Home Update #2

I've occasionally written about our current living situation. Here's a quick recap:

In Sept 2012, my husband and I sold our home that we dubbed "The T-ton Tear Down" / "TTD." We bought this house in 2010 and in one weekend had a group of our friends and family help us tear out all the flooring and kitchen out so that we started with a blank canvas for our renovation. Perhaps not the best plan of attack, but hey - it was a learning process!

That month we put an offer on New Home #1, which was a foreclosure and vacant so we rented it from the bank during the purchasing process. We ended up moving out after 3 months and abandoning our offer due to a few things coming to light about the house that weren't caught during the inspection. Like a failing septic system.

We moved out and moved into a temporary rental through our friend and are now in the process of our offer on a house that we have very high hopes for. Just like our last house, it has good bones but is in need of some major repairs. We like to capitalize on these kinds of houses because the typical homebuyer shies away from them. New paint, flooring, kitchens, etc don't scare us. My husband and I have learned that there are many aspects of renovations that are completely doable, given the right skill set. Like understanding basic construction, being comfortable with power tools, being friendly with your local hardware store, and able to watch YouTube videos. Not kidding on that one. Oh, and maintain a Pinterest account ;) Of course, even we have our limitations - we had our TTD kitchen's electrical work professionally installed and the granite counter tops were installed by a fabricator as well. But that's pretty much the extent of it.

Last Thursday we had the inspection on the prospective home. Luckily, there wasn't anything we learned that we hadn't known. It's going to need a new roof, likely new siding (which we will wait to do next summer). It needs new flooring and paint inside - immediately. The current family (parents, 4 teens, 2 dogs and I can detect the presence of rodents or ferrets in the past) has lived in this house hard. Although it's been made tidy for our walk throughs and the inspection, it very clearly hasn't had a deep cleaning in years. Mold and mildew on all the windows, clogged drains, nasty growths in caulking around the toilets and sinks. Nothing we can't handle.

It's been fun walking through this house and dreaming up what we'd do to it to not only fix current issues but to make it better. We've been given a tentative closing date of August 4th, which if course can change quickly, but we're hopeful. We'd love to move in before the end of the summer to take advantage of the good weather and tidy up the outside of the house before the rain sets in.

All of the potential in this house has got us so excited. The ability to test our chops on another renovation, a great sized shop in the backyard (that doesn't overshadow the space at all), being in a family friendly neighborhood with 2 parks within a couple blocks and a large park with a lake, shelters and skate park within a mile walking distance away, and a shorter commute to work for Adam.

So send up a little prayer for us, cross your fingers and toes, and keep an eye for more updates. Also, you can follow my I Have a PhD in Renovating Pinterest board to see some of the inspiration we've got in store for this new house!

15 months

Dear little Penny-pot,

These monthly updates are starting to slow down as our life gets busier during the summer, so I'll be trying to keep up whenever I can.

In the last month or so you've started to give hugs and kisses.. which melt my and your daddy's heart every time. You squeeze our necks (or legs) so tight and give the sweetest of kisses. I especially love when I get a big hug and kiss after nursing...this really tells me just how much you love it! I love our special bonding time too.

In the last couple weeks you've come up with some spectacular shenanagins that have us rearranging the house. You've mastered climbing up onto chairs, the couches and as of yesterday you think climbing up onto the toilet is hilarious! Mama does not entirely approve. You've also started using forks and spoons and this has sparked your interest in sitting at the table. You will sit happily in your highchair for breakfast and lunch, but for dinner you will take two bites and then want to sit with your beloved dada. That's ok, he likes to share his dinner with you.

You've also gotten really good at hide and seek. In the begining you'd give yourself away very quickly with your excited squeals when you'd know I was close to finding you, but now you are able to keep quiet for upwards of 5 minutes! But your hiding skills need a little work..

You also had me rolling with laughter when I was hanging the diapers out to dry this week when you crawled under your empty kiddie pool and 'turtle crawled' across the deck. Where do these ideas come from?!

As a very independent girl, you've also made it very clear that you want to walk everywhere we go and you want to do it by yourself.  I'm so proud of your tenacity and complete willingness to try all things new.

