Bedbugs

House Update

We definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are close to
having all our possessions packed. The shed in the backyard is
filling up with boxes so we can show the house. Thank heavens that
shed is so big. It means we don't need to rent a storage unit to
store our boxes for a few months. The remaining work that needs to be
done has shrunk to the level that the human mind can almost, but not
quite, conceive of it. We plan to work hard on the upcoming Holiday
weekend and, hopefully, be ready to put the house on the market by
next Wednesday.

For all of our enemies out there that have ever hoped that fixing up a
house would exact some sort of vicarious revenge for you, you may
sleep peacefully in your vicariousness. Also, please note that your
vicarious revenge has hit fringe targets - the various friends and
relatives drafted into helping this rather large effort.

The Final Push

Through some small miracle, we might get this house on the market by the end of the month. This weekend we focused on the kitchen.

Mark, our home repair expert, otherwise known as "Mops":


Milt changing a light fixture:


Our new granite countertops (and the hole where the sink used to be):


We did have a classic home repair moment. I turned off the water supply to the house to remove the sink and to replace the broken water shut off valve at the sink. After we installed the new valve, I went back to the basement to turn the water supply on - and nothing happened. No water flowed to any faucet in the house. This was disconcerting. For an anxious half hour we investigated and tried to determine why the water pressure wasn't coming back on. We have an old system - so finding replacement parts would be difficult. Also, it's hard to sell a house without water. We removed the flow valve in the basement, looked at it, determined it still worked, and reattached it. Then the water started flowing again.

Why do you do hard things?

This morning Grace was up with me at 6:30am. Just before I walked out
the door, she asked me, "Daddy, why do you do hard things?" At 6:30
in the morning this is an extremely difficult question to answer.

Obligatory Sleeping Baby Pictures

We're contractually bound, as parents, to inflict sleeping baby pictures upon an unsuspecting public. (Photographer's note: The difficult part in these shots to somehow capture the peaceful image of a sleeping baby while framing the picture to exclude the piles of moving boxes and the piles of miscellaneous stuff waiting its turn to be put into a moving box.)

New floor tiles

We are putting new tile floors in the basement and in the laundry/pantry room as we get prepared to sell.

Old basement floor:


New basement floor:


The laundry room getting its makeover:


So - now, does anyone want to come over and grout a couple hundred square feet of tile?

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Saturday Morning, May 12

Here's a quick video of two happy children, Holden & Grace, on Saturday morning.



Click here to view this video directly on youtube.

Haircuts, Bedtime Attire and Happy Baby

We all have new haircuts.


Here is Grace with her new elephant towel and on Thursday night when she insisted she had to go to bed wearing bunny ears.



And here is just a great photo of one happy-go-lucky baby boy.


*As always, click on any of the photos to see full-sized pictures.

Scenes from a Baptism

Here are some of the highlights of Holden's baptism, including a 5 year old girl who was ecstatic to see her friends standing in the pews on the balcony. (Holden was baptized on Easter 3 weeks ago.)



Click here to view this video directly on youtube.

Holden Video - 3 Months Old

Here is a video of Holden at 3 months. He is smiling a lot now and trying to talk back when we talk to him.



Click here to view this video directly on youtube.

Goodbye Faithful Honda Accord

Good news - we sold the Honda Accord today. (It's a 1989 model.)
That's one more item on our moving checklist that we have completed.
We sold it to an African man who needed a car for his sister, who has
been in the U.S. for nine months and needed a vehicle to get to
school. Fortunately, his friend is a good mechanic who can do some
maintenace on the various oil leaks in the engine. They were very
happy to get it. And the neighbors will probably be happy that the
Honda is no longer parked in the street under the telephone lines
where the pigeons congregate and caked the car in bird poop.

Panda Bear

As we were getting ready to go to Grace's friend Tovah's house last
night, I told Grace that Tovah and her parents had moved to a new
house. "Have you see it before?" she asked. I said no. "Maybe they
have a yard that is shaped like a panda bear!" she said. She thought
for a moment. "Maybe it has colors like a panda bear, too."

Work Party and Yard Sale

Yesterday we had a work party and yard sale. It started as normal, with Grace waking up to Holden expressing his unhappy opinion about waking up hungry.

We finally gave up on that terrible structure on the back porch. We decided the house would be improved more by simply removing it than putting work in to making the structure look nicer.

We moved massive amounts of sod. Here's Jaime helping out. (He initially didn't want to help - "I'd like to help, but I don't like work" were his words.)

Here's a picture of Katie and Milt shortly before Milt worked himself to complete exhaustion.

Grace was entertained all day by playing with her friend, Peri.

Here's Eric posing in front of his truck. There's 1,400 pounds of sod in that truck.

Meanwhile, Aimee kept the yard sale moving forward... slowly. We didn't get as much business as we hoped at the yard sale - but we did get rid of a few things.

Sitting on the couch with babies

Dad sitting with his baby, Holden; his daughter sitting with her baby, Keaton.

Happy Baby

Here is Holden in one of his ever-increasing moments of happiness. He's smiling at the antics of his big sister.

Yard Work Day

Michele, Nelson's sister-in-law, came over to help hold baby Holden so we could get some yard work done around the house and prepare for next weekend's garage sale.

Adoption

Tonight's Simpsons rerun was about adoption. Grace wanted to know what adoption was. We explained to her how some children, because of financial or other reasons, didn't have mommies and daddies. And then other parents would come and adopt those lucky little babies. Those babies would become their children. You could almost see the light bulb of illumination flash in Grace's head - and she said, the Universe having revealed one of its nagging little mysteries, "Is that what happened to me?"

April 2007

You can look at the photo album for April 2007. You can also click on the new pictures below.

