Tanya Rousseau's Profile

In Seattle I imagine it wouldn't work great, but here in the northern part of the world, where we get snow for an extended period of time, the newspaper method works great... We put down papers in the fall, just before the first heavy snow, and everything is nice and dead by the spring

As you said, July 1st is our unofficial official moving date. As, by law, a tenant is required to advise their landlord that they are not renewing the lease at least 3 months prior to the end of the lease, this means that most vacancies are advertised in late March / early April. Early shopping is key!

Do NOT, do NOT, do NOT bring your son back to your room. We had the almost same problem (bedtime was the worse when Chatty Lucy would let her brother fall asleep). We had him sleep in our room (which, in our case, also means our bed). Now, a year later, my 5-year old is afraid to sleep anywhere but our bed, stuck to us. As we are 2 fairly large people (and I am now pregnant with #3), sharing a queen bed with a 5-year old, you can imagine how comfortable our nights are! Separate them visually, and hang in there. You'll get over this soon and all will be well....

Before the kids, we had a dog (he's still with us). For our first Christmas in our house 7 years ago, we collected all the old non breakable ornaments from our parents and relatives houses. we have plastic balls covered in silk (or polyester!), handmade felt angels, small wooden toys, and a few small stuffed animals. We make sure to always use multi-colored C7 lights and some silver garland and the vintage 1970s look is complete! And very practical, as nothing gets broken.

Also, a dutch oven lid makes a great difference. A good one will have little raised dots all over the surface of the lid. These are very helpful at redistributing the steam inside the dutch oven. Instead of the liquid coming down around the lid and the sides of the pot, the liquid drips all over the contents.

Our kids are 27 months apart... We talked about it before hand, but most importantly I believe, we called her 'your sister Lorelai' instead of 'the baby', 'our daughter', or anything else that would deter from the fact that she was 'his'. Maybe it's just his natural temperament, but I think it instilled a great sense of responsibility in him. We also made it clear that we trusted him with her (not hovering to close when he wanted to touch her, letting him take her on his lap (sitting down on the floor, having him choose her clothes, hold her belly to prevent her from rolling around on the floor while diaper changing, etc.) More than 2 years later, he naturally shares with her, makes sure she's ok, that she has a hat on before we go out, etc. And she trusts him like crazy.

We used the sink at camp and on warm days, at home, we have a big gardening bucket (the flexible plastic type) that the kids like to use.

Beautiful mower! How about staining it pink? You could dilute some burgundy stain if you can't find pink wood stain. This way, I think, while she gets the pink, you still maintain that handmade look that make it less "princess" and more "real girl" -- for lack of better words...

Very nice! It looks like it also blends in, instead of clashing with the neighbours (I see green on the left side).

May I ask how your porch is closed underneath? We removes our hedge as well, but it's open under and it looks unfinished... I like what you have there. Thanks!

@Sepher : This bed is actually and evolutive bed (goes from toddler to twin-size) from IKEA http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S19827958/