My sister, Vickie, has come from Illinois to spend a week with her new niece. Vickie and Elsa became fast friends. Vic chases Elsa exclaiming, "I'm going to get you!" Elsa shrieks and runs, then erupts in laughter when she is caught. Now Elsa is mimicking Vickie by yelling and stomping around with her arms outreached like she is going to "get" all of us.
We have broken in the new jogging stroller that Vic and Jeff got us. It is a VERY nice pink and black Schwinn. Since our other stroller is a Quinny, we now have a Quinny and a Schwinny. We (Vic, Elsa, Coco, Bloo & I) went down to the beach and did about 6 miles one day, and about 3 the next. I was pooped out but Vic can just keep going and going. Elsa was so worn out the first day that she took a 4.5 hour nap. The dogs slept for 2 days.
My best friend, Pamela, and her daughter, Lexi (4), came for a visit on Friday. They live 1.5 hours away and planned to just spend the afternoon. They extended their visit until Sunday night because Vic and Pamela decided to bless us by painting and transforming our gigantic living room. The end result was so spectacular that they kept going and painted the dining room, too.
The back story - due to Greg's work situation we recently moved and the new house desperately needed some love. We weren't even using most of the massive, historic ranch house that we now live in. The house is situated on a 27 acre lemon orchard that is 2 miles from the beach. We can see the ocean from the property. The house is fantastic but has been neglected and it's age was really showing. We had made changes already by pulling out the old carpet and Greg refinished the beautiful wood floors in a few of the rooms. We redid Elsa's room but, with Elsa and Greg's new work project, there simply weren't enough hours in the day for much else. Greg was using the living room as an office, we used the dining room as the living room. The kitchen, where I spend most of my time, was cramped with our dining room table and difficult to work in. Vic and Pam painted, moved all the furniture, pulled out our accessories from the garage, and totally transformed our home. Vic even bought Greg and I the enormous giraffe patterned area rug that you see in the photos. Every room is being used as it should, and we are marveling at the changes. Our living space has at least doubled. Elsa is having a great time running around the new living room checking out our new digs. Bloo and Coco chase each other from one side of the house to the other. Greg and I wander around and marvel at all the changes. The whole family is enjoying the house immensely. Our socks have blessed clean off!
Sadly, Pam and Lexi had to return home last night. We were all sad to see them go. Elsa was really upset after they left. She really bonded with Pamela and loved all the extra attention. She and Lexi are great friends now. Lexi was very excited to have sleep overs at Elsa's house. She was patient with Elsa and looked out for her. We all miss them.