With Tuppence for Paper and Strings

You can have your own set of wings! With your fist holding tight... to the strings of your kite.

Grace has been begging to the fly her new kite for the last several days (in between Easter Egg hunts she gets bored). Today it was windy enough to fly the kite at the local park. Grace ran in circles shrieking and laughing at the kite.

Holden at 2 1/2 months.

Here's a recent photo of Holden, taken last week. He is a very even-tempered baby, and is going to be a little quieter than Grace. He is still very much attached to his Mother and doesn't like to be away from her during the evenings.

Baptism

Holden was baptized on Easter Sunday by Pastor Jami. Our friends Anne and Amy sponsored Holden. Grace got a front row stool to stand on and watch the proceedings.

The Great Easter Egg Hunt Marathon

Grace got to participate in three separate Easter Egg Hunts. All you could hear when the kids were looking for eggs was Grace narrating the entire event at the top of her voice. "An egg! Another egg! Look, an egg!"

New pathway

Over the last two years, since we installed our new porch and new front door, the path between the sidewalk and the steps turned into a mud trail, which didn't add to the house's aesthetic appeal, unless you were a deer. With the help of Nelson's parents, we put in a new broken concrete path.

Talking About Kidney Stones

I had a kidney stone that lasted six days. On Thursday, 10 days ago, I went to the hospital with extreme pain in my stomach and back and extreme dehydration. They said I had a kidney stone and gave me pain medication and injected me with fluids. The stone passed into my bladder last Tuesday, but I still feel a little sore today. That was the most painful thing I have ever felt. Aimee believes I was going through "sympathy pains" for giving birth to Holden two months ago.

Today we went out to eat at Snappy Dragon. Grace came in and sat down at the table and said to the couple beside us, "My Daddy peed out his kidney stone." I acklowledged this as truth, and thanked Grace for sharing with our neighbors. The man said that this sounded like news worth celebrating with a dinner out.

Dent

Coming out of Safeway this evening, Grace noticed that the car parked next to us had been in an accident. The entire back left side was crumpled. Two people were sitting in the front seat. She walked up to the car and said "Excuse me, excuse me. You have a dent in your car." The ladies in the car thought it was hilarious.

Grace's 5th Birthday

We celebrated Grace's 5th birthday with a dinosaur birthday party at the Burke Museum. I have posted some pictures of the birthday here. You can also see a couple pictures of Aimee's Dad, Bill, from his visit to meet his grandson.

The Indestructible Dinosaur Pinata

For Grace's birthday party we bought a very well-made dinosaur pinata that the children had no chance to break, and then equipped the children with a tiny stick. The results are in this video:

Why not just use a net?

Grace was expecting the fishing to be quick and easy. Throw in a line and the fish bites it. After a few minutes of holding the bamboo pole with no action from the fish swimming in the large tank, she asked why we didn't just get a net and scoop the fish out of the tank? I didn't have a good answer for that.

From February 2007

From February 2007

Children's Combat Fishing

We took Grace to Monroe for the Sportsmen's show - there was a children fishing pond and she wanted to go fishing. It was combat fishing training for children. Here is a picture of combat fishing in Alaska and the Washington children's combat fishing training ground.

From February 2007

Ash Wednesday

On Ash Wednesday, at Grace's bedtime, I was sitting on the couch. I had the cross in ashes on my forehead. Grace came up to me, looking at my forehead, and said, "Daddy, can you get off your ash and come read to me?"

Family Pictures

Here's some pictures from the last week.

From February 2007

From February 2007

From February 2007

New Photos

You can find some new photos of the family by clicking here.

Holden's First Letter

Here is Holden napping next to his first letter: The U.S. Social Security system welcoming him to this world by officially assigning him his own 9 digit number. His social security card was included - signature needed. Holden is required to return this card whenever they tell him to turn it in (the letter does not indicate why they would ever ask for him to return the card). None of these new complications seem to faze young Holden.

Happy Valentine's Day

Grace, in her self-picked Valentine's Day outfit, holding a card for her friend Annie. For some reason, this particular pair of pants were Valentine's Day pants.

When she woke up, she said, "Daddy, it's not red." "What's not red?" I asked. "Teacher Alice said Valentine's Day is red. Why isn't it red?" Apparently, the day itself was supposed to be red.

Dad and Children

Nelson, Holden and Grace, on the couch.

Proposed Present for Holden

Grace leafed through a Babies R Us catalog, and then suggested that we buy this for the baby.

Holden's First Trip to visit relatives

Moms and Babies

Outside of the UW Hospital - Mom and her new baby Holden in a sling; and Grace and her baby Keaton in a sling.

Holden and big Sister - 1 week old

Grace Tap Dance Video

Nelson is taking Grace to tap dance class on Thursdays while he's home on paternity leave. Here's the video of Grace in class:

Holden Video

I have a quick video of Holden you can view -

Holden Alexander Appell

His name is officially Holden (Meaning "kind") Alexander (Meaning "defender of mankind") Appell (Which is close to the French appeler for "to call").

I uploaded a few more pictures - click here.

Tap Dancing

In all the excitement of a new baby, life goes on - Grace is taking a tap dance class on Thursday mornings (a gift from Grandad Bill). This is her new dance dress and new tap shoes.

New Baby Boy

The new baby boy Appell was born yesterday at 7:54am at the University of Washington Medial Center - 6lb, 5-1/2 oz, 19 inches. Premature, but healthy. I'll be posting pictures here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/nappell/NewBabyBoy

Snow

It's snowing today in Seattle. Nelson and Grace went to the park with our neighbors, Max and Ken. Pictures can be viewed here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/nappell/SeattleSnow