Fenced Backyard + Toddler = Heaven!

We have been busy this summer! I would never advise closing on a house (that you plan to do some work to) 13 days after having a baby. After some stressful complications at closing, lots of painting, sheetrocking, carpeting, repairing, packing, unpacking, and nursing, burping, and diaper changing, we find ourselves at the end of a crazy summer, happily moved into and enjoying our home with two growing boys! Whew. Here is what we have been up to:

Lots of playing in the backyard. Spencer ends up soaking wet on an almost daily basis and Max and I enjoy laying on a blanket watching from a safe distance!

Lots of smiling and cooing. Max has been a very easy baby. He is happy and sleeps and eats well. Plus, he's so darn cute! He started rolling from his tummy to his back - I guess he doesn't like tummy time much.

Lots of adjusting to having two, which has actually been easier than I had anticipated. Spence has been really good with Max. I have had to save Max from eating the carpet fuzz that was being offered but other than that we have made it relatively incident free so far.

Lots of rock throwing. This was Max's first hike and Spencer's first where he actually walked.

Being blessed and turning two! Max did great and Drew gave him a beautiful blessing. We were happy to have so much family there. Spencer had a fun birthday. We went to the Zoo and then had lunch with Daddy in downtown Portland. He struggled opening so many presents though because he wanted to play with each one right away. I love Max sleeping on the couch in the background.And of course, lots of home improvement. This is a before and after of the same room, taken from different angles. For now, this side of this room is done. There is still at least something that needs to be done in every other room. We don't have pictures up yet, we are still missing a mirror in our bathroom, the kitchen needs to be painted... My to do list has become huge. But for now, this is a taste of what we have been up to and I'll post more pictures as we finish more rooms. This is our living room. We redid the ceilings (you can't tell but they were popcorn before and it really makes the house feel a lot newer to get rid of those), painted the walls and all the dark woodwork in the house (that is a horrible project by the way), removed a pole, got curtains and curtain rods and filled up the space. We have been happy with it and Spencer loves to hide in the little nook by the plant!

It has been a great summer and we are looking forward to a fun filled fall!