Ilya's room was needing a little color so we set out to improve the room. We went to the paint store and brought home tons of the little paper samples and taped them to the wall. After living with that for a few weeks, we narrowed it down and Ilya picked his favorite--a dusty blue. He was a great help in painting the room. He rolled everything from 4 feet down! Loving the final product!
I wish I could have captured in picture the excitement upon entering this train show. Ilya was thrilled to think of this entire room filled with trains and more trains. He kept saying, "Look there. No wait, look over there." For the first hour, we jetted from display to display. Absolutely amazed at the layouts. Then we spend another hour or so playing with all the different wooden sets on display for kids to try their hand at.
Then we took a little ride on Annie (pulled by Thomas).
Then picked out a piece to add to the wooden set we have at home. Ilya found this train crossing and thought it would be good because, "Now McQueen will know when to stop when Thomas is coming. They won't crash now." Apparently, that had been a problem!
And...while Ilya wasn't looking, Eric picked up this starter electric set. We were going to save it for birthday or some other special time....but well....we kinda wanted to play with it too. This has captivated Ilya for the last hour! He is thrilled that it is, "THE SAME AS PAPA'S TRAINS!!!!!" (said while jumping up and down). Too cute!
I thought the stair landing was a bit of a wasted space area. Not anymore! Ilya put it to good use. Give this kid one square foot of open floor space and he will figure out how to put a toy there!
Maybe I do have a green thumb after all. This is a Christmas Cactus that a friend thought was dead a few years ago. Once she thought it died, she placed it in a pot in her garage and left it. I happen to see it and thought I could bring it back to life. Keep in mind when I got it there were only a few leaves on it and it was about 1/20th the size it is now. This year it finally bloomed several times! Yeah!
It's a good thing Ilya is always ready for a project...because Eric always has one. Helping dad smooth out the dirt after installing the drain tile and the sprinklers. So glad this is done and the sod is in (pictures of that later).
Whew! We have had a busy September. The house is complete and minus a few boxes we are all moved in! Ilya was a huge helper in the move. He carried quite a bit, held the tape measure, added stuff to boxes and was always ready to inspect the to-do list and determine the next project.
The phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." might apply to many situations. But it most certainly did not apply to the first paint color we selected for our house. How could something so pretty in a small paint sample look hideous when applied to the whole house. It was horrible! I covered my eyes as Eric drove up to the house hoping and praying that this wasn't a case of "third time is the charm"! So happy to report that a simple "do-over" worked! We love it! The camera on my phone doesn't quite show it but it really is a pretty color...it's a medium tan color with a lighter cream color that coordinates with the brick perfectly. At least this time the beholder does think it's beautiful! Once the front door is in and the porch is stained it will all come together nicely! Yeah!!!
Wow- things are moving rather quickly on the house now. Many of the cabinets are installed!
The cabinets are here. I am so excited to have a house with more than three cabinets!!! Room for everything in the kitchen is going to be wonderful!
My doors...(really way too excited for these)!!!
Since I last posted there has been huge progress on the house. Not only is the electric and plumbing done but so is the brick on the exterior and the drywall on the interior (well drywall is almost finished).
View from the entry up the stairs to the second floor.
View from the master bedroom---so peaceful!
Making sure that everyone knows this is Ilya's house!
Whew! This house is going up quick!! This picture looks at the front door (envision a nice porch...or check back in a few weeks for a picture)!
We've decide that we are going to build a house. After much back and forth in the decision making...we finally make a choice. Here is the lot, the excavation, footings and the foundation. More to come...
Last week being filled with snow day after snow day and being too cold to even play in the snow (-40 with wind chill at times), we found lots of other great things to do inside! Here are just a few...
Play with trains...a new day...a new reason to break apart the track and create a new layout!
Playdoh.....always a good time...
Books, books and more books...you can't read enough on a snow day! The books being loaded in the blue container...are just the first set!