Your favorite foods are currently:
Cream of Wheat with fresh strawberries, bananas or cheerios mixed in
Freckled Avocado Smoothies
goldfish crackers & Earth's Best organic ABC (Cookie Monster?) cookies
vanilla yogurt
quinoa with feta

Your vocabulary is progressing, sometimes you will say words that we haven't really taught you ("girl"), but for the most part these are the standards:
"meow" for kitty with the variation of "meo" for Romeo
"ffff" for woof
"shoo" for shoe
"CK" for cousin Jack
"pr-ty" for pretty / flower
"di-puuurr" for diaper
unfortunately "no" has snuck it's way in there, but we're working on turning it into "no thank you" with signing "thank you."

We love you so much, darling girl, and can't wait to see what surprises you have in store for us next :)

Love,
Mama & Dada

Epic Playdates at the Woodland Park Zoo

This summer we've been hitting the zoo almost every two weeks. My annual pass gets myself and two adults in, and kids under age 2 free! We've taken advantage of this deal several times with friends and family who have kids of similar age to Penny.

Why is the zoo an epic playdate for toddlers and little kids?

In Seattle, with the likelihood of rain so high (as a torrential downpour occurs outside), the Woodland Park Zoo is set up to be a great playdate idea even if it's drizzly. Many of the exhibits feature indoor structures that give you a closer peek into the exhibit.

Zoos are getting better about being accommodating to patrons of all sizes and abilities, especially toddlers. Our zoo features windows and activities at eye level for toddlers.

For older kids, many zoos offer day camps and themed days (such as treasure hunts) that get them involved with animal and habitat activism.

One of the greatest benefits of zoos (and you know I'm a mom when I say this) is that the variety of animals, excitement of climbing over different structures, and general running around is that kids are tired by the end of the day! That makes this mama feel good when a day of play with Penny's friends is both a highly physical and educational experience.

As Penny gets older, our playdates will evolve to her abilities (though will always include trips to the zoo!). As a pretty outdoorsy family, we've talked about taking the "all American family road trip"for several years and have been holding off until our kids will be old enough to appreciate it. Gosh, I feel so old saying that. When we do get there, I'm keeping Dooce's trip to Moab in mind because A) geology is awesome and B)...geology is awesome! It's funny seeing the family walk around these normally very hot parks in their winter gear, because this Washington girl pulls out the shorts and a t-shirt when it hits 55 degrees.

What is your epic playdate plan for this summer? Will you be taking trips to the zoo, fun camping trips, signing the kids up for cooking classes, or zip lining in Costa Rica? Ps, if you are, please don't let me know, because I'll start whining about how I wanna go zip lining in Costa Rica!!)

See what zoos The Pierogie Mama has written about

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own. Follow along on Facebook and Twitter with #EpicPlaydate #CGC hashtags.

How to Store Summer Strawberries

Last week, Penelope and I visited a local farm that grows all organic berries. Oh my.

In about 2 1/2 hours, I was able to pick 13.5 lbs of strawberries. How does one accomplish this with a toddler? (Many moms have asked me!). Well, I started out wearing her on my back in the Ergo. She wasn't happy about this, but tolerated this for about half an hour. It was pretty tiresome to bend over or kneel while wearing her on my back, and I knew she wasn't too comfortable either.

Once she started squirming in true discomfort, I let her out and run. She's pretty good about sticking close while she figures out the situation when we're in new environments, so she ran around within 5 feet of me for another 15 minutes. She also took advantage of foraging berries from my basket or off the bush - which I was sure to let the proprietress know about! As it goes with toddlers, her courage grew quickly and pretty soon she was off running in different rows or checking out the tractors close by. Sometimes she'd sneak up behind me and I'd find her in my strawberries...When we got home, we prepared the strawberries for freezing. I like to use frozen strawberries in our smoothies instead of ice, so I froze almost all of it! 

This is how I prepare berries for freezing (this is perfect for organically grown, though I would probably take greater care in cleaning them if they aren't organic).

You will need:
A big bowl of water
Distilled white vinegar
Berries of choice
Cookie Sheets
Cleared out space in your freezer
Freezer Bags

You will do:
1. Fill a bowl with a mixture of 2/3 cold water to 1/3 white vinegar.
2. Place berries into the bowl, allowing them to soak for about 5 minutes. Agitate with your fingers and rub off any dirt.
3. Place on a cookie sheet. I prefer mine not to touch each other, though if you don't care it doesn't make a difference.
4. Freeze for several hours. I just left mine overnight.
5. Once frozen solid, transfer into freezer bags.

I did reserve some for delicious strawberry shortcakes.. Which I made 2 nights in a row ;)

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