April's Arrival

 Sunshine.  Freshly mowed grass.  Birds singing.  Blooming trees and shrubs.  Afternoons outside.  These are just some of my favorite things about Spring's arrival.  Most of all, I think I like the newness that comes in April.  Everything feels fresh and full of hope.  

One of my favorite memories was in April.  It was the arrival of our first daughter and I'll never forget stepping out of the hospital with a new, precious bundle in my arms and feeling the warm sunshine.  It was just one of those perfect moments and everything felt different in the best way.  My mom came to stay and we had the most wonderful month together.  We enjoyed what seemed like endless sunshine.  We walked, we talked, we admired all the hot pink blooming azaleas, but most of all, we cuddled and loved this precious sweet little baby that was all our own.

Now I find myself anticipating April's arrival all winter long.  When we're in the midst of a cold, dreary day, I remind myself that April is just around the corner.  And now it's here, and like every April before it, I remember why I love it so much.  Now our oldest daughter will soon be eight years old, but even though the years pass by, April still feels as sweet as ever.  

My camera seemed to stay put all this winter, but boy has it been busy the past couple weeks.  ;-)  I hope you don't mind me simply sharing some pictures (and memories) of our Spring so far. 

 

Hope you all have a lovely April weekend!  (And please do share your favorite things about April's arrival, too!) 

The (New) Front Door

 Since first walking through the entrance of this house, I was in love with the original door hanging, complete with old wavy glass.  As with all old doors, the glass was single pane and on our particular door, nothing hung square.  As the years have passed, and we endured drafty cold air coming through winter after winter, Justus begged me to let us get a new front door.  I stubbornly refused to even entertain the idea, asking him instead to try as best he could to insulate the area around the door.  (I'm sorry to admit to this, but sometimes this meant stuffing dish rags and socks in the door when nothing else would help.) 

 

 I found this old picture of our original door.  :-)  Unfortunately, to help mitigate the draft and to protect the original glass, a storm door needed to be hung.  The concrete porch floor is not level, and in order for the storm door to open, the storm door had to be hung a couple inches off the ground, thus still letting in an unfortunate draft.

After four years of feeling a constant cold draft every time we stepped foot in our living room, I finally relented about replacing our old door with a more efficient one.  I suppose I should mention at this point that we also decided to invest in a new, more efficient HVAC unit as our heating bill was steadily climbing! 

My poor husband - although I agreed to replace the front door, I absolutely insisted on placing a special order for a door that looked as close to the original as possible.  We paid way too much for this special order door (it seemed like to us, anyway) and waited three months for it to come in (and it was even made in our home state!), but I was so happy with it when it arrived. 

 

 Justus tore off the trim on a Friday night and got everything ready to go for the next day. 

 

Now, typically I don't feel like I help a lot with projects like this, but on this particular day, my mom kept our girls and I was on hand to assist Justus.  It's a good thing too, because putting in a door, and getting it perfectly square, required a lot of effort.  It was a freezing day, and I remember wearing a big jacket and gloves the entire time.  It took us EIGHT hours working together to get this door in perfectly square and level!  I cannot tell you how many times we had to take it down and move it around.  And I cannot tell you how many necks were craned as cars drove by... likely thinking, what are these crazy people up to now?  Putting in a door on a freezing cold February day?  (At least the sun was shining!) 

 

 Replacing the front door, and replacing our HVAC unit, were both considerable expenses, but we haven't regretted either purchase.  It has made our home much more comfortable, and much more efficient.  I'm happy to report that our heating bill went drastically down and we were able to enjoy sitting in our living room the rest of the winter.  :-)

Every time I open and close the door, the sound of the seals tightly closing is music to my ears.

 I also spent way too long searching... and searching... for the perfect door hardware.  I wanted something that complemented the year of our house and the style of the door.  One day I'll replace the light fixtures to match.  (Again!)  ;-)

 

 Justus felt like I should type, "Currently hanging from our front door, is a basket full of blonde hair."  He's too much!  I happen to love the wheat!  (Laughing out loud...)

One day soon (maybe in the next three years - ha!), we hope to pour new concrete steps and spend some more time working on the exterior.  We've been gone so much the past several weeks, but this next week we're tearing out the downstairs bathroom floor and getting back to indoor house projects.  

 Here's the interior view of the new door.  I left the door its primed yellow color for a long time, waiting for inspiration to strike on the perfect color to paint.  First I painted it the darker gray on the exterior (too dark), then white (too light), before deciding this light gray was just right.  

And that's the story behind the new front door... just another project to cross off the list.  ;-)

Hope you are having wonderful Fall days! 

Sources:
Exterior Door Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Amherst Gray
Interior Door Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Titanium
Door Hardware: Weslock Molten Bronze Tramore Sideplate Lock with Wexford Knob; Single Cylinder with Keylock Knob/Lever in Oil Rubbed Bronze.  Purchased from here:  http://www.directdoorhardware.com/Weslock_Tramore_Sideplate.htm

Hammock Days

On Mother's Day this year, a hammock was hung from my favorite tree in our yard. 

 It's been our favorite place this summer.  While the girls play on their play set outside after supper, Justus and I usually make a run for it and lay here watching the girls, talking about the day while enjoying the evening as the weather cools down.  Inevitably, the girls will also run over after a while and join us for some giggles and swinging. 

