Annie, David and Anat

Lark's homework assignment was to "draw a picture of three people in your neighborhood that make it a better place to live." Naturally, she decided her subjects would be Annie, David and their baby, Anat. She wanted us to tell her what they do for a living, but we convinced her that she should head over to their house herself to do the interview. See the fruits of her labor above.

The Cruise Part II: Just Photos

The Big Reveal

We unveiled Lark's new room today. She loves it.

Tour of the House

This is for Alice. Warning: It's long. Normally, I'd take photos, but my camera is broken. Enjoy the video!

New House; Lark's Homework

It's been a crazy couple of months. We're finally in the house. Thank you moving crew - Dad, Carrie, Kristy, Brad and Mom. There are some, umm, quirks we'll be working out in the next few month, but we're happy to not have to pay rent on an spartment and a storage unit. Photos are forthcoming. My camera is broken but I'm vowing here and now to get it fixed.

In other news, Lark has been working very hard on her homework lately. Today, she wrote about where she wants to go on vacation. She only needed to write a paragraph and went above and beyond and wrote an entire page. I scanned it in for your enjoyment.

Love, us

Progress on the house (for real this time)

This is what the house and garage looked like from the alley on March 23, 2008.

Here's a photo from the similar vantage point on November 2, 2008. Lark is standing where the garage will go. The footings were poured today. Our contractor said it would be done in three weeks. That's December 23rd. No comment.

Here's the view from the dining room into the kitchen (Lark was helping me pack it up). It's now 8 feet longer and the doorway's been widened. They measured for the countertops today.


Believe it or not, the above photos are taken from almost the exact same place! The lower photo shows the screened porch through the three windows on the right and the mudroom to the left. The dark doorway is the bathroom.

A before picture of the kitchen from the previous back door. Yikes! It looks like a mess without the cabinet doors. And wow does Lark look noticeably younger! That was only 6 months ago. That's what living through a remodel will do to you - age you. Or maybe it's just all the good livin' were doing:-).

View of the kitchen from the mudroom.

The maple closet in our bedroom. We LOVE all of our cabinetry.

Thanksgiving in Burlington

We were in Burlington, WI, for Thanksgiving. We arrived at ~11:30pm on Wednesday night and were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by both Paul and Sue. They are the ultimate hosts! Highlights from the weekend included: 1) A fabulous Thanksgiving dinner at the Lynch household with Uncle John and Betty, Grandma B and her friend Dorothy, Paul and Sue, and Tom, Lark and me. 2) Going to dinner at the Waterfront with Dennis (Paul's brother) and Diane, Jen, Aaron and their kids. 3) Driving to Milwaukee in the wee hours of the morning (okay, "wee" for me) to greet Andrew, Wendy, Christopher (aka Bob), Vivian and Henry, as they arrived on the redeye from Seattle. See the photo with some of our handmade signs. It's almost sinful how much fun we had making those signs. Maybe it was all the permanent marker we inhaled. 4) Eating way too much fried stuff at Fred's. See black and white photo. For the love of God, Wendy, put down the french fries! 5) Visiting Paul's UPS store and watching him in action. Ummm, no, we don't ship live snakes (really - a guy brought in a live snake in a box). 7) Eating Paul's criminally good pot roast and sitting at Andrew and Wendy's beyond-description bar. Suffice it to say what happens at the bar stays at the bar. 6) Watching that crazy documentary about the guy who moved to Alaska in 1968 and lived off the land for 30+ years. What's for dinner? A little frozen carrion. Mmm. 7) Enjoying the hours of entertainment the kids got out of a huge cardboard box that Paul cut a door and a window in. 8) And last but not least, just hanging out at Paul and Sue's house. We had a blast. Thank you! Love, Us

Lark and Vivi. Christopher and Henry, I'll get you guys next time we see you:-).

Grammy Sue threatening to consume her grandkids. She would if she could, you know.

Uncle John, Tom and Paul on Thanksgiving.

Sue, Paul and Lark waiting for the Andrew Lynch clan. Tom's off to the side sipping some coffee.