Upgraded Side Patio

At our new home we have a side yard and patio. We added a dog door to the office on that side of the house and turned the side yard into a dog run. 

Installed a dog door in the office

The one challenge is that we overlook the "dog run" from the dining room so it needed a bit of an upgrade.

View from dining room

Side patio before

I bought an outdoor rug, a bistro set, and a ceramic side table. I think they all came together nicely and look good from the dining room too.

View from inside

Patio after

Bonus benefit: a big box to play with!

Diamond Earrings

A few weeks ago I had lunch with a sweet girlfriend. I ordered soup so I grabbed a rubber band to pull my hair back. When I did my girlfriend noticed I'd lost an earring. We searched all around in the booth but couldn't find it.

This is the best shot I could find of the earrings

It was a pair of lovely diamond stud earrings that Carl had given me as a gift. I'd never had trouble with them falling out before, but I was sick to my stomach that I'd lost one.

After lunch I searched all around in my car. I searched the parking lot at work and sent out a companywide email asking everyone to keep a lookout for the earring. One of the guys in the warehouse emailed me back that he'd check out there for me.

I just couldn't find it and now I had to figure out how to tell Carl. I thought the earrings were insured, but I hated I'd have to tell him I lost such a valuable gift.

As I was driving home I thought of one other thing. Maybe I only put one earring in. I was a bit tired lately and I wasn't always the most efficient at getting out of the house with 5 year twins before heading to work.

As soon as I got home I checked my jewelry tray and sure enough the other earring was still there. Huge sigh of relief.

I'm too embarrassed to tell my co-workers I just forgot to put it on in the morning.

Hardships of Being Five Years Old

Although we have a lovely new home in a great school district, the move has been a little harder on all of us than I expected. 

For the kids, transitioning to a new school has been really tough. Mainly because they transferred in the last month of the year. They had to make all new friends and they didn't know how to do the schoolwork all the other students were used to. Not being able to grasp the new schoolwork was hardest on Chloe. She likes to do well and gets upset when she can't.

For Connor the big challenge was kindergarten graduation. He really did not want to stand on the stage. What's kind of crazy about it is they really go to kindergarten next year so this was a bit of a fake graduation. I'm grateful they included Connor and Chloe in the ceremony, but I wish it hadn't caused so much heartache. I convinced Chloe that being on stage was fun and she was jazzed. Connor could not be convinced. On the evening of graduation he cried and told me he just wanted to sit with me and not go on stage. I bribed him with a science kit and he was willing to try.

The graduation ceremony was cute if not a bit long. They sang a couple of songs for us and then they called out each kid's name, gave them a "diploma" and said what they wanted to be when they grow up.

Chloe wants to be a veterinarian.

Connor wants to be a spy.