the power of nesting

There's nothing like an approaching due date to encourage parents to speed along their house projects and prepare for the new arrival. These past few weeks, we finally put the finishing touches on our kitchen make-over, which technically began a year ago. For some reason, the two tasks of replacing a part on the light fixture and repainting the ceiling got neglected for several months. Apparently, the third trimester nesting instinct was required to bring the project back to our immediate attention, and voilà! A finished kitchen. Here are the much-delayed before and after photos:

BEFORE:

AFTER:
In addition to repainting the cabinets, Forest did a simple tile backsplash and we added a new over-the-stove fan, which was non-existent before.

We hung up our Dixon "D" to cover up a hole in the wall from an unused electrical wire.
Antique brass hardware was switched out for brushed nickel.

And we also replaced a dreary fluorescent light with a sparklier halogen fixture.
A huge thank you to Aunt B for her design suggestions! We've been thrilled with the new look.

What else has the power of nesting done for our home? Well, it has inspired Forest to dig this huge trench along our driveway in an effort to improve a less-than-perfectly constructed retaining wall.
It also may have influenced us to purchase some dressers that we've talked about getting for the master and guest bedrooms. We did this the craigslist way and paid a small amount of money for a decently large amount of restoration work. I ended up staining and coating a new set of wooden knobs for one dresser, while Forest completely sanded down the other 0ne, repaired a large hole, and began the process of repainting.

The deck has also been re-stained since we hit trimester #3 (do you see the cantaloupe vine that poked through the boards?)
And a couple of sets of curtains have been sewn for some windows, as well.
It is almost baffling to me to consider our sudden boost of productivity these days. At the same time, it still seems like there are a lot of things that need to get done before I pop . . .

The Cello Lives On

Upon moving to Cedar Rapids last summer, one of the things I missed most about Illinois was my old cello students and small performance opportunities. At the time I wondered if I would ever find new students to teach or a willing accompanist to play with.

Now that we have been in Iowa for a little over a year, I've run into more teaching opportunities than I would have imagined. I currently have about ten students of various instruments (violin, viola, or cello) at Cedar Rapids School of Music, as well as two private cello students and one private viola student. I've had a chance to arrange for, rehearse, and conduct a small church youth orchestra on two different occasions, and last week I got to do a little cello demo for story time at the local library.
I played the kids a little Bach, a little Smoke on the Water, and of course Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Old MacDonald.

In an effort to keep up my personal playing, I applied to be a sub for the community orchestra last year, but never heard back from them. I wish I had more to say about performance opportunities, but for now my audience is mainly children, parents, and the congregation at church. When I do play, however, the audience is always so appreciative--it makes me realize how worthwhile music has been in my life, and how blessed I am to be able to share it with others, however simple and non-glamorous the venue may be.

D is for Dixon

Aunt "Ramia" and Uncle Josh flew out to Illinois for Fourth of July weekend, so we took small roadtrip back that way to spend time with them at Paca's house.
Much of the weekend could be summed up in two activities: tennis and swimming--both of which Ramona was eager to join.

By the time we left, Ramona could "swim" by herself, as long as she had the floaties on her arms.
Pool frogs--yummy.

For nap time on Saturday, Ramona chose the carpet at the foot of Paca's bed . . .
. . . but only after she had reached up to dump out Teresa's entire jewelry box, as evidenced by the trail of necklaces and bracelets leading from the dresser to where she fell asleep.
After she got re-charged, she was ready for more swimming and a ride on the lawnmower.
Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church, Ramona kept asking where her tie was. Paca let her wear one of his so she wouldn't feel left out.
Maria and I are both expecting, with due dates only about three weeks apart, so we had almost matching bellies on display that weekend. We snagged some obligatory (but fun!) baby bump shots before church.
We are thrilled that the little cousins will be so close in age.
After church we went to Grandma's house and then to the hospital to visit Forest's grandmother Rosanne, recovering from a stroke. She looked amazingly good and even had a present for Ramona: a princess nightgown that she insisted on wearing right away.

On the car ride back to Paca's house, we successfully got Ramona to fall asleep for a much-needed nap. For some reason, taking pictures of sleeping children never gets old for me.
That evening we all participated in the creation of another giant Dixon apple pie, baked in a 12" cast-iron skillet.


Monday morning we dropped the boys off to do some canoeing on the Sangamon River
In addition to the tennis and swimming that happened that day, we also heated up the old Dixon brand from Grandpa Dixon's farm and made some decorative wooden plaques.


Oh yes, and Ramona played with some bubbles from Aunt Cheryl, too.

Thanks for coming, Maria and Josh! And thanks for having us, Paca and Teresa!

On the drive back we stopped by my parents' house in Bloomington for a few hours, where Ramona enjoyed some more rice mounds with flags on top. Perhaps not the most patriotic flags, given that it was Independence Day weekend, but festive, nonetheless!
Happy Fourth of July!

Roadtrip 2011: Louisville, KY and HOME

After our visit to Durham, it was time to circle our way back toward the Midwest. Once again, we stopped at Jessica's in Louisville on our way back. She let us share her birthday morning with her and her girls. (You haven't aged a bit, Jess!)

We had a doughnut party
And an indoor sledding party
And, eventually, a farewell party on the walk out to the car

It was sweet to see our girls become such instant friends.
After all of this roadtripping, Ramona has come to be quite the champion traveler. Hope you had fun, Mona-pie--thanks for going on an adventure with Mommy and Daddy!