Rounding the Corner to Spring

The weather has turned warm and it feels so good. After school last week we seized a particularly lovely day, loaded the bikes onto the back of the car and drove to Mount Dessert Island. The boys biked, then made and launched boats on Eagle Lake. This lovely lake provides drinking water for the town of Bar Harbor so no swimming allowed but both younger boys managed to slip on the smooth rocks and fall in several times a piece.

Owen celebrated his 7th birthday with friends.   He got a new bike: with hand brakes and gears. Tommy was in on the surprise and had seen the bike. “Are you sure you want to tell Tommy?” My mom asked. “Oh yeah.” I replied “Tommy is a great secret keeper.” So on the big day after the candles were blown out Tommy rolls the bike out and Owen says “Wow! Tommy, you said it was white?” Clearly my secret keeper is not such a vault after all.

Tim found a genuine “Red Ryder” BB gun from the 50s and Owen is looking forward to trying it out. (It is not loaded I promise.)

And the projects continue. We finished the upstairs bedroom and Tim moved on to the downstairs project. The upstairs bedroom turned out really sweet. We took the door off and it feels like an extension of our room now. Shep’s bed is there nestled in by the window. 

Onward to the downstairs. For this project we are on a bit of a time line. My hope is to have this room done by July. Its a big project and getting bigger as I imagine moved/new windows. But its going to be fantastic when it’s finished. Our family room will double in size, taking over the space that was the bathroom before we moved it.

Tim sealed off the space and opened up the first wall. Lots and lots of layers of wallpaper. I really should have made a scrapbook of all the wallpapers in this house.

And then the damaged sheet rock came down, then the old plaster and lath.

I love the look of the exposed wood and the hand-hewn beam with the posts notched in. We will leave some of this exposed.

The reason for the time crunch? This July besides fireworks and Shep’s second birthday, we expect a new little one. And this mama is nesting already and wanting all to be “just so.” As the babies I’ve helped welcome grow so too does my belly making me laugh at the sight of myself holding these little ones atop my little one.

Shep is getting so big, though I still think of him as my baby. He loves to help especially in the fort with hammer and nails.

He has kisses for chickens. And he digs in the garden with his trucks, turning up dirt to the delight of the Ducks. We are rounding the corner toward spring and it feels so good.