Benton's Latest Advancements

Benton is in the middle of a good health stretch. He's been a
very healthy and happy boy for the past two weeks, and it's
during these times that he makes the most developmental
progress. Way to go, B!

As you all have seen, Benton is getting much better at
balancing himself in a sitting position. We've been practicing
lately on counter tops, which Benton really seems to enjoy.
Here's a video of him "helping" Mom and Dad make dinner!


The kitchen has also become fascinating for Benton
for other reasons... (watch video)


But one of my favorite new Benton developments is his
ability to "kiss". For now they're puckerless and a bit wet,
but we just can't get enough of them! Anyone want one?


Soon Benton's baby brother will arrive, so we think
he's making all these strides so that he can someday
teach his little bro. Meanwhile, he sits, ponders, and
waits patiently in the window sill of the new nursery.

The Owls Have Landed!

Much to our delight, the owls arrived safe and sound yesterday.
Since they came from Australia, they were quite fatigued, but
they perked up as soon as we pulled them out of the box. They're
even cuter than we hoped they'd be! See below...the larger ones
are already roosting (and resting) nicely in their new tree.


Here's another shot from a different angle.


And here's a closeup of one of the downy owls.


Since we don't yet have the crib in the room, we
didn't hang the mobile with the four little striped owls.
Read our last blog for the story behind these owls and
a look at the four little ones.

In the next day or so, we'll post some fun new photos
and videos of Benton. We'll also have some almost finished
house projects to show you. Meanwhile, we wish you all a
great day!

Nursery Tree

With just over three weeks left until Hills Baby #2 arrives...

...we figured we'd better get to work on the soon-to-be-nursery

(formerly the downstairs guest room). We decided to paint

a tree in one corner, and on that tree will sit a family--a.k.a.

a "parliament"--of very cute hand-made owls. If you click on

the image below, you'll see the tree sketch Tam drew in chalk

before pulling out paint.

Then we got to work! Tam's friend Sara came over
and they both got busy painting.


Here's a shot of the finished tree. Isn't it great?!
What owls wouldn't want to perch here?!!


Here's another shot with the guest bed placed where
it will be in the final nursery room layout. Yes, it does
cover the tree trunk a bit but that's okay. Tam will
likely sleep in the nursery for the baby's first few months
instead of keeping a bassinet in the master bedroom.
That way Daddy can catch some zzzzzzzzs.


Now back to these future tree residents, the owls...
Tracy (Tam's sis) stumbled upon a Web site featuring
the most adorable hand-made owl mobile made of socks.
Tam loved it and thought it'd be a great theme/color
anchor for the nursery. Even Dennis was excited about
creating a tree for these owls. So Tracy talked with friends
and family about going in on a joint shower gift. She then
contacted the artist, who happens to live in Australia, and
commissioned her to make one mobile (four sock owls, each
measuring roughly 4" tall) and five additional larger sock owls
(at about 7" tall each) to sit on the tree. Here's a shot of the
finished sock owl family.

The four smaller owls in the shot above have now been
put into a mobile using driftwood the artist found along
the beach in Australia (see below). All the owls are in
flight--in other words, in shipping transit--to Seattle now,
and we eagerly await their arrival!

We'll post a picture later showing the owls on the tree!

Summer is here!

Summer is here, and man has it hit Seattle with a vengence!
If you're not from the Northwest, you may not have heard
about our atypical heat wave that has endured for the past
couple weeks. The temperature climbed to a record 103
degrees last week along with serveral days in the high 90s.
I know if sounds weird, but we're actually praying for rain!

Here's Benton playing in his pool for the fourth day in a row.


His swing gives him breezy relief that he loves!

In addition to playing outside, Benton loves watching
"So You Think You Can Dance". It's currently his favorite
show! (The balloons were left over from Mama's baby shower
in honor of his soon-to-be little brother.)

We recently posed for some quick photos on the back deck.
Here's a partial-nudie family shot...

...followed by the two boys just hanging' out.



MORE HOUSE PROJECTS!

It's hard to believe, but the construction to our home,
after the tree limbs hit it this past holiday season, is
almost complete.

Dennis had to replace these doors for a small exterior
storage area after the the previous doors got damaged
during pressure washing. These doors are 1 1/4" thick!


The pressure washing was done to prepare the
house for painting. So many siding boards were
damaged during the construction process that we
figured it'd be a good time to change the color of the
house (something we've been wanting to do for years).
Can you guess which color we chose???




During the recent roof repairs, several people mentioned
the sad state or our chimney. As you can see from the photos,
some of the bricks were held together only by caulking. The
estimate to restore the chimney was too high, so we decided
to fix it ourselves (actually, it was all Dennis since Tam and her
tummy aren't allowed on the roof).

Here's the before...

...and the AFTER. Dennis poured 80lbs of mortar and
replaced five bricks to bring the chimney back to a
comfortable state. He then sealed it and will paint it to
match one of our new house colors. Nice job, Dennis!


We'll leave you with a shot of Benton chillin' with Dad
after a hard day. :-)