POTD Brotherly Love

Got a sweet note today from Lena that these two were being particularly sweet to one another today!

House Remodel... slowly buy surely

Quick House Update:

1. The remodel is going slowly but surely. The demo is done, most finishes have been selected and now we are waiting for stuff to arrive before contractors can get to work.  
2. We have not yet sold our existing house, which is a real bummer.  We're in the process of exploring renting it out until Spring of 2016, when the market will be better (we'd LOVE to sell in Spring of 2015, but finding a 6mo tenant is more unlikely). 
3. We're hoping to move around Halloween, as Oliver is all set to start at his new school the first Monday in November (and it would make for a convenient start date for new tenants), but the timing is still very much in the air.  

The amount of projects we are taking on before we move is a bit dependent on timing, as well as budget.  The current plan is to redo the basement flooring, get hardwood throughout the first floor (not the kitchen, which we will remodel another time), get new runners for the stairs, and redo two master bathrooms.  We'll also paint throughout and get blinds put on all the windows.  There are a few more things on our wishlist (like third floor flooring), but its looking less likely as time wears on that we will be able to fit it in.  

A don't often get very frazzled, but was extremely close to a panic attack the day that all the bathroom decisions needed to be made.  Luckily, Adam was able to get away from work to help.  The photos below are those that I took while we were going through the process, but aren't necessarily exactly what we decided on getting.

September Activities

We thoroughly enjoyed our summer at the bungalow, but I for one am happy to not be doing all the driving back and forth anymore.  We've been keeping busy since then and are getting out and about as much as we can in Philly with the boys.  Here are some photo (collages) of our recent outings. 

Last Friday, I took the boys all to the Smiths Playground after nap.  There is a giant slide there and I couldn't believe how much fun they were all having.  The last time we were there in the Spring, I was only able to get the twins to go down the slide once or twice before they were ready to go to the playground.  We must have done the slide 20times!  Alex felt confident enough to go down the slide all by himself and was even dragging his own potato sack up to the top!  Lukas was a bit less brave and stable, and stuck close to me.  Oliver got brave at the end and was going down on his belly face first, which of course Alex quickly mimicked. 

POTDs -- First days of Preschool

This week Alex and Lukas started at Oliver's preschool.  Lena and I had taken them three times in the last two weeks for a playdate (staying for circle time and snack time in their new classroom), and I was a bit worried about how they were going to do.  I had foolishly thought that all those drop-offs where they had accompanied me to drop Oliver would help us, but they actually worked against us, because the boys just wanted to play in the room they had become accustomed to playing in and didn't want to go into the room that was actually their classroom. 

 

As you can see, I didn't have much luck taking a photo of all three of them outside the school.  The only way to get them all to sit for the shot was to take a selfie and even that isn't a fabulous shot.  

Tyler Family Vacation

Need to leave this as a placeholder, so I can keep current --- you'll have to check back for the stories that are associated with these photos if you are getting this via email.  Needless to say, we had a fabulous vacation, despite a few rainy days.