House Activities/Easter 2012 [long post]

We have been busy little beavers 'round these parts.

Evidently my productivity is directly proportional to good weather.

And since it's currently raining out.....I'm blogging.

I'll post a video of Ben at some point taking a few steps - that was big news around these parts.

But when not practicing his fancy footwork, he can be found:

Exploring Dad's side of the desk:

Taking a quick breather:

Snoozing in the car:

Crawling in the yard:

Or just generally hanging out. It must be a good life, being a baby.

The same could be said for this loafer, as well.

I've been working on a number of tasks, most notably finishing and painting all the doors in our upstairs. This included the drilling of new holes for doorknobs. I loved the original, vintage glass knobs but ultimately voted in favor of new ones (that actually functioned). We'll keep the downstairs ones as I can't quit them entirely.

I just slapped the final coat of paint on this morning and I am glad to be done with this project. I'm ready to have a door back on the bathroom again.

I also primered the dresser I bought on Craigslist a while back and am currently deciding on the final color. More to come on that later.

Chris and his dad have been hard at work on house projects as well. They did a nice driveway repair:

And then constructed two massive raised beds for me:

I am so excited about this project!

Chris loved having his dad around - it was fun to see them working on projects together.

I just finished digging the holes this morning, so all that's left to do in the raised bed department is level 'em out, put in some fill dirt, and plant away. I am so thrilled about my vegetable possibilities this year.

I also weeded and thinned the raspberry patch - it was verging on jungle-like and needed some serious work.

Whilst the 'boys' were working on the garden beds, I did a major shed cleanup. It was a mess. I cleaned the chicken coop, and nailed up a board with nails along the far wall so now all the tools have designated spots:

As you can see, the chicken coop has now morphed into a potting bench. Still haven't found a permanent place yet for that silver ladder and the weed whacker.

That chicken coop bedding is destined for the bottom of the garden beds as filler.

My mom and I also took a nice trip over to the nursery on Saturday and I came home with three blueberry bushes, a plum tree, and a peach tree. That doesn't exactly constitute an orchard, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

I'm going to try and get those in the ground this week.

We had a nice Easter weekend. My mom and I took Ben over to see my grandparents.

My Nana is always thrilled to see the little bambino. My Grandpa isn't much aware of what's going on these days. But he didn't object to our presence, which makes it a good day for him. Dementia has completely ravaged my once-gregarious, outgoing, joke-telling grandfather. There is not much left anymore.