 The most perfect Mother's Day gift - I love it even more because it's something we can all enjoy.  Justus did say he picked out the hammock that most looked like something I would like (simple...and white ;-) ).  Jillian even painted the post one afternoon for me.

 As I lay here and stare up at the sky, I sometimes feel like I'm swinging under the largest tree there ever was.  The girls and I often find ourselves out here in the afternoon, enjoying a spot of shade and relaxing as the sounds of summer pass us by.

 Our chickens are all doing well; actually, I think they may be the most spoiled chickens in the state!  I refer to them as the neighborhood chickens, as our neighbor throws out "treats" for them and they wander from neighbor to neighbor, but always end up back here to be shut into their coop at night. ;-)

 The chickens are now over two years old and so is Huck.  He's turned out to be the most amazing dog (when he listens - ha) and I love him to pieces.  The girls and I are glad we have somebody in the house we can baby talk to!  He has his haircut scheduled for Friday - it's always time when his curls start to cover his eyes.  :-)

Fall is on the horizon, but we're still soaking in the last of these warm summer days and I'm storing these perfect summer memories away.  

I hope your week has been wonderful!  Thank you for your warm welcome back! 

Fall Days on the Porch

 During the hot summer months, the front porch is a wonderful place to be with its shade and cool breeze.  Now we'll begin to spend more time out here in the evenings with the warm sun shining during cool fall days.  We love sitting on the front porch swing, watching the sunset and listening to happy little girls chatter away.  During the summer it can be a tad too warm... but now, now it will be just right.   

 

Well, I did make it to the farmers market this weekend for pumpkins and other fall treats.  My mom and I were so excited as we had a little time for a trip just the two of us.  Unfortunately, it started raining as we left and we rushed through our stops, driving home less than an hour later with it pouring rain and storming too!  I was laughing so hard, trying to lug my pumpkins to the porch with the rain coming down in buckets, and bobbing for recently purchased apples in a huge rain puddle as (naturally) they had all fallen out in my haste.  By the time I got to the door, I was so soaked my clothes were literally hanging and I was still laughing!  That was just the beginning of my rain-drenched clothes this last weekend...

 Anyway, I finally filled our front porch planters with pansies.  Justus helped me plant the five flats (in the rain again) and they look so pretty. 

Every year I say this, but... next year I really want to try to grow our own heirloom pumpkins.  I think if I had a bounty of pumpkins, I would have them everywhere during the fall!  All shapes and colors, I love them. 

 The neatest thing happened a couple months ago.  I didn't write about it, but one day we heard a knock at our door and it was the sweetest couple that stopped by to introduce themselves.  The man had spent his childhood in this house as it belonged to his parents.  His wife told me that there was a swing hanging in the exact spot we hung ours, and as as they came to visit later in life, with their own children, she would sit on the swing and watch them play.  I loved getting to hear some of their stories (I knew this was a special house) and now every time I sit on our swing I think of other generations sitting in that same spot, likely enjoying the same things I do. 

Hope you have a lovely fall week!

P.S.  We decorated our flower stand too!  Thought you might like to take a peek.  ;-)

Fall Planting

 I know, you would think I would be sharing pictures of planting mums, not hydrangeas!  It all started when I casually went looking for fall pansies.  No pansies to be found, but instead all kinds of shrubs on sale.  I had no idea this is the time of year to buy... not just on sale, but "let me make you a bargain so I can clear out my nursery to make room for Christmas trees".  Justus and I both looked at each other and I knew we were thinking the exact same thing - looks like we'll be planting this weekend. 

 We had 28 shrubs sitting in our front lawn and then we were trying to figure out where and what we were going to do with all of them! 

 Ever since we tore out all kinds of ground cover four years ago in the front, we haven't planted anything in that space.  It was on the list, but just one of the many things we hadn't gotten to yet.  So Justus tilled, we planted and Justus even ran to the store to pick up a quick load of mulch just to see how our beds would look finished.  Now we're wondering how we went this long!     

Once we finish the mulch, the beds will wrap around the entire front and sides of the house.  Yesterday afternoon we sat on the swing for a while and I was thinking how pretty everything would hopefully look in five years... and then I realized I would have an 11 year old in five years, and I couldn't think further than that!  ;-)

Next on my list (once we finish the mulch, of course): more mums, pumpkins and pansies for the planters.  I did get out my fall pillow covers though! 

Love these burgundy leaves... 

 When we finished the chicken coop, I planted two boxwood on each side of the door.  This weekend we added more slowwww-growing boxwood to match on the side of the coop. So maybe we'll get to enjoy these in about 20 years or so.  ;-) 

 Hope you had a great weekend!

Porch Greenery

With the cold weather and rain we've been having, it suddenly felt past time to remove the pumpkins from our porch and add a few winter touches!  Off to the farmers market we went and home we came with fresh wreaths and greenery. 

The wreaths were so beautiful and fresh in their simplicity that I left them just the way they were.  

(We used removable 3M hooks on the porch to hang the wreaths.)

 The farmers market had a lot of greenery clippings and kindly invited us to take as much as we liked, so I had plenty to add here and there, inside and out.  I love its crisp wintery scent.

 With it only cold on Saturday, we bundled up and ventured outside for some fresh air.  I decided to try my hand at making a wreath with all the extra clippings I brought home... well, needless to say, my amateur attempt didn't look even a fraction as lovely as the ones we bought, but it was a festive enough touch for the back of the house (smile).

Happy December!