autumn meals

As always, I am thrilled for the beginning of a new season - welcome autumn! During the last month of summer, I had been itching for my favorite meal: soup, salad and bread. I'm so happy the time has come to warm up the cool evenings with nourishing comfort food. Autumn is such a lovely time for bread baking and soup making. :)

clearing the boxes...

Our new home is taking shape over the past few weeks as we've unpacked and cleared boxes from each room. Here are some photos of the progress.

Meredith has a new favorite corner with her retro chair. :)

Pot rack = more cabinet space. :)

Our living room is making progress, although I still have plans for it in the works...

And, the dining room has emerged from the weary task of "unpacking central"

Bath time in the BIG TUB!

Our new home has two large bath tubs. Meredith is loving all the space and special bath time now!

Bath time is run by Daddy in our household...(give Mama a rest and have some daddy-daughter play time!). And, as MJ's hair keeps growing longer, Erik loves the opportunity to be creative with her hair... ;)

oh, Daddy!!

Big Girl

Meredith has been striding out these days very rapidly. Her favorite place to show off her big steps is the playground down the street from us.

An added bonus at the park for MJ is the fact that there are nearly always other toddlers around when we visit. She loves saying, "hi" and "bah-bye" multiple times to each and everyone as she toddles around. :)

Getting Settled... :-p

Just to give you a glimpse of the CRAZINESS of normal living while unpacking...

a family dinner.

Madeleine and I conquered the kitchen last week - hooray!

For a week the dining room was "unpacking central"

More photos to come soon of the nearly unpacked new home!

The Move

We've made it to our new home in Philadelphia! :) It's been quite a journey that was very chaotic, messy, frustrating - and at one point I did say, "wow, this went from good to bad...and now it's getting ugly."

Yet in the midst of it all, we were surrounded by sweet friends, welcoming neighbors, and kindness from so many. We are very thankful.

packing up West Ave.

some of our AMAZING moving team

Crazy! Our housemate, Madeleine, is related (once removed, I think?) to these sweet friends we just met a few weeks ago! It's a small world...

last few summer's eves...

In the midst of our crazy packing and prep for this move, we've taken a few breaks here and there to keep our sanity. On evening last week we took a family walk down to little Jenkintown park just before MJ's bedtime. The park is a favorite activity for MJ these days... :)

Recently MJ braved the slides and now she absolutely loves them!

In process...

We had keys to our new home for a few weeks now...so, we've jumped in and painted 5 of the 6 bedrooms! And...lots and lots of cleaning to prep for our move in tomorrow!!

Here are some action shots. :)

A fuzzy photo of Madeleine cleaning late on Thursday night with our "cleaning party" crew.

Jen Raybould going at it with the shop vac! (notice the crazy aqua color we experimented with for the family room color - yikes, way too 'under the sea' to keep. :)

Our first project for the house was painting the largest 3rd floor bedroom which we are calling the reading room. It was completely gray - even the ceiling! So...3 coats of paint later...it is a creamy yellow. :)

The art/sewing room on the 3rd floor was also a huge project - most especially the floor! Carpet, linoleum, tar paper and then f inally the beautiful wood floor! Erik and a friend did two evenings to work to get down to the bottom of it.

Madeleine and I painted Meredith's room a pale blue called 'stillness.' Isn't that a great title for the color of paint in a kid's room?! ;)

And, the color we did end up with for the family room is titled, 'lively yellow' - true to it's name it has a radiant color and the great natural light of four windows makes it a happy, sunny room. Can't wait to get some blue accents and curtains in there. :)

yes! cover up that country blue!

We also painted Madeleine's bedroom with 'creamy cucumber' a beautiful light blue-green shade. I'll have to get a photo of it after the move!

stay tuned...