Building and Growing

 July was a month to watch growth and development and building. Hazel is growing fast, learning lots and slowly coming more and more out of her shell each day. Projects were built both big and small, and lots of skills were learning and worked on by all.

The bunnies finally got a house upgrade. So fun to see what Jared can make from scrap wood and some mesh!

Hazel got 3rd place in the running race at the chicken picnic. It's the only race she would do, but she prepped and practiced for it and ran with a bunch of other kids her age! A big win for her!

Hazel made a long chain with her spool knitter so we could make it into a flower.

Walking out to get a better view of the two deer walking through the field.

The grape vine that got moved, I don't suspect it will do so well in the summer and fall, but hopefully it revives in the spring.

With the outside construction wrapped up for a while the girls are enjoying playing out in the backyard again. I marked of one piece of safe dirt which works as a sandbox for now.

The girls have had fun watching the corn grow in the neighboring field, it is now taller than them which was exciting.

Ready for the new ideas. Now we wait for the permit to go through.

Lots of blackberries ready now, I made a bunch into sauce and freeze the rest every other day for smoothies.

The girls and I have very much enjoyed our afternoon pool invites!

Lots of barn construction has been happening since June,

today was the exciting day where they craned the manure bunker roof over to its new foundation in a few pieces. 

Sunrise chicken lunch, they had face paint and balloon art for the kids. It took a bit of convincing, and Hazel had to watch Jade first, but she was brave and let someone paint her arm.

Hazel has been enjoying the easy access to paper, scissors and stickers. She made a lovely princess crown all by herself.

Making playdough animals with Aunty Elise. I think a lot of Hazel's craft inspiration comes from crafting with her aunty.

A New Look

 June was both a destructive and constructive month. A few days after our last hosting event the siding crew showed up and started taking off the vinyl siding and then cutting and banging the stucco siding off. It was a rather noisy few weeks with some quite days in-between. Some of the destruction was sad, but after all the house renovations I'm starting to learn to trust the process (sometimes...).

Eggs from the hobby barn, Great Oma's strawberries, and our rhubarb all collected in our morning rounds.

Made some strawberry rhubarb crumble

and some strawberry rhubarb jam. Yum Yum!

No end of entertainment out the windows these days.

Before(ish) picture of the front entrance.

After(ish), front entrance is opened up and the steps were removed. I should note that they found out that the steps were solid concert and needed to be jackhammered out! Good thing the guys like working with machinery.

Bye bye rotten deck, and the steps followed a few days later. It was interesting getting in and out of the house for a few days... thankfully we were on holidays for some of it.

Hazel modeling her anklet that she made with her spool knitter.

A lovely pop of blue through all the green!

Redone inside and out! 

(see 'A house to make a home' post for before pics)

Back yard before pictures before the excavator inevitably shows up to take down the shop and whatever else is in its path.

Backyard blue berry snack, only got a few handfuls off of those bushes, but I'm happy that Hazel is willing try the fruit growing in our back yard.

The inevitable day finally arrived...

"It's okay if a few things fall into the garden during demolition?" was what I got asked that morning...

Come afternoon the excavator leveled the whole thing, and moved one grape vine that we hope to save. My stomach did drop... but it was out of my control and as beautiful as it was in its own way, starting over was cleaner then trying to redo or repurpose what was existing.

The excavator driver set aside a few on the old mattresses that were in the shop and later used them to nicely sweep up his mess! 

The falling over, 5 foot tall, not properly framed green house stayed pretty much in tack when it got picked up.

A very different look out the living room now.

The entertainment started up again early the next morning as dump trucks rolled in to load up all the rubble. Another end of another chapter on this property, while also being a new beginning.

May Highlights

Our first whole month in our new house. May was full of birthdays and hosting as we finally had our own space to do it in. It was a nice break from the construction both inside and outside as we enjoyed the lovely spring weather, while knowing that outside construction could start up anytime.

One of Hazel's many flower soup creations.

Practicing handstands off the couch.

Watching out the window

Half way done replacing the stair treads was a good time to get a before and after in one picture.

Lots and lots of grass to pick up. Sound familiar? Brought back memories of our PG yard.

Hazel is 5! She sure if growing up fast, but she is still our sweet Hazel!

Testing out the living room's seating capacity. I think it passed the test :)

Jade found one of her favorite seats.

Tea party time with the birthday gift tea set from Nana, with Jade and her favorite new stuffed bunny from Oma.

The last of the kitchen cabinets got hung up!

We found some painted turtles at Cheam Wetlands and watched them for quite a while.

Hazel discovered that her new dress makes sparkles when it was in the sunlight.

Thankfully Hazel's little trampoline fall a few weeks earlier around her birthday did not make her afraid of the tramp. There was some concern that it may have been broken with how much she favored it, but thankfully it was just bruised and healed up with rest and time.

A family afternoon out at green point. It was very beautiful and we had a lovely time. Felt like our first real break after the move in and birthday rush.

Can't beat rocks and water!

Jade and her chicks.

Jade plays with the chicks and Hazel picks flowers for her bunnies.

 The first egg from the new layers.

Lots of flower blooming in the gardens. 

The girls had fun making up some bouquets

Another tea party!

Very full blooming gardens.

You can hardly notice we filled up the back of Nana's car with flowers to transplant.

Rounding up some run away chickens, the wind blew the screen "door" open a bit and about 10 chickens decided to see what freedom felt like. Thankfully we had some help rounding them up.

Cousin time!

Sunday pictures in new outfits from Nana.

We hiked up to Bridal falls with the church picnic group.

Playing in the creek with Aunty Stacy and few other girls around Hazels age.