Time lapse photography

Poor Larry has had a hard time adjusting to the new house, so we decided to get him something special, just for him. We set it up after he went to bed, and this first picture sums up his first reaction:

9:00 am: Sheer ecstasy! I love the look on his face

9:42 am: still going strong...

10:16 am: "Larry, I need a friend!" (that's what Dawna says when she's bored)

11:05 am: Nothing else would interest him still... (Dawna's feet in the background... "Seeya, Larry")

11:30 am: "Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" (Dawna made a run around in a circle game out of it"

We went to Nana and Papa's house after lunch... and then the best best best part about the train came out... we came home and opened the garage door and Larry saw his trains again... and for the first time ever, he smiled and laughed coming into our house. Finally! It felt great to see him happily come home instead of being wary and nervous in our house. Hopefully he's getting used to the new place... thanks to the trains!

Yay for Haircuts!

Larry had his second haircut in his life on Wednesday, which took this:


And made it a much more manageable this:

Many thanks once again to Camille, our wonderful sister-in-law who gave us hair clippers for our wedding... being a beautician and all, she picked out a set that is very quiet and gentle and Larry hardly noticed his hair being cut! I didn't even need to have Dawna "help" me keep him under control :) He's a cute kid, though, huh?

A few Dawna-isms, and the interpretations thereof.

If you ever hear Dawna say....

1. "Up Glass Slippers"
2. "It Amen-ed"
3. "Old McDonald's had a slide" and "fry fries"
4. "Fun Do Panda"
5. "The Door opened and uncle Lynn was dancing on the cupboards!"
   

What she means is...

1. High-heeled shoes
2. The End
3. McDonald's with a play place and French Fries
4. Kung-Fu Panda
5. The curtains opened and Uncle Lynn was dancing on the stage

There's not much in this world that's cuter than three.

Yay for Pianos!

Last Friday I got together an army of eight able-bodied men and we moved MY piano in! I got it off Craig's List for under $200! It's a great brand, but some of the key tops are cracked and chipped, which is why it was so cheap... but no worries! My re-key-ing kit is already on the way and I'm pretty excited for the project... who knew... pianos get face lifts too :)

Of course, I'm starting Dawna early... she's pretty good at finding Middle C... and more importantly the note next door, which is "D for Dawna"... not just D.

And after all was said and done and moved in, my army of piano movers got treated to home made chocolate zucchini cake and banana chocolate chip muffins! And now I have my very own PIANO!!! Woo Hoo!!!

A few select pictures...

Here's just a few pictures of the house... not perfect, but at least it's something...

The front of the house... this is what you can see from the sidewalk. What's missing is our lemon tree on the left and a little yellow rose bush on the right. I particularly like the palm tree silhouette reflected in the kitchen window in this picture--so typically California!
The master bathroom! This is part of what made me first fall in love with the house :) Plenty of space, two shower heads and a walk-in closet to the right (but no jacuzzi tub, unfortunately)... still--a master suite anyone could love :)
MY kitchen! I love the granite counter tops and am starting to adjust to cooking with gas. There's quite a bit of "tall person" space--as in, I can't reach the top shelves in the cupboards without a stool... but that's ok... there's room to make everyone happy :)
This is the "play room" and "guest room," but technically speaking, it's the "second master" since there's a bathroom attached to this room as well. Sorry, folks, Joe and Cami have already claimed this room for Christmas vacation, but we're taking reservations for other seasons of the year :) Of course, they may relinquish their reservation now that they see that there's not a real bed in there yet... hehe... yeah... that room looks very plain without anything on the walls... I guess I know my project for tomorrow!

And this is the western half of the backyard... the "shed" as they call it... it has a full foundation, two rooms, and attic, and carpet... nicest "shed" I've ever seen... For now it's storage space, but has the potential to become a play house or home for my kids' garage band :)
So there's some basics... the living/dining room area is still too full of boxes and stuff and all the bedrooms look very plain still... but we're making a little more progress every day. Despite all the mess and all its little quirks, we love our house :)

We've moved!

Yes, it's true, we moved into our new house last Saturday. It's very exciting and fun, and it's still a huge mess... I promise pictures to come once the place looks halfway decent. Our house is in Newark right by the Dumbarton Bridge; ten minutes from Nana and Papa's house and 20 minutes from Jon's work. We have four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a loft!--plenty of room for visitors!--We love our house!

Dawna adjusted easily--she was looking forward to having her own room and a "real" bed! Lawrence is a little harder to convince... he's a little uncertain about sleeping in his own room... probably because he can't open doors yet, so he feels a little trapped unless his bedroom door is propped open. I hope he'll start feeling like our house is "home" soon... it's hard to see him look so lost... poor baby...

Many thanks to the Elders Quarums of Bayside and Glenmoor wards for help in moving, and thanks to all the friends and family who have helped us out--be it fixing bathroom faucets, bringing us treats, or cleaning out the refrigerator!