proofed and up to code (i.e. egress window for guest bedroom). Once the major work is done, Jon will take over to do the finishing work. We will get the main room and bedroom complete but just frame out the bathroom for now (and get the plumbing run) but won't finish it at this point as we'll have to focus on what will start happening upstairs (more on that later)! I am super excited about having a guest bedroom! All of my family, some of Jon's family and many of our close friends are from out of state and we have always wanted a place to accomodate them when they visit! Currently, when we have visitors, we move Sophia out of her bed and into Anthony's room and all share the same bathroom -- not ideal.

My goal is to create a cozy b&b feel in the guest bedroom and I will center the design around this great pillow that I bought:

So, onto the upstairs! In May, we are hiring a [reliable, dependable - we hope!] contractor to add on a little bit upstairs. If you take a quick look at the first pic in this old post it will be easier to explain. The balcony will be closed in, as will the areas on either side of the addition on the first level. Upstairs, it will be a new bedroom for Anthony and a bathroom for the kids. Anthony's old bedroom will become my work-from-home office (yay!) and we will close the current full bath off from the hallway and open it up through our room (double yay!) The downstairs won't change too much except that the steps going down to the basement will be closed in and there will be a little more room in the kitchen to add a big closet to put the washer/dryer in. Again, Jon will take over all of the inside renovations - I am so thankful to have a husband that is so skilled in this area - the best part is his attention to detail - I love that we don't have unfinished projects all over the house - all trim work etc. gets done before he moves on!

I'm going to try to document the process on here with videos/pics, so stay tuned!

Breaking Free!

Jon and I decided that it would be fun to show up at the kids' school and break them out for a day! It was right before Thanksgiving and we both had off work but they still had school. We sent them to school as usual and about an hour later, I went to get Anthony. I didn't tell him that Jon was going to get Sophia - I just had him called to the office and told him that I was there to take him on a date! A few minutes after we left the school property, Jon showed up to bust Sophia out! He did not tell Sophia that I had already gotten Anthony.

It was a blast! Such a fun time of connecting with them 1-on-1!

I took Anthony to our favorite little breakfast place in town and then we went to see "Megamind" in the theater. He was so funny because he kept saying, "Mom, do you think Sophia is still in school now?" I love this little boy so much and I just had the best time talking to him and spending time alone with him!

Jon took Sophia shopping at "5 Below" just to kill some time while we finished up at the restaurant because he wanted to take her to the same place. I texted him when we were leaving and they showed up a few minutes later. It was fun because we are such regular customers of this place and know all of the waitstaff and they helped us keep the secret. Then Jon took Sophia hiking in a park - it was a beautiful warm winter day and they had so much fun together!


When we all got home, Sophia & Anthony were so excited to tell each other about their day - - and then discovered that the other one did sort of the same thing. It was so cute because they were so excited for each other and were not at all jealous about what the other one did. We heard them talking about it and when Sophia discovered that we had gone to the same restaurant but at different times, she said, "see Anthony, we're connecting the dots!".

What great kids we have! We think this is going to have to become an annual tradition - - next time I will be with Sophia and Jon will be with Anthony.

A Visit from 2/3 of the Frenchies!

So, I know this is totally out of chronological order, but I want to document a great time we had in October!

Darla (my sister) and Ella (my niece) came up to visit us. It was so much fun! I really really wish I lived near my sister! (actually all of my sibs - I didn't appreciate them when I had the chance!)

Here are some of the highlights from the visit:

Halloween

Jon enjoyed having a baby girl again for a few days!

and so did I!

Blogging Slump

I just can't seem to get motivated lately! I have this blog for 2 reasons - 1) family/friends that live far away 2) can't remember details of events. I never get pictures developed anymore and I don't put albums together, so this is my only place to archive the highlights of our life. It's also a back-up if I lose my files on my computer - - this unfortunately has happened.

I'm thinking of making this a password-protected blog...I've gotten some weird comments from random strangers lately and it makes me uncomfortable. I know it's a pain for the reader, but I think privacy is a good cause, don't you?!

okay, I'm going to try to sit here and do a couple of posts...wish me luck

I ♥ Ornaments!

Early on in our marriage, I decided that I didn't want to go out and just buy a bunch of ornaments, but collect them over the years. I try to get one from every place we visit and for special life events. I also love getting special ornaments from friends. Putting my tree together every year is a reminder of so many loved ones and great times. Here are many of my favorites...

Our First Christmas Together ornament - given to us by my Mom.

Sophia's 1st Christmas.

Anthony's 1st Christmas.

