I guess it snowed here...

We had planned on leaving Seattle last Friday, but when we heard the TODAY show announce a big snowstorm in Denver, I decided to change our tickets to Sunday. I really didn't want to sit around the airport waiting to see if the flight was going to be canceled and I for sure didn't want to land in Denver in a snowstorm and have to slip and slide all the way to Loveland.

Instead, we got to spend more time with the GRANDS. We were so happy to see that Maggie was making a quick recovery from the chicken pox. She is better every day, seems to be over the high fever , most of the blisters are gone and now it's the scab-stage. Hope Emmett doesn't suffer as much as she did.

When we landed at DIA yesterday the first words from Chuck's mouth were: "There's no snow here." When we came down our gravel road we could tell there had been quite a bit of moisture on it, as it is bumpy again (they just graded it a few weeks ago). And when we turned into the driveway we noticed a couple of "ponds" of water there. But no snow, not even on the north side of the house.

Chuck went to check the rain gauge -- and there it was with FOUR inches of rain in it! Gotta love the Colorado changeable weather! Supposed to get to 80 by Friday.

Maggie entertains us

Maggie has recently learned that while she is bouncing on someone's knee, she can entertain herself (and us!) by making some noise. When she saw me with the camera, she quit, but we encouraged her a bit and she performed for us.

We learned today that she has the chicken pox. G&H have no idea where she was exposed, but now they wonder if Emmett will be far behind ... welcome to parenthood!

Easter Sunday in Seattle

Emmett and Maggie eating with the "grownups"

Emmett taking a shortcut through the base legs of the end table

Maggie models her new dress that G'ma made

Greg and Heather invited us and Denise and Roger to an Easter Brunch yesterday and we had a wonderful visit with them. Greg picked us up at the airport on Saturday, so we had already had a reunion with our GRANDS. But Denise and Roger had not seen them for awhile so they happily got reacquainted.

They are changing so quickly -- they hold out their arms if they want us to pick them up; Emmett waves bye-bye; both of them give hugs and kisses (and they aren't selfish with them either -- one kiss always leads to more!) Emmett is crawling all over the place and he can adeptly pull himself up to the sofa, end table, coffee table, or almost anywhere. He also has learned to side-step from one end of the coffee table to capture a toy (or G'ma's camera) at the other end.

Maggie is still trying to perfect her crawl, but she is also happy just to sit and play. She remembered that she can perform a very high-pitched scream, which she discovered a few months ago (and then didn't do it again until now), and she can surprise us with it at any time. (Her parents ask her to use her "inside voice" when in the house but she hasn't embraced that concept yet. She also does not appreciate Emmett taking a toy away from her, so she will bring forth the scream on that occasion, for sure. (Emmett doesn't seem to mind...)

I decided to try out my sewing skills on a little dress for Maggie. It's been YEARS since I sewed for a baby, but it went pretty well, and I couldn't wait to see if it fit. I also made her a matching hat and panties. The dress fit but the hat is too big, however I think she will grow into it this summer. I'll definitely be sewing some more little outfits for her. Such fun.

What a difference a day makes

south side of mailbox

north side of mailbox

always surprises in old houses

55+year old kitchen drain pipe

I was pleasantly surprised when I looked out this morning and saw blue skies and tree branches perfectly still. Whew. Those winds yesterday were way too strong for my liking. But I had to chuckle to myself when I glanced at the mailbox. The winds had just plastered that snow to the north side of the mailbox, and to the north side of the trees too. I-25 from north of Fort Collins up into Wyoming was still closed this morning. Our big storm is now moving into the mid-west.

I thought I would be using my new sink by now, but I should have remembered that this old house always has a few surprises for us when we try and change it in any way. It gets its revenge by serving up one of those surprises just when you think you have an easy little remodeling project. But then you find out it's going to take longer than you thought. So Chuck found that the kitchen drain pipe coming out from the wall was a "bit" rusty. And no, the drain wasn't draining slowly -- hard to believe, huh? So he had to go to town this morning and get more parts. It's sure going to be nice, though, and SO worth the effort! (Right, Chuck?)

...everything AND the kitchen sink

Old sink and faucet had seen better days

Gotta get that old one outa there

The new one is REALLY heavy

Love it!

Our old sink was stainless steel and not a high-quality one at that. The faucet had two rubber buttons on the top that allowed you to press for either spray or no-spray. They were cracked and worn out and barely worked. SO ... it was time for a remodel.

When we were in Seattle for Christmas, we rented a house that had a remodeled kitchen and I really liked the sink -- besides being nice and large and porcelain/cast iron, the sink divider is only half the height of the sink, so it allows you to have two sinks half-full of water, or one large sink (for pots and pans) full of water. And I liked the tall faucet for filling large pots with water. So I looked online and found the best price at Lowe's. It took awhile to pick a faucet -- really, do we need 50 faucets to choose from? And some of them were more expensive than the SINK!

We had one of those instant-heat dispensers for hot water. We have really enjoyed it, but it too was rusty and almost worn out, so we decided to get a standalone water heater pot (like we got Denise and Roger for Christmas) instead.

It's so nice to have a resident plumber. He even painted the cupboard while he was under there. So nice and clean. I can't believe how much brighter that part of the kitchen is now. I guess it's the light reflecting off the new porcelain instead of that dull stainless steel.

Got Wind? Got Snow?

Weathermen said we would get 6-12-inches of snow with gusty winds (up to 50mph) during the night, so we woke up to little snow and very high winds. Quite a few drifts around too. My little yellow beetle had no trouble scooting us over to Johnson's Corner for breakfast (our customary Saturday morning routine).