Drilling and dancing

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Adam has been getting his hands dirty finishing up the next stage of the plumbing repair--patching up the several square feet of drywall he cut away weeks ago. Now we just have to nail in some molding and (maybe) paint. It's all behind appliances and storage, however, so we may just save the painting for when we move someday.

Adam "MacGyver" Tracy

Meanwhile, Karen packed away the old law school laptop and replaced it with her dusty sewing machine to try and revamp Sarah's wardrobe. This means we're surrounded in our main room by the innards of our storage closet (where some of the plumbing repairs were happening) and piles of fabric and sewing notions. At least the laundry room and kitchen are put back together! Sorry, no pictures of the mess.

Other than that, we've been watching the vegetable garden sadly peter out in this heat and fade away while trying to keep the yard from suffering the same fate. This picture is our lovely front yard. We're planning to put in a drip irrigation system next year in the vegetable garden to cut down on the labor of hand watering everything though we'll still have to haul all the water ourselves. You should see the garden now, though! The half that never got cultivated is a jungle of weeds five feet tall. And though it's not producing much any more (we got one tomato last week), and what remains is plagued with drought, pest and disease, the five surviving sunflowers are at least 15 feet tall. Virginia is a strange place for gardens. Nothing is certain besides an entomologist's paradise. It was fun a couple of weeks ago when we actually got enough tomatoes that we got to share them with neighbors. Great way to get to know them. We're also going to miss Sarah's little voice piping up at dinner, "I'm eating tomatoes from my ga'ten."

Karen's foray into patio gardening

So, turns out there's really not much exciting to share after all! Life continues to be "blissfully boring," as Karen likes to put it. Couldn't be happier (Karen's note: Well, a clean house always makes me happier). Sarah and Ryan continue to be the darlingest little kids. It's always right after making the statements like the one about to be made when you eat your words, but Sarah so far has not been a terrible two. Here and there she asserts her will, but she's so easy-going by nature, and her attention span is so short it's easy to distract her from whatever she's being stubborn about so far.

Sarah enjoying a tea party with her friends--notice the coordinating dishes!

She's getting into ballerinas, "fairy skirts," and twirly dresses, which is the source of inspiration to pull out the sewing machine. She's taken several shopping trips in her tutus or fairy wings to the enjoyment of fellow shoppers. Ryan still adores her, and the absolutely most heartwarming thing in the world is to see them laughing together. Somehow we are blessed with two pleasant children. Ryan smiles constantly and as long as Mom or Sarah is in the kitchen with him, he loves jumping in his bouncy seat. What a difference six months makes! Mom never thought she'd survive two kids when he first arrived.

Adorable little Chubby Pudgkins

Bonus video: Sarah the fairy ballerina