5 year anniversary trip to Vermont

10 year anniversary trip to Hawaii

Trip to Dominican Republic with Bethany & Q - 2007

Visit to New Orleans - we've actually been there multiple times, but bought this the last time we were there in 2008

Pinocchio from Rome! From our visit to Italy in 2009

Venetian glass also from our visit to Italy in 2009

Trip to Washington DC with Edd & Paulette - 2009

Romantic Holiday getaway to NYC with Bethany & Q - December 2007

Mary Poppins umbrella to commemorate our family gift from Christmas 2008 - - Seeing Mary Poppins on Broadway with Aunt Lizzie

Family Vacation to Rhode Island - Summer 2010

Special ornaments from friends:


From Bill & Lori Browne - our cousins - we spent so much time together in 1997!

The "love" ornament - From Edd & Paulette Lipscomb - our dear friends in Alabama who took us in as their own when we were away from both our families while living down South.

Christmas of 1997

From Kelly Nastase - given to me the first Christmas we were friends in 1998

From Greg & Tricia Skowronski at their Christmas party in 1999

From Bethany & Quenton Marty from their time living in Ukraine - they're are actually 6 of these cute little Santas!

From Lizzie (Jon's sister) - she gave me ~30 of these and they just add so much to my tree!

From Nancy Bast, my dear friend - 2009

From Bethany & Q - polish pottery from Poland! 2009
My current favorite!


and what tree would be complete without the sweet handmade ornaments from the kiddies?!

While not an ornament, I also want to share a shot of my angel - this came from my best friend Bethany who has given me many special ornaments over the years. I just love this angel because it is so my style and I always wanted an angel on top of the tree, but didn't like any of the fancy ones I always saw in stores. Bethany sent this to me the Christmas of 2000 and it's been on top of our tree every year since then.

Fall 2010

Our fall was consumed by caring for Jon's dad - he has had liver disease for 19 years and his health really began to decline this summer. By the end of the summer, it was clear that he was going to need a liver transplant in order to live (he is only 64). We felt it was really important to get him and my mother-in-law out of their home because of the amount of stairs there were to navigate - also, we weren't sure what his care-giving situation was going to be like and we needed him in a handicap accessible place. We really pulled together as a family and quickly found a place for them to live and moved them out of their home of 37 years. That was in early September. On October 8th, after only officially being on the liver transplant list for 2 weeks and 4 days, we got the call that a liver was available! The surgery was successful and the recovery has been amazing. We are so grateful to God for granting us more time with him and extremely thankful to the donor and his family for their sacrifice (the liver he received was from a 75 year old man who had died - we did not receive additional details).

This is a picture of our kids with their Pop-Pop on his birthday (September 16th) - he was in the hospital for several weeks and was released shortly after this picture was taken to wait at home for the call for a transplant.

It was quite the experience to go through as a family and really brought us all closer to each other. I don't really have any pictures from much else over the months of September/October because we pretty much lived and breathed this situation and didn't have time for much else.

At the end of October, my sister Darla and her little girl Ella came for a visit, so I will do a post of that and then I'll be pretty much up to date and will try to stay more on top of my blog now!

First Day of School 2010

I love to capture the 1st day of school in pictures! I always have the kids stand at the same spot so I can see how much they grow from year to year.

2006 - Sophia heading to Pre-K:

2007 - Sophia going to all day Kindergarten - this was a rough day (actually couple of weeks!) for Jon!

2008 - Anthony starting his school career - 4K!

and big sister starting 1st grade!

2009 - milestone year - both kids in all-day school - this was a hard day for me! Anthony in kindergarten, Sophia in 2nd grade

2010 - we're all old pros at this by now! This was the first year that I didn't even take them to school on the 1st day! Anthony in 1st grade, Sophia in 3rd grade.

A few fun summer days!

We crammed in some fun near the end of the summer!

We made our first visit to Knoebels- we went with our friends Orazio, Kelly, little Orazio & Gracie. It was a really fun (and cheap!) day. Knoebels is...an experience, I'll just leave it at that...

it was a little hot, and Kelly is 6 mo. pregnant...

We had a weekend getaway with our friends Rick, Alicia, Gracie & Maryjane. We only live about 1/2 mile from each other, but due to busy schedules, hardly ever get to hang out as families, so it was so much fun to get away and just be together. We went to a house that was right on the Cheseapeake.

although 4 years apart, these little girlies get along so well!

That same weekend, we headed over to celebrate our nephew Wil's 1st birthday!

And of course, summer would not be complete without a day trip to the beach with our friends the Skis! We have been blessed with great weather 6 years in a row now. It has become such a fun, highly anticipated tradition.

the weather forecast was not good so maybe that's why the beach is so empty? it ended up being gorgeous though!